Junction Triangle

There's a new book being released tomorrow: Stroll, by Shawn Micallef. You may recognize Shawn's name, as he is an editor for Spacing magazine, a columnist for Eye Weekly, curator of the Murmur public art project (we have some installations nearby in The Junction), and much more. It seems like Shawn is always walking around the city, observing things, and writing about them. So it's quite fitting that his new book is a collection of various walks around Toronto.

Today, Torontoist features an interview with Shawn Micallef about Stroll. Our neighbourhood and the recent Fuzzy Boundaries naming project are mentioned:

Is Toronto particularly susceptible to that over-familiarization with the places that we spend our time because of the way that neighbourhoods here have such strong identities? They’re often quite small, too. It seems that every kilometre on Bloor, for example, the street signs tell you that you’re in a different village.

We do tend towards a kind of neighbourhood parochialism. Which is good. It’s good to have all of the services that you need nearby and to not need to commute across the city or in from the suburbs to get the things that you need.

In Toronto, we have these archetypal, wonderful neighbourhoods like the Annex, Little Italy, Kensington Market: these spaces of exceptional urbanism. Sometimes, though, the most interesting places are the neighbourhoods without a name, the in-between places. A neighbourhood in Toronto recently decided to give themselves the name Junction Triangle. It’s like they’re saying, "We’re not in-between anymore. Now we’re here." There’s still an in-between somewhere, but it got a little smaller.

West Toronto Railpath: The bridge over Bloor Street, Jane's Walk 2010

Today's Globe & Mail has an article about the possible future extension of the West Toronto Railpath.

A few quotes from the article:

A completed trail “would be amazing,” said Daniel Egan, manager of the city’s cycling infrastructure and programs. “What’s in place now doesn’t really go anywhere, but you can get a sense of what’s possible. ... You don’t need much imagination to understand how important it could be.”

But the completion of the trail into downtown is likely several years off, and still faces significant design and construction hurdles.

But if it is to become more than just a recreational trail, and open up a new commuting route for cyclists, the southern portion of the trail down to King and Strachan needs to be completed. That depends on whether room can be carved out alongside the rail corridor that is being expanded to provide more frequent GO train service and a rail link to the airport.

Metrolinx, the government agency planning the GO expansion, says it will try to make room for the railpath alongside its tracks. The city is willing to pick up the tab for construction costs, and will accommodate the trail on adjacent land or streets in the sections where it can’t be accommodated on rail land. And the grassroots group Friends of West Toronto Railpath, which pushed for years to get the path under way, is lobbying hard and helping with the design of the extended path.

The Toronto Star is reporting:

In a major victory for Toronto’s Junction community, Metrolinx has agreed to drop its appeal of a decision that limits the amount of noise it can make in the west-end neighbourhood.

The decision not to appeal ends months of tension around the nerve-jangling noise and vibration of pile-driving on the rail crossing known as the Toronto West Diamond near Dundas St. W. and Dupont.

In December, the CTA ordered GO to limit work hours and use quieter methods at the rail crossing. GO had already implemented quieter technology and shrouds over the pile drivers to try to reduce the noise.

Although this will delay the West Toronto Diamond grade separation project a little, it will provide the residents of the area around the diamond with some much-needed peace and quiet after the many months of pile-driving they have had to put up with.

Read the complete article over at The Star's website.

The Toronto Star released their online Neighbourhood Map, version 4.1 on May 21, 2009.

This is an update to earlier version which left our neighbourhood nameless.

An interesting point about the map itself is that The Star uses a Google map as a data source, and you can see in the underlying Google map that this neighbourhood is incorrectly labeled as "Silverthorn", which is actually a neighbourhood north of us in the Eglinton and Keele area.

The Fuzzy Boundaries neighbourhood naming process is now complete. The winner was announced this morning on CBC Radio's Metro Morning show, and the following media advisory was sent out:

Media Advisory

West Toronto Neighbourhood Votes to Keep Junction Triangle Name

Residents Embrace Past Moniker After Year-long Process

Who: Residents of the West Toronto neighbourhood north of Roncesvalles and east of The Junction and Fuzzy Boundaries, a group of residents spearheading a naming project for the area.

What: Residents have voted to keep the neighbourhood name Junction Triangle in the second and final round of voting for an area name. Junction Triangle won a plurality of the 674 votes cast, almost double the closest contenders Perth Park and Black Oak Triangle. The name Junction Triangle was first used in the 1970s by residents fighting pollution caused by local industries, but it had largely fallen out of use. During the two-week voting period, 83 percent of voters agreed to support the winning name no matter the outcome.

Fuzzy boundaries no more

West-end neighbourhood seeks to define and label itself, choosing from 10 names

ANNA MEHLER PAPERNY
From Wednesday's Globe and Mail Published on Wednesday, Mar. 10, 2010 12:00AM EST
Last updated on Wednesday, Mar. 10, 2010 5:59AM EST

What's in a neighbourhood name?

A lot - especially in a city defined by hundreds of differentiated municipal pockets.

And residents of one Toronto neighbourhood feeling left out of the name game have spent more than a year trying to come up with a suitable moniker.

The article's title is very misleading, as it calls our area the Junction.

Junction residents play name game

What’s in a name?

For Kevin Putnam and his group, Fuzzy Boundaries, more than they thought.

Fuzzy Boundaries is almost halfway through a two-week voting period that is giving residents in the west-end Junction area a chance to vote on what their neighbourhood should be named.

Starting last May, the group has moved from initial discussions — online and at public forums — to a shortlist of the top 10 names for the neighbourhood.

Read the complete story.

The Toronto Star has another article about the Fuzzy Boundaries neighbourhood naming project: The John Doe of neighbourhoods. Just in time for the final vote which starts on Monday March 1st and runs until March 14th.

Some highlights from the article:

The John Doe of neighbourhoods
The Wedge? The Triangle? Residents debate which name will make this junction function
By Mary Ormsby Feature Writer

Illegal dumping on tracks near Wallace Ave.: November 1, 2008

The Toronto Star's "Fixer" has another article about our neighbourhood. Unfortunately, articles from The Fixer don't usually shine a positive light on things. This article discusses the illegal dumping that frequently occurs along the train tracks around Wallace Ave., between Campbell and Lansdowne Avenues.

Illegal dump makes area an eyesore
By Jack Lackey, Toronto Star, 2010-02-17

Some selected quotes:

There are a lot of ways to disrespect a community, but strewing the landscape with junk that could be properly disposed of has to rank near the top.
We went there Tuesday and found an appalling amount of garbage likely dumped in the dead of the night. There was a couch, a mattress, old appliances and several bags of trash.
On a utility pole near the tracks was a sign warning that illegal dumpers can be fined up to $5,000, which sounds formidable but is obviously considered an empty threat.
STATUS: Markings on track equipment identified CN Rail, so we called its media rep, Frank Binder. He said CN did a major cleanup there a year ago, but has since sold the track to GO Transit. GO's Vanessa Thomas took down the details and promised to update us.
A swift cleanup will take place, Thomas said, "if it is determined that this garbage is located on GO Transit property."

Read the complete article online at The Star's website.

Today's Toronto Star has an article about controversial expansion of Erwin Krickhahn Park, at the corner of Rankin Cres. and Paton Rd.: Battle brewing: Garden or park space?

This issue has been posted and discussed several times before on this site, so please read those threads for background information before commenting here again.

A quick recap: In September 2009, City Council approved the expansion of Erwin Krickhahn Park into the dead and of Paton Rd. on the north side of the park. In the Fall, City work crews removed the asphalt and installed a new sidewalk adjacent to the new park land. Soil has been tested at the new park space and has been found to contain some "contaminants consistent with a roadway". Environmental remediation of these contaminants is expected to happen.

There are several options for using this new park space: It could be grassed over to expand the field area of the park, it could be planted with trees and other plants, a community garden can be installed there, or other options. The community garden proposal is the most controversial of these ideas. Councillor Adam Giambrone has promised to hold a community meeting this Spring so that residents and city staff can discuss these ideas and come up with the most suitable plan.