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Fun Events, Neigbourhood Watch, New Food and…a Salt Cave?!

This is a hodgepodge posting that almost needs a table of contents! Hopefully you can take the time to read through it all, because  there’s definitely something for everyone.

Earl Beatty Community Centre Family Skating Party

Sunday, February 10th, 2:oo-4:00 p.m.
Monarch Park Rink (right beside the pool)Come out and have some fun with the whole family, courtesy of the Earl Beatty Community Centre advisory Council:

This is our 12th annual SKATING PARTY, and we invite the whole neighbourhood!

Come out with your family to have fun with music, games and a crazy scarf contest – can your scarf be the most colourful? The longest scarf? The weirdest? Come out and find out and win a prize. Games include spot skates and races for all ages.The Advisory Council also puts on a great spread – coffee donated by Red Rocket, hot chocolate and marshmallows, and home-baked goods. Lug-a-mug for a greener event! Children under six must wear a CSA approved helmet.

Pegasus Studios – Dances of Offering, February 10, 2013 at 5:00 p.m. (reception to follow)

The first Dances of Offering benefit concert began in 2001, the vision of a Pegasus student who wanted to combine her desire to help children and youth with her love of dance. Since then Dances of Offering has raised thousands of dollars each year for non-profit organizations dedicated to improving the lives of young people locally and globally.

This year’s Dances Of Offerings will be held on Sunday, Feb 10th, at 5:00 pm, and is approximately 60 minutes in length with a Reception following. This is a family-friendly event.

Pegasus event

www.pegasusstudios.com

Community Safety – Let’s all do our part

According to police and residents a number of homes and cars have been broken into in our neighbourhood lately. Make sure to keep valuables out of your cars, and ensure that all entrances to your home are secure. If you have a back or side light on your home, turn it on in the evenings, or equip it with a motion sensor. And if you don’t have a light, think about installing one. It may seem like an added expense, but I bet it’s WAY less than your home insurance deductible.

In the event that your home or car is broken into, or if you see anything suspicious, remember to always report it the police. If you missed it before, our post from the summer listed all the ways that you can report crime – non-emergency numbers or online!! If you see something in-progress or if you feel unsafe, never hesitate to call 9-1-1.

And while we’re on the topic of safety…

You know how we are always saying that increasing foot traffic will improve security?

On Saturday evening, a neighbour was walking by our favourite local toy store, Silly Goose Kids, when she noticed that the front door was smashed and there was a burglary in progress. She scared off the would-be thieves, and then quickly called police. She was also able to provide a description of the suspects to police.

And who was this courageous neighbour? None other than Ward 31 Councillor, Janet Davis! Store owners Shamie and Tracey are very grateful that damage was kept to a minimum and nothing was taken – and we are all glad too!

(Next time you see Councillor Davis in the neighbourhood, hold back on the complaint about how long it took for your street to get plowed, and give her a pat on the back instead. Talk about going above and beyond for your Ward!)

Pizza Anyone?

Remember in the summer, when we posted about Restaurant Takeover renovating Golden Pizza at 2360 Danforth Ave? Well, it seems that maybe we caught them doing some outside shots for the sake of the beautiful summer sunshine, because last week the real reno took place. We don’t have intel about when the show will air, or about the new and improved menu (we hear it was great to start with!), but the sign sure does look nice!!

Golden Pizza reno

Sandwich anyone?

Feel like a sandwich? If so, you’re in luck. Danforth Sandwich has opened up at 2116 Danforth Avenue, in the old True Brew location just EOW (and we all remember what that means, right?), and we hear that their tasty italian food is not to be missed. If you have tried it yourself, please let us know! It seems that it is more than just sandwiches, but we cannot confirm or deny this rumour.

DF Sandwich

Salt Cave Anyone? (for real, keep reading)

A word from our friends at AMETHYST SPA & SALON, 1472 Danforth Avenue, 416-465-3710:

Bat Cave, Man Cave, Dance Cave and now there is a Salt Cave located in your neighbourhood. Halotherapy provides restorative health maintenance, increases the overall well-being, strengthens the immune systems and alleviates physical and emotional symptoms of respiratory illness. Just in time for the flu and cold season. Salt therapy helps you to:

  • Experience relief from chronic pulmonary diseases and bronchial inflammation
  • Treat and prevent common cold and flu
  • Improve your sleep and an overall feeling of emotional and overall feeling of emotional and physical health and well-being
  • Purify and detoxify your body.

Yes, it is time to start feeling better. www.saltcavetoronto.com

amythest

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DECA’s Call for Proposals & Free documentary screening

CALL FOR PROPOSALS

Arts and/or Social Enterprises interested in pop-up placement on the Danforth, Monarch Park to Main

DEADLINE:  September 23, 2012

We here at Danforth East Commmunity Association are interested in filling the empty stores along Danforth Avenue between Monarch Park and Main with short-term enterprises. We believe that more activity along our commercial strip = a safer, more walkable and vibrant neighborhood. We are looking for artists and social enterprise projects that:

  • Can fill (and vacate) an empty space quickly and easily
  • Will add value to the street and the community

If you have an idea for a creative enterprise that could be placed temporarily in an empty store, we are interested in hearing from you!  In 200 words or less, tell us what you would like to do. If we are interested, we’ll ask you for more!

We are now accepting statements of intent for a weekend showcase this October.

What would YOU do with one free month on the Danforth?

Click here to email us with your proposals and/or your questions.

__

FREE DOCUMENTARY SCREENING & DISCUSSION

Next Wednesday, September 26, 2012 @ Danforth/Coxwell Library


 

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Have your say! Golf range petition, 54 Division community consultation

Beach Fairway Golf Range needs your help to stay open

How many of us east-enders like to shoot balls or play mini golf at the Beach Fairway Golf Range, on Victoria Park south of Danforth? (If you haven’t visited, you’ve probably passed by numerous times and made a mental note to check it out soon!)

The owners lease the land from the City, and their lease will not be renewed to make way for housing and retail development.  The whole place is slated to close for good on October 12, 2012.

The owners are meeting with the Mayor on July 16, 2012, and have asked that surrounding neighbours sign a petition ASAP to show that we want to keep the golf range and mini putt!  Here are a few reasons why you should think about signing:

  • This is the only driving range in the City south of the 401 (other than the Docks, which is a different type of facility)
  • They have over 60,000 visits each year including 5700 kids (for mini golf) and 2500 seniors
  • They offer special rates to a variety of organizations that otherwise would not be able to offer golf to their members for rehabilitation and/or social outings.
  • They give free golf lessons for inner city kids

For more info or to offer support, click here to get to the webpage, and then click on “sign our online petition”.

Proposed Changes to 54 Division – Community Input Wanted

There are some proposed changes on the table that could really impact our police services.  Please see below for details about a community consultation with Councillor Janet Davis on July 31, 2012, and a survey that you can print and submit by email or in-person.

Survey: to be submitted before July 31, 2012

BUILDING THE FUTURE FACILITY OPTIONS FOR THE DELIVERY OF POLICE SERVICES

In 2012, in response to significant current and anticipated future fiscal pressures, the Chief’s Internal Organizational Review (CIOR) was established to “engage members of the Service to conduct reviews of operations, infrastructure, administration, business processes and organizational structure with the goal to better achieve our Service’s Mission while increasing public value by becoming more effective, efficient and economical”.

As part of the CIOR, the process the Service uses to determine its requirement for police facilities and the eventual retrofit and/or replacement of these facilities is being reviewed. The objective of this review is to establish a framework to identify and evaluate facility options that will balance the needs of the community and our Service members, all the while ensuring the most effective, efficient and economical delivery of police services in the long-term. This review is focusing on 13 Division and 54 Division as they are slated for replacement in the near-term capital budget.

In addition, any framework must ensure that the transition, regardless of the option recommended, is seamless and minimizes any short-term disruption. Maintaining, if not improving, the current level and quality of service to the community is a critical decision point; as such, it is not anticipated that overall front-line staffing would be reduced as a result.

Considering the needs of your community, what do you think are the three most important things to consider when making decisions about police facilities and/or divisional boundaries?

1.

2.

3.

Building new police stations in a new location within the division has been the traditional response to aging and/or inadequate police facilities; the Review Team has identified the following options for addressing the replacement of police stations. The identified options are as follows:

Option 1: Build a new station in a new location, while maintaining existing boundaries

Option 2: Close the existing station, realign divisional boundaries of surrounding divisions to incorporate all areas of the closed division, reassign officers to surrounding divisions Amalgamate two divisions (with or without boundary realignment) and build a new station

Option 3: Close the existing station, realign divisional boundaries of surrounding divisions to incorporate all areas of the closed division, reassign officers to surrounding divisions Amalgamate two divisions (with or without boundary realignment) and build a new station

Consider each of the above three options for addressing the replacement of police stations.

What do you think could be the most positive result of each option?

Option 1

Option 2

Option 3

What do you think could be the most negative result of each option?

Option 1

Option 2

Option 3

If you have any further comments, concerns or suggestions (e.g. a different option), please note them below.

Thank you for taking the time to complete this survey.

Please return your survey to: the front desk of 54 Division at 41 Cranfield Road, Toronto Or Electronically to Helen.Dixon(at)torontopolice.on.ca by July 31, 2012.

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Gr8 Projects Aw8

Business Revitalization Team – True Brew

Ask anyone who has been part of one of our Business Revitalization Team all-in days, it’s fun and it’s a great feeling to be part of real change on the Danforth. The latest project of the BRT is True Brew – the cafe just east of Woodbine on the north side of Danforth.  The big day is this Sunday and we need to get volunteers to help paint the ceiling!!  All we need is a few hours of your time from 10 a.m. – noon. True Brew will secure the supplies and provide drinks and snacks for the volunteers.  Send a note to catherine_porter@rogers.com if you can help out.

The Rail Garden

How cool is this?  These folks are working on a community garden along the railway line.

The goal of the Rail Garden is to serve the neighbourhood surrounding Monarch Park (Danforth/Gerrard Greenwood/Coxwell) by reclaiming unused public land and returning it to full use by the community. The Rail Garden will have garden plots that neighbours can tend individually, in families, or in small groups. If you want to support them or learn more or both, they’re having a fundraising community dinner at the Riverdale Hub this Saturday night. (As an aside, the Riverdale Hub is a very cool initiative that I haven’t told you about because it’s outside our zone, but trust me, and take a look at the website.)

Kidzone After School Program Presents…Puss In Boots Movie Night

Friday, March 23rd at 7 p.m – 8:35 p.m. at the Salvation Army on Cedarvale Ave. (behind Gledhill school).

$3 per adult, $2 per child (2-12 yrs.), Children under 2 are free. Refreshments Bar (popcorn, drinks, chocolate bars, etc.)

Origami For Pirates
If your child is the type who attends book launches and hob nobs with the Literati, then they will definitely want to attend the Origami For Pirates event at Silly Goose Kids . There will be stories at 2 and 3 p.m., activities and chance to meet the authors – The Brothers Leung. It’s all happening from 2-4 p.m. on Sunday, March 25th.
 Project Picasso 

Toronto Police Division 55 is launching an anti-graffiti project  to target graffiti in our neighbourhood. They need YOU to report graffiti zones to Officer Stephen McGran (stephen.mcgran(at)torontopolice.on.ca) and Colleen Clarke (csc(at)colleenclarke.com). They will send out a team to paint over the graffiti.   The police will approach the store owner, if it is a retail outlet, get their written permission and cover it up.

 Lock It Or Lose It

Division 55 has revitalized a program called “Lock It or Lose It.”  Break and enters of either home or car are on the rise in 55 Division.  The message is clear: put your valuables out of sight. Take your GPS out of your car at night, don’t leave CD’s in plain view in your vehicle and lock your car doors.

In your home, lock your house whether you are working in the yard, at home or going on an errand, and certainly double check your doors before going to bed. Also, take your wallet, cell phone, purse and laptop upstairs with you at bedtime. Minimally don’t leave any of these items in sight from any window or glass doors.

If your house is under renovation, check in on it often as contractors order supplies, they’re left unguarded over night and then stolen.

When you are walking or driving around your neighborhood take note of goings on around you. Don’t take coming and going activities for granted. Report anything or anyone you see that appears out of the norm on your street. Watch for people checking house and car doors, jumping fences or hangers around. If you’re unsure, call it in, 416-808-5500 south of the Danforth, or 416-808-5400 if north of the Danforth.

Turn on your porch lights. Motion or light detectors on decks, driveways and verandas deter thieves.

55 Division Town Hall

Toronto Police Service’s 55 Division in partnership with its Community Police Liaison Committee (CPLC) will be hosting a series of Town Hall meetings in 2012.  The focus of these meetings is to enhance communication and develop stronger partnerships between our community members and the police.  The Toronto Police Service believes the goal of a successful CPLC is to ensure that effective policing and joint crime prevention programming is delivered throughout our many neighbourhoods.  Members of 55 Division need to hear, first hand, the policing concerns of our residents and respond accordingly to improve the quality of life within our division.

55 Division is comprised of four policing zones.  Each meeting will be dedicated to a zone and intend to address issues and concerns particular to that area.

The first meeting will be specific to 55 Division – Zone 4 and will be held on Tuesday, March 27, 2012 at Community Centre 55 at 7:00 p.m.  Residents and community members of 55 Division – Zone 4 are invited  to attend this meeting.  Zone 4 is south of Danforth to the lake, Woodbine Avenue to the west, and Victoria Park Avenue to the east.

The meeting will include a brief overview of the policing issues and initiatives within 55 Division, and will focus discussions on the designated zone. There will be an opportunity for a question and answer period, and community members are encouraged to interact with members of the division and members of the CPLC.


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Crossroads Festival & Drug Raid Updates


Presented by:  Crossroads of the Danforth BIA – Family Fun Day

August 13, 2011 –  11:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
Oakridge Park, 3669 Danforth Avenue
Danforth Avenue and Danforth Road

Admission FREE for all activities.

Bouncing Castles, Inflatable Giant Slide and Velcro Wall.  Face Painting and Air Brush Tatoos also free. Activities and Demonstrations for all ages.  Great food vendors and ice cream truck on site.

Update

Read the comments on yesterday’s note about the Toronto Police raid on a few Danforth businesses for more information.

We’re told this was the result of a long-time investigation into drug dealers working out of some of these establishments.  Toronto Police – 54 Division – is asking residents to continue calling in with information and complaints about businesses on the Danforth and asks us to be patient as these projects take time to execute effectively.  They say police are listening to our calls and asks us to keep them coming.

Division 54 – 416-808-5400 – North of the Danforth

Division 55 – 416-808-5500 – South of the Danforth

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Short and Long


O.k. I’ve got a long list of items and an awareness of short attention spans so I’m going to try to make these as short and sweet as a melty mint.

The final deadline to apply to be a vendor in the hugely popular and incredibly cool Danforth East Arts Fair is June 15th so act now to avoid disappointment!

Speaking of art and how freakin’ cool we are…The Art of the Danforth crew is well into organizing for spring 2012 and they need some volunteers…some now and some next May.  Right now Cindy needs a couple people to do 2-4 hours of internet research and/or 2-4 hours of walking the street to introduce ourselves to new stores.  In May 2012, they’re wondering if there are any adventurous souls/families who live close to Danforth who would offer up their front yards for art installations.  They would love to be able to offer curators a private residence as a potential installation site – dunno if they’d use it, but it potentially could be interesting.  If you are interested in either or both or none of those things, but want to talk to Cindy, contact her at info(at)eastdanforthcreative

Tomorrow is DECA’s Container Gardening Workshop from 2-4 p.m.  Don’t miss it. Don’t forget.  And don’t give me some lame excuse about your in-laws dropping over unexpectedly.  We’re also planning another full season of DECA Learns from canning to bicycles with some gardening thrown in for good measure. More on that in a future post.

Beatty Buddies daycare is a delightful little place in the basement of Earl Beatty Public School north of Danforth, east of Coxwell.  Earl Beatty is slated for full day kindergarten in 2012 and that is just one of the reasons why the daycare has formed a strategic planning committee.  The first thing it’s doing is a survey of you – the community.  So whether your kids are in university or in utero, please take a few moments to fill out the short survey.

Yes, the photo above is of a new place on the Danforth, east of Woodbine.

Yes, Target has announced one of its first Toronto stores will open at Shoppers World at Danforth and Victoria Park.

Yes, Goodlife is once again offering free memberships to teenagers for the summer.

Notes from the Community Police Liaison Committee

  • You can register your bike for free with 55 Division so in case it gets stolen, you could possibly, maybe, have a chance at, perhaps getting it back?
  • Bugaboo baby strollers are magnets for thieves and are being stolen all the time.  Lock them up.
  • Graffiti cleaners are heading out June 15 and 16 to remove graffiti in alleys, garages, mailboxes etc.  Contact Community Centre 55 at 416-691-1113 to suggest your unwanted graffiti location and they’ll try to send over a clean team
Rock On
Because your kids are lovin’ the rock and roll, you need to mark Wednesday, June 29th on your calendar and make your way to St. Brigid’s school yard for the Last Day Music Festival.  This year, featuring the pop sensation that is sweeping the pre-teen scene (seriously) Done With Dolls.  Also Chasing Sam, Colour Connection, Sugar Rush, Checkmate Sergei, Running From Jane, Marissa Dattoli and not just another cliche.  What are you going to do on the last day of school that’s cooler than that.  More details coming soon.
Thanks for sticking with me for the whole post.  Last but not least, DECA’s terrific Parks Team has scoured the neighbourhood for all things recreational and not so recreational and has come back with an amenities list that will amaze you.  The schools, the churches, the swimming pools, the services, the classes.  It’s fabulous.  Behind every one of those links was someone who walked the streets, make the notes, found the links and posted it.  Thanks to the Parks Team for a great piece of work.  Enjoy.