Results tagged “janejacobs”

Derek Ballantyne—housing activist, former CEO of the Toronto Community Housing Corporation (TCHC), and now COO of Build Toronto—was awarded the tenth Jane Jacobs Prize yesterday afternoon in a small, affection-laced ceremony at the Munk Centre for International Studies. Though award distribution often brings with it a share of bluster, this particular event was laden with warmth and humility, with speakers eager to share credit for their accomplishments and visibly grateful to the woman who gave the prize her name.

As we reported on Friday, this weekend was the annual extravaganza of pedestrian urban love known as Jane's Walk. With dozens of walks exploring every corner of Toronto (and many more in cities across the continent), there was a glorious medley of tours to choose from. We were there (well, not everywhere), and though we couldn't begin to do a comprehensive survey of the walks on offer we did manage to log dozens of kilometres, and pick up a good number of fun tidbits along the way. Behold some of our favourite finds...

"Streets in cities serve many purposes besides carrying vehicles, and city sidewalks—the pedestrian parts of the streets—serve many purposes besides carrying pedestrians... Streets and their sidewalks, the main public places of a city, are its most vital organs. Think of a city and what comes to mind? Its streets."

Torontoist got a sneak peak at the newly redeveloped Wychwood Barns earlier this week and our verdict can be pithily summarized as "yippee!" A veritable playground for the ecologically and socially conscious, the newest Artscape endeavour lives up to the hype and anticipation. The Barns project represents a new and particularly hopeful kind of urban redevelopment, and we can only hope to see many more such ventures breaking ground soon.

In her ambitious new book, The Walkable City (Véhicule Press, 2008), Mary Soderstrom writes: "The walkable city, the oldest kind of city is going to be the key to whatever success we have in meeting the challenges of the future."

Participants in one of the Jane's Walk events pause in the grounds of CAMH on Queen Street yesterday.

Today is Jane Jacobs Day in Toronto, marking the date of her birth. If you hurry, you might still catch a walking tour honouring our celebrated urban thinker.

We hope you’ve got your Jane Jacobs cards written and that your presents are all wrapped and sitting under the Jane Jacobs Tree, because this May 4 is Jane Jacobs Day in Toronto.

For anyone who missed this year's Massey Lecture last Friday at U of T, don't fret. The City of Words, by celebrated writer, essayist, novelist, and anthologist Alberto Manguel, will be broadcast on CBC Radio One's IDEAS each night at 9:00 p.m. beginning Monday, November 5 running to Friday, the 9th.

A mystery is afoot in Riverdale. The residents of Cambridge Avenue near Broadview & Danforth have grown familiar in recent years with the roaming gangs of monkeys—a dozen at last count—that dangle from the utility wires above the street.

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The Spadina Expressway was probably the most high-profile megaproject in Toronto that was never built, but it's also just one of many. For his OCAD thesis project, David Kopulos has detailed a host of construction projects that were planned for Toronto, but that never materialized—both the reviled (such as the Expressway) and the intriguing—on his website, Toronto Pending. Each entry explains what the proposed structure would have been and why it wasn't built, alongside artist's renderings, photos and a map of the would-be site that cheekily states, "You aren't here." Some of the projects include:

June Callwood, the journalist and social activist dubbed by the CBC as "Canada's Conscience," succumbed to cancer this morning at 82.

Photo by Shaun Merritt

Every weekday, Torontoist is facing off local memes and blog drama in a tournament-style ladder and you, the reader, decide the outcome. View the full ladder here. Some highlights: Kensington Market turns out the lights on Nuit Blanche (118 - 95): Dizzy from the smell of fish, Nuit Blanche stumbles in this epic battle of nocturnal versus somnambulant. Al Waxman named MVP of Kensington for numerous slam dunks. IllegalSigns.ca revokes Dufferin Grove's permit (109 - 106): In yesterday's closest match, Dufferin Grove's bonfires, farmer's market and cob thing are not enough to tackle IllegalSigns.ca, who points out the gaudiness of the Dufferin Mall across the street to distract the park and score a tie-breaking three pointer with just seconds left on the clock. Today's matches, Region I + II, Quarterfinals:

St. Clair ROW vs. CN Tower Ice
Toronto Islands vs. Jane Jacobs
Condo Boom vs. 416
Anagram Map vs. ROM Crystal

Each weekday for the next two weeks, Torontoist is facing off local memes and blog drama in a tournament-style ladder and you, the reader, decide the outcome. View the full ladder here. Today's matches, Region I + II, 2nd Round:

The Giambroney vs. St. Clair ROW
CN Tower Ice vs. Parkdale
The Beaches vs. Toronto Islands
Jane Jacobs vs. Gas-Fired Power Plant
West Side Lofts vs. Condo Boom
416 vs. Queen West
Yonge Street vs. Anagram Map
Miller's Hair vs. ROM Crystal

Each weekday for the next two weeks, Torontoist is facing off local memes and blog drama in a tournament-style ladder and you, the reader, decide the outcome. View the full ladder here. Some highlights from yesterday's matches: Jane Jacobs makes Yonge-Dundas look square (107-95): The usually untouchable Jacobs was thrown off her game early on by anti-gun rallies, massive video billboards and a late-game PR stunt by a chewing gum company, but pulled ahead with minutes to go. Kyle Rae grabs an assist for a slam dunk by Metropolis. Power Plant burns Megabins (70-66): In a close mid-day victory, Torontonians made it know that they prefer air pollution to visual pollution, and would rather have a clean streetscape than clean air. Zany! Islands silence the Docks (105-35): Residents of Ward Island grabbed points early in the game by distracting the Docks with noise complaints. Reggaeton nights get put on the bench in the second half. Today's matches, Region II, 1st Round:

Bohemian Embassy vs. West Side Lofts
Condo Boom vs. Suburb Growth
416 vs. 905
Queen East vs. Queen West
Yonge Street vs. Porn Shops
Anagram Map vs. TTC's Website
Zombie Walks vs. Miller's Hair
AGO Façade vs. ROM Crystal

Each weekday for the next two weeks, Torontoist is facing off local memes and blog drama in a tournament-style ladder and you, the reader, decide the outcome. March Madness begins today! View the current ladder here. Suggestions for next year will be recorded! Today's matches, Region I, 1st Round:

The Giambroney vs. One Cent Now
St. Clair ROW vs. York Subway
The Gardiner vs. CN Tower Ice
Starbucks vs. Parkdale
The Beach vs. The Beaches
Toronto Islands vs. The Docks
Dundas Square vs. Jane Jacobs
Megabins vs. Gas Power Plant

Because there are only a handful of Canadians in the NCAA, (and who really cares about college basketball, anyway?) we thought we'd cook up a little March Madness of our own - Toronto style. We have created a tournament ladder of recent memes, blog drama and local news and for the next two weeks, you will decide the winner of each match. Sure beats betting on Kansas State.

Last week, we covered the Ontario Municipal Board's approval of a plan to build several condo buildings in the area of the Queen West Triangle. The plan has been controversial from the beginning, and has been strongly opposed by a residents group called Active 18.

As the summer slowly makes way for what seems to be an early fall, pretty soon we'll all spend more time huddled around the fireplace for the... holiday season. That's right... Labor Day, Halloween, Thanksgiving and Kwanzaa are just around the corner, and the family is coming over to your place for dinner.

We have not one but two civics related events tonight in Toronto. At Trinity St. Paul's church just near Bloor and Spadina we have Jane Jacobs: A Public Celebration. There have been plenty of smaller celebrations for the life of Jane Jacobs but one more never hurts.

In honour of Jane Jacobs CBC Radio One's Ideas will be re-airing their programs on Dark Age Ahead, her last work.

is a jaunty celebration of the success of the Stop Spadina Campaign that is being fondly remembered in the wake of Jane Jacobs' death.

Houstonist reports on cross-dressing thieves and undressing educators this week. A Peeping Tom defends himself with a papaya and an outraged onlooker asks Ken Lay, "TATER TOTS OR FRIES?" Also, FEMA wants it's money back.

From all the online and offline tributes it's been pretty clear that the city has the utmost respect for Jane Jacobs. While we know that she did not like academic honours bestowed upon her we think that she'd appreciate having a street named after her. Especially considering what a huge role she played in saving so many of the streets in downtown Toronto. Torontoist would like to propose that Albany Ave., the street she lived on for so many years, be renamed Jane Jacobs Ave. We would not only wholeheartedly support this, we'd also take on the task ourselves.

It is with great sadness that Torontoist reports the death of Torontonian Jane Jacobs. The 89-year old writer and urban critic passed away this morning.