Results tagged “recreation”

Have you ever wanted to try your hand at sailing, but didn't know where to go? Do you want to sail but don't want the hassle of owning a boat? Whether you harbour fantasies about tacking and gybing your way to victory in a regatta or simply envision a relaxing couple of hours criss-crossing the Outer Harbour after a stressful day at work, Toronto's community sailing clubs are here to help. Three of the clubs—Mooredale Sailing Club, St. James Town Sailing Club, and Westwood Sailing Club—are located on Regatta Road between Cherry Beach and the Leslie Street Spit, while a fourth—Toronto Island Sailing Club—is based on Centre Island. All four offer introductory lessons and unlimited use of the club boats for less than $500 per year.

When trying to solve the problem of the lack of affordable housing, the thinkers and planners and innovators and design enthusiasts come up with some pretty creative ideas. Like the IKEA House, for example, or the notion of shipping container architecture. A group of Toronto activists are proposing a "use it or lose it" bylaw "that would see vacant and underutilized buildings and spaces expropriated by the City and redeveloped as badly needed affordable housing and social centres."

So, what’s scarier: a zombie infestation or the melting of the polar ice caps? This is an urgent and legitimate question! And later this week, Toronto cineastes can compare and contrast, for just as the After Dark Festival winds down, the Planet in Focus International Environmental Film & Video Festival springs up. Running from October 24 to 28, Planet in Focus is the most acclaimed film festival of its environmentally-minded ilk. This year, to coincide with the International Polar Year (which 2007 is, as you are doubtlessly already aware), the festival’s Spotlight Program is entitled Polar Visions. (Hint: these visions may include the melting of large volumes of ice.)

Feeling nutty and proud of it? David Miller has proclaimed July 14 as Mad Pride Day in Toronto, which aims to recognize and empower a much marginalized group: those who have experienced oppression at the hands of the psychiatric system (psychiatric survivors and consumers) and those who generally have been stigmatized by their mental health issues. In the same way that the gay community has reclaimed the word "queer," psychiatric survivors and consumers have empowered themselves by reclaiming the word "mad." Consider it a celebration of the right to be different. We’ll be joining many other cities across the world in this international day to recognize mad people, such as Melbourne, Vancouver, Brussels, London, Chicago, Buffalo and interestingly, Accra (Ghana).

This Sunday is the third annual St. James Town Festival, which begins at 10 a.m. outside of the Wellesley Community Centre at the corner of Wellesley and Sherbourne. At least, it's supposed to. But festival organizers claim that an unexpected and hefty bill from the city has left the event in jeopardy.

The Toronto Public Space Committee last night Art Attacked every single Astral pillar in the city. Photos are here and here, with more to come.

The urban sprawl in Toronto is a continual point of debate on Torontoist (see, for instance, our interview with Brad Lamb), but tomorrow you will get a chance to share your opinions on the matter outside of our sullied comment threads. On Monday, 7pm to 9pm at the Parkdale branch of the Toronto Public Library, fourth year students from Ryerson University will present their study of gentrification in Parkdale, followed by a moderated panel discussion and then an audience Q&A.

Natural resources minister Gary Lunn (left) announces a new $238 million green science fund for development of new energy techologies. Distributed over four years that's a little less than sixty million dollars a year, which will totally be all that's needed to invent fusion reactors, perfect hydrogen fuel cells and give us all the rocket-backpacks we've been waiting for our whole lives.

Here are our five "must see" events from Nuit Blanche's Zone C. This area runs in a line along Queen West West, between Trinity-Bellwoods Park and the Gladstone. Unless specified, the events we've picked run for the full 12 hours, so you can visit them at any point in the night.

TOist gratefully acknowledges Councillor Lindsay-Luby's efforts to educate the public about where money comes from, but we think the agreement is a bum deal all the same. $1.35 million plus 30% of profits is but a paltry exchange for damage done by park machines full of cola. Plus, where's the chocolate milk?