News
Our Businesses
Our Neighbourhood
Our BIA
To Reach Us
NEW For Members
Site sponsors
What's Happening On Roncesvalles
| « Aug |
|
Oct » |
| S | M | T | W | T | F | S |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | |||
| 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 |
| 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 |
| 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 |
| 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | EC | |
- No events.
Front Page
Construction On Roncesvalles Moving Quickly
A little more than a month into the second and final round of construction, residents and shopkeepers in Roncesvalles Village are beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel. Track work is proceeding quickly. Comments like “Wow, they’re moving fast!” are commonly heard.
Track is in place on nearly half the street, and sidewalk replacement and road repair has begun in the south end. Several blocks are open in the south end, with more opening soon.
The BIA, residents’ associations, City staff and Sanscon Construction meet biweekly and confer nearly daily to deal with problems as they come up.
While construction is never trouble-free, Sanscon has made significant efforts to accommodate normal life in Roncesvalles Village, opening up the street as quickly as they can, accommodating weddings and funerals, providing barricades and an extra-wide pedestrian bridge for the Polish Credit Union’s 65th anniversary party, helping with parking, garbage and delivery, and taking pedestrian access and dust control on Roncesvalles seriously.
To address concerns that the BIA had over parking and access to shops, Sanscon has made efforts to limit the extent of the road closure for track work while getting track work done as quickly as possible so that the street can open up.
Track work is at its very height right now, with active track work in five blocks in the south end and two blocks at the north end. But progress has been quick, and we are looking forward to the expected resumption of two-way traffic and transit on Roncesvalles in late September.
Construction inevitably brings its share of headaches; however, there is a growing positive attitude on the street. As Rob Rostecki, owner of Rostecki’s Pharmacy (313 Roncesvalles Avenue), quipped about the challenges of construction: “One year of suck is worth fifty years of awesome.” Echoing this, Sara Filmore of Planet Kid (87 Roncesvalles Avenue) said: “I’m excited that they’re finally underway. It’s going to be fantastic when it’s done.”
Sunnyside Beach Juried Art Show & Sale
| August 27, 2010 7:00 pm | to | August 29, 2010 7:00 pm |
Come down to this great neighbourhood art initiative! Details from the Arts Initiative website:
Three-day fine art event, the Sunnyside Beach Juried Art Show & Sale, returns to the Sunnyside Pavilion from August 27-29, 2010. Save the date!
The show features painting, drawing, photography, and sculpture, alongside art installations and live music performances. Special to the August show is our gallery, Undressed - Art of the Figure, alternative life drawing sessions hosted by the lovely folks behind Dr Sketchy’s Toronto and the opportunity to cast your vote for the People’s Choice Award!
Cash prizes, including the $1000 first place prize, are awarded to feature artists as chosen by the jury: Grazyna Kabat – Art Consultant, Art Collector, Kelly McCray – Artist, Curator and Co-director, Edward Day Gallery, and Camilla Singh – Visual Artist and Curator.
We invite you to come and find pieces to fall in love with and add to your collections, all at the waterfront’s premiere landmark.
Sorauren Park Festival This Saturday
| August 21, 2010 | ||
| 11:00 am | to | 9:00 pm |
After a one-year hiatus, the Sorauren Park Festival is making a very welcome return to our neighbourhood! With a Kids’ Zone with rides and prizes, Jowi Taylor and the Six-String Nation Guitar, children’s author Stephen Hutchings, food, a beer garden, craft vendors and live music, this promises to be a great event, so come on out!
Construction Update, August 16 2010
Hello everyone:
Here is the latest update on construction on Roncesvalles. Please remember that schedules and other information is subject to change.
Track work is proceeding well on Roncesvalles, and is currently on schedule for completion in late September.
==South End Track Work==
Track work is complete up to Galley, and the blocks from Marion to Galley are open for short term parking and deliveries. The contractor expects to be able to open up the blocks from Galley to Fern this weekend, and open the Garden and Fern intersections.
==North End Track Work==
At present excavation has stopped at Geoffrey. Beginning August 17, track work will proceed up to just south of Grenadier Road. Grenadier will remain open for the time being.
==Track Work North Of Howard Park==
In order to keep on schedule, the contractor has made a change to their original plans for track work. Beginning tomorrow, Tuesday August 17, track installation will begin north of Howard Park Avenue to Dundas. This should be complete in roughly one week. During this time, one lane northbound will be maintained. The west-side intersections of Hewitt and Boustead will be closed and these streets will be made two-way. The City has sent notifications to affected residents (see attachment.)
==Roncesvalles and Dundas Intersection==
On August 23, as we’ve already reported, intersection track work will begin at the intersection of Dundas and Roncesvalles. This is expected to last about two weeks.
From August 23 to 30: One lane northbound on Dundas through this intersection. No northbound from Roncesvalles, no southbound to Roncesvalles or Dundas. 504 buses will divert along Howard Park Avenue, Parkside and Bloor to Dundas West Station.
From August 30 to September 7: One lane northbound on Dundas through this intersection, one lane southbound on Roncesvalles through this intersection.
==Staging On Roncesvalles South of Howard Park==
Very early this morning three trailers loaded with pre-assembled TTC track were backed down Roncesvalles from Bloor to be stored on Roncesvalles between Marmaduke and Howard Park Avenue. This track is the southern part of the intersection track for Roncesvalles and Dundas. Installation of this track is to begin this coming Monday, August 23.
These trailers will be stored on Roncesvalles for about ten days.
Of course, the BIA has tried to find alternatives to this inconvenience. Unfortunately, there don’t seem to be any. These pieces of track need to be south of the excavation in order to be installed, and the loaded trailers are too long to safely make tight turns, according to TTC staff. Also, the loaded trailers are too wide to come up Roncesvalles through the construction zone.
==Final Track Work==
Track work at the Howard Park Avenue intersection is expected to begin after September 16. The final run of track on Roncesvalles will be from Grenadier to Howard Park Avenue.
Once track work is complete, two-way traffic and buses will resume on all of Roncesvalles.
Polish Credit Union Celebrates 65th Anniversary
It’s part celebration of the Polish Credit Union’s 65th anniversary, part launch party for Roncylicious, and all a lot of fun!
There was a lot of activity today in the parking lot of the Polish Credit Union. At the opening ceremonies John Wakulat, Chair Emeritus of the RVBIA, praised the Credit Union as a strong member of the community and friend to the BIA. Other speakers at the opening ceremonies included a representative from Gerard Kennedy’s office, representatives from the Canadian Polish Congress, and CEO of the Credit Union, Halina Marszalek McGregor.
Music provided by Polka Hall of Fame inductee Ed Guca, a beer garden, sausages, bigos, bouncy castles and face painters and more were the order of the day.
Sanscon Construction was very helpful in putting on this event, constructing a double-wide pedestrian bridge over Roncesvalles at Fern to make accessing the Credit Union easier, and also providing barricades for the beer garden. After finishing work on Saturday, a group of workers dropped by to enjoy the party (see first photo).
Photos were taken by Ted Best.
Construction Update, August 7 2010
This is day 24 of construction, and we have a few updates. Please remember that schedules and timelines are approximate and subject to change.
==Work Progress==
Harvard to Marion: track is complete. West side sidewalk work begins next week.
Marion to Pearson: the final layer of concrete is done. Opening up soon.
Pearson to Galley: the final layer of concrete is done. Opening up soon.
Galley to Garden: track is laid in and the second layer of concrete is being poured
Garden to Fern: the first layer of concrete is poured and track is ready for placement
Fern to Westminster: excavation and grading
Westminster to Geoffrey: sawcutting in preparation for excavation
You can expect the track work zone to expand a bit more before it starts to contract, but it will start shrinking soon. Each stage of track work requires nearly a block: sawcutting, excavation, grading, initial layer of concrete, track installation, second and third concrete layers. That’s about six blocks in total.
==Opening Up Roncesvalles==
People have expressed concern about the progress of the work, because right now there is no street parking from Harvard up to Westminster and the work zone is getting longer and longer. We have had a conversation about this today with the president of Sanscon, and stressed the importance of opening up the street wherever possible. Here’s where we stand:
The block from Harvard to Marion will remain one lane northbound for about three weeks while Sanscon does west side road repair and sidewalk work. (Sidewalk work will start there next week.)
As track work is completed north of Marion things will start to open up. Sanscon has poured the final layer of concrete from Marion to Galley, and as soon as the concrete has cured (about two days after pouring) they will open up those blocks. So we expect parking to return to Roncesvalles from Marion to Galley early next week, and as track work is completed north of there the street will continue to open up. We expect that the track work zone will be roughly five to six blocks long as it progresses up the street, sometimes longer, and sometimes shorter.
Parking restrictions will return to limited areas of the street where sidewalk and road work is occurring.
==West Side Intersection Closures==
Marion Street: open
Pearson Ave. will open in the next few days
Galley Ave. will open in the next few days
Garden Ave.: will open in about a week
Fern, Wright, High Park: will gradually open over the next three weeks
As excavation proceeds north, you can expect the west side intersections of Westminster and Geoffrey to close. Residents and businesses will be notified by the City as this time approaches.
There will be additional intersection closures when the contractor is doing road repair, but these are expected to be brief.
Construction Sucks
Cheeky Community Campaign to Support Local Business Turns Heads In Roncesvalles Village
Normally, shop local campaigns are the result of the efforts of a BIA or other business association. But once again, the residents of Roncesvalles Village have shown great initiative and genuine support for their community.
After all, this is the community that uniquely came together to save its neighbourhood movie theatre, the Revue Cinema, back in 2006, and now operates it as a not-for-profit, community-run cinema.
The second and final round of construction began on Roncesvalles in mid-July. The replacement of streetcar tracks and sidewalks, along with significant streetscape improvements, is expected to be finished in late 2010. During this time residents and visitors will enjoy three hours free parking on Roncesvalles Avenue in legal spots, a welcome attraction as construction progresses.
Within days of the backhoes breaking ground, “Construction Sucks” posters began appearing in storefronts all over Roncesvalles Avenue. These terrific posters are the brainchild of members of Roncesvalles Renewed, a community group which has worked tirelessly since 2003 to guide the streetscape renewal of Roncesvalles Avenue.
The poster was designed by Edmond Ng at Concrete Design Communications Inc., a local design and branding firm. Romina Fontana, Managing Director, explained: “Concrete has been in the neighbourhood for approximately fifteen years. We were happy to accept this as a pro bono job to support the neighbourhood, and our fellow business owners, during the construction.”
Businesses in Roncesvalles Village have shown real enthusiasm for the campaign, and gratitude for the support. One business owner remarked “I love this neighbourhood!” on receiving her poster. That customers have found a humorous way to show support for local businesses struggling with construction woes is truly remarkable. To quote John Bowker, owner of She Said Boom! and
member of Roncesvalles Renewed: “Roncesvalles Village may grumble about construction, but we never whine.”
Roncesvalles Village Finally Gets Its LCBO
RVBIA Chair Tony Cauch and Parkdale-High Park MPP Cheri diNovo were among the assembled at a modest opening ceremony for the latest addition to the neighbourhood, Roncesvalles Village’s own LCBO.
We’ve waited for this for a long time, years in fact, and we’re thrilled that it’s finally here!
504 Bus Route Update
There has been a great deal of confusion over the past few days about the 504 bus. It has been taking a rather strange route, detouring all the way to Shaw St. before coming to the bottom of Roncesvalles. This was because of an emergency watermain repair that blocked eastbound traffic on King St. Our understanding is that this is now over, and things are somewhat more normal.
There will be ongoing work on King St. for the next while, so the 504 bus is serving Roncesvalles and King St. using this route:
SOUTHBOUND: Dundas West Station, south on Dundas and Lansdowne, west on Queen to Roncesvalles, east on King to Shaw.
NORTHBOUND: west on King, north on Roncesvalles to Dundas West Station.
Please note that, if you’re coming from Dundas West Station and you want to go north on Roncesvalles, you should transfer from the southbound 504 to a northbound 504 at Queen and Roncesvalles.
This is a bit inconvenient, but we appreciate that the TTC has to do some fancy footwork to dodge around all the construction that is happening in Toronto these days.
Roncylicious Returns to Roncesvalles Village in August!
| August 3, 2010 | to | August 31, 2010 |
Our annual celebration of the great food culture of Roncesvalles Village is coming back!
We’re very pleased to announce the return of Roncylicious to Roncesvalles Village from August 3 to 31. This event is a “licious” style restaurant promotion, with great specials and prix fixe meals and deals at participating restaurants and specialty food shops, including:
Abstract Tree, Blue Plate, Chopin Restaurant, The Dizzy Gastro Sports Pub, Domani, Gabby’s, Gate 403, Homebake Pizza Co., Lardon, The Mercantile, Papazee’s and Shala-Mar
Roncylicious is not just about getting food, however. It’s also about giving food. We have partnered with a number of local food banks, and participating food drive businesses will be offering small discounts through the month of August in exchange for in-store food donations that will support the food banks at High Park Baptist Church, PARC and the Parkdale Food Bank. Businesses supporting the food bank drive include:
Mari Cla Ro, Sweet Thrills and She Said Boom!
Roncylicious will kick off in style at our launch party on Roncesvalles Avenue on Saturday August 7. Roncesvalles Avenue will be having a sidewalk sale, but the main event will be the Party in the Parking Lot at the Polish Credit Union.
We have partnered with the Polish Credit Union, which is celebrating their 65th anniversary that day. Drop in for great music, food, a drink in the beverage garden, and much more
For all the details, please visit the Roncylicious website.
Email us: info@
roncesvallesvillage.ca
Thanks to everyone who made the 2009 Roncesvalles Polish Festival the best yet!
Categories
Recent News
News Archives
