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Greetings all. As the Winter drags on, what better way to respond than to gather your neighbours and go to a community meeting! Here are five upcoming events for your consideration.............

1) HVRA's TREEING THE VILLAGE committee meeting: Tuesday, March 2nd, 7pm, 90 Borden Street.

With many ambitious projects completed, the committee will consider new projects, and how to spend remaining "backyard tree" grant monies, along with other tree-planting monies raised locally. Here are some of their initial ideas:

a) Canopy Care: planting projects, watering support, use of website information, fruit tree harvesting, presentations/workshops topics of interest, other 'green' planting interests; harvesting local fruit trees, roof gardens, kitchen gardens....arborist services...support for local research projects; U of T science project collecting insects; U of T geography project on contradiction of shade (trees) vs direct sun (garden) in backyards...

b) 'Roots' of HIstory: starting with a June neighbourhood tree walk, education links with story telling about older neighbourhood trees, researching city and local school archives for tree stories, part of HV laneway project where trees are involved... use of website information and links, city trees planted with historical/memorial plaques in the neighbourhood...

For more information, contact Dinny Biggs at dinnybiggs@gmail.com.

2) HVRA's HERITAGE CONSERVATION committee meeting: Tuesday, March 2nd, 7pm, 133 Major St.

At the meeting, the committee will focus on two matters: expansion of HVRA's 2 existing Heritage Conservation Districts (HCDs)-- Willcocks/Brunswick and Robert St.-- to neighbouring streets, and ways to celebrate our newly-designated Robert Street HCD. For more information, contact Rory Gus Sinclair at rory.sinclair@rogers.com.

For those living in Heritage Conservation District houses, City of Toronto grants of up to 50% of the costs of conservation work on the front facades of your house are available. To find out whatwork qualifies, attend the Toronto Heritage Grant program Public Workshop, Tuesday, March 9, 2010, Committee Room 2, 2nd Floor, City Hall, 100 Queen West 6-8 p.m.
Grant forms are available at http://www.toronto.ca/heritage-preservation/grants or email: heritagepreservation@toronto.ca telephone 416-392-1974. Application deadline is May 21, 1 p.m.

3) SALLY BIRD PARK RE-DESIGN Meeting, Wednesday, March 10th, 6 - 8pm, 45 Brunswick Ave, south entrance.

Councillor Adam Vaughan is hosting a public planning meeting to discuss improvements to Sally Bird Park (the small park on Brunswick, north of Harbord). This "parkette" recently received infrastructure funding through the Recreational Infrastructure Canada Program (RInC), funded by Federal, Provincial and Municipal governments. These funds have provided the opportunity to bring positive changes to this green space that will benefit the Harbord Village neighbourhood. The Councillor hosted an initial consultation meeting in December at which improving the safety and usability of the park were identified as the key items to guide the design process. Specific suggestions from Park neighbours included: (a) addressing the sight lines to the rear of the park; (b) disbursing seating opportunities to provide spaces for individual reflection; (c) replacing existing play equipment with adult oriented exercise equipment; and (d) introducing a water play feature to draw children to the park. If you have questions or would like to receive a PDF of the draft design, call 416-392-4044 or email councillor_vaughan@toronto.ca.

4) TORONTO FOOD POLICY FORUM at Trinity-St.Paul's United Church, 427 Bloor Street West, Thursday, March 18th, 7-9pm

Toronto Public Health has released a working draft of a Toronto Food Strategy and is now inviting public consultations with local communities. You are invited to a neighbourhood meeting on March 18th that will be facilitated by Toronto Public Health and feature Harbord Village resident Dr. Harriet Friedman, an international expert on food policy.
The City wants to create a policy that makes nutritious, locally produced and affordable food available everywhere from our transit system to farmers markets to good food hubs to school food programs. This broad policy will cross city department boundaries with a goal of reducing harm caused by the foods we eat, and the pollution generated in creating it.
Attendees are encouraged to read the draft in advance at www.toronto.ca/foodconnections and to consider what advice they have for making this a policy document that reflects how best to embed food and health in all aspects of the city’s work, from anti-hunger to recycling, from cultural cuisines to healthy street food. For more information, contact Christine Wong at cjwong@sympatico.ca.

5) EARTH HOUR, 8:30pm - 9:30pm, Saturday, March 27

For the past 2 years, many Harbord Village have turned off their lights for one hour to demonstrate their concern about climate change. Some have put candles in their front windows and invited neighbours to join them for a candle-light get-together. HVRA encourages everyone to participate in this global event in any way that they feel comfortable. To learn more, or sign up, visit www.EarthHourCanada.org.

Best wishes,

Tim Grant, HVRA chair, www.harbordvillage.com,
95 Robert Street, (416) 960-1244 Fax (416) 925-3474, tim@greenteacher.com,