Old rivalries emerge in Thornhill council

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4:16 pm

alan shefman yonge steeles — Councillor Alan Shefman

A recent development approval process in Thornhill has turned into an online feud between a councillor and a once-and-future opponent representing differing views on development in the area.

Ward 5 councillor Alan Shefman and Beverley Glen Ratepayers Association president Josh Martow — who ran against Shefman in 2014 and lost — took part in a public Facebook discussion on the Thornhill Stays Connected group.

In June, Vaughan City Council approved a proposal for townhomes north of Dufferin Street and Centre Street, which Martow rallied for, over a low- to mid-rise condo with a ring road, including a traffic light, which Shefman initially approved.

“[Shefman] went on the record at the council meeting saying that much more density is needed in the community, specifically pointing out that Centre and Dufferin is a great location for higher density,” said Martow. “The residents disagree.”

Meanwhile, Shefman has been in favour of further development, pushing for lower density options.

“Why does Martow keep repeating the totally ridiculous lie that I am supporting highrise and high density at the intersection?” Shefman asked. “My record is very clear, not through untrue comments, but through action.”

The spat came to a head on the Facebook group where Martow thanked everyone who had signed the petition and emailed the city.

Shefman pointed out that ultimately he voted for the townhome plan: “Huh? How about some honesty here. It was my vote that resulted in the approval for the townhouse proposal,” he said.

Martow responded that Shefman only supported that plan after his first choice was deferred,

“Councillor Shefman was claiming to have fought for townhomes, when in reality he was council’s strongest voice for condos,” said Martow.

Martow has received mixed support and criticism from some members of the group. He has been accused of “fishing for votes” — alluding to his expected 2018 council run — and of pushing a NIMBY (not in my back yard) attitude toward further development.

Ward 4 councillor Sandra Yeung Racco downplayed the chasm between Shefman and Martow as a difference of opinion, albeit with an election right around the corner.

“I guess [Martow] is trying to position himself in the public as a fighter,” said Yeung Racco. “And councillor Shefman is doing his job. I’m sure there’s some friction.”

Parent to Parent: Crafting a home curriculum for your kids

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Andrew Mannsbach

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1:18 pm

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I did well in school. My kids did well in school. They went to good schools and so did I.

But none of us found meaning in school. It was a means to an end. Get good grades so you can get into a good university. School presented the challenge of doing the least possible work in order to achieve the desired outcome, which was high grades. Giving the grown-ups what they wanted to keep them off your case.

It was akin to my lying to the orthodontist. At every appointment he’d ask if I was wearing my headgear every night. I’d answer yes. This was always a lie. He’d nod happily.

School and orthodontic compliance had this in common: That they could be scammed.

Which is why I’m suggesting that parents develop a “home curriculum” of stuff you want your kids to learn. This curriculum will change as they grow up.

Starting when my kids were about five, I wanted them to learn to cook and clean the kitchen. My thinking was that the deeper learnings underlying those two important skills would be taking responsibility for themselves, independence and having a habit of work. Given the decision to adopt the “home curriculum” of cooking and cleaning the kitchen, we had to figure out how to get them to do it. Because what kid will choose to cook dinner and clean the kitchen every night?

One kid was interested in cooking but not cleaning. So teaching her to cook was easy. The other one was willing to do neither. Here’s what pre-dinnertime sounded like in our house when that became clear:

Me: “Do you want to cook or clean up?”

Him: “Neither.”

Me: “That’s ok, I’m not that hungry. I don’t need dinner.” His dad and I held out. You have to.

After two or three nights of that, the conversation sounded like this:

Me: “Do you want to cook or clean up?”

Him, sullenly: “I’ll cook.”

And so began the nightly cooking lessons. And this part was shocking: after a few goes at it, my son turned into an enthusiastic participant. Getting to wield a sharp knife was pretty exciting for a young boy.

Being lavishly complimented on his homemade mac and cheese was fun. Making it for his friends even more so. It turned out that béchamel sauce had some cachet in the under-10 set, if you stirred in enough cheddar and mixed it with elbow noodles.

By the time they were adolescents, both kids figured out that cooking gave them social power. Being able to go to Loblaws, buy food and cook it seemed — to them and their friends — very grown-up and cool.

The friends gathered round.

Part Two of the early years “home curriculum” was cleaning the kitchen. Nobody wanted to do that. I’d heard terrible stories of parents nagging kids to do their chores. Didn’t want to nag, it’s such a powerless negotiating position. My mother nagged. I ignored her.

So we adopted an allowance strategy. Each of them got an allowance. They were told that they had to clean the kitchen every night from Sunday to Thursday after dinner, and that for any day when we entered the kitchen at 7 a.m. and it was dirty from dinner the night before, both of them would lose $5 off their next allowance. Why both? To learn to share responsibility. It worked like a charm. I think we had to charge them once.

The next item on the “home curriculum” was managing money, starting at age 12. Clearly a core life skill. Also frequent family fodder for conflict. We wanted to delete the conflict and offload the responsibility onto the kids, so they’d learn how to take it. So we figured out how much money a kid needed, minus essentials, and set that as their weekly amount. Not included were winter coats and boots, camp and extracurricular items and school supplies — because if the child messes up, we still need them to have those things. But everything else — entertainment, clothes, fun snacks — had to come out of their allowance. If they ran out, too bad. We wanted natural consequences. They worked.

The bottom line is to be intentional and strategic and use reverse engineering to plan the home curriculum. This means asking what outcome we desire, and then figuring out how to get it. We do this all the time at work, calling it project management. That same thoughtfulness brought to bear on child-rearing bears sweet fruit.

How They Met: The cameraman and the television host

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4:24 pm

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HGTV Canada’s Cheryl Torrenueva has a new show with co-host Roger Morin called Reno, Set, Go! in which the pair renovate Toronto homes in 36 hours for deserving families as a surprise for one family member. Off-screen, she teams up with her husband Michael Rosas, who she met on the set of another home reno show, naturally. Here she tells us how they met.

How they met
We met 13 years ago while filming the pilot episode of my very first television show, Rooms That Rock for HGTV Canada. We were both in other relationships at the time, too, so we weren’t really looking for new love. Michael was one of the cameramen on the show, and the one thing that always stuck out in my mind was that he was really nice. What I always laugh at is the fact that he only worked on the pilot and then decided to move on to another show, which was Restaurant Makeover, and I didn’t end up seeing him again for four years. Cut to four years later where we were both single, and I was sharing an apartment with my friend Joy who was working at a television production company (where Michael also worked), and Joy and I decided to meet after work at an industry party for drinks. Once I arrived, I noticed Michael, and of course we greeted each other with open arms, and I was thinking, “Wow, blast from the past.” The whole group decided to go out for dinner after the party, and Michael ended up sitting beside me for the entire night. He made me laugh the whole time, so that’s why I like to tell him that he had me at “ha ha.” We saw each other a few more times at work events, and a month later he asked me out.

The first date
We decided to meet in Little Italy at a restaurant called Olivia’s. The streets were packed because of the soccer game. I remember walking there thinking, “I hope he shows up.” Then finally looking through a sea of rambunctious soccer fans, I saw this handsome man dressed in all black with these cool white dress shoes. Michael loves his fashion, so I was pretty impressed. The patio at Olivia’s was so gorgeous that evening, and we had the most amazing time eating great food and laughing all through the night.

The courtship
Since we both worked in the television industry, we tried to keep our courtship a secret for a whole year. Although I feel like most of our co-workers and friends knew but were just playing along. Michael moved on to be a creative director and producer, while I continued on building my brand and TV career.

The proposal
Michael proposed to me in St. Lucia, and I had no idea that we were going to even get married. We were already vacationing, and he had booked a night at the Ladera resort, where you get the best views of the Piton mountains, where each room only has three walls. For anyone else, that would be heaven, right? But for me, I have a fear of bugs at night, so I was in full panic mode while still loving this amazing experience. He called me over to the balcony and suggested that we take a quick picture while the sun was setting with the view of the mountains behind (that’s the director of photography speaking), and I ran over all flustered thinking, “OK, let’s just get this done!” As I was posing for the picture, he walked over to me and went down on one knee and asked me to marry him! I was in total shock, pure confusion and that turned into a waterfall of tears! Happy tears of course! I said yes immediately, and I’m scared to watch the video because I’m sure I was not even speaking in clear sentences.

The wedding
I knew that I wanted to feel the tropical vibe of Cartagena, where Michael had taken me for one of my birthdays, at our wedding. Bringing the old-world Colombian charm to Toronto was going to be hard, so we had a very small wedding in Cartagena instead, just immediate family and a few friends. We got married at the Casablanca B & B by the pool, and the party continued on the rooftop. We stayed in Colombia for our honeymoon and visited the island of Baru.

Secret to success
I think the advantage that we have is that, because our worlds have always been intertwined through working together, having the same social circles and being creative people allows us to be involved in everything that’s going on at all times.

Reno, Set, Go! airs Wednesdays at 9 and 9:30 p.m. on HGTV Canada.

Fashion: Make a statement!

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11:34 am

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A) Eye of a tiger
Thomas Sabo, Yorkdale Shopping Centre, $319
“These are absolutely beautiful. They have a real deco vibe to them and the tiger’s eye is really pretty.”

B) Hoop and holler
Biko, ilovebiko.com, $69
“These are the kind of earrings that make you fall in love with the whole idea of statement earrings. If you’re going to have one pair…”

C) Disco ballin’
Milli, 231 Avenue Rd., $395
“This is a total a salute to Studio 54! They’re what go-go girls would wear. Maxed out glam done in a playful way.”

D) Setting sail
Room 2046, room2046.com, $387
“To me, they look like pirate ships sailing through space. They have that wonderful handmade feel — a nod to the art-to-wear movement.”

E) Blue rain
Archives, 1275 Bay St., $330
“They used to call them shoulder dusters because they practically touched your shoulders. Very modern with a great sense of movement. Wow.”

F) Light as a…
Mark Lash, 9033 Leslie St., $11,600
“Stunning. A real tribute to Mark Lash’s design talent — a fine piece of jewellery that has a great feel of originality to it.”

G) Fit for Nefertiti
SurondStudio, etsy.com, $35
“These make a big whopping statement. They look Egyptian and are leather, which makes them light and easy to wear.”

H) The pom in your pom
Hayley Elsaesser, 695 Queen St. W., $16
“So much fun! An ode to cheerleaders everywhere. A young spirit. If Iris Apfel put them on, they’d work.”

I) Fanning out
Dean Davidson, deandavidson.ca, $325
“Dean is one of our true treasures — what a brilliant Canadian artist. These fans are ultimately romantic.”

J) Linking up
Jenny Bird, jenny-bird.ca, $85
“I really, really love Jenny Bird. She has a very cool sensibility. We all love our chains, and these give you that edgy feeling without looking cheesy.”

K) Ear exotica
Secrett, 162 Cumberland St., $9,125
“This to me is exotica: eastern glamour that I am always a sucker for. Mandarin garnets and peridots … spectacular.”

L) Tasselonomy
AuthenticPeaces, etsy.com, $60
“I see a lot of these tassel earrings, and these ones look tribal in a really elegant way. They look very delicate and bold at the same time.”

Traffic report drawing community criticism in Richmond Hill

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10:15 am

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A motion to go forward with the Yonge Street and Bernard Key Development Area (Yonge/Bernard KDA) was passed by Richmond Hill Town Council on July 10, by a 6–2 vote. A traffic report by the town’s hired consultant, Urban Planning Inc., also maps seven new street networks to be constructed for the KDA, many of which will go through residential neighbourhoods.

The primary purpose of the new street networks is to create more access to main roads and divert traffic from congested areas. According to Ward 2 councillor Tom Muench, the traffic on Yonge Street and Bernard Avenue is already so congested that it can take some residents anywhere between 10 and 25 minutes to leave their subdivision. He referred to Yorkland Street, a street he said is used by approximately 12,000 homeowners, as an example of poor planning.

“The new road network … slices the Loblaws plaza and transfers traffic from Yonge Street, and west of Yonge, to Yorkland,” said Muench. “By our own transportation report, Yorkland is nearing capacity, and now the consultant is recommending this road network.”

Deputy Mayor Vito Spatafora, chair of York Region Transportation Services, said that Yorkland is just one of many solutions council has planned.

“We’re looking at the broader scope of transit and transportation,” said Spatafora. “One of the things we are pushing for is a bridge over Elgin Mills and the CN tracks. That will help. By diffusing it to Yorkland and diffusing it to other streets, you’re trying to reduce the concentration on a single road.”

Hedy Waters, 71, has lived on Elmpark Court since 1989. Her house faces Yorkland. She said watching vehicles come through Yorkland to turn on Elgin Mills [Road East] is already “quite chaotic.”

“Tom Muench was around talking about all the development on the other side of Yonge Street and how they want to divert all the traffic to this side of Yonge Street, which makes no sense to me at all,” said Waters. “We already have too much traffic.”

Over 700 residents have written letters and signed petitions against the proposal, which is also being challenged by developers, according to Meunch. The Yonge/Bernard KDI goes to the Ontario Municipal Board on Aug. 14*. If approved, it will be drafted into a secondary plan with opportunities for public input.

*(Since publication, the OMB hearing for the Yonge/Bernard KDI has been postponed to Tuesday, October 10.)

Parent Hacks: Keeping up with the Rs

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Andrew Mannsbach

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9:27 am

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Although “No more teachers, no more books” may have been coursing through your mind as your kids finished school, the fact is that picking up different kinds of books in the summer can be the best thing you can do for your kids.

“I like the summer workbooks because they go week by week,” says Taylor Kaye, Toronto social media influencer and mom to three girls, aged five, seven and 10. “The girls at first were not loving it, but now they love waking up and doing their summer homework.”

Keeping up with reading, writing and math skills during the summer doesn’t have to be all workbooks, though. Many families will be heading out on road trips — either across the country or just up to the family cottage — and there are many ways to put these skills to use on the open road.

Start a trip journal. Either give the kids their own journal or start a family one, to chronicle your trip or even your whole summer. Kids can take turns making entries (improving their writing skills) and reading the other entries out loud.

Math is everywhere. Although this might frighten some children (and adults), we do use math every day. Have the kids calculate the cost of a tank of gas, cost per litre and per kilometre. Have a contest to figure out how much gas you’ll use to get to your destination and the time it will be when you get there. With younger kids, have them count out napkins at the roadside diner and use simple addition to add up the bill before the server drops it off at the table.

Don’t get upset in the summer if all the kids want to read is comic books or graphic novels. They’re still reading. Try to get them to look at a newspaper with you. Pick up a local paper and read some stories about what’s going on right in front of you.

“We also sign up for the library summer reading program,” says Kaye. “We go once a week to the library and collect books to read. In the summer, I don’t care what it is — they just have to read something.”

Play the alphabet game. An oldie but a goodie, look for consecutive letters of the alphabet on road signs and licence plates.

Crossing the border? Have the kids figure out what their Canadian allowance is worth in the United States or wherever else you travel.

Create a continuous story as a family. One family member can write a word, a sentence or even a chapter that the others have to add on to. Think about the storyline together and put down some rules about the number of bathroom words that can be used. Or not (look what Captain Underpants did on the book-selling charts).

Word search books, crossword puzzles and math games can be found at almost any bookstore. For younger kids, rewards as they complete each puzzle can be a great incentive to keep going.

Scavenger hunts are fun for any age. Although younger kids need pictures as well as words, older kids only need words, and a few of the clues could contain math equations, such as contest winners often face.

“You can do school work in the summer with your kids, but you have to make it fun and you have to be interested in what they are doing,” says Kaye. “I tell them it’s just like sports: if you don’t practise, you can’t be better at it. For now, they are believing me. Talk to me when they are teens.”

Miranda Mulholland launches Sawdust City Music Festival

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1:57 pm

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In recent years, the Muskoka musical tradition seemed to amount to the consumption of discounted Molson Canadian tall cans and another set of Kim Mitchell down at the venerable Kee to Bala. But tireless artistic explorer Miranda Mulholland is set to change all that with the launch of the Sawdust City Music Festival in Gravenhurst, Aug. 4 to 6.

Turns out Mulholland, who performs with Soulpepper as well as the duo Harrow Fair and a few other musical projects, has deep roots in the official “gateway to Muskoka.”

“My great-great-grandfather Charles Mickle was actually the mayor, twice, and he had a large sawmill up there, and that was how Gravenhurst became known as Sawdust City,” she explains. “He was very supportive of the arts and decided to put an opera house on the main street. People thought he was crazy, and they called it Mickle’s Folly. But 150 years later, it’s still there, and it has some of the best acoustics in Canada.”

The festival runs over a long weekend with venues scattered throughout town, including at the somewhat new Sawdust City Brewery and the Gravenhurst summer music barge.

The Saturday evening concert features headliners Jim Cuddy Band and Harrow Fair and will take place at the Opera House. Other artists participating in the festival include surf guitar band C&C Surf Factory (featuring Blue Rodeo guitarist Colin Cripps), along with Abigail Lapell, NQ Arbuckle, Benjamin Hermann, Justin Rutledge and more.

“Gravenhurst has been a little overlooked,” says Mulholland. “It’s billed as the gateway to Muskoka, and people tend to shop by the highway and take off to their cottages. It’s gong to be amazing to put the spotlight on Gravenhurst.”

To that end, Mulholland supplied us with her top five local spots to check out while in town for the festival:

Curry’s Music. “My last time there I bought an old cookbook, violin strings, some vinyl and I think I bought a dress. They have everything in there. It’s amazing.”

The Bakery. “They make these Chelsea buns, and they are the most delicious thing on the whole planet. My cousin used to swim over in the morning and swim back with them in a bag.”

Peter’s Players. “It’s an intimate venue, and they get really big acts like Ron Sexsmith and Joel Plaskett.”

The Segwun. “It’s a steamship, very famous. The Segwun is what Gravenhurst is known for and what we have on our beautiful poster.

Oar and Paddle. “I love that place. One of the best restaurants in Muskoka by far.”

Dogs deserve more from Toronto

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1:40 pm

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I like dogs. I have one. And, keep this between you and me, there has been more than one occasion when I’ve let the old girl off leash.

Especially after an ultimate Frisbee game at Sunnybrook Park when she plays around with the other dogs and mooches snacks from teammates.

It happens.

In my neighbourhood, we have a Facebook chat group, and with increasing regularity someone posts about a dog and a leash. Mayhem ensues. Good for nothing dog owners should be arrested, publicly flogged and, gasp, licensed!

Others say chill out. Everything is better with a dog. And pooch people pay taxes, too, gosh darn it.

I get the sentiment.

The parks are very crowded, and dogs get in the way, cause accidents, scare little kids, trip the elderly. All dogs are not created equal. Some dogs are just not as graceful, patient and loving as mine. Ahem.

maybe it’s beginning to become a problem, even as we honour our four-legged friends with fountains down at Berczy Park and have entire festivals dedicated to their betterment.

This month, we took to the streets to collect stories of heated encounters between the have-dogs and the have-nots and tried to piece together some idea of where it all went wrong or if it even did.

It’s a lot to take in. There are some seriously angry people out there. There are even dog parks that are notorious because of the number of fist fights that break out. We even heard one story of someone who was chased by a drunken dog owner looking to knock his canine-loving block off.

This just cannot stand. So, where do we begin?

First, there is a shortage of areas for dogs. For instance, the folks near Ramsden Park woke up one morning to find out their off-leash zone was going to be shut down. Seems a little harsh, if you and your pooch’s daily recreational routine has vanished overnight.

Thornhill has only one dog park and Richmond Hill is home to just two. The shortage contributes to dogs being off leash in non-designated areas.

In addition, perhaps we could relax some of the strict rules in areas that are, you know, empty. One confrontation of note involved a person who had his dog off leash at a school field. The only other people were 50 yards away. But there was still a problem.

If everyone simply exercised good judgment, there would never be an issue. But when has that ever happened?

There are over 200,000 dogs in Toronto and less than 60 off-leash parks. It’s time for solutions, not complaints.

Taste Test: King of the cob, Mark McEwan picks the best all-dressed corn

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Andrew Mannsbach

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2:18 pm

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mexican street corn elote — Chef Mark McEwan

It’s harvest time in Ontario, so we asked chef Mark McEwan to sample the city’s best-known purveyors of Mexican street corn — or elotes. Whose kernels rule supreme? Read on to find out.

Winner: La Carnita
130 Eglinton Ave. E., $9.95
“The charring is right. The level of spice is right. The creaminess with the combo of sauce and cheese is really nice and well seasoned. I like the way they’ve kept the husk on the corn and wrapped it so you have a handle.”

Cilantro sensation
El Pocho Antojitos Bar, 2 Follis Ave., $6
“This is very tasty. I like the addition of the cilantro. It’s not too overpowering. The spice level is nice too,” says McEwan. “The piece of corn is smaller than the others, but it has been grilled well and the seasoning is good.”

Parmesan charm
Mr. Corn food truck, $7
“The spice is good, and I like the presentation of this one. The Parmesan cheese is an interesting choice. It’s different from the others. I’m missing the grill marks on it though, so it doesn’t have that roast feel to it.”

Creamy and dreamy
Playa Cabana, 111 Dupont St., $10
“The grilling is good, as is the creaminess. I like the other elements as well, from the cheese to the spice level, and it has a bit of lime on it. I prefer my corn to be small or large, and they’ve cropped off the ends of this one.”

Hot and spicy
Smoque n’ Bones, 869 Queen St. W., $4.90
“It’s tasty. The grilling is good, and the smoked cheddar on top is quite rich and pretty powerful,” says McEwan. “I find the chipotle to be a little bit overwhelming. It’s spicy. The overall flavour is quite intense.”

Seasoned to perfection
El Caballito, 220 King St. W., $5.97
“The moisture level is great, the spice is great, and the seasoning on this is exceptionally good. The only thing missing is the charring on the corn. But overall this is very good, and it’s nice and bright.”

Why local malls are trading hands at such a torrid pace

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Andrew Mannsbach

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9:40 am

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Large pieces of developable land in the Toronto area are in high demand, but the supply is very low. Low-density neighbourhood shopping malls with a sea of parking spaces, such as Bayview Village and Galleria Shopping Centre, are being eyed for major redevelopment projects from downtown up to Richmond Hill. Residents faced with such major changes to their quaint areas are not always overjoyed about the prospects.

David Amborski, director of the Centre for Urban Research and Land Development at Ryerson University, said local malls are some of the last remaining parcels of land available for redevelopment in Toronto, and real estate investors and developers are seizing the opportunity.

“I think a big thing is a shortage of land supply. These companies have portfolios that they’re building across Toronto. The issue is it’s very difficult to find sites to build at,” said Amborski.

But that’s only one piece of the puzzle. Amborski said he believes part of the trend also stems from a change in shopping patterns, and malls are taking a big hit.

Anchor tenants have closed up shop at malls across the country, and that’s had a major impact.

Sears recently announced it will be forced to close many locations and lay off more than 2,000 employees as part of a court-supervised restructuring process. Target closed all of its Canadian stores in 2015.

“I think more and more people are buying online,” said Amborski. “These marginal malls are not doing very well financially, so people are happy to sell them if they’re offered a good buck. Then hopefully the people who buy them get rezoning to build residential.”

Last year, a plan for two towers on the Bayview Village parking lot was brought to the public for feedback.

Toby Wu, senior vice-president of development with QuadReal Property Group, which will take over management of the property in 2018, said that a new rezoning application for the site will be submitted to the City of Toronto this month.

“We have been working with the community and councillor David Shiner [of Ward 24, Willowdale] with our consulting team for the overall master plan for Bayview Village,” said Wu.

He would not disclose the details of the new plan, but said it will not include Bayview Mews, a rental complex across the street that is also in the company’s portfolio.

Further north, the Promenade Shopping Centre in Thornhill was recently sold to Promenade General Partner Inc., a company made up of Liberty Development Corporation and the Serruya family — the founders of Yogen Früz.

The purchase of Promenade has many residents speculating that the area will soon see further intensification.

“There’s no doubt that the retail environment is undergoing dramatic shifts.”

A separate developer, Toronto-based Torgan Group, has already proposed seven 27-storey towers for a site adjacent to the mall.

Local opposition always plays a part in how each site is redeveloped, and this particular proposal has spurred quite a bit of controversy among residents in Thornhill.

Sandra Yeung Racco, Ward 4 councillor for the City of Vaughan and a resident of the area, said the proposal has many community members concerned.

“We heard a lot of comments from residents, and they’re not happy with the proposal,” she said. “They don’t want something that will be too dense and too high.”

In an effort to get residents’ support, green space, public art and community amenities are being incorporated into new open-air retail spaces.

The Shops at Don Mills, owned by Cadillac Fairview, was one of the first enclosed malls to undergo a major transformation into an open-air shopping centre.

The development was designed to mimic an urban streetscape and includes community amenities such as a small green space used for activities like public skating.

Niall Collins, senior vice-president of development at Cadillac Fairview, said the revamp was part of a larger strategy.

“There’s no doubt that the retail environment is undergoing dramatic shifts,” said Collins. “The decision to launch an open-air mall … was based on trends toward urbanization and mixed-used developments. Toronto has seen great success with many street-front commercial districts, including Queen West, Bloor, Yorkville, etc., and we saw this as an evolution of that trend.”

However the concept was initially met with skepticism by the Don Mills community. More than 1,000 residents attended the public consultation for it back in 2006. Many opposed the built form and density, and local shopkeepers feared relocating during the redevelopment process, but the area has become a popular destination that continues to grow.

More condos are expected in the coming years, and plans for a public community centre on the northwest corner of Don Mills Road and the Donway West were finalized with the city in July.

The reimagining of the Galleria Shopping Centre, near Dufferin Street and Dupont Street, appears to be following the same pattern.

A plan for the site was proposed by Freed Developments and ELAD in 2016 and calls for a network of roads, tall towers to be used for residential and office space, a sizable public park, a new community centre and of course, retail space. However, it too has come under fire from residents for exceeding the city’s prescribed height limits — with 11 towers up to 42 storeys proposed.

The trend shows no signs of slowing down as more redevelopment projects are coming forward in the area around Hillcrest Mall in Richmond Hill and near the Dufferin Mall south of Bloor in Toronto.

Remembering the godfather of zombie filmmaking

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10:48 am

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More than a decade ago, we found out that George A. Romero was filming one of his now-iconic zombie flicks at a suburban shopping mall in Thornhill. For some, it was like the GTA had finally made it. He was that important.

Apparently, the late, great filmmaker, born in the Bronx, was quite fond of Toronto as well, and he had made his permanent home here since 2004, with his wife Suzanne Desrocher, and took up Canadian citizenship in 2009. And it was here that he passed away of cancer last month.

After graduating from university in 1960, Romero began his career shooting commercials and short films, including an episode of Mister Rogers’ Neighbourhood.

His career-defining film, Night of the Living Dead, came with his first kick at the movie can in 1968. But he didn’t establish his now legendary Dead series right away. Instead, he opted to follow up his first film with the romantic comedy There’s Always Vanilla.

He returned to complete his Dead trilogy with Dawn of the Dead (1978) and Day of the Dead (1985), cementing his status as cinematic legend. He continued to explore the gory landscape, often with a side of social commentary to boot. In addition, he inspired countess filmmakers along the way.

In 2009, Romero premiered Survival of the Dead at the Toronto International Film Festival. In an interview with Post City at the time, he tackled the question of whether or not you had to have a screw loose to make such movies.

“None of us horror filmmakers — Wes Craven, John Carpenter — there’s not a weird guy in the bunch,” he said.

“It’s funny, man, people expect that I walk around in a cape and fangs and sleep in a coffin or something, and whenever I do a photo shoot for a magazine, they always want to do it in a cemetery.”

Romero had been working on a new film, Road of the Dead. A memorial was held at Mount Pleasant Cemetery on July 24 to honour the acclaimed director who inspired (and scared the pants off of) so many.

Midtowner brings home the basketball world cup

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The U19 men’s national basketball team achieved a goal that Canada has been itching for since, well, the beginning of basketball. Although it was a Canadian who invented the sport, Canadians have yet to make their mark on the world stage. Until July 9, that is, when our U19 team beat Italy 79–60 to win the FIBA U19 Basketball World Cup in Cairo. They beat the two-time reigning champs, United States, 99–87 in the semis. Half of the players hail from Toronto or the GTA, including Danilo Djuricic and R. J. Barrett. Barrett led the way with 18 points and 12 rebounds and was named tournament MVP. This could be the beginning of many top Canadian finishes as these boys join the ranks of local NBA stars such as Tristan Thompson and Andrew Wiggins.