NRRA Newsletter – Spring 2019
Volume 16 | Issue 1
Spring 2019
Change is in the Air
Celebrating the season of change in our neighbourhood
Finally!
Spring is here and we can enjoy our beautiful neighbourhood, our “Village in the City” again in its full splendour. As you read this, the magnolia trees should already be in bloom, kids are playing soccer and dogs have shed their winter coats (and boots) and are getting their owners outdoors for longer walks. A perfect segue to thanking all the North Rosedale residents who participated in the 2019 Annual Community Clean Up Day on April 27th. We gathered at Chorley and Rosedale Parks and spread from there to other parks in the neighbourhood. We had a great turnout of volunteers who did a fantastic job of getting our parks ready for the summer. Everyone in the neighbourhood enjoys having great parks, but most people do not realize City Parks & Rec are not able to go the extra mile to get the parks cleaned up for the summer. It’s up to us. If you didn’t make it this year, please consider coming for the 2020 Clean Up Day for a couple of hours. Come alone, bring a friend or bring your family out for the fun!
We will be looking for you in 2020.
Sometimes change is good, sometimes not. Our ravines are changing for the worse. As you have read in previous issues, there is a growing awareness of the rapid deterioration of Toronto’s ravines.
The good news is there is momentum building to get something done citywide and within each of our communities. Recently, Councilor Mike Colle of Ward 8 put forward a motion to address feasibility of establishing a Conservancy to create a long-term sustainable plan to enable private funding to accelerate and expand work on GTA ravines. Council adopted the motion 25-1 for City staff to report back on possible advantages of putting this in action.
Our Councilor, Mike Layton, is also passionate about the ravines. He has toured some of the worst areas and his staff have been active in advocating for more City action on our ravine areas. He has been instrumental in reviving the Vale of Avoca Community working group which seeks to provide community input to the Toronto Water project that will address the serious deterioration (virtual collapse) of the infrastructure and lands abutting the water course and restoring a more natural habitat. We are pushing for more community input earlier in the planning of these projects and more coordination between various City departments to be able to leverage the infrastructure work to remediate the surrounding environment. This type of approach would help in avoiding the conflict experienced with the recent changes to Chorley Park.
In our community, the Residents Associations near us have teamed up as the Mid Town Ravine Group (the “MTG”) to identify demonstration projects that could be executed to supplement City work. So far 4 projects are under consideration near Yellow and Mud creek. The objective is to create small community-led and funded projects that will remediate and maintain targeted areas in our ravines. We have considered areas that are environmentally significant, realistic for a community-based organization and sustainable over the long term. This is a big change for the City in how they have operated in the last few years and we are looking to establish a successful model or pilot that can be expanded to a larger Conservancy model. We are currently exploring how best to pilot as a charitable organization that can issue tax receipts for funds raised.
