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Join your neighbours at HVRA’s annual fall fair

When? this Sunday, September 12, 12-7 pm

Where? Margret Fairley Park (Brunswick and Ulster)

Our annual Fall Fair is soon upon us. What a wonderful opportunity to meet neighbours, enjoy live music, purchase locally-baked goods, bid on silent auction items, enjoy foods and beverages of all kinds, win raffle prizes and watch young kids get their faces painted. New this year is a display of art by neighbourhood artists. Who could ask for more?

Speaking of asking for more, we’d welcome contributions of baked goods, or anything homemade or homegrown. If you are willing to contribute, please contact Mary Newberry at 416 966 1523 or mary.newberry@rogers.com, If at the last minute you realize that you can contribute, just bring it to Margaret Fairley Park on Sunday, September 12th at noon, or drop it off at Mary’s home (133 Major Street) before that time.

Upcoming events

LEAF (Local Enhancement and Appreciation of Forests) will be holding a Tree Tenders Volunteer Training program starting this September 13.

 
This 15 hour training program is designed for individuals who want to gain tree-related knowledge and skills to care for the urban forest in their communities.  The course involves a combination of indoor and outdoor instruction and the registration fee is only $50 (the low cost is possible through subsidies of our partners).  Details and registration form can be found here.

pool photos Join the Saturday afternoon Community Swims at Central Technical High School

The swims will be every Saturday afternoon from 2-5 pm at Central Technical School, starting this autumn.

This is great news, as many Harbord Village residents expressed support for saving the large pool at CTS when it was threatened with closure in December. Kudos to Susan Purvis, Fernanda Pisani and her tireless pool committee for their efforts.

There will be a cost of $2 per person. On the first Saturday all monies raised will go to support the relief efforts in Haiti. There will also be an opening "pool party" that afternoon. The pool is in a separate building from the main school and west of the Art building on Lennox. The entrance is 20 metres south of Lennox and Lippincott. To receive further news about this (and hopefully other community swims), contact centraltechpool@gmail.com.

PS. The shallow, wheelchair-accessible pool at Kensington Community School has also been saved!

CENTRAL TECH POOL – FIRST COMMUNITY SWIM: Saturday, September 25

Note from our Chair Tim Grant: I received an unconfirmed report today that the refurbished big pool at Central Technical School will be hosting its first community swim for 2 or more hours on Saturday, September 25. Check the HVRA website closer to the date for confirmation and details.

HVRA FALL NEWSLETTER DEADLINE: Sept.15th

We have a Fall and Spring newsletter each year. Is there an article that you’d like to write, or an article that you’d like someone else to write for our Fall or Spring newsletters? If so, please contact Tim Grant at tim@greenteacher.com at your earliest convenience.

MAYORAL CANDIDATES’ DEBATE: Tuesday, October 12, 7-9pm

If you missed the HVRA-sponsored Mayoral Debate in June, here’s another chance. Behind held at Epic Hall, within St. Paul’s Bloor Street Church at 227 Bloor Street East, this debate will be hosted by TVO’s Steve Paikin. It is co-sponsored by The Greater Yorkville Residents’ Association and The Yonge Bloor Bay Business Association.

ALL CANDIDATES DEBATE FOR CITY COUNCILLOR AND SCHOOL TRUSTEES

Monday, October 18th, 7-9:30pm, Trinity-St.Paul’s Centre, 429 Bloor Street West.

HVRA is one again co-sponsoring back-to-back debates between the handful of candidates running here in Ward 20 for City Council and School Trustee. Chaired by HVRA’s past chair, Rory Gus Sinclair, there will be lots of opportunity to each questions of each set of candidates.

Also, a Mayoral Debate to discuss the state of heritage in Toronto in 2010

Monday, August 30th at 7:00pm
at St Lawrence Hall, 3rd floor in the Great Hall at 157 King Street East (at Jarvis).

On Monday, August 30th, Heritage Toronto and the Toronto Historical Association will host a public mayoral debate at St. Lawrence Hall to discuss the state of heritage in Toronto in 2010. The debate will be moderated by former Chief Planner for the City of Toronto, and Adjunct Professor of City Planning at the University of Toronto and Ryerson University, Paul Bedford.

Heritage Toronto and the Toronto Historical Association have run a series of community consultations throughout the city which will result in a report of what Torontonians see as significant issues relating to heritage preservation. The information collected through the consultations and public input will be used to develop a heritage report card, with key issues being raised at the debate. The report card will also be accessible to the public and media in the fall.

Issues raised so far at the consultations include a lack of: staff resources and funding that the City provides toward heritage conservation; understanding and education of our decision makers and senior levels of municipal and provincial government on the heritage designation process and; sufficient tools, such as strong protective statements in the City’s Official Plan that will ensure heritage conservation is caught early in the development process.

Candidates that have been confirmed for the event include Rocco Achampong, Rob Ford, Joe Pantalone, Rocco Rossi, George Smitherman and Sarah Thomson.

HVRA ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING: Tuesday, October 19th, 7-9pm, Kensington Health Centre.

Meet your neighbours, discuss local concerns, be inspired by our guest speakers, and ask tough questions of Councillor Adam Vaughan and meet your representatives on the new HVRA board. Consider becoming a board member yourself.

HARBORD PUMPKIN FESTIVAL (Monday, November 1st ) NEEDS YOUR HELP!

For the 3rd year in a row, hundreds of lit pumpkins will festoon tables and doorways from Spadina to Borden, one day after Halloween. Once again, we’re planning to provide free cider, create an art gallery for local art and host a silent auction. But to do all this, we need a few more than the 15 volunteers who helped last year.

Typically, volunteers help for 1-2 hours with one of the following tasks: setting up tables along Harbord, picking up pumpkins from those homes that leave them outside for us, lighting and replacing candles inside the pumpkins, helping with the silent auction and art displays. Later on, other volunteers remove the candles from the pumpkins before City staff cart them off for composting, and they fold the tables for collection.

If you have 1-2 hours to help before or on Monday, November 1st, please contact Tim Grant at tim@greenteacher.com.

CRIMES TO REPORT?

Car vandalism and house break-ins do occur in our downtown neighbourhood. Whenever they happen, it is important that they be reported to the Toronto Police. When 3 officers gave a presentation to an HVRA board meeting last Winter, they pointed out that the more calls they receive from a particular neighbhourhood, the more patrols that neighbourhood receives. Whenever a crime or a suspicious incident occurs, please contact Toronto Police at 14 Division at 416-808-1500.

 

The Bloor Borden Farmers’ Market is back for its third great year
 

Bloor Borden Farmers Market August 24 2010

Photo Wendy Smith: Bloor Borden Farmers Market August 25, 2010

The market is made possible by many organizations and depends on community volunteers from three residents’ associations, including the HVRA.

MyMarket, a certified Farmers’ Market featuring real farmers selling only what they produce, opens its stalls each Wednesday, from June to October — from 3 to 7 pm — at the same location in the Borden Street parking lot south of Bloor. For more information, see our Farmers Market webpage.

VOLUNTEERING WITH OUR FARMER’S MARKET
It’s never too late to volunteer. The market is dependent on community volunteers from residents’ associations including HVRA. Please email Terri at bloorbordenmarket@gmail.com to learn about ways you can help.

 

 

 

Google Earth

Find your tree!

Our Google Earth map will show you your street, your house, your tree — and the entire Harbord Village canopy.

Check it out on our Harbord Village Trees Inventory webpage.

 

Neighbourhood News

Phase 2: Harbord Village Heritage Conservation District Plan

January, 2010
HVRA is pleased to announce that City Council has approved and is enacting a bylaw to put into effect the Phase 2 Plan, which includes 239 residential properties in three areas:

  • The east and west sides of Robert Street from College to Bloor

  • The south side of Sussex Avenue from Spadina to Robert Street

  • The north side of Russell Street from Spadina Crescent to Robert Street and the west side of Spadina Crescent and Avenue from Russell Street to Willcocks Street

This phase complements the Phase 1 project previously approved, which included properties on Willcocks Street, Brunswick Street, and a small number of properties on Robert and Spadina providing entry to Willcocks Street.

Thanks to all the people in the neighbourhood for their support in this endeavour, and to the volunteers who worked at the archives and libraries. The history and descriptions of all properties in Phase 2 has been compiled in the inventory, and this information will be communicated to property owners.

The committee, along with all the volunteers, are eager to organize the commemoration of this great achievement.

Congratulations to all.

For more information on the Harbord Village Heritage Conservation Districts, please visit our Heritage Preservation webpage here.

Barton Cottages on Robert Street

Above: Barton Cottages on Robert Street,
included in the Phase 2 Harbord Village Heritage Conservation District Plan