Results tagged “intersections”

The Pleasant View neighbourhood in the northeast corner of North York looks placid enough—comfortable middle class demographics, a community centre to take a relaxing skate or swim, and so on. On the surface, the only thing that appears askew is an inability to determine if the neighbourhood’s name should be spelled as one word (the recreational complex) or two (city documents and the local library branch). But one look at the intersection in front of the swimming pool hints that darker forces lurk in the background.

Two weeks ago, on the fifth anniversary of the blackout, we reclaimed the streets. At 9 p.m., three parades became one and marched into the intersection of Bloor and Spadina. And took it over. For five minutes. Or maybe it was ten. Chris Bilton says it was fifteen. There were jugglers and fire dancers and trombones and drums and trees and a picnic table on which sat a kiddie pool in which there was standing a "human statue" spraying water with a hose. For one tiny fraction of one day of the year, the intersection did not belong to cars, although they could turn right if they wished. It was ours. Not "ours" as in pedestrians or cyclists or hipsters or activists or whatever. Just ours. Public. Space.

It's so beautiful it doesn't even look like Toronto. Not that Toronto can't be beautiful, but there's a certain otherworldliness to these images. This is something we see in other cities, not here.

Toronto has been called a city of neighbourhoods: The Beach, Yorkville, Chinatown, Little Italy, Greektown, The Annex; all have their defining characteristics that make them appealing to locals as well as visitors. And when it comes down to it, most of these areas are well-defined by the intersection of two major streets.