High-Rise Troubles
Condo Critic: An exercise in built chaos
The Toronto Star - ARCHITECTURE - January 24, 2009
Christopher Hume Poor Sheppard. If there's a mistake the city hasn't
made on this street it isn't for lack of trying. Communities change,
of course, and many areas of Toronto are in transition, but what has
happened here is an almost fatal result of conflicting philosophies
and intentions. Urban or suburban? Highway or major transit route? It
is all the above - and none.
It's too late to turn back; the only alternative is to move boldly and
quickly into the future - the urban future, that is. The time will come
when Sheppard Ave. is the St. Clair Ave. of the 21st-century city. In
the meantime, there's a lot of work to be done, an enormous amount,
in fact. Making sense of this disparate arrangement of elements, extracting
some order out of this built chaos, will take a generation or two.
As it stands, Sheppard has everything from tall residential towers to
car- oriented shopping malls. By general agreement, the subway that
runs beneath the street east of Yonge was a mistake, though eventually
it will obviously have an effect. Already, densities are tightening
up and the wide-open spaces are closing in.
But Sheppard still awaits the development that will turn around the
inward-looking, insular and deliberately isolated sort of project that
get built here for reasons that aren't hard to grasp. Builders seem
to approach the area as a road to nowhere and create complexes that
are as self-contained as possible. This may be best for residents in
the short run, but it's no way to make a city.
Jamestown families with gang 'link' face eviction
Updated: Wed Jan. 24 2007 11:29:50 AM
toronto.ctv.ca
Toronto Community Housing is attempting a mass eviction of families
they say have links to street gangs in a bid to clean up the troubled
west-end Jamestown neighbourhood.
Within the past year, TCH has served notices to leaseholders of 13 units
in the Jamestown complex in Rexdale, and there are likely more to come,
the Toronto Star reports.
The move, similar to an initiative in Los Angeles that was designed
to quell gang violence, is believed to be the largest eviction by the
agency since 2004's Project Impact in Scarborough, which targeted the
Malvern Crew.
Some of the Jamestown families who have been served notices, however,
are fighting the move before the Ontario Housing Rental Tribunal.
Some tenants have already moved out on their own.
"They got the notice of termination and they left without challenging,"
Steve Floros, the corporation's director of property management, told
the Star. "Others have challenged."
TCH, which is owned by the city, is perfectly within its right to evict
tenants when lines are crossed, Floros said.
"Our concern is, `What is the activity that's taking place on our
property, what's the impact on the greater community,' and our remedy,
like any other landlord, is to turn to the tribunal and say, `This is
the issue, this is the tenants' involvement, and we're seeking a remedy
which is eviction in some cases.'"
Floros said it is a different scale of justice than in a criminal proceeding.
"When you go to the tribunal, it's a quasi-legal hearing. It's
based on the balance of probability --unlike criminal law, (which is)
based on (proof) beyond a reasonable doubt."
TCH "can proceed even if the charges are thrown out," he added.
"We don't have to wait for the disposition of the case."
Last week a lawyer representing eight leaseholders appeared before an
adjudicator, arguing the evictions are unfair and penalize families
of alleged criminals who have not yet been convicted of a crime. The
case resumes March 12.
"The assumption is that the whole family is guilty, the whole family
is condoning and promoting this behaviour," said John Sawdon, executive
director of the non-profit Canadian Training Institute, which runs "gang
exiting" programs.
"When there are some single moms who are trying to work two, three
jobs to give her kids a living and may not have been home, may not be
aware (of criminal activity) and what you've done with just one broad
stroke is condemn and convict everyone of them," he said.
Floros denies there is a "new protocol" to issue eviction
notices if family members are charged with gang-related crime.
There have been a number of shootings in Jamestown over the years, causing
many residents to fear for their safety.
After the raids in the community last spring, Chief Bill Blair described
the Jamestown Crew as "a sophisticated criminal organization that
preyed on neighbourhoods, using violence to intimidate law-abiding citizens."
Man shot at Jane-Finch is city's 8th murder of '09
Updated: Mon Feb. 23 2009 10:51:57 AM
ctvtoronto.ca
A 20-year-old man is dead after being shot outside an apartment building
in north-end Toronto.
Peter Bowen, 20, of Toronto, was shot multiple times in the chest just
after 7 p.m. in the driveway of an apartment building at 345 Driftwood
Ave. He was taken to Sunnybrook hospital where he died.
The motive isn't clear but reports say there was a dispute in the building's
lobby before the argument moved out into the street.
Police say two suspects were seen fleeing the scene and are described
as:
1. Black, 19-20, 5'7" and 130 lbs. He was last seen wearing a black
baseball cap with the letter D, blue bandana with a teardrop pattern,
black hooded winter jacket, black or gun-metal shiny jeans with greyish
threading and black Timberland shoes.
2. Black, 22-23, 6', 170 lbs., with a medium build. He was last seen
wearing the same clothing as Suspect 1.
Officers from two forensic identification teams were on site overnight
as homicide investigators scoured the area for a weapon and further
clues.
Anyone with information about the incident is asked to call 31 Division
at 416-808-3100 or Crime Stoppers anonymously at 416-222-TIPS (8477).
The homicide is Toronto's eighth of the year.
THE JANE/FINCH HOOD
CBC – The Fifth Estate, Originally Aired October 4, 2006 Updated
January 31, 2007
(Edited to reduce to relative issues)
For full story go to: http://www.cbc.ca/fifth/lostinthestruggle/hood.html
'Jane and Finch', as it's unofficially known, is a neighbourhood in
the northwest corner of Toronto. It is a densely populated, extremely
diverse community on the edge of the city that has been fighting for
four decades to overcome isolation, hardship, and stigma.
 Housing
boom, but few community services During Canada's post-WWII immigration
wave, Jane and Finch was settled largely by Italian immigrants. The
area was still mostly farmland dotted by single-family houses. In the
late 1960s, a place was needed to house Toronto's next wave of newcomers,
this time from around the world. Jane and Finch, or 'Black Creek' as
the neighbourhood is officially known, was planned as a place to house
thousands of new low-income and high-need families.
Large high-rise apartment buildings were built to house the thousands
of people who moved to the area in the 1960's.
The Ontario Housing Corporation oversaw the construction of a large
concentration of private high-rise apartment buildings and public housing
along Jane Street, on what became known as 'the corridor.' The availability
of social and affordable housing attracted tens of thousands of people.
The neighbourhood's population exploded more than 2000% in a decade.
Jane and Finch has gained a reputation for violence, fueled by several
headline-grabbing shootings, including a drive-by in August 2005 when
four people were shot, one of them a four-year-old boy caught in the
crossfire.
13 neighbourhoods in need
thestar.com
Published On Sat Jan 16 2010
It has been four years since the launch of an ambitious campaign to
lift up Toronto's 13 most troubled neighbourhoods. Millions of dollars
later, it's not clear what that effort has achieved. How does a city
measure hope?
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