MINUTES OF MEETING held
Monday, September 21, 2015
70 Distillery Lane at 6:30 p.m.
Directors Present:
Phylis Coles, President, called the meeting to order at 6:36 p.m. assumed the Chair. With the consent of the meeting, Claudia Pardo, was appointed Recording Secretary for the meeting.
2. APPROVAL OF AGENDA
A MOTION was made by Julie Beddoes and seconded by Sheila Iseman to approve the Agenda. MOTION CARRIED.
3. MINUTES OF JULY 7th, JULY 13th and AUGUST 24TH MEETINGS
A MOTION was made by Sheila Iseman and seconded by Corinne Bryers to approve Minutes of the July 7t , July 13th and August 24th, 2015.MOTION CARRIED.
4. REPORTS:
4.1 Treasurer’s Report – Sheila Iseman
Opening bank balance Jan 1, 2015 $3,109.93
2015 income $3,413.00
2015 expenses $2,100.18
Current Balance Sept. 21, 2015 $4,422.75
Notes
2015 Income:
- Individual memberships 2015 & 2016 is $1,990
- 4 Corporate memberships $1,223
- NNO $200
A MOTION to approve Treasurer’s Report was made by Julie Beddoes and seconded by George Hume. MOTION CARRIED.
4.2 Membership Chair’s Report – Jose Castillo – Marien Breen
191 Members to date
4.3 Communications – Salim Jamal & Parrish Offer
Parrish Offer - 2015 to 2016 Communications Plan
- Demographics of the DD (excluding 390 Cherry St)
o Population size 1756
o Households with children: 47%
o # of households: 1164
o Rapid growth
§ About 3,500 as we approach 2023
o Education:
§ Highly educated population
§ Half of the population has a university degree or higher. That means we need to be professional when we communicate.
§ Languages:
· 1142 speak English
· 143 French
· 44 Czech
· 32 Spanish
o Communication Data. How do people consume data?
§ Varies depending on the age, but all of them favour the web to look for information in all age ranges.
§ Older generation still uses the newspaper
§ Younger tends to use more the web and social media
o General interest by age?
§ Younger population looks for discounts and social events
§ 35+ start getting interest for local politics, infrastructure developments and neighbourhood history.
o Communication Tools for GWNA
§ Website:
· We don’t have a physical location. We are an Association that gathers once a month and our website is pretty much our living location.
· Frequency: every 2 weeks
· Cross Promotion: needs to be included in all other mediums given the web is predominant in all age groups who look for information.
· More photos will be needed
§ District News:
· It needs to be cross promoted online, through the newsletters, meetings etc.
· We need more people to showcase what’s happening in this community.
§ Social Media:
· It’s well on its way
· Lester Brown is doing a great job in this regard.
· We need to create more conversations
§ List Serv/E-newsletter:
· Subject needs to get better as the subject is what calls attention from the audience
· Suggestion is to do a better job using the email and how the information gets to the audience.
§ GWNA App
· There’s an opportunity to reach an important demographic
§ Signage
· A physical message close to entrances welcoming people
o Communication priorities:
§ Templates – Due September
§ Website – Due October
§ Listserv – Due November
· Disable? Keep it?
· Create a new email distribution
· Promote informal communication by Facebook
§ New communication tools – Due December
· Create mobile Apps
· District News
- Importance of creating a vision/mission or statement that tells people what GWNA does and what the Association is here for.
“The GWNA is a unified voice that serves the interests and enhances the quality of life of all residents of the Distillery Historic District.”
- One common look – Brand Elements
o Working on a polished look to create a more consistent look
Phylis encourages people to send ideas to the Communications Committee to info@gwna.ca.
Salim Jamal:
- Minutes will be uploaded online and review all the information from the meetings there.
4.4 Development Committee – Julie Beddoes, Chair
1. Gardiner East EA: The City staff report on the three hybrid options (www.app.toronto.ca/tmmis/viewAgendaItemHistory.do?item=2015.PW7.3) will be discussed at the Public Works and Infrastructure Committee meeting on 22 September. No development committee member is available to make a deputation but the board may choose to write to PWIC. A recommended text is at the end of this report** Message may not reach Councillors before meeting.
[Added during meeting]
o GWNA Development Committee doesn’t have anyone to go to the public works meeting tomorrow (Tuesday, August 22nd) to depute about this subject.
o The intersection on Jarvis has been recognized by the City Transportation Services as the most dangerous intersection.
2. Cityscape application: Councillor McConnell will invite the development committee to meet with her and planning staff very soon. A public information session will be held when there is something of substance to report. A larger working group will be formed to work on a revised application. Its meetings will be open to the community.
3. Port lands and Villiers Island: Stakeholder and public meetings will be held over the next two months.
4. Ward boundary review: GWNA members urged to attend public meetings on this issue. Toronto & East York Community Council Area Meetings
- SATURDAY, OCTOBER 3, Holy Rosary Church Hall
356 St Clair Ave W, Main Floor – Room 2 10 – 12 am
- WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 7, Metro Hall
55 John St, Room308/309 7-9 pm
- THURSDAY, OCTOBER 8, Riverdale Hub
1326 Gerrard St E, 3rd Floor - South Space (at Gerrard St E & Greenwood Ave) 7-9 pm
For information go to www.torontoist.com/2015/08/toronto-ward-boundary-review-a-primer/
5. City Solid Waste Policy: The Development Committee sees no reason for GWNA to intervene in this discussion. Keith Veira is willing to arrange a speaker to inform member condominiums that do not currently have compost facilities on how to get them if condo boards are interested. Condo reps on GWNA board are asked to take this back to their boards.
6. Mill St. renovation: Work has been delayed because of staff issues but interested City departments will soon have proposals to show to neighbourhood working group. It is recommended that the group include members of the development committee and that condos on Mill St. be included.
[Added during meeting]
o Renovation is restarting and we expect to have a working group meeting soon.
o We’ll have to decide about the composition of the working group.
o Concerns are pedestrian safety at Mill and Parliament. That’s priority.
7. First Gulf Public meeting: A public session on the proposed development on the former Unilever site will be held on October 1st.
8. First Parliament: Working group will be called together in late October.
** DRAFT LETTER TO PWIC re Gardiner East (the below letter has been emailed to them on September 20, 2015 so they would have it on time)
Mailing Address: 39 Parliament St., Box 101, Toronto, ON M5A 4R2
Website: www.gwna.ca Twitter: gwnatoronto
Facebook: Gooderham & Worts Neighbourhood Association
September 20, 2015
To: City of Toronto Public Works and Infrastructure Committee
c/o pwic@toronto.ca
Dear Chair Robinson and Committee Members,
The Gooderham & Worts Neighbourhood Association urged last May that Council support the take-down option for the eastern portion of the Gardiner Expressway.
In accordance with Council instructions, the staff report before you only considers various options for a rebuilding of the expressway east of Cherry Street, none of which addresses the existing road in any way west of Cherry Street. We remind you that the environmental assessment terms of reference requires that it propose a solution for the highway starting at Jarvis Street.
We feel that if underside of the highway is made more attractive this requirement would not be fulfilled by any of the hybrid options it is proposed to study further. The intersection at Jarvis and Lakeshore is a dangerous nightmare for all types of traffic, including pedestrians, but with the Gardiner on and off ramps untouched, there’s not much that can be done to make it safer.
We ask you to consider more fully the quality of life for all the thousands who currently live along the Gardiner from Jarvis to Cherry, in the St. Lawrence and Distillery areas and who are presently subject to its noise and air pollution. As well, please give a thought to the quality of development that will be attracted to sites north of Queen’s Quay in the East Bay Front and Keating Channel West if the expressway were to be left as it is.
Sincerely,
GOODERHAM & WORTS NEIGHBOURHOOD ASSOCIATION
Phylis Coles,
President, GWNA
416-460-1523
Tom Davidson, Constituency Assistant to Pam McConnell, Deputy Mayor & City Councillor Ward 28
- Gardiner report:
o We didn’t achieve the preferred alternative supported by our neighbourhood and Pam.
o We’re in an interim period in which there are designs being presented. There’s still a decision to be made in this regard.
- Mill St renovation:
o Mill St between Parliament and Cherry will be redone next year.
o Some emphasis has been placed on how to control and manage the vehicles that converge in the area (tourist buses, taxis, business vehicles, residents’ vehicles).
- Reopening of streets:
o Cherry St will be completely open at the end of September
o Mill St to Corktown Common: there’s still no confirmation about when this portion will be open as the Canary District (Athlete’s Village) developer is still using the area around to have access to finish the units inside.
- First Parliament Site:
o Master planning process will start next year.
Question: What’s the timeline for Mill St?
R/ It’s in the 2016 capital program, so it should be done any time between May to September 2016.
Observations from attendee:
- Pan Am Games are already over and there are still signs providing wrong information to drivers about how to drive around the area.
- On the north-west corner of Parliament Square Park there’s no grass. After it rains it gets muddy and it can be dangerous for people who walk or run in the area. It’s a tripping hazard.
4.5 Community Police Liaison Committe – Corinne Bryers
We’ve got great feedback about how the Pan Am Games were managed and sent an letter to the 51 Division for them to know how pleased the community was in this regard, and thanking them for an excellent job.
- Phylis also thanked the Distillery District security staff present at the meeting for the great job they did.
4.6 Social Committee – Hamida Hassanzada
- Still organizing the details of the Christmas meeting and another possible meeting before winter starts.
- Garage sale will be on May 14th, 2016 on Trinity & Mill Streets.
5. NEW BUSINESSES:
- Sheila Iseman asks if we include and invite other buildings east of the Distillery District to join the GWNA.
o Questions: Are we going to be competing with Corktown and do we want to?
§ Probably yes, but we’re able to do it.
§ Observation:
· Penelope thinks it’s best if we focus on developing our own focus and actively co-operate with other associations. It might be better if the community in the West Don Lands create their own Association and focus on their own interests.
· George Hume proposes that we help them in building their community and their Association and give them the option to join us.
· Julie Beddoes’ opinion is that we have a tightly defined geographical area and that our interests might not even be the same as it happens with the Corktown NA. We have a coalition of committees of the West Don Lands that already work together wherever our interests overlap. There are about 13 representatives that meet every month.
· Keith Veira adds that we’re interwoven and maybe we can just advice and support in order for them to be successful.
· Penelope adds that we need to be careful about our relationship with Corktown as they claim Corktown is the whole area. There’s a very good relationship now with them and we need to be tactful, careful and make everybody feel involved.
- Christmas Market:
o Is the parking lot on Trinity available for that? R/ It’s an Infrastructure Ontario land when we have a round table we’re going to talk about how they are going to disperse the amount of people and how traffic is going to be handled.
- Development Committee:
o Julie Beddoes invites attendees to get in touch with her if anyone is interested in development issues. Next Monday evening at 7:00PM at 39 Parliament.
- George Hume:
o A few years ago there was a debate about the licensed terrace at Stirling Room and right now it seems to be extending far beyond what was authorized. George asks if anybody knows if it’s now an unlicensed terrace or that they’ve got a license to expand.
o Corinne had asked David about what the stipulation and control was and he said he would look into it. There will be a round table meeting this Thursday, we hope to have an answer from him in this regard.
11. Next Meeting:
- Tuesday October 20th at 39 Parliament St – 6:30 to 8:30PM. Entry code #182
- Guest speaker: Peter Zimmerman MES MCIP. He will update us about what’s happening on the undeveloped sites on the West Don Lands.
12. Meeting Closed
Meeting closed at 7:53 p.m.
Monday, September 21, 2015
70 Distillery Lane at 6:30 p.m.
Directors Present:
- Phylis Coles (President)
- Salim Jamal (Vice-President)
- Claudia Pardo (Secretary)
- Hamida Hassanzada (Social Committee Chair)
- Julie Beddoes (V.P. External & Development Committee Chair))
- Corinne Bryers (Representative for 70 Mill Street)
- Sheila Iseman (Treasurer)
- Parrish Offer (Director at Large)
- Keith Veira (Director at Large)
- Marien Breen (Representative for 80 Mill Street)
- George Hume (Representative for 39 Parliament Street)
- Ilda Caldwell (Representative for 70 Distillery Lane)
- Ken Yim (33 Mill Street Representative)
- Susan Kushneryk
- Jose Castillo (Membership Chair & 390 Cherry Street Representative)
- Lester Brown (Past President)
Phylis Coles, President, called the meeting to order at 6:36 p.m. assumed the Chair. With the consent of the meeting, Claudia Pardo, was appointed Recording Secretary for the meeting.
2. APPROVAL OF AGENDA
A MOTION was made by Julie Beddoes and seconded by Sheila Iseman to approve the Agenda. MOTION CARRIED.
3. MINUTES OF JULY 7th, JULY 13th and AUGUST 24TH MEETINGS
A MOTION was made by Sheila Iseman and seconded by Corinne Bryers to approve Minutes of the July 7t , July 13th and August 24th, 2015.MOTION CARRIED.
4. REPORTS:
4.1 Treasurer’s Report – Sheila Iseman
Opening bank balance Jan 1, 2015 $3,109.93
2015 income $3,413.00
2015 expenses $2,100.18
Current Balance Sept. 21, 2015 $4,422.75
Notes
2015 Income:
- Individual memberships 2015 & 2016 is $1,990
- 4 Corporate memberships $1,223
- NNO $200
A MOTION to approve Treasurer’s Report was made by Julie Beddoes and seconded by George Hume. MOTION CARRIED.
4.2 Membership Chair’s Report – Jose Castillo – Marien Breen
191 Members to date
4.3 Communications – Salim Jamal & Parrish Offer
Parrish Offer - 2015 to 2016 Communications Plan
- Demographics of the DD (excluding 390 Cherry St)
o Population size 1756
o Households with children: 47%
o # of households: 1164
o Rapid growth
§ About 3,500 as we approach 2023
o Education:
§ Highly educated population
§ Half of the population has a university degree or higher. That means we need to be professional when we communicate.
§ Languages:
· 1142 speak English
· 143 French
· 44 Czech
· 32 Spanish
o Communication Data. How do people consume data?
§ Varies depending on the age, but all of them favour the web to look for information in all age ranges.
§ Older generation still uses the newspaper
§ Younger tends to use more the web and social media
o General interest by age?
§ Younger population looks for discounts and social events
§ 35+ start getting interest for local politics, infrastructure developments and neighbourhood history.
o Communication Tools for GWNA
§ Website:
· We don’t have a physical location. We are an Association that gathers once a month and our website is pretty much our living location.
· Frequency: every 2 weeks
· Cross Promotion: needs to be included in all other mediums given the web is predominant in all age groups who look for information.
· More photos will be needed
§ District News:
· It needs to be cross promoted online, through the newsletters, meetings etc.
· We need more people to showcase what’s happening in this community.
§ Social Media:
· It’s well on its way
· Lester Brown is doing a great job in this regard.
· We need to create more conversations
§ List Serv/E-newsletter:
· Subject needs to get better as the subject is what calls attention from the audience
· Suggestion is to do a better job using the email and how the information gets to the audience.
§ GWNA App
· There’s an opportunity to reach an important demographic
§ Signage
· A physical message close to entrances welcoming people
o Communication priorities:
§ Templates – Due September
§ Website – Due October
§ Listserv – Due November
· Disable? Keep it?
· Create a new email distribution
· Promote informal communication by Facebook
§ New communication tools – Due December
· Create mobile Apps
· District News
- Importance of creating a vision/mission or statement that tells people what GWNA does and what the Association is here for.
“The GWNA is a unified voice that serves the interests and enhances the quality of life of all residents of the Distillery Historic District.”
- One common look – Brand Elements
o Working on a polished look to create a more consistent look
Phylis encourages people to send ideas to the Communications Committee to info@gwna.ca.
Salim Jamal:
- Minutes will be uploaded online and review all the information from the meetings there.
4.4 Development Committee – Julie Beddoes, Chair
1. Gardiner East EA: The City staff report on the three hybrid options (www.app.toronto.ca/tmmis/viewAgendaItemHistory.do?item=2015.PW7.3) will be discussed at the Public Works and Infrastructure Committee meeting on 22 September. No development committee member is available to make a deputation but the board may choose to write to PWIC. A recommended text is at the end of this report** Message may not reach Councillors before meeting.
[Added during meeting]
o GWNA Development Committee doesn’t have anyone to go to the public works meeting tomorrow (Tuesday, August 22nd) to depute about this subject.
o The intersection on Jarvis has been recognized by the City Transportation Services as the most dangerous intersection.
2. Cityscape application: Councillor McConnell will invite the development committee to meet with her and planning staff very soon. A public information session will be held when there is something of substance to report. A larger working group will be formed to work on a revised application. Its meetings will be open to the community.
3. Port lands and Villiers Island: Stakeholder and public meetings will be held over the next two months.
4. Ward boundary review: GWNA members urged to attend public meetings on this issue. Toronto & East York Community Council Area Meetings
- SATURDAY, OCTOBER 3, Holy Rosary Church Hall
356 St Clair Ave W, Main Floor – Room 2 10 – 12 am
- WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 7, Metro Hall
55 John St, Room308/309 7-9 pm
- THURSDAY, OCTOBER 8, Riverdale Hub
1326 Gerrard St E, 3rd Floor - South Space (at Gerrard St E & Greenwood Ave) 7-9 pm
For information go to www.torontoist.com/2015/08/toronto-ward-boundary-review-a-primer/
5. City Solid Waste Policy: The Development Committee sees no reason for GWNA to intervene in this discussion. Keith Veira is willing to arrange a speaker to inform member condominiums that do not currently have compost facilities on how to get them if condo boards are interested. Condo reps on GWNA board are asked to take this back to their boards.
6. Mill St. renovation: Work has been delayed because of staff issues but interested City departments will soon have proposals to show to neighbourhood working group. It is recommended that the group include members of the development committee and that condos on Mill St. be included.
[Added during meeting]
o Renovation is restarting and we expect to have a working group meeting soon.
o We’ll have to decide about the composition of the working group.
o Concerns are pedestrian safety at Mill and Parliament. That’s priority.
7. First Gulf Public meeting: A public session on the proposed development on the former Unilever site will be held on October 1st.
8. First Parliament: Working group will be called together in late October.
** DRAFT LETTER TO PWIC re Gardiner East (the below letter has been emailed to them on September 20, 2015 so they would have it on time)
Mailing Address: 39 Parliament St., Box 101, Toronto, ON M5A 4R2
Website: www.gwna.ca Twitter: gwnatoronto
Facebook: Gooderham & Worts Neighbourhood Association
September 20, 2015
To: City of Toronto Public Works and Infrastructure Committee
c/o pwic@toronto.ca
Dear Chair Robinson and Committee Members,
The Gooderham & Worts Neighbourhood Association urged last May that Council support the take-down option for the eastern portion of the Gardiner Expressway.
In accordance with Council instructions, the staff report before you only considers various options for a rebuilding of the expressway east of Cherry Street, none of which addresses the existing road in any way west of Cherry Street. We remind you that the environmental assessment terms of reference requires that it propose a solution for the highway starting at Jarvis Street.
We feel that if underside of the highway is made more attractive this requirement would not be fulfilled by any of the hybrid options it is proposed to study further. The intersection at Jarvis and Lakeshore is a dangerous nightmare for all types of traffic, including pedestrians, but with the Gardiner on and off ramps untouched, there’s not much that can be done to make it safer.
We ask you to consider more fully the quality of life for all the thousands who currently live along the Gardiner from Jarvis to Cherry, in the St. Lawrence and Distillery areas and who are presently subject to its noise and air pollution. As well, please give a thought to the quality of development that will be attracted to sites north of Queen’s Quay in the East Bay Front and Keating Channel West if the expressway were to be left as it is.
Sincerely,
GOODERHAM & WORTS NEIGHBOURHOOD ASSOCIATION
Phylis Coles,
President, GWNA
416-460-1523
Tom Davidson, Constituency Assistant to Pam McConnell, Deputy Mayor & City Councillor Ward 28
- Gardiner report:
o We didn’t achieve the preferred alternative supported by our neighbourhood and Pam.
o We’re in an interim period in which there are designs being presented. There’s still a decision to be made in this regard.
- Mill St renovation:
o Mill St between Parliament and Cherry will be redone next year.
o Some emphasis has been placed on how to control and manage the vehicles that converge in the area (tourist buses, taxis, business vehicles, residents’ vehicles).
- Reopening of streets:
o Cherry St will be completely open at the end of September
o Mill St to Corktown Common: there’s still no confirmation about when this portion will be open as the Canary District (Athlete’s Village) developer is still using the area around to have access to finish the units inside.
- First Parliament Site:
o Master planning process will start next year.
Question: What’s the timeline for Mill St?
R/ It’s in the 2016 capital program, so it should be done any time between May to September 2016.
Observations from attendee:
- Pan Am Games are already over and there are still signs providing wrong information to drivers about how to drive around the area.
- On the north-west corner of Parliament Square Park there’s no grass. After it rains it gets muddy and it can be dangerous for people who walk or run in the area. It’s a tripping hazard.
4.5 Community Police Liaison Committe – Corinne Bryers
We’ve got great feedback about how the Pan Am Games were managed and sent an letter to the 51 Division for them to know how pleased the community was in this regard, and thanking them for an excellent job.
- Phylis also thanked the Distillery District security staff present at the meeting for the great job they did.
4.6 Social Committee – Hamida Hassanzada
- Still organizing the details of the Christmas meeting and another possible meeting before winter starts.
- Garage sale will be on May 14th, 2016 on Trinity & Mill Streets.
5. NEW BUSINESSES:
- Sheila Iseman asks if we include and invite other buildings east of the Distillery District to join the GWNA.
o Questions: Are we going to be competing with Corktown and do we want to?
§ Probably yes, but we’re able to do it.
§ Observation:
· Penelope thinks it’s best if we focus on developing our own focus and actively co-operate with other associations. It might be better if the community in the West Don Lands create their own Association and focus on their own interests.
· George Hume proposes that we help them in building their community and their Association and give them the option to join us.
· Julie Beddoes’ opinion is that we have a tightly defined geographical area and that our interests might not even be the same as it happens with the Corktown NA. We have a coalition of committees of the West Don Lands that already work together wherever our interests overlap. There are about 13 representatives that meet every month.
· Keith Veira adds that we’re interwoven and maybe we can just advice and support in order for them to be successful.
· Penelope adds that we need to be careful about our relationship with Corktown as they claim Corktown is the whole area. There’s a very good relationship now with them and we need to be tactful, careful and make everybody feel involved.
- Christmas Market:
o Is the parking lot on Trinity available for that? R/ It’s an Infrastructure Ontario land when we have a round table we’re going to talk about how they are going to disperse the amount of people and how traffic is going to be handled.
- Development Committee:
o Julie Beddoes invites attendees to get in touch with her if anyone is interested in development issues. Next Monday evening at 7:00PM at 39 Parliament.
- George Hume:
o A few years ago there was a debate about the licensed terrace at Stirling Room and right now it seems to be extending far beyond what was authorized. George asks if anybody knows if it’s now an unlicensed terrace or that they’ve got a license to expand.
o Corinne had asked David about what the stipulation and control was and he said he would look into it. There will be a round table meeting this Thursday, we hope to have an answer from him in this regard.
11. Next Meeting:
- Tuesday October 20th at 39 Parliament St – 6:30 to 8:30PM. Entry code #182
- Guest speaker: Peter Zimmerman MES MCIP. He will update us about what’s happening on the undeveloped sites on the West Don Lands.
12. Meeting Closed
Meeting closed at 7:53 p.m.
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