Kensington Market

[Alley Kat]

http://www.eyeweekly.com/blog/post/60090--eye-weekly-patio-pick-2-ronnie-s-local-069

Bar and Patio Guide 2009
EYE WEEKLY patio pick #2: Ronnie's Local 069

by: Dave Morris May 12, 2009
Ronnie’s Local 069
69 Nassau. 416-340-1110.

“I love this bar because it’s so unpretentious†is currently among the most confusing phrases in the English language. When a young person describes a bar this way, do they mean, “Its décor consists of quirky, painstakingly-sourced knick-knacks carefully arranged to convey a sense of effortless cool†or do they mean that they serve decent beer for reasonable prices and don’t look down on you for ordering Labatt 50 because you’re broke as shit?

In a way, Ronnie’s is both, but don’t hold that against it. Smack in the middle of a sea of hippies, it’s often packed to the gills with the opposite — pretty young things whose vintage duds cost more than your rent. But it’s also the best patio in Kensington Market to knock back a pint of whatever’s going (most recently there was an excellent Stratford Pilsner and a nice apricot beer, but it changes often).

I once saw Tim Roth there, with his hat pulled down low, trying to keep a low profile. Turns out that he spent much of a summer there while shooting a movie in town, so announcing that you saw Tim Roth there went from being a fun story to tell your friends to an easy way of outing yourself as a celebrity whore.

But that’s the thing about Ronnie’s; as much as the regulars sometimes look like the kind of people that flock to supposedly unpretentious bars to have the most pretentious conversations possible, it really is the place to go for a hassle-free drink when the sun is shining and you just want to chill. Roth and the Constantines (another gang of regulars who recorded their last album in a studio very near the bar) didn’t act like self-important celebrity assholes when they hung out there — and if you decide to adopt the middle-class-suburban-den-circa-1972 back room as your spiritual home, neither should you.

 

[urbandreamer]

Except all those cool people on Ronnie's patio are smoking, thus making my enjoyment of a $7 pint less so. And that trashy looking blonde bartender with her nipples as her only asset showing.... heehee.

(I prefer sitting inside on a hot day, contrary to the behaviour of most Torontonians.)

 

[Alley Kat]

http://www.quillandquire.com/google/article.cfm?article_id=10676

This Ain’t the Rosedale Library throws benefit for itself
May 15, 2009 | 7:06 PM | By Suzanne Gardner

Toronto indie bookseller This Ain’t the Rosedale Library appears to be going through a bit of a rough patch. This week, the store is throwing a mini-benefit for itself, a pay-what-you-can event with proceeds going “to help the store beat the recession.†The event, which takes place tonight (May 14) at The Boat nightclub, features authors Lauren Bride and Malcolm Sutton, as well as musicians Alex Lukashevsky and The Torrent.

In conversation with Q&Q Omni, store co-owner Charles Huisken downplayed rumours that the business might be in dire financial straits. As he sees it, the store has been in continual financial trouble “since its opening in 1979.†He did say, however, that the current economic downturn has forced all independent booksellers to get a little more resourceful. “As a store our size, we have to kind of elbow in to get a bit of press, a bit of attention, and if we can get a few bucks at the same time, that’s a fine enterprise,†said Huisken.

Toronto author Sheila Heti was originally scheduled to headline the event, but had to cancel her appearance at the last minute. Bride, a friend and fellow writer, is stepping in to take her place and will read the unpublished piece that Heti was preparing to share. “If it helps [the bookstore], then that’s good,†Heti told Q&Q Omni, adding that she has always had a particular fondness for This Ain’t the Rosedale Library.

In May 2008, the store moved from its longstanding location in the city’s Church and Wellesley neighbourhood to its current home in Kensington Market. Among the changes Huisken has noticed since the move is that “the store is [now] most frequented by people who browse.â€

In addition to benefit event, the store plans to celebrate its 30th anniversary in mid-September with an event at Harbourfront Centre.

 

[urbandreamer]

boohoo! As a frequent customer of Ideal Coffee, I can confirm the fact that This Ain't a Successful Bookstore indeed!

What the owner miscalculated: the street attracts tons of grungy kids and relatively poor students, although it does have its fair share of wealthier yuppies as well. However, people come to get a coffee or go to KOS for brunch on this street, and not to buy books. I think he'd have been more successful opening on Augusta....

So, good riddance to a pointless bookstore!

 

[Alley Kat]

The first Pedestrian Sunday of '09

http://torontoist.com/2009/06/a_pedestrian_sunday.php?gallery0Pic=2

 

[Alley Kat]

Pedestrian Sunday Costs

http://www.ffwdweekly.com/blogs/the-intern-net/2009/06/01/festival-costs-46/

According to organizer Shamez Amlani, Pedestrian Sundays pays only $400 for road closures, insurance and city permits. No, I didn't forget two zeros. Not even one zero.

Four hundred dollars.

And they get reimbursed by the City of Toronto for the entire amount.

Pedestrian Sundays are also required to have less police than comparable festivals... Way less. In fact, they aren't required to have ANY pay-duties in attendance for an event that attracts upwards of 50,000 people...

Not that Amlani doesn't have his quibbles with the City of Toronto. He says they have not yet reimbursed him for last year's festival costs, and he complains about the bureaucracy that is the City of Toronto. The city wasn't going to issue them a permit this year until Amlani took the matter to his councillor and eventually to the mayor. He also complains about insurance costs, saying "Insurance is like the emperor's new clothes, it's invisible but it costs."

He wants Toronto to support these kind of events the way cities in Europe do, saying the cost to the city of closing roads for these events is minimal compared to the costs the city incurs to have people driving on the roads, such as maintenance, meter maids, traffic police etc.. "This isn't the way it happens in so many other civilized places in the world," he says.

 

[Alley Kat]

Story in Pictures: Pedestrian Sunday Kensington Market

http://johnb.smugmug.com/gallery/8398495_ApYpC#P-1-25

 

[Alley Kat]

http://www.nowtoronto.com/daily/story.cfm?content=170766

What a (stolen) ride
A STRANGE TALE ABOUT BIKE THEFT IN TORONTO
BY BENJAMIN BOLES

If you ride a bicycle in Toronto, at least once in your life you will have it stolen.

The first bike I got when I moved here was lifted the first day I owned it, although I’m probably to blame for using a cheap chain lock. Luckily it was a free bike, and rusted to hell, so I wasn’t too sad, although it was not the last one to get stolen.

More common in my life has been drunk frat boys (I’m assuming that’s who they are) kicking the shit out of my chariot when I’ve made the mistake of locking it near the club district. What is it about bikes that inspires such anger in drunk dudes?

Anyway, back to the story…

A month or so ago I decided that I’d had enough of riding my little folding bike with the miniature tires. Sure, it was cute, but having to pedal like a madman just to get to a mild cruising speed was wearing thin, and leaving it out all winter hadn’t been kind to the poor thing.

On my dad’s recommendation, I took it down to Parts Unknown (216 Augusta in Kensington Market) and traded it in on a great vintage Supercycle, and quickly rediscovered the joys of riding fast. Life with my new bike was great, until one afternoon I discovered a handwritten note stuck in my helmet.

“To the owner of this bike. I have some interesting news for you. This is actually my bike. It was stolen from me about a month ago.â€

The letter went on to explain that it had been a gift from his girlfriend and had lots of sentimental value, and he was willing to offer a reward. While I doubted he’d be able to give me enough money to buy a new bike, I didn’t really feel comfortable ignoring it, so I called him up.

After a couple weeks of phone tag, we finally connected, and he was able to provide enough detail that I didn’t doubt his story. But what to do? If I give him the bike outright, I no longer have a way of getting to work (I’m sorry, the Queen streetcar is just too slow, unless I’m avoiding rain and snow).

Bringing it back to the shop didn’t seem like an ideal solution either, as I’d heard lots of horror stories from folks who found their missing wheels at Igor Kenk’s infamous shop and still left empty handed. Parts Unknown seemed equally chaotic and strange – they don’t even have electricity, and are located in a back alley.

Turns out I had nothing to worry about. When the bike shop heard my story, they were positively mortified.

“First of all, whenever anything like this happens we will do our best to make it right. Second of all, we don’t buy bikes from strangers – there are only a small number of guys who supply us, and we know them all. Whoever it was will be hearing from us.â€

They set me up with another vintage Canadian Tire bike, and this one is actually better than the one I ended up with before. Maybe it would have been better to involve the police, but considering how gracious the Parts Unknown guys were, I think I made the right call letting them deal with the bike thief.

Of course if my new bike ends up with a similar note attached to it someday, I’ll probably be singing a different tune.

 

[Alley Kat]

http://www.eyeweekly.com/blog/post/68163--high-on-dry

Cheap Thrills: getting the most bang for your budget
High on Dry

by: Sarah Nicole Prickett

Salamanca's prices are nuts!

Must confess: it’s probably all my fault that the bulk sections at certain Metros (I’m thinking of the one at Gould Street and the one at College and Shaw) have been closed down and converted into overpriced tubs of grub. I mean, I used to steal those yogurt-covered almonds by the handful. So I’m sorry, and to make it up to you, I’ll let you in on the best, cheapest spot to scoop up all things crunchy and healthful: Kensington Market’s Salamanca Dry Food (202 Baldwin, 416-593-9814).

I’m not good with micro-economics, and can’t explain why so much (last purchase: couscous for three dinners, a quarter-kilogram of natural peanut butter, a giant bag of California dates) costs so little ($4.69). All I know is that every time I shop there, I feel greedy — do I really need to eat my weight in wasabi peas? Then, a ring of the cashier’s register proves my snacky impulses to be shockingly thrifty, and I’m absolved. Best part: the owner knows I steal yogurt-covered almonds, and lets it go with a wink.

 

[Alley Kat]

http://rabble.ca/blogs/bloggers/johnbon/2009/08/car-free-sundays-hit-kensington-market


Car-free Sundays a hit in Kensington Market
BY JOHN BONNAR | AUGUST 3, 2009

On the last Sunday afternoon in July, Rob and Beth stood in the road just north of Nassau Street on Augusta Avenue showing off their pet iguanas to passersby. She had one perched on her head; he was stroking one resting on his shoulder. Five photographers jostled for position trying to capture the perfect moment.

“Do you want to hold one?†Rob asked an interested observer. “You want Lizzy or Magic?â€

“It doesn’t matter,†she answered.

Rob told me that the iguanas had suffered abuse before they were rescued by the Humane Society, where he acquired them. He brings them out to street festivals to educate people about these green lizards that most us never get to see or touch.

They all have their own unique personalities.

“Lizzy’s a daddy’s girl,†said Rob. “She’s very possessive and very jealous.†Last year while Rob was recovering from a stroke, Lizzy babysat him. “She would actually climb on my chest. If I got a headache she’d lie on my neck.â€

And they're vegans too. Georgina loves her apples. Lizzy craves bananas. And Magic is a grape and melon addict.

A few steps away, a balloon artist was twisting, pinching and hooking several balloons to make an animal creature for a little girl.

“I can easily go through 300 balloons in a busy afternoon,†said Aaron the Balloon Man, dressed in a silver jacket and wearing a dragon balloon hat.

Originally from Ireland, where he started making balloons in the street four years ago, Aaron is in the midst of writing a book called ‘Tales of the Balloon Man’ about his travels. Four weeks ago, he started in Toronto before heading off to Montreal and Ottawa.

Nearby, Kyle was juggling three balls while walking around on stilts. Since completing a degree in theatre arts in Windsor five years ago, he’s been busking spring, summer and fall at music and street festivals around the province. But this is his first year in Toronto.

“Juggling was in my living room,†said Kyle, pausing for a photo. “Unfortunately I was a theatre student and couldn’t afford cable. So this was the better option.â€

During the winter, he works as a professional actor in Windsor. “Things are a little dry in the industry,†he said. “But hopefully in the winter it will pick up again.â€

As I moved north on Augusta, I noticed Steve Mann was playing his hydraulophone, which is a cross between a flute and a pipe organ, with an abstract aquatic shape, a fat end and a resonant cavity. “It’s kind of like a flute that has a mouth piece for every finger hole so that you can play more than one note at the same time,†said Mann, who invented the hydraulophone after dreaming that he was playing a pipe organ in a fountain.

At the intersection of Oxford and Augusta, Angela Bischoff was busy telling everyone about the province’s plans to expand nuclear energy. Bischoff, who is opposed to nuclear energy but in favour of renewables, is the Campaign Manager of Ontario’s Green Future for the Ontario Clean Air Alliance.

On Sunday, she invited people to send postcards (which can also be found at the Ontario’s Green Future website and sent electronically) to Prime Minister Harper and to Ontario’s Minister of Energy and Infrastructure George Smitherman expressing opposition to more taxpayer subsidies for nuclear power.

“Everybody I talk to takes one,†said Bischoff. “I’ve given out 50 postcards in fifteen minutes.â€

Most people, according to Bischoff, are anti-nuclear yet unaware of Ontario’s plans to move forward with nuclear power. “The province is planning to replace our existing nuclear plants with new nuclear plants and increasing nuclear generation,†she said. “That information nobody knows about.â€

The Ontario Clean Air Alliance is hoping to convince Ottawa not to subsidize Ontario’s nuclear expansion budget that's calling for at least two multibillion-dollar refurbishment projects.

Before leaving Augusta Avenue, I managed to grab a few minutes with Alexander, who ran a small puppet show. He called it a walk-by act, which meant people could walk by, stop for a few minutes, watch the show and then move on.

“My big shtick is that they give me a subject, which I improvise a song for them on that subject with my marvelous characters here,†said Alexander, as he pointed to his puppets. “It’s a very small puppet show but it seems to work very well.â€

He got the idea for a puppet show after work dried up in the film industry. And even though the work is exhausting, especially since Alexander is performing five or six hours at a stretch, it’s something he enjoys because it’s so challenging.

I left Alexander and headed across Baldwin Street towards Kensington Avenue, marveling at the array of food, clothing and small specialty shops while admiring the efforts of neighbourhood groups who’ve fought gentrification and prevented big box stores from taking over the Market.

As I walked down Kensington Avenue, I heard the voice of a poet. “…so walk with me to the edge of the chessboard and peer down,†she said. “Consider everything that might not happen and then look up...â€

That was Lara Bozabalian performing Music Box.

“It sort of fuses my love of chess and classical music and the notion of two people unable to move forward in a relationship,†said Bozabalian, a member of the first All-Women Canadian Slam team, along with Truth Is, Ariel Platt & Kimiko Carter, that went to the American National Poetry Slam from August 4 to August 8 in West Palm Beach, Florida.

Every month at the Drake Hotel, she performs at the Underground in a judged competition. At the end of the year, the top four poets represent Canada at the National Poetry Slam.

Bozabalian, who’s a high school English teacher, didn’t start writing poetry until she w 24 years old and has only been performing for the last two years.

“It’s very organic,†she said. “You write the piece and you learn what parts are for the audience and how you can move and share.â€

 

[Alley Kat]

http://www.nowtoronto.com/news/story.cfm?content=170638

Kensington: P.S. I love you
AS THE BLACKOUT EDITION OF PEDESTRIAN SUNDAYS NEARS, I TAKE SNAPSHOTS OF OUR BELOVED BOHEMIA BEFORE SHE TURNS INTO HER UGLY STEPSISTER, YORKVILLE

BY ASHLEY BOTTING

Babies can’t stay babies forever. They grow up.

Kensington Market, Toronto’s most loved progeny, has come through her immigrant infancy, survived her defiant toddler and tween years and is currently battling an awkward adolescence.

Nobody knows what will become of our most cherished neighbourhood, but it seems everybody wants a say.

Like parents, those of us who live in the ’hood aren’t at all shy about saying what direction she should be heading in and the kinds of people we think she should be hanging around with (i.e., not the Starbucks crowd). The land speculators dream of Kensington becoming like her sister Yorkville, farther north.

I’m of the view that our wild child will become what she will, and rather than interfere in her inevitable maturation, I’d like to appreciate her just as she is and not worry about what she’ll be like all grown up.

So, on a recent weekday afternoon, I thought it appropriate to take a few snapshots of our baby before we don’t recognize her any more.

In Kensington Market, it’s hard to differentiate the hipsters from the people who are simply wearing the clothes they acquired in the 80s. You need to look closely to see if jeans are torn from wear or by design.

An Italian man who speaks no English, wearing a full, vested suit, sips espresso at a local café beside a young hipster (aka Downtown Outgoing Urbanite Characterized by Hip Equipage). They’re wearing matching fedoras.

Beside them, a lesbian couple discuss all things metaphysical. A man dressed in full athletica can’t help but interrupt. He breaks the ice with “So you meditate?†Opinions on the virtues of seeking your inner essence alone or in a group are exchanged.

They wonder if it isn’t cosmically inspired that the name of mindfulness meditation guru John Kabat-Zinn sounds so much like “Zen.â€

A few metres away, the “Community Vehicular Reclamation Project,†a car gutted of all its innards, refilled with soil and plants and tagged with Matt Groeningesque graffiti, hugs the curb.

Stickers reading “Art, Not Apathy†and “That SUV Is Making You Look Fat†grace the back bumper. Surprisingly, there are no parking tickets on it, and it seems the city has heeded the request written on the car: “Please Do Not Tow.â€

Onlookers stand puzzled.

Outside St. Stephen’s Community House, the sidewalk is sprinkled with some of the people who use its services, and mummies swerve their strollers to avoid contact of any kind with them, speeding to the edgy Loblaws also known as Freshmart.

A man whistling a tune while skipping down the street passes a bearded guy listening to Come On Eileen on a ghetto blaster propped beside his head. Two underage cigarette-smoking girls in vintage cowboy boots chase the ghetto-blasting man down the street, hoping to reel in a fish of whom Daddy would not approve.

In Cobs Bakery, I order a white chocolate and berry scone. When the man behind the counter asks if that’s all, and I tell him yes, he says it’s on the house because he hasn’t given anything away today.

A Greenpeace sidewalk aggressor stops me outside and asks why I’m carrying a notebook. I tell her I’m just observing things, and she nods in artistic approval. She says the creeping gentrification of the neighbourhood is a “real bummer.â€

I’m relieved that she wants to chat about things other than donations. When she manages to bring our conversation (very impressively) around to Greenpeace’s financial needs, I politely decline.

“Not today. You know how it is.â€

“No, I don’t,†she snaps back. “How is it?†I apologize, show her my bank statement and promise to chain myself to a sequoia soon.

Bikes dart up and down, drivers curse the swamp of humanity blocking their way, and pedestrians count the days until the next Pedestrian Sunday, when the streets will be free of the four-wheeled.

Everywhere, people hug, shake hands, greet and bid adieu to one another. Many of the pairings prompt the question, in what world do these two people even know one another?

In Kensington Market, that’s where. And only as she is right now.

The next Kensington Pedestrian Sunday, on August 16, will honour the sixth anniversary of the blackout.

 

[Alley Kat]

http://www.insidermediagroup.com/in...e&id=490:suburban-blandness&catid=37:opinions

Sacrificing neighbourhood identity

Have you ever wandered around Kensington Market on a hot summer day? The patios of the local restaurants and pubs are filled with the most interesting characters. Business people and hippies, young 20-somethings and grey-haired individuals, area residents and foreign visitors, and even the occasional celebrity, are all known to enjoy the diverse offerings of one of Toronto’s most well-known neighbourhoods. In a city recognized worldwide for its multiculturalism, Kensington Market is its beating heart.

Trekking to the downtown core has been the story of my life ever since I moved to Keele and Sheppard seven years ago. Now, having moved again no less than two weeks ago, I am faced with an even longer commute to my beloved city centre. But it is this recent move to Maple that has given me a fresh perspective on city neighbourhoods and urban planning. My new insight: the suburbs are lacking in communal identity.

As I see it, the key characteristic to creating and maintaining neighbourhood uniqueness is by having streets lined with stores and restaurants that pedestrians want to walk on. Toronto’s most vibrant neighbourhoods all have this in common. Shoppers, diners, and tourists create pedestrian traffic that is great for local businesses and develops an ambiance which defines a neighbourhood. Soon enough, businesses get together for the betterment of the community and form an association to foster the neighbourhood climate. Ultimately this is reflected in the hosting of events like Taste of the Danforth, Salsa on St. Clair, and Kensington Market’s own Pedestrian Sundays, to name a few.

The suburbs are known for being spacious; the main feature which makes it an attractive location to live in the first place. It is this same characteristic, however, that hinders the development of neighbourhood identity in the sense that I have previously described. This is the reason why you never hear someone say, “Let’s go walk along Finch and see what we find.†Finch Avenue is no Queen Street.

But the spread of the population to the suburbs has also led to the creation of the shopping mall - after all, people in the suburbs also need a place to shop and eat. And while these designated places for pedestrian traffic have caused a detriment for local businesses, malls have stepped up to define the neighbourhoods around them. Look no further than the stores and crowds in your closest mall to understand this point.

Neighbourhood identity is a source of community pride, however I feel that suburbs are currently lacking in it. In the mean time, you will still find me walking along Kensington Market on weekends.

 

[taal]

Was written in the 80's ? What an outdated view on things that has been done to death ... The writer comes off a member who joined this forum and read the why we all gate Mississauga thread and decided to write his very first article.

 

[Alley Kat]

Better business ahead for Kensington Market

http://www.corrieretandem.com/viewstory.php?storyid=9604&page=1

Chaotic, scruffy, bohemian, and undeniably unique – Kensington Market has been called many things over its 150-year history. And the tourist hotspot is about to have a new official label: Business Improvement Area (BIA).
Responding to longstanding requests from local business owners, the City of Toronto’s Economic Development Committee passed a resolution last Thursday approving the BIA designation for the four-block area south of College between Bathurst and Spadina. Thanks to efforts from Councillor Adam Vaughan, a bill will be tabled at the next city council meeting on Nov. 30, where it is expected to pass easily, making Kensington Market the city’s 69th official BIA.
Think Kensington and you might think Tom’s Place. Tom Mihalik has been selling fine menswear to the market’s diverse clientele for almost 30 years. He thinks the BIA is long overdue.
“It’s being supported because [business owners] realize how much a BIA can do for the neighbourhood and the area. It is very important that people work together, that they have money, advertising money especially, to promote the Market,†he said while taking a break from the 5 for 1 suit sale at his Baldwin Ave store last Tuesday.
Mihalik, one of the storeowners on the BIA steering committee, says he appreciates the neighbourhood’s distinctive flavor, but stresses that better promotion and infrastructure through projects like increased signage and graffiti removal will ensure the Market’s long-term survival.
“You know, Kensington Market is an area where people do business. It’s an area that’s been here forever. There are a lot of people that feel that Kensington Market has a reputation that you can come down here and do anything you want to do. That’s not right,†he explains. “Because there are a lot of kids and a lot of elderly people, and there are people who do their family shopping here. There’s nothing wrong with making the area safer and better.â€
The BIA will collect revenue from a fee on property taxes, and a council of business owners will decide what streetscape improvements they would like to see. More subtly, the business community will now speak with one voice at city hall to demand better garbage pickup or more police to combat an increase in open-air drug trafficking.
Kensington has become famous as a neighbourhood where business meets bohemia. Foot traffic through its narrow streets is encouraged, especially on Pedestrian Sundays, when the streets are closed to vehicles and the Market becomes one big block party. With eclectic food and fashion choices aplenty, Kensington is a compact place that truly reflects Toronto’s diversity.
Abi Roach owns the newly opened Funky Junk shop on Baldwin, but the longtime Kensington resident is more famous as the proprietor of Roach’O’Rama and the Hot Box Café, which she calls Toronto’s only “pot positive café.†Roach remembers some initial opposition to those venues – which have since become cherished neighbourhood fixtures – and she dismisses as alarmist the current opposition to the BIA among those who worry the Market will lose its distinctive flair.
“Everybody says, wah, wah, things will be different,†Roach said from behind the counter in her new shop, which is stocked with enough junk to make a garage sale aficionado salivate. “But as long as there are crackheads roaming the streets and crazy people on every corner, that character won’t change. And that’s a good thing.â€
The dissenting views are in fact few. More common is a skepticism that the notoriously independent Kensington crowd can actually work together.
“There’s a huge generation gap. Old family-owned businesses have been here forever, and the influx of young owners coming in want to see something different,†said Roach, as she handed over a vintage slide projector to an enthusiastic buyer. “If Kensington can actually get their act together to get a BIA, that’d be great.â€
“I think it’s a good idea, because Kensington needs improvement,†said Pam Gray while washing the sidewalk outside her year-old shop, the Cinderella Vintage Clothing Store.
“I improved my store, but I don’t know about anybody else. There are a lot of people who want improvement, but they don’t have the money.â€
Gray had a beautiful purple and pink design painted on her storefront in an attempt to combat the graffiti that sullies many other stores and alleyways. So far, the tag artists have respected her shop’s artwork by steering clear.
A BIA is never forced on a neighbourhood – in this case, business owners approached Vaughan with the proposal, and the city held public consultations in early summer to gauge interest. The process puts the onus on the owners themselves to opt out of the plan – the city mails a poll to each taxpayer and property owner in the area, and if one-third of the respondents officially register their opposition, the project is scrapped. In this case, not a single objection was received by the City Clerk after 248 notices were mailed in August.
“I do know that there are people who perhaps are not in favour of it, but they chose not to participate,†said Michael Saunders, the economic partnership adviser who conducted the poll for the city’s BIA office. “So I’m not saying that everybody there is turning cartwheels for a BIA, but most people seem to be in favour of it.â€
Back at Tom’s Place, Mihalek isn’t concerned that having a BIA will raise property values to levels the current tenants can’t afford, because property values have stayed pretty well the same for years.
Saunders suggested that property value has less to do with a BIA designation and more to do with whether the neighbourhood itself is on the rise or the decline. Kensington, despite its enduring popularity with locals and tourists alike, has struggled financially in recent years.
Mihalik is excited about the increased political clout a BIA would bring, and the chance for owners to implement their own ideas on how to improve the Market. Infrequent garbage pickup isn’t the only problem.
“The city doesn’t want to do anything for Kensington Market. Look at the sidewalks. Look at the lights,†he said, adding that a BIA will support new shops and restaurants that are trying to make a go of it, even in difficult times.
“People are trying. They believe in Kensington. But the city doesn’t. That’s a big problem,†said Mihalik.
One exception, he says, has been Councillor Vaughan, who has helped bring the community together.
Come what may for Kensington – and it looks like the BIA designation is a sure thing – U of T grad Estee Fresco hopes the Market stays true to its roots as a place for immigrants and citizens of all stripes.
“The market does have its own distinct flavor, plus a really interesting history. The problem, or one of the things that it risks doing if it goes this route, is that it will become more like any other part of the city. Kensington Market is unique right now, and I think there’s a possibility it will lose its uniqueness.â€
Afer 13 years in Kensington, Roach says she wouldn’t live anywhere else in Toronto – as long as her neighbours stay the same.
“Whether we have a BIA or not, the character of the neighbourhood depends on the people who live here. And that won’t change.â€

 

[urbandreamer]

Future ten storey condo here? Would make sense...@College and Augusta, SE corner: