Harbord Village residents deal with challenges arising from the conditions of city living, and HVRA sometimes has a role to play in helping them. The projects listed below show impressive examples of volunteer action and community cooperation. Click on the green headers to go to specific pages.
Fire Safety
House fires are an unfortunate recurring theme. With the Toronto Fire Department, HVRA has prepared a readable pamphlet (available in PDF form) showing safety precautions and ways to prevent fires.
Traffic Calming
Speeding traffic and wrong-way driving are recurrent concerns, and HVRA has supported several initiatives to combat them. Our study of driver behaviour at intersections has already won us a new traffic light. Major and Robert Streets now have speed humps, and other blocks soon will too.
Noise
Harbord Village residents and HVRA have responded to the City’s request for input on a new noise bylaw. Meanwhile, we can offer some advice.
Doctors’ Parkette (was Brunswick-College Parkette)
HVRA sponsored a design competition in 2011-12, and by 2017 the parkette was finally built. It has a new name to honour community leadership by medical professionals. This page outlines the history and the ongoing transformation.
Graffiti
HVRA welcomes graffiti as art, but not graffiti as vandalism. This page shows photos of the good kind and outlines efforts to deal with tagging and defacement.
Laneway Naming
Toronto Emergency Services asked for laneway names to help identify exact locations, so HVRA named our 23 lanes after notable past residents. The names and reasons for choosing them provide a slice of Toronto history.
Home Energy Initiatives
HVRA has helped residents take advantage of public incentives for reducing energy use. Retrofitting makes our old houses liveable as well as affordable, and solar energy adds savings.