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Church-Wellesley Village

Toronto Star: Church Street parking spots await transformation into ‘parklets’

For the first time in Toronto, some parking spots will be transformed into “parklets†where pedestrians can sit, eat and relax.

Eight will be installed along the east side of Church St. in July and August. The parklets will sit on wooden decks level with the sidewalks and will include tables, benches, chairs and planters. Half will serve as licensed, extended patios for adjacent businesses, while the rest will be unlicensed and open to the public.

One will span six parking spots between Wellesley and Maitland Sts., and another will extend across seven spaces between Maitland and Alexander Sts. Parklets will also be installed just north of Wellesley and between Gloucester and Monteith Streets.

Councillor Kristyn Wong-Tam said the project’s goal is to use underutilized parking to animate the street, boost neighbourhood pride, improve pedestrian life and bring more business to merchants.

“There has been a lot of talk about the village being on a decline, that the Church and Wellesley Village is no longer relevant because gay people can live anywhere and everywhere,†she said. “So this is in many ways a response to that — please come and visit and experience us through a whole different way.â€

Wong-Tam said this initiative is a departure from last year’s Celebrate Yonge festival, which closed one lane in each direction to create pedestrian spaces with chairs, tables and planters. This year, the aesthetics will be more refined and traffic will not be affected, Wong-Tam said.
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Peepers said:
Strange to see them expanding. I would have thought that HERO would have gone out of business at that location by now. Never seems very busy. I refuse to eat in there as do many people that I know. I suppose that the student population at Jarvis Collegiate must be keeping them in business.
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Hero is always busy! Have you been inside Saturday night at a 2am? Busier than a failing Church Street club.
 
The no name pizza place at Alexander & Church, Pizza Pizza + Pizzaiolo do brisk business late at night too.
 
JasonParis said:
From BlogTO...

A Brief History of the Church & Wellesley Village
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I've never been in a bath house, but as a teenager I saw the wrong in this and was angry as hell so I marched and carried placards in the rallies over the bath house raids, my very first foray into a political event. I remember avoiding the TV cameras because I wasn't out, but some years ago I saw some photographs and in one I can be clearly seen off to the side with one of my friends!
 
Is the Church Wellesley neighbourhood still relevant? “What most folks have identified is that this is where people come as an initial destination when you’re first coming out and that may mean refugees or tourists or different folks who are coming in,” said Maura Lawless, executive director of the centre. “It’s kind of a home base and from there, they move out.” But the desire remains for “a place to feel free,” and for many, that place is Church and Wellesley. Here are some of the voices of the Village on the changes happening there, and its relevance today.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/toronto/what-the-gay-village-means-today/article12904400/
 
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