Toronto gets a new board game shop

4:19 pm

One of Toronto’s premier stores for toys and collectible merchandise, 401 Games, has a new home. Offering a wide range of products from board games and sports cards to collectible cards and toys, it celebrated its new location with a month of events, including Magic: The Gathering tournaments, giving all gamers an opportunity to come in and check out the new spot at Yonge and Blythwood (2782 Yonge St., 416-599-6446).

Prepare for a night of murder, mystery and comedy if you plan on attending the brand new location of Mysteriously Yours inside the Chelsea Hotel in downtown Toronto. Since 1987, this dinner theatre company has worked tirelessly, producing and performing interactive murder mysteries for fans looking to enjoy a unique dinner experience. Oh and don’t worry about your meal, the food here is prepared by seasoned chef Marta Kusel, formerly of Cardinal Rule (33 Gerrard St. W., 416-486-7469).

For those looking to get a unique gym experience, Toronto now has a great place to go to. Opened on Aug. 1, Fitness Ninja is not your regular gym. Offering personalized exercise programs and nutritional plans, this new spot has a Super Ninja Obstacle course, designed by American ninja warrior Drew Dreschel. Fitness Ninja also offers services such as physical therapy, personal training, injury rehab and stress management (800 Petrolia Rd., Unit 9, 416-238-8158).

The Beauty House opened its second location in Toronto. This one-stop shop provides world-class beauty services such as medical esthetics, eyelash extensions, hair removal, skin care and tanning. Consultations are free with every visit, and thanks to an experienced and dedicated staff, every person walking in receives personalized treatments and services (1689 Bayview Ave., 647-748-1419).

A new art school has opened up on Bayview Avenue. Alice’s Art Studio offers art classes for children, teens and adults. Also hosting corporate team-building events and art parties, the studio was founded by Alice Askay, a practising artist and an accredited art school teacher with the Ontario College of Teachers (1725 Bayview Ave., 416-488-1472).

Toronto’s first Blowdry Lounge is celebrating its 10-year anniversary. Beni Sicilia, with the support of his brother, opened the chic salon back in 2008 as an homage to similar stores in New York. Since its birth, the salon has been devoted exclusively to blow outs. Clients are invited to come and experience what world-class hair care truly means (1343 Yonge St., 416-847-2569).

Toronto basketball star Danilo Djuricic on playing for Harvard University

10:10 am

Although 19-year-old Harvard basketball player Danilo Djuricic has already won a gold medal with Team Canada on the under-19 (U19) junior national team, he’s still focused on education first. Djuricic credits his parents for that kind of thinking.

“My parents were always talking to me about how important school is, always preaching school first, sports second,” he says.

Basketball found Djuricic, by virtue of good genes, rather than the other way around.

“My first sport was soccer, but growing up I started hitting growth spurts, and I was a little bit taller than all the other kids,” Djuricic says. “One of my assistant coaches recommended I try basketball, so I tried house league and then rep.”

The rest, as they say, is history. Djuricic played with the Brampton Warriors, from Grades 5 to 8, and then played with CIA Bounce, from Grades 8 to 11, on the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) circuit travelling the U.S.A.

By Djuricic’s first year of high school at St. Michael’s College School, he was already on the varsity team and had received interest from Harvard, which he says really motivated him to stay on track.

“It’s a very high academic school as well as having a really good basketball program, so I felt prepared very well by my high school.”

Djuricic says his time at St. Michael’s really prepared him for balancing school work and sports.

“It’s a very high academic school as well as having a really good basketball program, so I felt prepared very well by my high school.”

He says this played a role on his path to Harvard.

Djuricic has stayed true to his priorities after his first year at Harvard.

“I do my best to work hard, scheduling when it’s time for work and when it’s time to play basketball. My priority is academics, so I get that finished and then work hard on the court,” Djuricic says. “It’s the best of both worlds: the best school in the entire world and a really great basketball program that’s on the rise.”

His discipline has paid off, earning him his proudest moment and possibly, he says, the greatest honour in his life — playing on the U19 junior national team and winning gold for Canada.

“To win a gold medal for my country that has given so much opportunity for my parents and me was honestly one of the moments in my life I still can’t put into words,” Djuricic says.

That gold medal–winning team also included another Canadian rising basketball star, R. J. Barrett.

Even with this accomplishment under his belt, Djuricic says he still has a long way to go in his career. “My dream is to play at the highest level, the NBA.”

To all the kids who dream of playing professionally, too, Djuricic is quick to mention the importance of school first.

“Continue to work hard at your craft, continue to do well in school because school comes first,” he says.

He also says to listen to your coaches to get to the highest level of trust with them, mentioning CIA Bounce coach Nicky Davis and high school coach Jeff Zownir as two influencing forces on his development as a player.

With great success can come great sacrifice, but Djuricic says he has no regrets.

“Being so dedicated to my craft as well as school, you miss out on things that other kids get to do. But I don’t mind it at all. There’s nothing I wouldn’t pass up for the position I’m in today.”

Toronto laneway to honour local tragedy

12:14 pm

Four years ago Barry “Feel Good” Luksenberg took a trip to Vietnam with one of his closest friends. What should have been an unforgettable adventure turned tragic when the 24-year-old man’s life ended in a motorcycle accident. He never made it back to Canada

For all those close to Luksenberg, his death was not going to be the end of his story. Since his passing, the neighbourhood of Hillcrest village, where he grew up, has taken steps to immortalize his memory.

“It started with 'Feel Good,' the lane being named after Barry 'Feel Good' Luksenberg,” said Kim Lesperance, one of the organizers of a GoFundMe project aimed at revitalizing a laneway at St. Clair Avenue West and Arlington Avenue.

Lesperance and fellow community activist Julian Back have plans to fill the walls of Feel Good Lane with a series of murals. Their goal is to make the space and bordering park a safer place, one that will provide the community with a chance to enjoy some unique local artwork.

“As you walk through the laneway, it’s not really a beautiful space.”

“I met [Barry’s] parents one day, chatted with them about their story and signed a petition to get the city to name the lane ‘Feel Good Lane,’” said Lesperance. “That was a couple of years ago.… As you walk through the laneway, it’s not really a beautiful space.”

Memories of Barry Luksenberg are still very fresh in the minds of many in the St. Clair West community. Luksenberg and his friends grew up playing together in Graham Park and frequently found themselves exploring the laneway. As they got older, they started a rap group called the 512 Crew. While performing with 512 Crew, Luksenberg adopted the moniker “Feel Good” to reflect his outlook on life.

“Barry was very young, obviously well respected in the rapper community, and he was taken too young and that was a tragedy,” said Lesperance.

In total, there are 18 available spaces in the lane for local emerging artists to showcase their work. To attract the interest of local artists, the organizers posted a call at the Ontario College of Art and Design and have reached out to a west end arts collective known as Spudbomb. The GoFundMe page has set a goal of $5,000 dollars for the project, already reaching over $3,000 in donations. All of the money raised will go toward paying the artists and purchasing all the necessary materials. The laneway launch is scheduled for late fall.

Toronto plays host to cult leader’s funeral in immersive musical theatre production

12:48 pm

Upon entering historic Heliconian Hall this month, audience members will not only partake in an evening of musical theatre, they will also join a cult and witness the funeral of its leader. This is immersive theatre unlike any performed in Toronto. Who knows what might happen?

Dr. Silver: A Celebration of Life, which opens Sept. 13, is the latest offering from the city’s premier purveyors of this artistic fare, Outside the March, in a collaboration with the Musical Stage Company.

The production was created by Toronto musical theatre dynamos (and sisters) Anika Johnson and Britta Johnson, who responded to Outside the March’s call for submissions with their wild tale of the funeral of a cult leader.

“It’s a pretty fun task to make our audience feel as though they are members of a cult,” says Britta Johnson.

Immersive theatre is one of the most popular new trends to develop in stage works as a way to compete for attention with all the streaming services and such keeping the posteriors of potential patrons plunked on couches in the comfort of their own homes.

“The music is very evocative and puts you in the mood right away.”

But don’t worry, nobody will be asked to sacrifice a virgin or drink anything beyond possibly some Kool-Aid.…

“The conceit, the assumption is we are there to perform a ritual and sometimes the audience might sing along,” says Anika Johnson. “They become the congregation of the funeral. Nobody has to improv or anything.”

In Dr. Silver there is no dialogue and music is a constant.

“The music is very evocative and puts you in the mood right away,” says Britta Johnson. Much of the background music is courtesy of the cult’s own choir, the Silver Singers, made up of students from Toronto arts high school Wexford Collegiate, where Britta has been a guest artist for a number of years.

“It’s a really cool partnership to work with the kids,” she says. “The commute is a little rough (the school is located in Scarborough), but they’ve been doing an amazing job.”

The cast principals include Musical Stage Company collaborators Kira Guloien (Grey Gardens) and Rielle Braid (Life After), who are joined by Donna Garner, Peter Deiwick and Broadway veteran Bruce Dow.

Dr. Silver is directed by Mitchell Cushman of Outside the March.

The Johnson siblings, who wrote the book, music and lyrics for the production, were born and raised in Stratford, Ont., home of the Stratford Festival.

“Our parents were pit musicians at the festival, so we kind of grew up in theatre,” says Anika. “We would see musicals 14 times because our parents were playing in them and didn’t know what else to do with us.”

With musicians as parents and grandparents (and another sibling in opera), it is no surprise musical theatre was their calling.

“It is a huge part of our shared language and world, says Britta.

“It was kind of like being raised in a musical cult,” says Anika. “Not as serious as this one, though.”

Author Claudia Dey on the release of her new novel

12:13 pm

For Toronto writer Claudia Dey, who attended St. Clement’s School, it was seeing Michael Ondaatje’s The Collected Works of Billy the Kid theatre adaptation that sparked her desire to tell stories.

“I thought, ‘I want to do that. I am going to do that.’ It answered to the electricity I felt inside; it gave me a form,” she explains. “When you are a teenager, you are hunting for ways to live, ways to be. This moment gave me my direction.”

Dey wrote her first play in Grade 7 and even scripted a death scene for herself.

“I was poisoned after having an affair with a professional baseball player and did a death dance in one of my mother’s dresses and turquoise high heels,” she says.

Despite keeping much of her writing to herself when she was younger, Dey says she got a lot of encouragement in her burgeoning literary pursuits.

“I look back now, and the encouragement I received from teachers and from other students probably helped to nudge me toward writing as a formal and legitimate pursuit.”

“It feels like I am watching my soul cross an eight-lane highway.”

After St. Clement’s, Dey studied literature at McGill University and then playwriting at the National Theatre School of Canada for two years. What came next was a whirlwind of creative pursuits including, but not limited to, playwriting, a sex column, an advice column, her first novel (Stunt), acting in two independent films (one, a horror film with no dialogue where she falls in love with a sea creature), a book about sex, a design studio and a clothing brand called Horses Atelier and now Heartbreaker.

Heartbreaker is her second novel and tells the story of Billie Jean Fontaine, who ends up in a small, northern town in the middle of nowhere after falling from a stolen car. Years later, she disappears one night and it’s up to her daughter, Pony, and husband to piece together what may have happened. The book is told in three distinct voices — Pony, Billie Jean’s dog and a teenager named Supernatural.

In terms of process, Dey says she writes a book to answer a question for herself or to settle a debate within herself.

“In the case of Heartbreaker, the novel began with an image: a woman in a white three-piece suit tumbling from the open door of a slowly moving Mercedes sedan: her long hair, the loose limbs. She was in the middle of nowhere,” says Dey.

So, Dey asked herself: what is the middle of nowhere? From there, the novel took shape.

Dey is a healthy mix of excited and anxious about the release of Heartbreaker.

“It feels like I am watching my soul cross an eight-lane highway,” she says.

With a creative mind like Dey’s, she’s always thinking about what may come next, but that doesn’t mean she’s ready to share.

“I have another novel in me. That is my future. But I can’t say anything more.”

Do first-time candidates stand a chance in the upcoming municipal election?

10:59 am

It was long before the cockroach comments made by local councillor Giorgio Mammolitti, and before the bulletproof-vested MPPs showed up in her neighbourhood for a photo op gone bad, that Tiffany Ford made the decision to run to become the next city councillor in her ward because nobody in power seemed to care.

To win, the 36-year-old would have to defeat Mammolitti, on the job for more than a quarter century.

If the 25-ward structure forced upon the city by Premier Doug Ford via Bill 5 remains in place after a court challenge scheduled for Aug. 31, she will also have to defeat Anthony Peruzza, who has held a variety of elected positions in the area over the last 33 years.

Is the system rigged against Tiffany Ford and others trying to make a difference?

Whether it is 47 or 25 wards, it is a serious uphill journey to defeat a sitting councillor in a municipal election, especially when some have been lollygagging in their cosy fiefdoms for decades.

Still, meeting Tiffany Ford, currently the TDSB trustee for the area, at Yorkgate Mall at the corner of Jane Street and Finch Avenue West, she brimmed with confidence.

“My whole campaign is about togetherness. I can’t do it by myself, and it’s not really about me. It’s not about Giorgio Mammolitti. It’s about taking this seat back for my community because it’s been neglected for so long,” she said. “We haven’t been growing with the rest of the city, and it’s really unfortunate. I can’t be here my whole lifetime and see no progress. There is no way.”

The day after the Ontario Progressive Conservatives shoved Bill 5 through the legislature, Ford received a hundred donations to her campaign. When she woke up the next morning, 10 more were waiting for her.

“That’s the most I’ve ever received in one day,” she said. “It was amazing.”

Progress Toronto is a new organization lobbying for a progressive government with an interest in getting new candidates elected come Oct. 22.

“It is very hard for a new voice and an under-represented voice to get on city council,” says Michal Hay, Progress Toronto’s executive director.

“We know that council does not currently reflect the city of Toronto. There are under-represented communities and people who have a different lived experience that don’t have the same power as those that sit on the council.

So, other people are making decisions on their behalf who might not understand what a commuinty needs.”

“I just care about my community, and I know I’m the best candidate.”

Currently, there are no term limits and no ranked ballots to open up opportunities for candidates with new ideas.

According to Hay, with 47 wards, there would be 13 seats available to new candidates, which represents a huge opportunity that may be lost.

And that’s too bad because it means we get the same old ideas applied to serious issues that are only getting worse: affordable housing, gun violence, transit and homelessness, to name just a few.

Ford has long known that, for changes to come to her neighbourhood, the community would need to bring them about.

She grew up attending neighbourhood schools, and when she was elected, she managed to get much more money invested in local improvements than her long-serving predecessor could have imagined. And she did it by engaging students and having them advocate for change alongside her. That is the philosophy she wants to implement at city hall.

She knows what this neighbourhood — which suffers under a negative stigma that is overwhelming at times — needs to turn it around. She’s lived through gun violence. She’s been carded at her own door. She said she can even recognize what kind of gun it is when she hears gunshots.

“We need people who care enough to make changes. We need politicians who are not corrupt. Most importantly, we need people who are having these experiences getting elected,” she said.

“I just care about my community, and I know I’m the best candidate.”

East of Jane and Finch, in the neighbourhoods of north Toronto, former Toronto Police parking enforcement officer Kyle Ashley is challenging incumbent councillors Jaye Robinson and (potentially) Jon Burnside, in Ward 15 under the current 25-seat ward map.

One of the more serious issues facing the city is the safety of vulnerable road users such as pedestrians and cyclists. That is Ashley’s area of expertise, and he thinks he can help.

Robinson is a prominent member of the current council, and chair of the city’s public works committee, which happens to oversee the Vision Zero initiative for road safety launched in 2017.

“The reason I chose to challenge Jaye Robinson, first of all, was because nobody was challenging her,” he said.

“So I threw my hat in the ring to run against her. And that is the best opportunity to elevate the level of discussion around this (road violence) issue, which is also, within the ward, a major concern.”

Ashley is interested in looking at governance reform but said Bill 5 is the wrong approach because the opportunity for a new, more progressive Toronto will be lost.

“It silences and dilutes the progressive voices that were really going to bring about a new Toronto,” he said.

“It’s a consolidation of power and a brazen attempt to steal an election already underway.”

Locals clash over multiple Airbnbs in Toronto neighbourhood

10:45 am

The quiet residential street of Humewood Drive has been recently disrupted by the purchase of a number of properties that were turned into Airbnbs. Now, neighbours complain of late-night parties, noise disturbances and even rat infestations at nearby homes.

However, new bylaws for short-term rentals have yet to take effect in the City of Toronto, leaving Airbnb operators and their neighbours in a legal grey zone.

Lisa Sabato has lived on Humewood Drive for 23 years. Her small neighbourhood has seen the appearance of three Airbnbs over the last year. All of these properties were purchased and remain operated by one owner.

“This is not that kind of neighbourhood,” said Sabato about Humewood Drive. “It is not just tourists. It is also locals that just need a house to party at.”

Sabato is fearful of how Airbnbs are changing her small, quiet neighbourhood. She said that, soon after the property owner put his second house on the rental platform, her neighbourhood saw a change.

“There was a bachelorette party where at 2 o’clock in the morning they were drunk and disorderly on the front lawns,” said Sabato.

At the house owned by the Airbnb operator that is directly next to Sabato’s home, other unwanted house guests have appeared.

“In 23 years, we have never even seen a mouse,” she said. “I have footage of the Airbnb guests who just throw their trash [around], and rats infesting it. So now he has a rat problem.”

Sabato’s concern is also shared by ward 21 councillor Joe Mihevc.

“We have seen, in different communities, more in the downtown area –– not so much in the midtown area, but sometimes there as well –– Airbnb absolutely destroys street life and neighbourhood stability,” he said.

“There was a bachelorette party where at 2 o’clock in the morning they were drunk on the front lawns.”

The City of Toronto has yet to pass clear rules on Airbnb and other short-term rental programs. Last winter, Toronto City Council began the process, approving regulations, which, among other provisions, would have required operators to pay a Municipal Accommodation Tax of four per cent, and would have required operators to live in the property as the primary residence. However, after the regulations were passed, an appeal was made to the Ontario Municipal Board (OMB), and a hearing was scheduled for Aug. 30 and 31 of this year.

Mihevc was unable to identify who filed the appeal.

“We are very strongly opposed, as a city, to Airbnb where it is not someone’s principal residence,” said Mihevc, citing the traffic impact, potential noise complaints and other public nuisances.

A decision from the OMB will be released around eight weeks after the hearing. Because of the appeal process, any Airbnb that exists in Toronto before the decision at the OMB is finalized is technically considered illegal.

The Airbnb operator on Humewood, George (who did not want his last name published), remains adamant that he has a right to operate Airbnbs in the properties that he owns.

“There has never been any issues, never any complaints,” he said.

He is frustrated by the legal grey zone that he now finds himself in. He would like a legal right to continue to operate his Airbnbs, one that involves paying extra tax in exchange for a licence.

“With the appeals in process, it can take another eight weeks, minimum,” said George. “You have these people who want to pay extra tax, who may need some extra income and want to conform to the laws, but they can’t.”

However, Mihevc and Sabato are eager to see tighter regulations on the operation of short-term rentals, and they want to see the regulations passed by council.

“So our bylaw is before the OMB,” said Mihevc. “We look forward to the conclusion of that review, and we are quite confident that our bylaw will stand up.”

Locals oppose 'horrendous' redesign of Regal Heights intersection

4:18 pm

As if on cue, a few minutes into an interview with Regal Heights neighbourhood resident and community activist Dave Meslin about a local intersection redesign at the corner of Regal Road and Springmount Avenue, a couple of young men drive by the newly designed intersection in a van and comment “stupid f***ing plastic things.”

Neighbourhood streets are increasingly dangerous, and with the city having a hard time implementing its Vision Zero agenda, local residents are creating their own solutions, whether it be signs telling motorists to slow down, or a hashtag inviting people to share their experiences of dangerous roadways. But when neighbourhood activism meets city bureaucracy the collision between the two can be “messy,” according to Meslin.

This is a neighbourhood, adjacent to Wychwood, with some history of community activism and public space projects.

Last year, he and a few of his neighbours got together and temporarily transformed the intersection of Regal Road and Springmount Avenue into something that put pedestrian safety first, while also highlighting the amount of wasted public space that could be put to better use.

Essentially, they rearranged the intersection with chalk and leaves raked from a neighbouring slice of greenery. The fix, though temporary, worked wonders and freed up a couple thousand square feet of public space. News of the project went viral.

Meslin and residents redesigned the intersection with chalk and leaves in late 2017.

“It was a fun project and a way to point out to neighbours that there was all this extra space, and instead of pavement it could be who knows what: trees, grass, a merry-go-round, whatever,” said Meslin

After some consultation, the City of Toronto decided to give the large and dangerous intersection a look. Enter the stupid f***ing plastic things.

According to Meslin, the Regal Heights Gateway Project, when complete, will have greenery, flowers and trees as the focal point of a newly designed intersection that offers both safety and beauty.

“The first reaction from neighbours is that this is horrendous.”

But the city moved quickly on the safety side of the ledger, installing white plastic bollards and splashing down white paint with the green space enhancements not due until the fall. As a result, Meslin is knee-deep in neighbourhood complaints.

“The first reaction from neighbours is that this is horrendous,” said Meslin.

“It’s really ugly and unnatural,” added Allan Novak, another local resident who first spoke out against the project but has since come to understand the full scope of it.

“The final version will have no bollards, tons of green space, and it will be safer,” said Meslin. “To me, it’s about green space. Why have 2,000 square feet of concrete when you can make it green.”

As soon as the bollards went up, Meslin snuck out at night with a couple of cans of spray paint and painted the white plastic sticks green to at least blend in a bit more with the surroundings.

He also put up an information page on a pole outlining the plan to green the intersection and lose the bollards. Across from the utility pole, a large binder sits, offering a differing viewpoint of the project and instructing neighbours who oppose it to contact Meslin.

Some neighbours are concerned over losing a few street parking spots, some think the fix was unnecessary, and others think it is just an eyesore. Others love the safety aspect, including the curb ramps at an intersection that was once near impossible to cross in certain directions with wheelchairs or strollers.

Local resident Jennifer Wigmore, one of the chief leaf rakers of last year, said she spoke with city workers during the installation of the intersection.

“I saw them at the beginning and end of day,” she said. “By end of day, they said they couldn’t believe how many times they almost got killed. They were so upset by the end of the day.”

Meslin is set to follow up with city staff on the outstanding issues and said organizing a public meeting to more fully inform residents of the longer term vision is imperative and will happen soon.

Jane Lockhart on her path to design success

12:32 pm

Jane Lockhart, now an award-winning designer, developed a passion for design at an early age but a career in design wasn’t always her goal. Little did she know that she would later have two hit design shows, One House, Two Looks and Colour Confidential, which aired across the U.S. and Canada.

After graduating from Branksome Hall, Lockhart started her post-secondary life as an economics student. The original plan was to move on to a post-graduate architecture program, but the pull of design was strong — something she partly attributes to the comprehensive art education she received at Branksome Hall.

“I had an amazing art teacher, Mary Simpson, all the way from Grade 10 to 13, and that really helped me understand art, art history and architecture and the political and economic forces that inspired art throughout history,” she says.

When she made the leap from economics to design, she headed to Ryerson for a bachelor of applied arts in interior design and subsequently launched Jane Lockhart Interior Design in 1997.

Prior to starting her own firm, Lockhart worked at Benjamin Moore in their retail design department. At the same time, she began providing design expertise on television for Cityline, soon after which HGTV came calling.

“HGTV came on board in Canada and called me to audition for a show. I needed to make a decision: stay in corporate or leave and do the TV show,” she says.

But since the TV show One House, Two Looks didn’t pay very well, she had to make another leap.

“The show paid almost nothing, which is why I had to start a design firm. I always knew I would start my own firm, but it happened way sooner that I thought.”

She dove right in.

“I had no idea how to even write an invoice. I didn’t even have a car, so I rode my bike to see the first client I had and hid it around the corner so they didn’t know I didn’t have a car,” Lockhart says.

While running her firm full-time, Lockhart was also hosting, writing and designing spaces for her television series Colour Confidential.

And along with her guest expert spots on Cityline, she has also appeared as an expert on The Marilyn Denis Show.

Since her firm’s beginnings in 1997, Lockhart’s profile has grown exponentially, with clients all over the world, from Spain to Singapore.

One of the things Lockhart is most proud of, in addition to doing high-quality design work, is teaching other designers how to deliver excellent design drawings.

“We really think about that process,” she says. “I can make it so you don’t fight with your husband in the kitchen because you keep getting in each other’s way,” she says as an example of how space, when used correctly, can create more harmony in the home.

In 2011, Lockhart began designing Canadian-built, eco-conscious luxury furniture collections called Jane Lockhart Platinum and Jane by Jane Lockhart available at retailers across Canada.

For any aspiring designers, Lockhart emphasizes the importance of learning as much as you can in the time you have and to always continue learning.

“In design you never stop learning.”

She also points out that design isn’t just what you see on TV.

“TV is TV. Design is design. Expect it to be harder than what you see onscreen and know that there is going to be a learning curve,” she says.

Anne Michaels on her work as Toronto's poet laureate

9:35 am

Toronto’s current Poet Laureate, Anne Michaels, was a diligent Vaughan Road Collegiate student who still fondly remembers the teachers who made an impact on her. She lists all-star teachers like Wayne Fairhead, Gordon Cameron and Helen Porter, who made her time at Vaughan Road a very special experience with their brilliance, devotion and sophisticated curricula.

During her time at Vaughan Road she was also composing music for the Inside Outside Theatre Company.

After high school, Michaels, who always had a sense writing was her calling, attended the University of Toronto to study English literature.

Although composing music was a formidable passion for Michaels, writing poetry and prose was her prevailing dream. So she opted to put pen to paper and develop her craft, instead of pursuing academia.

“I was ready, I thought, to learn on my own,” she says. “I knew there were years of work ahead that would just be writing, revising, researching.”

After publishing her first few award-winning collections of poetry The Weight of Oranges, 1986, and Miner’s Pond, 1991, she decided to pursue longer works of fiction, to shake off the limitations of poetry.

“What I wanted to say and how I wanted to say it could only be projected in a novel,” says Michaels. “I needed hundreds of pages to get across material that was difficult to face and comprehend.”

Her debut novel, Fugitive Pieces, was released in 1996 to intense critical acclaim, winning dozens of awards, including the Orange Prize, Guardian Fiction Prize, the Trillium and was shortlisted for the Giller Prize. The novel was also adapted as a screenplay by Canadian director Jeremy Podeswa and was the gala opening at TIFF in 2007.

For the past three years, she has been granted the immense honour of representing Toronto as Poet Laureate.

“It’s been a very interesting role. Those who hold it can make of it what they wish. For me it’s been about celebrating the many languages of literature in Toronto. There are over 200 languages used in this city,” Michaels says.

She is working to bridge the gap between Toronto’s many cultures and languages and Canadian literature.

“There is a large Bengali population that has done wonderful events. Currently, they are publishing their own books in Bengali and English,” she says. “This would be such a great resource for the city.

Imagine the richness and power if other language groups did the same.”

Toronto’s Photo Laureate, Geoffrey James, the very first of his kind worldwide, is now working in collaboration with Michaels. The two artists will correspond in pictures and words to create a dialogue that will eventually become a work of fiction. The piece is operating under the working title United Marble.

People power needed to combat Crosstown construction

9:28 am

Anyone who lives anywhere near midtown knows first-hand how difficult it is to drive on Eglinton Avenue. The construction of the LRT has made a real mess of things. As hard as it is to drive along Eglinton, trying to keep a business open is even harder.

This is the largest transit project in the country and it cuts right through the centre of Toronto, impacting businesses. Although retailers knew that the construction would be a nuisance and have an impact on business, few realized the length and extent of the disruption.

The Eglinton Way BIA has done a great job of reducing the impact of construction on patrons and also promoting the area, but has also reported businesses suffering and closures.

The stores that have shuttered are not major chains but local merchants, many of whom had been in business for many years. Several of the storefronts that are still in business along Eglinton are obstructed, sidewalks are narrowed and new walkways created around heavy equipment. It is also harder to drive and park.

These businesses are critical for the health and vitality of our neighbourhoods, so city hall is trying to help the remaining stores. The mayor has pledged free parking and funds for marketing of the local areas as an incentive to encourage more shoppers to visit the area.

Many of the businesses are asking for compensation for lost earnings. Although store owners have a compelling case, it is very difficult to provide compensation as a result of construction.

Transit construction does have a particularly significant and lengthy impact, but compensating for economic losses during construction is difficult since this happens across the city all year round. The City of Toronto has never provided such compensation and wouldn’t do so because then the cost of construction projects would become prohibitive.

Similarly in 2006, during the St. Clair Avenue right-of-way construction, retailers attempted to get compensation. Many did not survive the construction.

There was no funding for small businesses, but in an attempt to bring shoppers back to the area, the local councillor advocated for easier transit use for local shoppers by offering two-hour rides along the streetcar once operational.

Another comparable example is the construction of the Canada Line in Vancouver. During that period, affected merchants launched a class action suit against the contractor for damages. Although they were not able to sue the contractor, they were able to collect compensation if they could prove the value of their lease was negatively impacted by the construction of the Canada Line. It is unclear how many merchants actually received compensation.

In Toronto, it is unlikely that a class action suit would be successful, but small businesses could see a reduction of their property taxes if their MPAC assessment shows that the value of the property declined during the construction period.

The Eglinton LRT is scheduled for completion in 2021.

Until then, local residents should help support the small businesses along Eglinton and visit the shops. With new parking provisions, it might even be easier to find a parking spot than at the mall.

Macaron mogul Nadège serves up some sweet new scoops

9:24 am

Nadège has been a Toronto fave since 2009 when the owners opened their first shop downtown, making a name for themselves with the city’s best cakes, macarons and more. With summer here, patrons can sample their luxurious soft serve at the Yorkdale and Rosedale locations. The dessert destination also has a new draw — ice cream with miniature macarons. Newly added scooped ice cream is currently only available at the Trinity Bellwoods flagship location, where it serves 16 new ice cream and sorbet flavours, such as baked caramel crunch, lemon meringue tart and mojito sorbet. Enjoy a scoop or two loaded up into a house-made waffle cone, or go all out and treat yourself to a scoop sandwiched between two chocolate chip wafers.

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