The Mulberries are Coming! Third Annual Mulberry Festival - July 6, 3 - 5 p.m.
Tired of the mess that mulberries make on our sidewalks from mid-June through early August ? Why not eat them instead? You'll have a chance to pick mulberries from trees in the neighbourhood on Saturday, July 6, 3 - 5 p.m.,at Sibelius Park. The Third Annual Mulberry Festival is hosted by the Annex Residents' Association. Read more details here.

Next Meet N Eat is happening on July 16th at the Victory Cafe

Join your neighbours and friends as we check out a different neighbourhood restaurant every month. 

Next Meet N Eat is on Tuesday, July 16, at the Victory Cafe, 440 Bloor Street West. Please RSVP if you can join us, so we can make an appropriate number of reservations.

As with all Meet N Easts, you have to cover the cost of your own bill.

June 13, ARA Board Meeting, 7 p.m. at  the Alliance Française, Room 303, 24 Spadina Road. All welcome!

Annual General Meeting at the Friends House, 
60 Lowther Avenue, 7:30 p.m. 

AGENDA

1. Welcome Members and Guests

2. Approval of Agenda

3. Minutes from 2018 AGM

4. Special Guests – John Lorinc and Sheryll Case: House Divided – How the Missing Middle will solve Toronto’s Affordability Crisis.

5. Chair's report — David Harrison

6. Financials — Rita Bilerman, Treasurer

7. Report from the Nominating Committee and Election of the 2019 - 2020 Board of Directors, Jim Jacobs

8. Community Volunteer Award presentation

9. Councillor Mike Layton: Ward 20 update

10. AOB

11. Adjournment

Last Minute Cancellation

Saturday’s Open House at the 348 Davenport Women’s Shelter Open House has been cancelled

YWCA Toronto and the City of Toronto say the buildings are not ready, so they are postponing the Open House. It will be rescheduled for a later date when neighbours will be able to picture the shelter in action. 

Please pass word of the cancellation along to any of your friends. YWCA Toronto and the City of Toronto apologize for any inconvenience caused by this last-minute change.

Welcome the New Women’s Shelter

You’ve seen the renovations at 348 Davenport from the outside.  On December the 29^th, you can come and see them from the inside.

 

The women’s shelter at 348 Davenport will be providing shelter for 56 homeless women, linking them to services and helping them to find a permanent home. 

Toronto. The shelter is being operated by YWCA Toronto, which has served Toronto’s women and girls for almost 150 years. It currently operates the 1st Stop Woodlawn Housing for women who are homeless or in immediate crisis, two shelters for women fleeing abuse, and permanent housing at four locations.

YWCA Toronto and the City of Toronto is inviting all of shelter’s neighbours to a preview, to view the facility, meet the operators and ask questions.

When:           Saturday, December 29^th 
                      1:30 - 3:30 p.m. 

Where:          348 Davenport (just south of Dupont)

When the Snow Flies

Before the first big snowfall graces Toronto, the Annex Residents’ Association (ARA) wishes to remind everyone to clear their sidewalks. It makes a big difference for young and old – for parents with strollers and residents who have mobility challenges.

For seniors and those with disabilities, the City of Toronto makes it a lot easier to deal with the snow. The City will clear city sidewalks outside their property for free. Just download the form and mail it in.

As 2018 ends, and 2019 begins, the ARA wishes all of the residents of the Annex a Happy Holiday.

The Latest at Bloor Street United

The Annex Residents’ Association (ARA) is not happy about it, but an important meeting is going to be held next Monday, December 17, 7 – 9 PM, about the proposed development at Bloor Street United, 300 Bloor Street West at Huron.

The ARA argued this does not give residents enough notice, but the meeting is required by the City’s rules.

The good news is that during three community consultations and five meetings of a working group, the ARA has had a positive impact on the proposed development. The building has been reduced in height.

The revised application is for a 27-storey mixed use building with 251 residential units and two separate mezzanines in the base building

For more details, see the City’s Preliminary Report.

The continued involvement of local residents is vital to ensure the proposed development evolves to reflect community wishes.

                    Date:     Monday, December 17, 2018

                    Time:    7:00 PM - 9:00 PM

                    Place:   Bloor Street United Church, McClure Hall,
                                 (300 Bloor St. West)

Transparency at the ARA

Many residents may be wondering about the criteria the Annex Residents’ Association uses when it reviews developments in our neighborhood, ranging single-storey residential additions or multi-story condo developments.

The ARA has now published a guide Reviewing Projects in the Annex: Guidance for Proponents to bring more certainty to what can often be a stressful process.

The guide gives proponents suggestions on how to satisfy the four big questions the ARA will be concerned about:

• what is there now?
• what is being proposed?
• what are likely impacts; to whom? and
• what is the timing of the project?

Proponents are welcome to make presentations to the ARA’s Planning and Zoning Committee, which meets monthly.

For more information, contact:

Edward Leman
Co-chair, Planning and Zoning Committee leman@chreod.com orplanningandzoning@theara.org tel: (416) 966-1144

or

Ko Van Klaveren
Co-chair, Planning and Zoning Committeejac.vanklaveren@hotmail.com or planningandzoning@theara.org

The Annex Residents’ Association (ARA) and the Harbord Village Residents’ Association (HVRA) are hosting a free Tree Talk on December 3^rd, where residents can get all their questions answered about their trees, such as:

• Is my tree frail or diseased?
  
• How do I care for a young tree, or an old one?
  
• Should I think about replacing a tree?
  
• How can I repair a tree damaged by a storm?
  

To get your answers to these and other questions come to the ARA and HVRA’s free TreeTalk and get advice from expert arborists. Refreshments will be served.

         When:        December 3,  7 pm

         Where:       918 Bathurst (just north of Barton)

The ARA has been a leader in the fight to preserve our city’s tree canopy.

It established TreesPlease, which undertook an Annex-wide survey of our trees and used the data to publish the Annex Tree Map, where residents find the age, type and condition of just about every tree in our neighborhood. TreesPlease has also posted a backgrounder, Meet the Annex Trees, where residents can get an overview of the state and composition of the tree canopy in the Annex.

The ARA would like to thank Shadows S1 Television Productions (“WHAT WE DO IN THE SHADOWS S1”) for their donation of $250. They were recently filming in the Annex. We ask film and production companies to make donations to the ARA in recognition of the disruption that filming can cause in our neighbourhoods.