Junction Triangle

Human Train: The Human Train approaches the Wallace Ave. pedestrian bridge.

On Saturday September 26th 2009, the "Human Train" rolled through our neighbourhood on its way from Weston to Sorauren Park. Organized by the Clean Train Coalition, the Human Train was a rally against the Metrolinx / GO Transit project to run over 400 diesel trains through West Toronto neighbourhoods, and to demand the immediate electrification of the Georgetown rail corridor.

The Human Train left Weston at 8:30 in the morning, and made stops in various neighbourhoods along the way (Mount Dennis, The Junction, etc.) before arriving at the Wallace Ave. Pedestrian Bridge along the Railpath in our neighbourhood shortly after noon. At the Wallace Ave. bridge, a large gathering of local residents cheered the arrival of the Human Train, welcomed the marchers to our neighbourhood, and rallied up support for the Clean Train Coalition's cause.

Our local rally on the Railpath under the Wallace Bridge attracted about 100 area residents, many parents with their kids, a group of musicians who kept the crowd entertained, face painters for the kids, and refreshments courtesy of city councillor Adam Giambrone's office.

Local resident Scott Dobson addressed the crowd and spoke about the neighbourhood's previous battles against pollution, as well as the amazing positive impact of the new West Toronto Railpath, which could all be knocked back if hundreds of diesel trains start passing by every day.

After the rally at the Wallace Bridge, the Human Train continued south to Sorauren park, via the Railpath, Perth Ave., Dundas St., and Sorauran Ave. The final rally down at Sorauren park was huge, with estimates ranging from 500-1000 people. Speeches by local politicians, activists, and Toronto's Medical Officer of Health Dr David McKeown helped drive home the point that the huge expansion of diesel rail traffic is unhealthy and unwelcome in our neighbourhoods.

Continue reading below for links to media coverage, videos, and many more photos of the event.

How was your own experience of this event? Do you think it will have any impact on the GO / Metrolinx plans?

Click the photos to see larger versions.

Railpath Litter Cleanup: Some of the volunteers who gathered to clean up litter on the West Toronto Railpath.

Last night, as small (but good looking) group of neighbours met up on the West Toronto Railpath do do a quick 30-minute litter cleanup. We met up at the Wallace Ave. bridge, and then split into two groups heading north and south. We spent close to an hour cleaning up the Railpath, and there was hardly a speck of litter left from Cariboo down to south of Bloor when we were finished. The southernmost end, beyond Tower Automotive could still use some help.

It's almost like the City was anticipating this cleanup event. Earlier in the day, some of the new garbage / recycling containers were finally installed near some of the path entrances (you can see part of one on the right side of the top photo). This will hopefully help keep the litter down from now on, though I'm sure some manual cleanup will always be required.

This type of community cleanup on the Railpath will likely happen often, as a "Railpath Stewardship Group" builds up.

So get out there and enjoy the path. And don't be afraid to get your hands a bit dirty once in a while if you see some litter or anything else that needs fixing around the neighbourhood. Just watch out for the poison ivy near the Bloor St. bridge!

All photos by Vic Gedris. Click for larger versions.

Kevin Putnam has organized a cleanup of the West Toronto Railpath. The City has not installed garbage bins along this park yet, though we're told they are coming soon, so there have been some issues with litter accumulating along the path. Here are the details for the cleanup effort:

A group of volunteers is meeting on Wednesday evening (Sept. 23) at 6:45 p.m. at the foot of the Wallace Street bridge to clean-up the garbage on the West Toronto Railpath. If you would like to join us, just bring a pair of work gloves and we will provide the bags. It's a great opportunity to do something nice for the hood, meet a few neighbours, get a little exercise and make the place look better for the hundreds of people who are using the trail everyday.

As always, if you're out walking in any of our local parks, why not stop to pick up some litter when you see it? If everyone can pick up a few pieces once in a while, the whole neighbourhood will be much cleaner, with just a small effort.

The second Fuzzy Boundaries public meeting on Tuesday September 15th was a big success. Approximately 60 people came to the meeting to discuss the neighbourhood naming project. Chris Kwaczek did a short presentation on current neighbourhood demographics, and CBC broadcaster Jane Farrow was incredibly interesting and entertaining while she spoke about neighbourhood names. The Q&A session following the presentations was equally interesting.

The Fuzzy Boundaries website has a longer writeup and more photos from the event.

The neighbourhood naming process has moved to the next stage now: A 120-day period where anyone can submit neighbourhood name suggestions. You can submit ideas at the Fuzzy Boundaries website, or at the Perth-Dupont Library.

Sketch from the City of Toronto: Click for a larger version

At the next Toronto and East York Community Council meeting, councillors will be voting on agenda item TE27.55: the permanent closure of the short section of Paton Rd. just north of Erwin Krickhahn Park, and transferring the land to Parks and Recreation for the purpose of extending the park north.

A PDF copy of the Staff Report can be found here, as well as a PDF version of the sketch here.

Fuzzy Boundaries, the local neighbourhood naming initiative, was recently featured in a video news piece by Chantal Saxe with S@Y News:

You can also view it directly on Youtube here.

The next Fuzzy Boundaries meeting is on Tuesday, September 15 at 7 p.m. at St. Josaphat's Ukrainian Catholic Church (110 Franklin Avenue).

Bloor Dundas Avenue Study: Map from the City of Toronto.
The following email comes from Corwin Cambray, City of Toronto planner:

The Consultants' Final Report on the Bloor Dundas 'Avenue' Study and supporting material are now posted on the study's web site: www.toronto.ca/planning/bloordundas.htm

Feedback on the Final Report can be submitted by completing the Comments Form also posted or submitting comments directly to the City by September 18, 2009.

Got a recipe?
Tastes good and nutritious to boot? Share it with our community! Who knows, your neighbour may just thank you for it. Post up links and/or family recipes that tickle the taste-buds but not the wallet.

Vegan to omnivore, all are welcome to contribute. There should be something for everyone.

Bon Appétit!

Here's a selection of photos from the Dupont bike mural launch party on August 25 2009. This fantastic new mural was installed by a group of artists from Art Starts in July. More information and photos of the mural itself are in this previous article.

And now, for the photos:

Dupont Bike Mural Launch: Artists from the Art Starts organization at the launch party for their new cycling-themed mural on Dupont St. at Dundas.