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Dancing (and cycling and playing and stargazing) in the streets this Friday and Saturday!

This weekend, DECA is so very excited about Canada’s first ever Vision Zero Popup Street Makeover!

As we wrote in our August 2 post, on Friday August 23rd at 5pm until Saturday August 24th at 3pm this Pop-up Event will reimagine the Danforth from Woodbine Avenue to Woodmount Avenue into a safer, more vibrant block in the city, using simple materials and with the help of volunteers.

Planned and organized by 8 80 Cities and The Better Block Foundation with support from DECA, the Danforth Mosaic BIA, Councillor Brad Bradford and The Workaround, this fun event is designed to engage everyone in the possibilities for creating city streets that are more liveable and walkable for our communities.

From the 880 Cities Website:

“From August 23rd – 24th one block of Danforth Avenue will be transformed into a street that exemplifies the City of Toronto’s aspiration to get traffic fatalities down to zero. With temporary paint, and simple materials we will show that community can come together to build solutions for safer and more vibrant streets. The street will include expanded pedestrian space, protected bike lanes, parklets, street furniture, and community programming for all ages.

The pop-up street makeover will take place over 2 days on one block from Woodbine Ave to Woodmount Ave. This will be the first pop-up street makeover of its kind in Toronto, bringing internationally renowned tactical urbanists The Better Block Foundation to Canada for the first time.”

Check out the news coverage of this event in the Beach Metro and on Toronto.com. 

The posters here have more details about the programming for the weekend.

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Danforth pop-up street makeover meeting on Thursday at Hirut!

Do you care about making the Danforth safer, more fun and useful for people of all ages (whether you are age 8 or 80 or anywhere in between)? We do too! That’s why DECA is so excited to be partnering with 8 80 Cities, Better Block, and the Danforth Mosaic BIA to create an exciting Danforth Pop-Up Street Makeover!

We’d love to have your input and ideas! Please join us for a presentation and community discussion on Thursday (tomorrow). You’ll meet some neighbours, the folks from 8 80 Cities and Better Blocks who are coming to make this amazing thing happen – and you won’t have to make dinner because Hirut is cooking for everyone. Drinks will be available for purchase.

Where: Hirut Restaurant, 2050 Danforth Ave.

What: Danforth Pop-up Street Makeover Discussion and Free Dinner!

When: Thursday, September 6 from 6:30 to 8:30pm.

If you can, please RSVP here, or just drop by!

 

Keen to lend a hand or know someone who might be?

We’ll also be needing some pop-up street makeover volunteers who can roll up their sleeves and lend a hand to re-design the street. We’ll be using temporary paint and materials, building and installing wikiblock furniture, and overseeing program activities for neighbours of all ages. The event and prep will take place October 4th – 6th. If you are unable to attend the meeting but would like to be involved, please email gay@deca.to for more information.

Read more about this exciting project here.

Community Meeting Sept 6

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Local police stations are merging and will be seeking a new location

Thanks to DECA Visioning Committee for this blog post!

You probably received a notice with your mail recently about public meetings the city and Toronto Police Service are holding on the next two Tuesday evenings regarding plans for a new local police station. (TPS plans to amalgamate its 54 and 55 Divisions under one roof.)

The discussion is particularly important for us because one of the three short-listed sites is the nearly five-acre TTC property at Danforth and Coxwell.

Danforth East TTC Barns at Coxwell. Photo credit Google Maps.

The Danforth East Community Association was formed a decade ago with a goal of making our area’s main street more vibrant, walkable and safe; to succeed we need to continually attract more people to the Danforth sidewalks for different reasons at different time of the day. World-renowned urbanist Jane Jacobs (who died in 2006) identified that TTC site as one of only two in the DECA area with significant potential for creating the type of multi-use hub that the community will need for revitalization.

While DECA has not taken a position, our Visioning Committee and some members are concerned — especially in an era when police stations tend to be walled, big-box fortresses — that this may not be an appropriate use for such a rare and valuable site on our main street.

The other two locations on the short list are East York Civic Centre and the current 55 Division at Dundas and Coxwell.

The two meetings are slated for:
– Tuesday, October 10 (6:30 to 9 p.m.) at East York Civic Centre, 850 Coxwell;
– Tuesday, October 17 (6:45 to to 9:15 p.m.) at SH Armstrong Community Centre, 56 Woodfield Rd.

To learn more about the community consultations and plans for a new site for these police stations, go to: https://www.torontopolice.on.ca/TheWayForward/new-54-55-building.php

Looking back at “Imagine the Danforth” 
The images below are renderings of possibilities for the TTC site, created by students, that were presented during Imagine the Danforth in May 2015. The meeting was hosted by DECA and featured the top 10 ideas for Danforth East developed by students at Ryerson and U of T.

Imagined sketch for new use of Danforth East TTC Barns by Ryerson Students, Nov. 2014
Imagined site plan for new uses of Danforth East TTC Barns by Ryerson Students, Nov. 2014
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E’Scape’ to the Farmers’ Market

Looking for a great way to cap off the school year? Head to the farmers’ market this Thursday.  Shop, eat and relax on the grassy hill of East Lynn Park.

What can you expect this week?  There will be wine from both Coyote’s Run and Broken Stone Wineries.  School Grown has been tweeting up a storm about their scapes and 100 lbs of lettuce that they harvested just yesterday.  And if you’re like me and didn’t know what a scape was, let alone how to cook with it, check out this link for some ideas.

There will also be lots of ready made food options, like loaded baked potatoes from the Borough.  And just in time for Canada Day, Fa Real Custom Tees will be selling some of their custom made East York Tee’s.

school grown
A student from School Grown showing off her scapes.

Also important to know about this week: There is NO FACE PAINTING. However, Kelly and the gang from Face-to-Face Games will have games galore to entertain and stimulate brains young and old.  Toronto Public Library will have story-time and a craft activity starting at 4:30 p.m.

And don’t forget, there is a community safety walk starting at 7:00 p.m. with members of the Toronto Police Service. The group will meet at the top of the hill by the water fountain and walk east along Danforth Avenue to Main Street.

Wellness Booth 

Dancing for fun, happiness and joy!  Come and learn how dancing not only is a fun way to exercise but it has additional benefits like; reducing stress, improving strength and flexibility, keeping our muscles and joints healthy, improving posture and balance. Not only that but people participating in dance, learning sequences, mastering new skills helps with brain development, makes us smarter and can lift our mood and make us Happy!

Pegasus Studios will be at the Farmer’s Market Wellness Table to give you information, tips and maybe even get you moving!

image04
Pegasus dancers in a flash mob.

The East Lynn Farmers’ Market runs every Thursday from 3-7:00 p.m. between June 4 – October 15 at East Lynn Park, located on the south side of Danforth Ave, just west of Woodbine Ave. Stay up to date by visiting the East Lynn Market Facebook page or by following us on Twitter.

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Community Safety Walks: June 23 & 25

Community Safety Walks

DECA and the Toronto Police Service (TPS) have been working together to plan two community safety walks along Danforth East. We’ll have representation from 55 Division (East and West walk) and 54 Division (West walk). By walking through the community, you’ll have the opportunity to voice your concerns, as well as hear advice from the TPS representatives on how to make our community safer.

Suggestions, please!

Please send us your suggestions for topics the TPS should cover on these walks. Leave a comment on this post, on our Facebook page, Twitter (#DECASafety), or send us an email at safety@deca.to (and BTW, did you notice our brand new and much, much shorter website address? DECA.to).

Walk Details

Meet up at the north end of East Lynn park beside the park sign. Feel free to join either walk (or both). We’ll do our best to do some live tweeting of the walks too, for those who can’t make it.

·         West Walk: Tuesday June 23rd 7:00-8:30ish, East Lynn to Monarch park

·         East Walk: Thursday June 25th 7:00-8:30ish, East Lynn to Main