Holiday Train Coming to the Junction Today at 6:15PM

The train, 1,000 feet in length, will be arriving at the CP Rail Yard at 87 Ethel Avenue, just east of the George Bell Arena on Tuesday at 6:15 p.m. adorned with hundreds of thousands of LCD lights.

Meeting concerning the Bunge Redevelopment – October 6

Councillor Nunziata is hosting an Open House this evening regarding the redevelopment of the former Bunge site at 30 Weston Road. It’s at 7 PM at York Civic Centre.

Neighbourhood Event at the Park – Thursday, Sept 4 at 7PM

Division 12 Police invites everyone from our community to join them at the Maple Clair Park….the “big Park” on Gunns and Tarragona.  This is an annual event to meet your local police office reperesntatives and your neighbours.

Symes Road Closure – Construction Starts in September

I’ll wait to see it to believe, but according to a letter I received from Councilor Nunziata’s office, the city plans to complete the closure by October this year.

ST. Clair Gardens BIA Event – Sept 20th

St Clair Gardens BIA Seeks Vendors for its exciting Annual Corn Festival on Saturday, September 20, 2008, 12 noon-9pm.

We are looking for the following types of vendors:
• Arts and Craft
• Face painters
• Henna Artists
• Games Vendors
• Stuff Animals Vendors
• Portrait Artists and more

If you are interested in being a vendor, please contact the BIA office at
(416)656-1240 or e-mail info@stclairgardens-bia.com.
Interested vendors please contact us by August 5, 2008. Deadline for all vendors interested in participating in Festival: September August 5, 2008.

New York Pork Non-Update

The situation with New York Pork is status quo.  Based on a recent conversation I had with Councillor Nunziata’s office, the insurance investigation is on going but that the insurer will pay the property owner for damage.

The porblem is that the property has a mortgage, debts against the mortgage and partners and other lenders who don’t seem to get along anymore and can’t decide how to split up the money.  So eveything is in court limbo right now and because there is an outstanding legal matter, the city cannot move to clean up this eyesoar on Symes.

Our website needs writers

Dear Neighbours,

As you can see, there have not been any updates on this site for a few months.  This is mainly because I do not have the time to stay on top of the updates and then write about them.

I’ve received complaints, so I am looking for help.  Please leave a comment on this post if you are interested to take on the community journalism responsibility.

Breaking the Suburban Status Quo at St. Clair and Keele

Trinity Development Group has purchased the prewar vegetable oil processing plant currently operated by Bunge. The trains will no longer rumble on the other side of the great wooden wall, and the image of the hub of silos bathed in saturated orange and yellow light at night will fade to black. Whatever will replace it, will “at least be better than industry”. But in a decade, how many people will still readily say that?

Proposed is another development dominated by a parking lot. It is an extension of the suburbanism brought courtesy of Home Depot and Canadian Tire in the late 1990s. Today’s trucks will be replaced by hundreds of cars. This kind of inefficient development is no longer acceptable in the urban environment of the city of Toronto. When the first big box retailers arrived in the area, the development was met with delight, even from yours truly. Gone were the smelly Ontario Stockyards in favor of shiny new retail. Two “big box” stores went up, pungently anti-urban in design though few cared to notice. The project put up a wall on St. Clair Avenue West without any entrances for pedestrians. Indeed, the only way to access it by foot is to walk around and through the parking lot’s access road.

The property at Weston Road and St. Clair is at more than a literal crossroads or intersection. This community can accept more car oriented development detrimental to the environment, or demand better. This project has the potential to set an urban precedence for redeveloping, for example, the empty half of the Home Depot parking. Communities with easy pedestrian access to retail and compact urban design such as Queen West or Roncesvalles, are among the more desirable communities in Toronto. They are vibrant and engaging, rather than sterile and generic. However, it is not necessary to recreate them. If there is a demand for big box retail, let us accommodate it. It is in our community’s best interest that development be efficient in land use. We are getting a heavy upgraded streetcar line, and urban focused development will be even more imperative in the future, especially in encouraging others along St. Clair to ride rather than drive here.

Let us not access the status quo. Fundamentally, every store that will neighbour Gunns, St. Clair or Weston must have an entrance facing the street, not the parking lot. Midrise residential condominiums should be added on top of the retail. Parking should be all underground. Any leftover space ought to be used for parks. It is this kind of development that will enhance the community. This may seem foreign as an urban interpretation of traditionally suburban style retail, but it is already planned for Queen West.

Ultimately, only this kind of redevelopment be better than trains, trucks, smoke and silos. The “anything is better than industry” mantra became inept the day Home Depot opened.

Stock Yards History: SWRA Holiday Special

Can you believe that the bottom left of the photo is the intersection of Symes Road and St. Clair? Yes, the above photo is a view from Symes facing East to Keele.

Sometimes with all the work we have to do to move our community ahead and deal with all the issues, we forget that we are a part of one of the most historical parts of Toronto. In fact, once upon a time, the Stockyards and the Junction were the city’s most bustling area and the center of Toronto’s nightlife. Here is a link to a great site that I discovered recently where you will find the entire story and lots of rare and historical photos of the land that each and everyone of you owns: http://www.trainweb.org/oldtimetrains/stockyards/stock.htm

On behalf of the executive team at the St. Clair West Residents Associations, Happy Holidays.

Symes Road Closure: SWRA Update

We are in the final stretch here (in city time that may mean another year).  But the good news is that the design for the closure is in its final stages.  Here is the update I received from Councilor Nunziata’s office:

Frances met with staff today, and were informed that the design phase of this project is nearing completion.  The plans will be available early in 2008 for viewing at the York Civic Centre, and possibly George Bell Arena.  Notices will be placed in 3 newspapers to alert the community.  Frances has indicated to staff that this is a priority item.