We retain past announcements for public review, to retain a memory of our neighbourhood activities.
On this page:
- 62nd Toronto Scouts Group
- Community Garden at Dufferin and Dundas West Seeking Helpers
- Annual Havelock/Gladstone-and neighbourhood Street Festival, Sept 11
- St. Clarens Street Festival Sunday Oct. 3, 1:00-7:00
- Construction at Rusholme and College
- Delaware Concord Walking Tour, Sunday Oct 24
- The Brockton Initiative
Neighbourhood Anouncements
62nd Toronto Scouts Group
June 1, 2004
As a Chartered Group of Scouts Canada, the 62nd Toronto Group offers the following Sections…………….
Beavers, boys and girls aged 5 to 7 whose motto is "Sharing, Sharing, Sharing". Beavers participate in non-competitive games and crafts with the focus on nature. Beavers meet on Wednesdays at Chalmers Hall (corner of Hepbourne and Dovercourt) from 6.45 to 7.30 PM.
Wolf Cubs, boys and girls aged 8 to 10 whose motto is "Do Your Best". Wolf Cubs follow a programme modeled on Rudyard Kipling's "Jungle Book". Wolf Cubs meet on Wednesdays at Chalmers Hall (corner of Hepbourne and Dovercourt) from 7 to 8 PM.
Scouts, boys and girls aged 11 to 14 whose motto is "Be Prepared". Scouts emphasizes outdoor and environmental activities, citizenship, community service, and leadership. This section is due to start in Sept. 2004. The time and place are still to be finalized.
The scout slogan is "Bring on the Adventure," and that's what we do. At our meetings we have games and work toward badges in everything from bike riding and maintenance, to knot tying, to cooking, (and over a hundred other badges).
But, we like to "put the out in Scout" and have monthly outings to parks like Dufferin Grove. At least once every season we go for a weekend overnight camping trip, usually with lots of parents along too. This summer we have a week in Algonquin planned.
Last year our group had a campfire at Dufferin Grove Park and two skating outings at your rink. All of our Cubs earned their Skating Badge!
If you know a child who would like to join Scouting, it costs $100 a year, plus uniform. If you want to know more, you can call Bob Edwards at 416/ 413-1579, or e-mail him at watt.edwards@sympatico.ca.
Also, we have a new web-site at www3.sympatico.ca/toronto62nd, where you can see our activities in more detail.
Community Garden at Dufferin and Dundas West Seeking Helpers
Needs work. Can you help?
June, 2004: An update from Sarah Brierley:
June Update on the "Duchy of DunDuff" Community Garden at Dundas West & Dufferin
(actually located on Hickson Street near corner with Brock Ave, south of Dundas)
Still busy doing the solarization of the soil with black plastic to kill weeds and weed seed
Interest growing in a mural project, either with local school or community artist (still to be found!)
Aiming for "cheap & cheerful" first season planting: calendula, cosmos and sunflower seeds
(want to plant something colourful & quick; will save native perennials for after the mural project) hope to have a planting event late June; call 596-1495 x 30 if you 'd like to come!
April, 2004: Here is a letter from our neighbour Sarah Brierley, into community gardens as we are:
Do you live near the Duchy of DunDuff? New Community Garden needs help!
"DunDuff" is what I have affectionately dubbed my neighbourhood, that of Dundas W. and Dufferin. If you come exploring, you'll discover the little enclave that orbits around Shirley Street Public School. One of the portals to this corner is at Brock Ave. and Hickson St.
Currently, on the upper side of Hickson at Brock, there is a narrow, bedraggled, abandoned .5 metre wide strip of land, fronting a cinderblock wall "ornamented" with graffiti. The perfect place to do a little neighbourhood beautification and spread the good green vibe!
One of the reasons I¹m motivated to do this is so that the many school children who walk by the spot every day will have something inspiring, beautiful and green to look at in this bricked-up, cement and asphalt area.
The owners of the wall, Kingston Plumbing and Building Supplies, have given the go-ahead. They've furnished important background info, telling me that in the past, they had tried to cheer things up by installing a trellis on the wall. But it was stolen the very first night!
This was my cue for the reno/planting plan: something very simple, that will not be a temptation to steal or vandalize. Use native plants that will not be an obvious target as "desirables" to steal. And of course, low maintenance!
So the idea I've come up with, for the first year, is this: a carpet of Canada anemone (rapid, hardy spreader, with long lasting early spring bloom that first appears as a dot of white, then swells up into a blossom) and Virginia creeper on the wall, to provide berries for birds and spectacular fall colour. A border of bricks to demarcate the strip from the sidewalk, to clearly establish it as a stewarded space.
Of course, I'm open to suggestion--so do give me a call if you've got pointers or would like to help. In future years, perhaps some tall grasses could be planted to further obscure the wall.
Work Plan
1. Rake over area to make as level as possible.
2. Get compost from Councillor Environment Days/Leslie Spit compost site delivered to site (volunteer drivers?)
3. ASAP, smother out the weeds and grass with a layer of City compost & newspaper, and cover with plastic. Leave for approx. 1 month (April?).
4. Put in brick border. (Remove plastic).
5. Organize donation & transplant & delivery & planting of plants (late May?)
How You Can Help
Artistic? Help with the design & production of a sign.
Photographer? Document our events.
Driver? Help deliver compost from one of the Councillor's environment days.
Virginia creeper overload? Any vine babies to donate?
Pine Tree Seedlings? To camouflage unsightly lamppost.
Brick donations?
Gardener? Help to lay down newspaper & compost base; and later to transplant & plantAll volunteers welcome!
Sarah Brierley
Work: 416-596-1495 x 30 or sarah@evergreen.ca
Annual Havelock/Gladstone-and neighbourhood Street Festival
Saturday September 11, 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.
The festival begins with a community lawn sale at the east side of the park along Havelock Street at 10 a.m. (bring your stuff; no charge); then free hot dogs on Havelock Street at noon, then kids' games from 2 to 3; then potluck supper at the pizza oven (and pizza-making) at 6.30; then cake-walk at 7.30, then square dancing on the rink at 8. Organized, as usual, by Liz Martin and friends. Everyone welcome, wherever you live in the neighbourhood.
St. Clarens Street Festival Sunday Oct. 3, 1:00-7:00
St. Clarens Street Festival Sunday Oct. 3, 1:00-7:00
St. Clarens Avenue between 228 & 322
Face painting, haystack fun, craft station, pumpkin decorating, live entertainment, music, burgs &l; dogs, corn & roasted chestnuts, hot apple cider, raffle.
Construction at Rusholme and College
Does anyone know anything about the construction site at Rusholme Road and College? They're tearing out the gas station, but there is no indication of what will be replacing it. I really hope that it is not going to be something dreadful as we already have those townhomes on the south side breaking up the gradual spread of prosperous business on that bit of College. It seems that there might still be some hope of getting involved as a neighbourhood.
So what's happening at Rusholme and College? There's a big "Bell" sign on the side of the shack on the road ... and I heard two store-owners talking and they are a bit put out that no one has communicated with them.
Any news?
Best,
Emily and Bernard
posted October 5, 2004Hello All,
I phoned City Hall a couple of weeks ago to see what I could discover. The only permit that had been granted at that time was for demolition. I then spoke with the planner for the area and she said that there have been no applications or discussions (with her) in regard to the site. She also told me that the zoning for this site is very liberal and allows for many different uses. I then checked with the Land Registry office to see if the property had changed hands since the service station left and discovered that it hasn't (it has been owned by a numbered company since 1990 - maybe Esso?)
My guess (and it really is a guess at this point) is that we are going to see a "Quick Stop" style variety store/self serve gas station go up there in the near future.
I'm not sure how that would impact our neighbourhood. Any thoughts on this?
Arthur Irwin
Yeah I was wondering about that place. They had big gear digging it up and all . When I saw the big hole, I was sure it was going to be condo/townhouse thingees. But then they filled the holes up. No foundation structure.
Parking lot? I don't know.
Maybe all the digging was a ire prevention thing to do with oil drums or something?
Curious too.
Erella Ganon
I may be mistaken, but if memoery serves, if there was once a fuel tank on a property, it must remain filled and vacant for a certain set period of time before any new construction takes place.
Angela Shillolo
so how does that square with what happened at the site of Algarve Auto Repair on Ossington south of Dundas??.....that gas station was cleaned out and condos built almost immediately on the site. It would make sense that they'd have to leave it for a period of time. ..but not so in that case. hmmm.
Cheryl Hawkes
From the Office of Adam Giambrone:
Thanks for alerting me to the issue. We've had a lot of calls about this location over the last couple of months because of circulating rumours. Adam's response to Erella yesterday sums up what we know:
"The property on the north west corner of College and Rusholme is not slated for redevelopment. There have been no applications either for rezoning or to the Committee of Adjustment, nor have any building permits been issued. The work they are doing is based on a demolition permit. "
Thanks again,
Kevin Beaulieu
Constituency Assistant
Office of Councillor Adam Giambrone
Toronto City Hall
100 Queen Street West, Suite C42
Toronto, ON, M5H 2N2
p: 416.338.5305
f: 416. 392.7957
Delaware Concord Walking Tour
Sunday, October 24, 3:00pm
From: david yee
Sent: Saturday, October 23, 2004 10:16 AM
Subject: [dovercourtpark] Historical Walking Tour of Delaware-Concord - Oct. 24thHistorical Walking Tour of Delaware - Concord
Date: Sunday, October 24
Time: 3:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.
Location: Concord Ave. & Bloor St. W.Tour guide: Alec Keefer, Toronto Historian
Find out about your neigbourhood's rich history and a few of the local architectural gems.
Start: Concord & Bloor, south to College, west to Delaware, north to Bloor. End: 5:00 p.m, Delaware & Bloor
The Brockton Initiative
The Brockton Initiative's first event "The Autumn Harvest Block Party" was held on Sunday, October 3, 2004. It was organized and run by community volunteers, and sponsored by the generosity of local businesses, organizations and individuals. We have many stories about the event and soon we'll send a more detailed account. For now we want to announce the times for the next two meetings, to be held at Safehaven Project Board Room, 1173 Bloor Street West (we can accommodate 50 to 60 people):
Residents Meeting, 20 October 2004, 7:00 - 8:30, Board Meeting, 8:30 - 9:30
Board Meeting, 17 November 2004, 7:00 - 8:30
Egon Phillips (chair) and Liz Lourenco (vice-chair)
Photographs were taken by Keith Pace Asciak, (www.keithmedia.com)