BY CATHLEEN FINLAY

Jenna Morrison’s ghost bike be-gan its journey in Bloordale before being installed at the intersection of Sterling Rd. and Dundas St. W. where the pregnant mother was fa-tally struck by a truck on November 7.

he staf at Bike Pirates, near Bloor St. W. and Lansdowne Ave. prepared the all-white bike to me-morialize Morrison, the 38-year-old woman who died while on her way to pick up her ive-year-old son.

he bike was taken through Bloordale along Bloor St. W. early Monday morning until stopping at Spadina Ave. where hundreds of people were waiting to ride in memory of Morrison.

he group met at the makeshit

memorial to install the bike and stand for a moment of silence ater the cycle, which was organized by Advocacy for Respect of Cyclists (ARC).

Rick Conroy, a representative from ARC, said a few words while the bike was being attached to the stop sign at the corner.

“We gather one week ater ev-ery cyclist’s death so that we can remember them,” he said. “It’s not something we like to do but we feel it is important to memorialize those of us who die on our streets.”

Ward 14 Parkdale-High Park MP Peggy Nash also spoke to the crowd about legislation she is proposing in the House of Commons on Monday.

“I’m heading to Ottawa to join Olivia Chow to introduce a bill for mandatory side guards on large ve-hicles,” she said.

“We will have petitions and we will campaign to make sure it is the law of the land to make sure this never happens again.”

Many people signed petitions, in-cluding Morrison’s mother Darlene Burke.

Rebecca Leonard, a circus instruc-tor and performer, knew Morrison since 2001 and described her as a sister.

“She had an amazing bright light,” she said. “It was like coming home when you were with her. She would

have been thrilled if she saw this today but she would probably want some dancing though.”

Toronto schoolteacher Alyssa Gerber decided to come out to show her support despite the fact that she never met Morrison.

“It hit close to home,” Gerber said with tears in her eyes.

“It could have been anybody and I wanted to come out and show my support.”

Others came out to voice their outrage at the current conditions for cyclists in the city.

“I’ve always thought this spot was unsafe,” social worker Gwen Yor-ston said.

“he cycling and rail paths just end here and it’s terrible planning. I don’t know why this issue hasn’t been addressed – there’s no safe way to get across the street here.”

BY GURPREET GHAG

Perth Avenue Public School (14 Ruskin Ave.) is currently working on a plan to beautify its desolate schoolyard.

A handful of residents and par-ents assembled in the library for the initial development meeting on October 19 where they dis-cussed the various short and long term plans to make the yard more attractive and more useful for the children.

Amongst the ideas for the com-pletely concrete yard, is the pos-sibility of adding artiicial grass turf.

And as the school’s principal, Janice Robinson, explained dur-ing the meeting, the artiicial turf was considered over real grass for a number of reasons.

“he demolition of the old school was never taken out, the site was never excavated and what they did was just dump the re-mains of the old school out there, covered it with dirt and...

theBLOORDALEpress

http://www.thebloordalepress.comNOVEMBER 2011 volume 1/issue 6

Perth Avenue Public

School planning for

new schoolyard

I N S I D E

WARD 18 TRAFFIC STUDY

A working group has been

formed to resolve a number of

traic issues in the community

Page 3

NIGHT OF DREAD PHOTOS

Clay and Paper’s twelth annual

parade and the best Jack-o’-

Lanterns in Bloordale

Page 6

Community News from Ward 18

B.C.I. ART FAIR

Arts and crats fundraiser gives

hope to send students on a

historical trip to Europe

Page 8

see PLAYGROUND, page 8

Hundreds gather to pay respects to fallen cyclist

Many cyclists gathered for Jenna Morrison’s ‘Ghost Bike’ Ride on November 14. PHOTO By CATHLEEN FINLAY

“he cycling and rail paths just end here and it’s terrible planning. I don’t know why this issue hasn’t been ad-dressed – there’s no safe way to get across the street here.”

- Gwen Yorston

BY JUSTIN MILLERSON

A planning application, put forth by Castlepoint Realty Partners for the former automotive site at 158 Sterling Rd., has let members of the com-munity scratching their heads about what many are calling a potential traic problem.

A meeting on October 13 at the Church of the Firstborn at 72 Perth Ave. gave the community the chance to voice their praise and concern

about the proposal, but more con-cern was expressed during the two-hour meeting.

“I didn’t hear any mention about the amount of cars this proposal will bring in,” said one Bloordale resi-dent whose concerns were echoed throughout the meeting. “I live in the area and it’s very hard to get on Bloor St.”

he proposal by Castlepoint looks to add 1,244 parking spaces, which is the root of much of the community’s

worry. City planner Sarah Phipps warded of the recurring concern by indicating a traic study in the spe-ciic area has been put in place.

She also suggested just cutting the parking numbers down altogether.

“One thing we could do is reduce the parking numbers so the people who are buying the units don’t have cars because they have nowhere to park them,” said Phipps.

Castlepoint also countered by say-ing that they believe the development

will be more transit oriented given the plans for a Metrolinx mobility hub at Dundas St. W. and Bloor St. W. to be put in place in the short term.

Ward 18 Councillor, Ana Bailão was also on hand for the meeting and although she is conident the proposal is moving in the right direc-tion, she still has concerns moving forward.

“I still have a few questions about the proposal,” said Bailão.

One of those questions is whether Castlepoint has plans to include af-fordable housing in their design, something she would like to see in the area.

he application, which can take up to a year to review, seeks a “mixed-use” development that would include 750 residential units and about

74,000 square meters of commercial space. Castlepoint has made it public that this structure will add 3,000 jobs to the area as well as another 1,500 people.

A key objective put forth is to add usable oice space in the community with 80 percent of the commercial usage being dedicated for just that while the other 20 percent will be dedicated to things like restaurants, retail outlets and bars.

Centering this development is a public square, that will be available to everyone for the public to use for an assortment of things. Castlepoint suggested a skating rink.

For more information about the plans contact city planner Sarah Phipps by email at sphipps1@to-ronto.ca

BY JUSTIN MILLERSON

A community meeting was held at Lithuanian Hall (1573 Bloor St. W.) on October 20 to discuss a new proposal for a mixed-use develop-ment at 2376 Dundas St. W.

Planning and urban design irm, Urban Strategies recently pur-chased the current car lot and gave the community an opportunity to peek at their plans for the property.

Urban planner, Pino Di Mascio of the irm started the presentation in front of about 75 people by stating the land is being “underutilized.”

heir plan was to revitalize the spot by adding mid to high-rise buildings containing 350 to 400 one to three bedroom units. In ad-dition, Urban Strategies wants to accommodate 239 parking spaces.

Several diagrams showed difer-ent ideas of how these buildings could look. he renderings showed buildings as high as 29 loors and this raised concerns from many of the community members in atten-

dance.Belief sprung that a high-rise

building would disturb the nearby residents living in two storey homes. One community mem-ber referred to the concern as the “elephant in the room.” Another shouted, “We moved away from downtown for a reason.”

he common response from the community was they did not want a “tower” in their neighbourhood.

A seven storey limit exists in the immediate area, but Ward 14 coun-cillor Gord Perks said that could change.

“We don’t have a lot of choices about density; the province has a bunch of planning rules that say that Toronto has to take more people,” said Perks.

Since this is the beginning stages of the proposal, Perks indicated that it could be another year before anything is approved.

More meetings are in store Perks said, although no future dates have been given.

News

New proposal for 2376 Dundas St. W. presented to community

02 The Bloordale Press NOVEMBER 2011

Residents express concern over height of possible development

Design irm Urban Strategies recently purchased this car lot at 2376 Dundas St. W. and plan to turn it into a residential building. PHOTO By JUSTIN MILLERSON

n

k

.m.

t.

.

e

l

e

Sterling Road development raises traffic issues

A bird’s eye view of 158 Sterling Rd. (both demolitions are well underway) PHOTO COURTESY City of Toronto

BY GURPREET GHAG

A large group of residents met in the gymnasium of Perth Avenue Public School (14 Ruskin Ave.) to discuss traic concerns in the surrounding area and to form a working group.

Councillor Ana Bailão, who was mediating the meeting along with traic engineer Stephen Brown and Manager of Pedestrian and Cycling Infrastructure Daniel Egan, said that the meeting was necessary before new develop-ments and residents came in.

“We decided to have this meet-ing now to present what the devel-oper at 362 Wallace was propos-ing, which included a new road and the community really liked the development, but there was a huge concern about traic,” the Councillor said.

Along with other complaints she was receiving at her oice re-garding a number of streets in the neighbourhood, Bailão said the best thing to do was to create a lo-cal traic working group.

he group would be responsible for the area from Dupont to Bloor St. W., and east to west from the

Georgetown Corridor to Lansd-owne Ave.

he meeting kicked of with major and frequent concerns for the Councillor. hese included the congestion on Dupont St., the possibility of adding a let turn onto Campbell Ave. from Dupont St. going west, speed and traic in-creases on Edwin, Alpine, Ruskin, and Perth Avenues, and altering the intersection at Symington Ave. and Bloor St. W. for easier use.

he loor was then let open to any other issues the residents had.

A discussion about the removal of the Dupont St. bike lane evoked. Suggestions were made to move the bike lane on to Wallace Ave. and have cyclists make more use of the one on Davenport Rd.

Daniel Egan said that the Dav-enport bike lane serves a diferent route and community and does not get riders to the same destina-tions as Dupont’s. It was also noted that Wallace Ave. is much too nar-row to support a bike lane.

Another suggestion was to add speed bumps to Symington Ave. to discourage speeding. Unfortu-nately, the councillor said that any street with a TTC route on it could

not have speed bumps added to it.

Some residents also suggested that something be done to stop high-speed traf-ic on Hugo Ave., where there are a number of younger children living.

For more in-formation on the subject, or to get involved, you can contact the Councillor’s oice at 416-392-7012.

he traic area’s boundaries. COURTESY GOOGLE MAPS

03The Bloordale Press NOVEMBER 2011

News

he plan aims to link the land beside the Georgetown Corridor to the rest of Ward 18. PHOTO COURTESY City of Toronto

BY JUSTIN MILLERSON

he City of Toronto held a com-munity meeting on October 19 at Bloor Collegiate (1141 Bloor St. W.) to give the community another chance to look at the Ward 18 Lo-cal Area Study and voice their sug-gestions.

he meeting that housed about 30 people was the third and the irst since June 13. Ater a brief overview from city planner, Sarah Phipps, the community did not hesitate to speak up about issues involving employment lexibil-ity, afordable incubator space and traic clustering.

A very vigilant Ana Bailão also chimed in on a couple of these concerns.

“What kind of jobs can be at-

tracted here [to reduce] unem-ployment? What are we going to have to do? Is afordability going to be afected? Should we be pushing for that?” she asked during the 90 minute meeting.

he study examines the land just east of the West Toronto Railpath and Canadian Paciic Railway from Dupont St. to Queen St. W. extending about one block east. he city put forth this study to improve accessibility between the area and the rest of the ward.

“What we are looking at is link-ages that we can make through the community, how we can link this neighbourhood to the rest of the fabric because it is a little bit isolated with the rail road tracks,” said Phipps.

Supported by the community

was the call from one Bloordale resident for afordable incubator space in the area.

“his is one of the things the city is lacking and they are miss-ing an opportunity,” said the resi-dent, who immediately garnered agreement from other community members and sparked a lot of talk about the existing oice space in the area.

he community also expressed their support to salvage heritage buildings in the area by converting them for oice space use, rather than tearing the buildings down.

Immediately following the lengthy discussion about the pro-posed incubator space, discussion began about the former Tower Automotive lands on 158 Sterling Rd. With a major development proposal of 750 residential units, 1,244 parking spaces, and addi-tonal commericial space, concerns about vehicle and pedestrian were raised.

Phipps wrote down each sugges-tion brought up by the community to prepare a letter to city council voicing their concerns.

For more information about the study and the progress thus far, visit http://www.toronto.ca/plan-ning/ward18-study.htm

Community expresses wishes for area surrounding corridor

Local traffic working group created for north-western section of Ward 18

1160 Duferin Street, Toronto ON, M6H 4B8(Wallace and Duferin, one block north of Bloor)

(LAPTOPS ONLY)

Editorial Notes

04

he Bloordale Press is published monthly and is distributed within ward 18’s boundaries and in its neigh-bouring areas. Copies are delivered door-to-door in the ward and also at local businesses and other areas of interest. Call or email us with your story leads or to inquire about sub-scriptions and our advertising rates.

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EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

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MANAGING EDITOR

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CONTRIBUTOR

the BLOORDALE press

GURPREET GHAG

JUSTIN MILLERSON

MATT LOPES

ED OLIVEIRA

JORDAN MAXWELL

ROB LAMBERTI

BRYAN MILLERSON

ALICIA CONDARCURI

KYLA SERGEJEW

CATHLEEN FINLAY

The Bloordale Press NOVEMBER 2011

RE: CATS BETTER OFF WITHOUT TORONTO CAT RESCUE?

In response to the overwhelming number of letters regarding my opinion on he To-ronto Cat Rescue being indirectly related to an act of violence I witnessed, I would like to state that I am sorry to any volunteers or fans of the service that I may have ofended and remind you that that was not my objective.

All I wanted to say was that feeding stray animals may work in some places, but I do not think that is the case in this speciic alley. Similar to signs across places like High Park which say do not feed the coyotes, I still do believe that these cats should not have been fed by TCR.

In other places, animals are not to be fed because they will begin to rely on the hu-man handouts and may stray too far from the wild, coming too close to humans and ultimately leading to some sort of complication.

Now even though this was one cat, in one alley, a letter that we received said that the city’s population of feral cats is somewhere around 10,000. Now I am not sure how many of these cats are looked ater by TCR, but chances are this may be taking place some-where else. Regardless, this organization’s work should be respected, but perhaps this alley is in fact diferent and needs some altered solution.

Unfortunately, I do not know what kind of formula would be suitable, but what about simply neutering or spaying the cats and not feeding them?

And if this doesn’t work, then perhaps something else will.

- Gurpreet Ghag

RE: TOO MUCH STRIP BAR COVERAGE

In response to anyone ofended by our coverage of the strip clubs, he House of Lan-caster and Club Paradise, please note our intent was not to promote these places of busi-ness.

In choosing our content, we strive to ind stories that are of interest to the community and in last month’s case, two stories itting those criteria happened to be tied to the strip clubs in the community.

Our front-page story titled “he Gentlemen’s club of poetry readings” was not intended to endorse the House of Lancaster, in fact, the event was actually to promote the idea of the strip bar being used for some other purpose.

he same goes for the story on the bottom half of page ten, “October’s Very Own’s para-dise.” It was written to be an interesting piece of information about some homegrown talent and once again, was not aimed to promote Club Paradise.

We sincerely apologize for any ofense our coverage may have caused, but I assure you with the greatest sincerity that was not our intention.

- Justin Millerson

BY ANDREW CASH

Lately the effects of globalization have

really hit us close to home. First a young child tragically loses his mother when she is killed after the bicycle she`s riding is struck by a truck. Then the city issues eviction notices to the Occupy Toronto protest at St. James Park. Now what could these two issues have in common and what do they have to do with globaliza-tion?

When Rob Ford became mayor of To-ronto he declared that ‘the war on the car was over.’ It was a phony statement about a fake ‘war’—where cyclists were targeted as the villain. Also troubling about the comment was its disregard for those car drivers and transit users who are stuck in grid lock and overcrowded, infrequent buses. The quip implies that if given the choice between excellent, frequent public transit, efficient, safe bike lanes and af-fordable homes within walking distance of work we would all still choose to use private automobiles every day.

Indeed after three decades it`s clear that globalization and the neoconservative ideology that spawned it simply aren`t working. If they were Toronto would not have one of the worst commute times in North America, we wouldn’t be losing

$5 billion a year in lost productivity due to gridlock, we wouldn’t have household debt of 140% of income and we would have far fewer cycling deaths.

It is the failure of globalization that is in the crosshairs of the Occupy Toronto protesters. As I said in the House of Commons on November 16 protests are a vital part of our democracy. Nonvio-lent civil disobedience has always been a constant presence in movements fighting for economic and social justice. Think Martin Luther King and the civil rights movement; the ending of apartheid in South Africa; the fall of the Berlin Wall; the Arab Spring. Embedded in these his-toric struggles for freedom and equality are acts of nonviolent civil disobedience which helped nudge history in the right direction.

Occupy Toronto speaks to the fact that when a few control most of the wealth of the world something is fundamentally wrong. Indeed, even the Governor of the Bank of Canada has admitted globaliza-tion has created more inequality.

And while some trivialize it and the city seeks to shut it down, at its core the Oc-cupy Toronto movement is a community cry out for justice, for democracy and for an economic system that nurtures rather distorts the true face of humanity.

BY ANA BAILÃO

Dear Neighbour,

As you are aware, on Monday, November 7th, a tragic incident took place involving the death

of a female cyclist near Dundas Street West and Sterling Avenue. My deepest condolences to the family and friends of Jenna Morrison, as we all struggle to come to terms with this terrible accident. Among the most diffi-

cult aspects of such events is the knowledge that it was prevent-able. Unable to understand the senselessness of this tragedy, I do understand the importance of preventing other similar situ-ations in the future.

In the year since my election, I have been working constantly to address safety concerns heard while canvassing and speaking to residents in this area. Driv-ers and cyclists approached me about the nearby College and Dundas Street W. intersection, which has poor sight lines, high speeds, awkward intersection angles, and many street car tracks.

I have been working closely with City Staff to explore ex-tending the Dundas Street bike lane, as well as installing a des-ignated bike-turning space, both in the effort of promoting safety and reducing risk to cyclists.

Due to the proximity of this intersection and the site of Monday’s devastating tragedy, I recognize the need to further expand the scope of these ef-forts, and to continue my work with staff to improve safety, and

to do so quickly.As a result, I have contacted

the Manager of Toronto’s Pedes-trian and Cycling Infrastructure Department to stress the critical importance of addressing these concerns as soon as possible. This has included meeting with the General Manager of To-ronto’s Transportation Depart-ment at the site of the accident, to review efforts to improve this intersection.

I will also be working with City Staff to review the Accident Reconstruction analysis that Toronto Police are currently preparing as part of their in-vestigation into this tragedy. It is my significant hope that this report will provide insight into identifying further contributing factors in this incident that can be addressed and resolved.

Also central to providing safe cycling conditions for our neighbourhood is the continua-tion our important work on the next phase of the West Toronto Railpath. The path, which cur-rently ends at Sterling Avenue, would continue down to Queen Street and provide a significant

North-South connection for West Toronto. I have been meet-ing regularly with City Staff, Metrolinx, and community or-ganizations to ensure that this project is a top priority for our City.

It is my sincere hope that with these efforts we can create a thorough strategy for address-ing safety at this site with the direct goal of preventing future tragedies.

We are more than neighbours; we are a community of people who can look out of each other. When one of us is exposed to hazards, we all are. We must accommodate each other, and develop a balance between each of our transit styles.

As I continue working closely with these cycling projects - from designated bike-turning boxes, extended bike paths, and the expansion of the West To-ronto Railpath, to make cycling in our neighbourhood safer - I remind all drivers and cyclists to be careful on our roads. Please leave room, check mirrors twice, and drive defensively and re-spectfully of others.

05The Bloordale Press NOVEMBER 2011

The Councillor’s Corner

The MP’s Corner

Photo Gallery

06 The Bloordale Press NOVEMBER 2011

Night of Dread

The Pumpking Gallery jack-o’-laterns from around the neighbourhood

BY GURPREET GHAG

he inside of Bloordale’s newest tea stop, Good Times Bad Times (1421 Bloor St. W.), is a modest and cozy collection of antique furnish-

ings, a small collection of books, a large assortment of teas and a stufed leopard adorned with a fedora.

Owners Marco and Juan, who want to revitalize a tea-culture that they say exists in all parts of the

world, but not here, busily scamper back and forth, steeping their selec-tion of loose-leafs and serving pies to their newly acquired guests while being interviewed.

A man stepping into the corner

shop for the irst time orders one of both.

“I’m really glad someone’s here,” he says, “It used to be such a nasty little corner store.”

his kind of response is becoming the norm, says a smiling Juan.

Before committing to their current space, the tea partners said that they did not even think of moving into

the neighbourhood.he original plans were to open up

somewhere in Kensington Market, but Juan said that the cost of rent made that less of a possibility.

It was by chance that Marco was walking through the neighbour-hood when he spotted Zócalo bistro (1426 Bloor St. W.), which sits di-rectly across from his new spot.

“I used to work in the area ten years ago,” says Marco, “and I still thought it was rough. But then I saw Zócalo and the people that were in there and said something is going on. he air is changing.”

Turning directly around, Marco then saw his current spot up for lease.

“Sometimes things happen by luck,” says Juan.

he two then began renovating their spot in June and opened their doors at the tail end of October.

hey are currently working on hosting open mic nights, poetry readings, and chess tournaments. hey also have a growing bookshelf where anyone can donate or trade in books that have inspired them.

Good Times Bad Times special-izes in loose-leaf teas that go for $1.50 and pastries that range from 50 cents to $2.50.

Current hours for the shop are Monday to Friday, 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. and weekends from noon to 10 p.m.

For more information, you can call 416-832-5775.

07The Bloordale Press NOVEMBER 2011

New in Business

Good times at Good Times Bad Times

BY GURPREET GHAG

he vacant space at 1301 Bloor St. W. was illed, renovated and opened up as Fashion Whore Boutique in a matter of just twelve days.

he space, which was the initial home of art collective Elephant Shoes (now at 1342 Bloor St. W.), was made available to the boutique on October 31 and by November 12, it was painted, the mannequins dressed and the shelves lined with clothing and accessories.

Marisa, who prefers to go by the name Marisa FashionWhore, said that the spot was a great compliment to her selection of locally made clothing.

“he neighbourhood is really cute and it’s really up and coming,” she said. “It’s dei-nitely going to be really, really big.”

Along with being cute, she also said her store has “a little hint of glam, fab and spar-kle. It’s for girls who want to be cute, but it’s also a little funky and can also be really sexy as well.”

Popular amongst her collection of clothing are dresses and shirts with prints featur-ing candies, cupcakes and unicorns.

Also part of the experience is that it also operates as a salon, so customers can get a haircut to complement any outit they may ind.

As for her last name and the name of her store, Marisa gives full credit to a friend.“One time my friend was talking about someone else and she mentioned that she

was a fashion whore. She was really well put together and she dressed really well. It just stuck with me. People want to be known as a fashion whore.”

he boutique will be open from Tuesday to Saturday, from noon to 6 p.m. and will begin opening every day in December from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.

For more information, you can visit their website http://www.fashion-whore.com

Fashion Whore hits the Bloordale Strip

PHOTOS By GURPREET GHAG

Along with selling clothing and accesories, Fashion Whore also cuts and styles hair. PHOTO By GURPREET GHAG

BY GURPREET GHAG

Grade ten and eleven students at Bloor Collegiate Institute (1141 Bloor St. W.) are hoping that their art fair on December 3 will make a trip to the Vimy Ridge memorial more afordable.

he group is to embark on a nine-day journey through Amsterdam and Bruges while visiting World War One and Two sites where they will participate in various events marking the 95th anniversary of the historic battle of Vimy Ridge.

“he battle of Vimy Ridge is huge

for Canada,” said librarian and teacher Julia Galbraith. “his was a battle that we organized, we car-ried it out and it was successful and it showed how brave we were. And people both at home and overseas began to get this sense of national pride. We were separate from Britain.”

Galbraith said that each student will be representing two soldiers who lost their lives in the battle cur-rently researching them and work-ing on patchwork quilts to take to the ceremony.

he trip will cost each of the students $2,500 and thus far, the students have sold pies at hanks-giving, held an art exhibit at a local gallery and are now planning this

latest arts and crats fair to help lower the costs.

Anyone who is interested in selling their work is more than wel-come to rent a table at the event for $30.

For more information, you can contact Julia Galbraith either through email at Julia.galbraith@tdsb.on.ca or by calling 416-393-1440, extension 20020.

News

08 The Bloordale Press NOVEMBER 2011

...asphalted over it,” she said. “So the problem would be to do a lot of planting and all that stuf, you’re going to have to go and excavate all that old stuf out, which would be a lot of work and a lot of time and it would put the yard out of usage.”

Other considerations for the yard include adding out-door learning, athletics, recess activities, community recreation and horticulture features.

Moving forward, the plan is to ind volunteers who have backgrounds in variety of diferent departments.

“We’re going to need to do some professional drawings to itemize the diferent activities and things. hen we want to go and actually apply for fundraising. So, we’re looking right now in the community for someone who wants to volunteer their time because I’d rather fundraise for the activities and for the playground,” Robinson said.

he group is also looking for help with a series of mu-rals that will be put in the yard and for anyone who has expertise in gardening.

To get involved you can contact the facilitator Allison White Gryspeerdt at allisonwg@rogers.com

Art fair to help raise money for historic trip

Alexander Baios, Adrienne McGee, Roxy Chen, Andrew Matheson and Jeremy Hughes attending the dedication ceremony for WWI pilot, William Barker in September at Mount Pleasent Cemetary. PHOTO COURTESY Julia Galbraith

PLAYGROUND from page 1

he Perth Avenue Public School yard is currently nothing more than concrete. PHOTO By JUSTIN MILLERSON

This page is a joint effort between the Bloordale Press and the Bloordale BIA to showcase local businesses.

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If your business is on Bloor St. between Dufferin St. and Lansdowne Ave. and you would like to

advertise on this page, please call

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Shop Bloordale

BY MATT LOPES

Mercer Union Contemporary Art Gallery (1286 Bloor St. W.) is doubling up and is showcasing two independent art exhibits from separate artists which will be on display for a month, leading up

to the holiday season, ending on December 10.

Sarah Robayo Sheridan said the artists have worked independently of one another to bring forth two separate art exhibits under one roof in the heart of Bloordale.

he exhibitions on display are

titled, “he Call is Coming From Inside the House” by artist Tricia Middleton, and “he F.E.K. Ar-chives: his is Making Me Ner-vous” by artist Alex Wolfson. he latter is a re-creation of a room that used to stand in the F.E.K. ar-chives in Buenos Aires, which was a memorial dedicated to the inal years of Argentinean philosopher

and writer Fernanda Eva Karon’s life.

he display from Middleton as it is described on the Mercer Union website “is comprised of a series of text-based sign paintings (50 in to-tal), to be presented within a func-tional workspace as thinkspace or constructed installation. his installation includes an elaborate

workstation, uninished works, the attendant runof of this work, alongside a 70s faux baroque sofa covered in vintage bed sheets.”

Mercer union is open 11 a.m to 6 p.m, Tuesday to Saturday and more information on the ongoing exhibitions as well as future events and exhibitions can be found at http://www.mercerunion.org

Arts

10

Galanin’s First Law of Motion

The Bloordale Press NOVEMBER 2011

Until December 18, Toronto Free Gallery (1277 Bloor St. W.) is display-ing Nicholas Galanin’s First Law of Motion.

Inside the gallery, an assortment of masks as well as a video projection of a masked man is on display aimed to re-flect Galanin’s ancestors as well as show the movement of culture in general and its transformation.

The show is Galanin’s first solo show in Toronto and on November 15, he met some of the neighbourhood’s art lovers at the Toronto Free Gallery.

The Alaskan native also showed his musical talents at the gallery later that evening by performing a couple songs from Silver Jackson’s latest album, which he produced.

For more information about the showing, contact the gallery curator Wanda Nanibush by email at wnani-bush@gmail.com

A piece from Tricia Middleton’s “he Call is Coming From Inside the House”. PHOTO By JUSTIN MILLERSON

A few of the masks on display for Nicholas Galanin’s irst solo show in Toronto. PHOTO By JUSTIN MILLERSON

Dual showing at Mercer Union

Alex Wolfson’s “F.E.K. Archives: his is Making Me Nervous”. PHOTO By TONI HAFKENSCHEID

11

News

The Bloordale Press NOVEMBER 2011

BY JUSTIN MILLERSON

he saga of artist Joel Richard-son versus the city inally came to an end on October 23 when Richardson, along with many supporters held an oicial mural opening under the Dupont un-derpass on Dupont St. near Lans-downe Ave.

About 20 supporters – many dressed in suits thanks to the encouragement of Richardson – gathered along the underpass, on the night of the opening. Rich-ardson was there to greet anyone who passed by and handed out buttons that resembled his mes-sage.

he opening marks the end of a six-month battle between

Richardson and City Hall ater his original mural was removed from the same underpass in May, but Richardson on the day of the

opening had no hard feelings.“No, no, none it was totally

positive,” said Richardson.Many viewers will notice that

the new mural is much like the old one. Many men in suits with halos were again painted on the cement wall. An equation is embedded in the mural with the answer being “0”, which Richard-son said is meant to resemble the

nothingness inance is.“All this inance stuf doesn’t re-

ally exist, yet it’s generating tril-lions of dollars,” said Richardson.

he halos were meant to re-semble how the men in suits – the businessmen of today are idolized as if they are providers for the everyday person, said long-time friend Jason Bumston.

Richardson added that the orig-inal mural, which did have many similarities, had a very “stark” equation compared to the new one and had no answer. He was happy to have the opportunity to start the mural again and add some clarity to the new equation.

“When [the city] erased [the old mural], the new idea, I thought I would make it much more in the

moment…and I’ve added an an-swer to the end,” said Richardson who had some help with the new idea from his son.

he mural took about seven

weeks in total to complete, said the former track athlete. Two weeks were spent planning the mural and ive were used to actu-ally paint it.

Richardson’s mural and tale finally complete

“All this inance stuf doesn’t really exist, yet it’s generating trillions of dollars.”

- Joel Richardson

Events

A section of Joel Richardson’s new mural at the Dupont St. underpass. PHOTO By JUSTIN MILLERSON

Richardson on the day of his mural launch. PHOTO By JUSTIN MILLERSON

FRIDAY NOVEMBER 11

FINAL STAGE OF FEASABIL-ITY PROJECT. hird and inal stage of the gallery’s renovation project. Tuesday to Saturday 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Gendai Gallery. 1265 BLOOR ST. W. 416-634-1693

FRIDAY NOVEMBER 11

MERCER UNION - TRI-CIA MIDDLETON & ALEX WOLFSON. Two independent showcases. Ends December 10. 1286 BLOOR ST. W. 416- 536-

1519

TUESDAY NOVEMBER 15

NICHOLAS GALANIN’S FIRST LAW OF MOTION. A relection of Galanin’s ancestor’s histories. W-F noon to 5 p.m. and Saturdays noon to 6 p.m. Toronto Free Gal-lery. 1277 BLOOR ST. W. 647-605-

5556

TUESDAY NOVEMBER 22

PERTH/DUPONT LIBRARY EXPANSION MEETING - Inter-ested residents are encouraged to participate in the plans to expand the small, but heavily used library.

7 p.m. St. Josophat’s Ukranian Cath-olic School. 100 FRANKLIN AVE.

THURSDAY NOVEMBER 24

GROUP ART SHOW - Opening reception for a group show. Robert Kananaj Gallery. 1267 BLOOR ST.

W. 416-289-8855

SATURDAY NOVEMBER 26

1ST ANNUAL DUWEST ART CRAWL - Free guided tours of local galleries. Noon, 1 p.m. and 2 p.m. House of Beans Cofee House and Roastery. 1348 DUNDAS ST. W.

WEDNESDAY NOVEMBER 30

TEEN CONSOLE GAMING - Help Mario or Sketchboy reach their goals. Ages 9-13 4 p.m. - 5 p.m. BLOOR/GLADSTONE LIBRARY. 1101 BLOOR ST. W.

SATURDAY DECEMBER 3

ARTS AND CRAFTS FAIR - Bloor Collegiate Institute’s stu-dents raise money for a trip to Europe. Various local vendors. Bloor Collegeiate Institute Caf-

eteria. 1141 BLOOR ST. W.SATURDAY DECEMBER 10

WARD 18 COMMUNITY SKATING PARTY - Wallace/Emerson Community Ice Rink. 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. 1260 DUF-

FERIN ST.

These are all the events that have been scheduled for the upcoming month. For more

events, you can regularly check the Bloordale Press’ twitter account @bloordalepress.

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