Sully’s Sandwich kitchen opened in late 2014 and is serving up delicious sandwiches and salads. The small space contains a long communal table beside a chalk board with the menu, and a takeout counter. We tried the salad and Porchetta sandwich and were very impressed. Sully’s is a great addition to this ever improving strip of Gerrard Street.

Evergreen Garden Market at the Brickworks 550 Bayview Avenue

The garden market at Evergreen Brickworks has large selection of trees, from tiny two foot ones to huge douglas firs. The garden market is open daily, but if you go on a weekend you can check out the farmers’ market as well. The ChocoSol hot cocoa at the farmers’ market is worth the trip!

East End Garden Centre – 1395 Queen Street East

The East End Garden Centre on Queen just east of Greenwood has a huge selection of trees in addition to many other seasonal decor items made from natural materials. Wreaths, planters and garlands and trees of all sizes are on display in this festive envirnomnt

Other Locations – Canadian Tire, No Frills, Loblaws

There is a small Christmas tree lots in the parking lots of several larger stores. The tree lot in the No Frills parking lot has a good selection, as does the Lakeshore Canadian Tire parking lot. We’ve also seen trees at Loblaws and Home Depot. These can be convenient places to pick up a tree after doing some shopping.

Screen Capture of Rogers TV Ward 30 Debate

The municipal election is only a few weeks away, and advanced polling has already started. The ward 30 city council candidates are in the final stretch of convincing voters.

Last week a debate aired on Rogers TV with six ward 30 candidates: Jane Farrow, Paula Fletcher, Francis Russell, Daniel Trayes, and Liz West. If you’re a Rogers subscriber you can watch the debate online at rogerstv.com

The first question of the debate was about crime and community safety, which has been in the news recently after the stabbing on the Danforth. All of the candidates agreed that community involvement helps make the community safer. Paula Fletcher contacted 55 division and they have said they have stepped up patrols in the Danforth area after the recent violence there. Fletcher also raised the issue that the Beer store and LCBO as well as a few bars in the neighborhood may be selling alcohol to intoxicated people which causes crime.

“The city has to look at how they are nickel and diming small businesses right now” Liz West

When asked about small businesses and how to revitalize streets with empty storefronts Liz West said that red tape, permit paperwork and fees and property taxes are hurting small businesses. Dan Trayes pointed out that Toronto has one of the lowest tax rates in the GTA. Paula Fletcher pointed out that she helped create a separate classification for small businesses to reduce property taxes for them, and that there are services in place to help local businesses through the permitting paperwork. Fletcher also said we need to change the tax structure so that building owners are not given tax breaks on vacant properties since it incentivizes buildings to stay empty. Jane Farrow mentioned that the city should work to clean up abandoned buildings quickly and should encourage more cultural and arts uses of our buildings.

On the topic of affordable housing Jane Farrow and Paula Fletcher agreed that we need to find solutions to create affordable housing. Farrow brought up the idea of making it easier to create new forms of housing such as laneway homes in our back alleys, and making it easier to get financing to allow multiple families to cooperatively purchase a house. Liz West brought the issue back to taxes again, claiming that property taxes and the land transfer tax are contributing to the affordability problem.

When discussing public transit Farrow advocated for using a timed transfer and Fletcher suggested off-peak discounts to balance the demand. West expressed a lot of frustration that the city has failed to build new transit infrastructure but did not seem to offer up many solutions. West and Fletcher were talking over each other when Fletcher tried to explain the reason that progress has been stalled is due to mayor Ford canceling the transit city plan.

“It’s fairy tales unless we actually do have real conversations about how we do pay for it” … “I’m willing to say tolls, HOV lanes, parking and congestion levies” Jane Farrow

Farrow said that all these transit schemes are “fairy tales” unless there are plans to pay for it and said she was in favour of congestion charges, road tolls and parking levies to pay for it. Fletcher followed up by saying that the Federal and Provincial governments need to step up and pay their share. West also said she was in favor of congestion charges and working with higher levels of government.

When asked if we should tear down the eastern section of the Gardiner express way, Paula Fletcher said yes, but only up to Cherry street, and Jane Farrow said we should tear it down and re-construct it at a different route to open up the waterfront. The other candidates were opposed to tearing it down.

Liz West is in favour of privatizing garbage collection east of Yonge Street, and the other candidates abstained or were opposed.

According to Liz West’s page there is another candidates debate planned for October 22 at 6:30 p.m. at Jimmie Simpson.

We checked it out this week and were welcomed by the friendly service, eclectic style and delicious food. The Jerusalem Artichokes ($6) and the Sticky Ribs ($7) were served on mismatching vintage plates and were a tasty way to start our meal. It was the mains however that stole the show. We tried the 80/20 burger ($12), made with beef and lamb topped with crisp coleslaw on a fresh bun, and the Savory Pie ($14) which is a delicious pie filled with savory ingredients that change from night to night served on top of minty peas. The food was thoughtfully made and presented and wasn’t overly greasy like you’d expect from diner comfort food.

Suzanne, the owner and chef, took the time to greet every table even though she was clearly busy running the kitchen. She told us that they were starting to serve brunch on the weekends.

Our night at Saturday Dinette ended with a trio of mini milkshakes and a chocolate bark served with popcorn. The creative desserts were served in a way that really brought home the funky diner vibe. Friendly service, affordable prices and great food make Saturday Dinette a great addition to the neighbourhood.

Saturday Dinette at Gerrard and Logan

Jerusalem Artichokes

Fatty Sticky Ribs

Savory Pie with Minty Peas

80/20 Burger at Saturday Dinette

Chocolate Bark and Popcorn

The Shake Trio – Three Delicious Milk Shakes

The bar

The whole development would contain 5 automotive dealerships, a new grocery store and a total of 894 residential units. There would be parking for 791 cars, including 160 new public parking spaces, and 851 bicycle parking spaces.

Phase 1: 77-79 East Don Roadway

There are three buildings proposed in phase 1. A new private street is planned south of Queen street to provide access to the site. The buildings would be designed by RAW Design.

The first building is a 7 story mixed use building fronting Queen Street just to the west of the new private street. The ground floor would have small format retail along Queen street and a residential lobby fronting the new street. The top three levels of this building would be set back from Queen Street to reduce shadowing of the street. This building would have 44 condo units.

South of the 7 story building is a larger building that would rise to a maximum height of 12 stories. This long building would stretch from the East Don Roadway to the new private street and may be used as a rental apartment building with 270 apartments. An automotive dealership is planned to occupy 4 stories along the East Don Roadway as well as a significant amount of space below ground in the parking levels.

The tallest building would be on the south end of the land parcel, near Eastern Avenue. This building has a base of 8 stories with a tower on the east end rising 16 stories above the base (totaling 24 stories). The base would contain around 9500 square meters of “non-residential” use which would primarily be occupied by 4 auto dealerships. There are 555 condo units planned above.

Phase 2 – 677 Queen Street East

Phase 2 of the development is on the current site of the Toyota dealership. One long building is planned that would front Queen street and extend south along the new private street. The portion of the building fronting Queen street would be 7 stories tall, with the top three levels set back from the street. The building would rise in height to 13 stories further south of Queen Street to contain a total of 339 residential units. A new grocery store is planned for the north-west corner of this development which is something that the areas could use. Phase 2 will be designed by Giannone Petricone Associates.

New Park

Streetcar Developments is hoping to extend the East Don Roadway south under Eastern Avenue to provide access to the previously inaccessible greenspace inside the DVP onramp. This space was formerly part of Sunlight Park, which had Toronto’s first baseball stadium between 1886 and 1897. Streetcar is also proposing providing a pedestrian and bicycle connection from the park over the river and DVP to the new Corktown Common park to the west.

What do you think of the street art in our neighbourhood? Let us know about any great murals that we missed!

Jane Farrow at her Campaign Launch

Tonight Jane Farrow launched her campaign at an event at Edward Levesque’s Kitchen in Leslieville. While Farrow registered to run for Ward 30 city councilor back in May, and has already been knocking on doors canvassing, this event served as her first big appearance as a city council candidate.

Farrow’s two campaign co-chairs, Chris Phibbs and Bob Ramsay, hosted the well-attended event. The co-chairs are no strangers to politics: Phibbs ran against Paula Fletcher in 2006 and was the Head of Planning and Development for former Mayor David Miller and Ramsay was a speech writer for former Premier Bill Davis.

After thanking the venue, volunteers, and supporters Farrow shared why she wanted to run. Farrow owns a house in the ward and her love for the neighbourhood seems very genuine. Farrow says “We can do better” and “there are opportunities that we are missing.”

Farrow didn’t mention incumbent Paula Fletcher by name but said that after eleven years there have been many missed opportunities. The failure to add bike lanes to Leslie Street after the construction, an incomplete approach to traffic calming on neighbourhood streets, barriers and permit fees to host events in parks, and spending money to light up the Prince Edward Viaduct instead of providing an accessible entrance to the Lower Don Trail were all called out as missed opportunities.

Farrow seems to have a positive view of new development as long as the planning is proactive and involves the community and said that currently residents feel excluded from the planning process.

She concluded by saying we are lucky to live in this beautiful neighbourhood but “we can do better” and “whatever we differ about, we all agree that we deserve a future that is more collaborative, more creative and more inclusive.”

From August 4-10, the workshops begin at 6pm at the north end of the park. The band starts at 7pm and the live dancing kicks off at 7:30 pm. There are also two matinee performances on Thursday August 7th & Sunday August 10th.

For more information see duskdances.ca

Here are some photos from the performance of “Incandescent”

Dusk Dances – Incandescent

Dusk Dances – Incandescent

Dusk Dances – Incandescent

Dusk Dances