Local goes the distance for children’s charity

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A 17-year-old woman from Richmond Hill completed a gruelling13-hour trek across the English Channel, raising over $2,250 in the process.

“It feels great. I feel really proud of myself,” said Muna Al-Shariri, who trained for the swim at Markham Aquatic Club. “When I was in London, and I was thinking about it, I was like, ‘Oh, it’s impossible.’ And I just finished it, and want to do it again.”

Al-Shariri started her swim at England’s Dover Marina at 3:16 a.m. From there, she battled the tide, high waves, cold water and pitch-black, hazy conditions all the way to the French beach on the opposite side. At one point she felt like giving up, but she was swimming for a cause.

With the help of charity Oxfam Canada, her swim donated thousands of dollars to provide HIV education and clean water to girls in Africa, in hopes of ensuring a better future for them.

As for Al-Shariri’s future swimming career, she hopes to pursue the sport in university but does not have immediate plans for another challenge.

“Maybe when I’m 21 I’ll do a double crossing,” she said. “If I really think about it, I might convince myself to do it.”

Residents hope to rid Thornlea of industry

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After years of frustration, an initiative fuelled by fed-up residents may soon help steer the Thornhill neighbourhood of Thornlea’s character away from industry and toward a more desired mix of commerce and homes.

City of Markham staff and working group reports will be presented to Markham City Council regarding the ongoing Thornhill Revitalization Study, which aims to guide future decisions regarding zoning and development. The study was proposed when residents in the area grew tired of facing noise and fumes from nearby light industrial businesses, including furniture maker Raywal Kitchens and now-closed Canac Kitchens.

Ken Davey, a resident of Holm Crescent, which backs onto the Raywal site, said he does not mind light industry in the area as long as it is a “good neighbour” and does not pollute the community. However, he said he feels pure residential would be ideal. Neighbour Stan Kwiec said that industry does not belong in the neighbourhood, but getting rid of it entirely may be a tough sell.

“As a town, we have got to have sources of income as well,” he said. “But if it is rezoning such that it can be a mix of residential and some small businesses — non-manufacturing businesses — I think it would work very nicely.”

Some light industrial sites in the area are zoned to boost employment, something Ward 2 councillor Howard Shore, who chaired the Thornhill Area Revitalization working group, called a “policy hurdle from the province.” The Canac site, for example, is zoned for 500 to 600 jobs that the city would have to replace elsewhere or shift to nearby municipalities.

“Converting from employment use to entirely residential would eliminate the possibility of regaining those jobs,” Shore said. “Somebody who wants to see the whole of the Canac site be entirely residential, our planners will absolutely oppose that.”

He expects that the working group and staff reports to be released in October will both propose to support mixed-use residential and commercial zoning in the area, with few divergences.

City to fight five homes proposed on York Mills

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Residents remain firmly opposed to a development proposed on York Mills Road that they feel mimics the look of townhouses. But they have decided not to enlist independent professional representation for the upcoming Ontario Municipal Board (OMB) hearing.

The plans in question set out severances that would create five lots where there are currently only four, on which five new homes would be built. An application for minor variances was previously denied by the City of Toronto: Committee of Adjustment, North York Panel. In its report, city planning staff identified 0.61-metre side yard setbacks and 1.8-metre first floor heights as out of character for the neighbourhood.

Cindy Weiner, president of the St. Andrew’s Ratepayers Association, said that her group, in concert with the York Mills Ratepayers Association, was prepared to enlist independent professional re-presentation. However, when the city decided to retain an outside planner for the hearing, it was determined that enlisting their own would simply duplicate this testimony.

“It [the proposal] really does impact the people who live behind it and across the road, and they see the chance of it having a domino effect down York Mills, between Bayview and Old Yonge,” Weiner said. “It’s an extremely residential area, and people want to keep it that way.”

Reza Akbari, an agent of the property owner, was in disbelief that anyone would take issue with the proposal. He said the owner was originally contemplating 11, three-storey townhouses for the site, but instead decided to go with an extremely conservative option. Akbari felt the owner could have succeeded with a townhouse application.

“This is a few single houses,” he said. “I really oppose big change myself, but the gradual change — if we don’t do that, then we get frozen in time.”

An OMB hearing was slated for Oct. 25, but there was talk it may be pushed back because the city solicitor has a scheduling conflict.

Subway subsidized to tune of $10 mil a year

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As the City of Toronto gears up for public consultations on the future of the city’s transit system, as part of its official plan review, the task of converting drivers on one of the city’s most congested roads to riders of its most under-capacity subway line continues to prove a challenge.

According to the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC), the current average daily ridership on the entire Sheppard subway line is 50,400 round trips, reaching 58 per cent of its maximum capacity during the average afternoon rush hour. Meanwhile, above ground, four Sheppard Avenue intersections are among the city’s 10 most congested traffic arteries. Not to mention, the under-capacity subway line costs taxpayers $10 million in city subsidies each year.

Franz Hartmann, president of the advocacy group TTCRiders, guessed that not enough people live in close proximity to the line to use it.

“It is really about [residential] density, and the reality is that the density that exists along Sheppard [Avenue] is not high enough to properly utilize the Sheppard [subway],” he said.

Hartmann added that providing fast transit options to the line from nearby neighbourhoods located north and south of Sheppard would encourage residents to ride the TTC.

Ward 16 councillor and TTC chair Karen Stintz said a light rail transit (LRT) system would see a boost in ridership.

“I believe that the LRT along Sheppard will help get cars off the road and will help improve ridership on the subway because people who are now in Malvern will be able to quickly get to the Don Mills exchange and either go on the subway or go north or south,” she said.

The first round of transit talks, slated to take place before the end of the year, will present background information and establish a range of preferred transit options to study.

A second round of transit talks will select recommended transit options in early 2013.

Locals worried about historic castle’s fate

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The City of Toronto’s executive committee voted recently to issue a request for proposals to find a new operator for Casa Loma. A sale may be off the table for now, but locals are concerned about leaving the future of the city’s historic castle up to a third party.

The move was recommended by the Casa Loma Corporation (CLC), temporarily tasked in June 2011 with overseeing day-to-day operations at the tourist attraction after the city terminated its lease with the Kiwanis Club. Michael Williams, chair of the CLC, found in his report that retaining Casa Loma’s current use was preferred to any of the other options it analyzed.

Coun. Joe Mihevc is relieved that the option of selling Casa Loma was shelved, but he doesn’t think the city has had a proper public discussion on the fate of the historic castle.

“That’s a tragedy because we can do something really great there,” he said. “And what are we doing? We’re looking to wash our hands of it as a city and let some private proprietor take it over.”

Mihevc would like to see a new board of directors selected, made up of members with expertise in business, heritage and tourism as well as members of the community.
Trelawny Howell, great-grandniece of Sir Henry Pellatt — and a key player in the anti-Kiwanis Club movement — supports this approach, and is advocating for a more open request-for-proposal process with fewer restrictions.

“It [Casa Loma] is totally underutilized, and it’s embarrassing that Toronto has mismanaged this for so long,” Howell said. “It’s the only real castle we have in Canada, and it’s an insult how it’s been looked after.”

Pending approval from Toronto City Council this month, the call will be put out for suitors that can come up with a viable plan for Casa Loma. The third party operator will be required to fund maintenance and repairs, while preserving public access to the site and respecting the cultural and heritage significance of the buildings and grounds.

Massive tower proposed in Yorkville

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If approved, an application to build an 80-storey mixed-use building at Holt Renfrew’s Bloor Street flagship store would be the tallest residential tower in the city — but the proposal is so aggressive that it isn’t being seriously considered by the city at this stage. City planning staff nonetheless advised Toronto and East York Community Council recently to schedule a community consultation meeting to identify which aspects of the proposal will need to be altered and how dramatically.

City planning staff used strong language in its preliminary report, writing: “The height and density of the proposed development greatly exceed the built and planned context for this area and, in the opinion of staff, is unacceptable in its current form.”

The site is zoned for a maximum height of 61 metres, whereas the application calls for 277 metres. At more than one million square feet, the proposed structure has a density of 18.9 times lot coverage, compared to the 7.8 times lot coverage permitted in the current zoning.

The proposal provides for a tower containing 600 residential units, an eight-storey podium dedicated to office and retail uses and 620 parking spaces. Some of the existing three-storey mixed-use building would stay in place, including the ground floor retail.

Coun. Kristyn Wong-Tam said that the developer has indicated a willingness to work with the city, and from what she understands, filed the application early to avoid increases in filing fees.

“What the city planning staff and I have been saying consistently is that we will never approve this in its current rendition,” Wong-Tam said. “We’re going to need to see some very significant adjustments based on the criteria and concerns that the city staff has identified.”

Briar de Lange, executive director of the Bloor-Yorkville BIA, said the proposal was on their radar, but that it was too early to comment. The applicant could not be reached for comment before press time. A community consultation is scheduled to take place Oct. 29.

Is Leaside’s small-town charm under siege?

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The Leaside Property Owners Association (LPOA) and a newly-formed group of residents who live near Laird Drive, called Leaside Unite, have drawn a line in the proverbial sand over the latest big-box development proposal in their neighbourhood. They’ve hired a lawyer, and they’re prepared to enlist other experts to fight a SmartCentres application, currently under review by the city, for a 147,000-square-foot development on Wicksteed Avenue. Carol Burtin Fripp, vice-president of the LPOA, expressed concerns about the cumulative effect of large-scale retail moving into the area.

“It’s been said that, once you lose that small-town effect, you can’t get it back again,” Burtin Fripp said.

The Wicksteed proposal is particularly worrisome because it’s far more dense than the existing big-box plazas on Laird, she explained.

The official plan allows for large-scale retail on the edges of employment areas but only if sufficient transportation capacity is available to accommodate the extra traffic generated by the development and the economic health of nearby shopping districts is not adversely affected. The LPOA and Leaside Unite don’t believe the application meets these criteria.

Trae Zammit, owner of Bayview Avenue’s The Smokin’ Cigar, and a key player in the push for the creation of a local business improvement association, doesn’t believe the SmartCentres proposal should be permitted either. “I think it will affect all the small businesses, and I don’t think it’s healthy for the neighbourhood,” Zammit said.

The applicant’s retail and traffic impact studies are being peer reviewed at the request of Coun. John Parker.

“There’s the tactical question of how aggressively do you play your hand.” Parker said. “If you overplay your hand, then the developer has recourse to a level of appeal that takes the whole matter out of local control altogether.”

Q&A: Alan Thicke on reality TV, songwriting and starring in a musical

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Alan Thicke is showing us his smile again with his new starring role as Jack Bailey in Queen for a Day: the Musical, which opens tonight at the Richmond Hill Centre for the Performing Arts. The new musical is based on the first reality radio and TV show of the same name. We chatted with the Canadian-born actor about hosting duties, his musical prowess and getting sweaty and hot.

How did you get involved with Queen for a Day?
They called. They asked me if I knew about the original show and if I was familiar with the host [Jack Bailey] and if I would like to hear more about the musical based on that, and I said yes to all of that, and I read the script and read the music, and I said here we go.

In the musical, you’re playing TV host Jack Bailey, a role that you’ve played many times before throughout your career. Why are you the go-to emcee?
I know that the business nowadays is run by thirtysomethings, which has always been the case, and those are people who have grown up with me. There is some residual fondness there and some curiosity. I get a lot of calls to host things and do cameos because they want to still see if I am standing erect. It’s nice, it’s quite flattering. The emcee host part, it has less to do with Growing Pains and more with the humour column [“Boomerology”] that I write for The Huffington Post. It’s been widely received and highly circulated about the boomer generation. I have a wave of invites to emcee every event imaginable in the U.S. So anything that has to do with people over 40, I have become something of a go-to host.

What do you enjoy most about hosting?
It’s a pleasant combination for me. To get in touch and be in front of a live audience. It’s just you on your toes and you can’t host anything without being remotely current. In my case, I do 15 minutes before the event and then get on with the rest of the format of the show. In those few minutes at the beginning, I’ve got to read the newspapers and make my jokes in reference to the times. It’s like writing your own night show monologue.

Queen for a Day is considered to be the first reality radio and TV show. What do you think about reality television?
It’s certainly here to stay — that’s one reality. I’m fine with it. It’s a guilty pleasure for a lot of people. I know some of the key players who essentially invented that industry nowadays. I’m quite close with the Kardashians and I marvel at their hutzpah and gall and the fact they are able to take an age-old industry, a prurient gossip industry, and turn it into a billion dollar empire — it’s not a multi-million dollar industry. But this goes back before Jack Bailey and Queen For a Day. Walter Winchell always wanted to hear about celebrities, and now with our technology, we’re able to shoot right up their nostrils and get too much information. That’s really what it is.

Do you watch any of the shows?
Reality shows — I keep my eye on them. I can’t say I watch a whole episode. I do five minutes at a time. My son Robin [Thicke] is the in the midst of taping a parody on reality shows with Kevin Hart on BET. The Real House Husbands of Los Angeles. It’s flipping The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills on its ear. I’ll be watching that from start to finish. The others, I check in.

You’re a singer and a songwriter. Where did your musical prowess come from?
Right out of the blue, my parents bought me a guitar at 17. I didn’t know what to do with it. I went to the University of Western, and I saw these guys with guitars meeting all the girls and I thought maybe I should be doing that. I learned Gordon Lightfoot songs, and if you knew that, you had a pretty good shot. I had a band and we played fraternity parties at Western. When we graduated, I took a year to see what I could accomplish in the entertainment industry. During the day I was at the CBC, and at night, I was doing music. We were having fun. In fact, it was at a game show, where my songwriting blossomed. I selfishly hired myself as a songwriter at a game show I was working at on NBC. It was the first game show Alex Trebek ever hosted. I wrote and sang that theme song, and that led to a lot of other opportunities. I ended up writing 45 other theme songs. I played Billy Flynn in Chicago on Broadway. I wrote songs for Olivia Newton-John, Barry Manilow, Anne Murray, Johnny Cash. It’s always been a great hobby and interest of mine. It’s a challenge to get it right.

Your song “Sweaty and Hot,” which you performed for the National Aerobic Championships in 1988, is making the rounds on the Internet. Any memories from that?
I don’t know how that snuck into cyberspace, and it seems to have struck a chord [laughs]. Daniel Tosh from Tosh.0 had me on his show, reuniting me with the winning aerobics team. I don’t know how many hits this thing got, but it got a lot of attention. At the recent Canadian Comedy Awards, they chose to do that as the opening musical number and they started playing that video on two screens. Then, I came out singing along with the video and then 30 dancers came out replicating those immortal steps. It was a pretty big number. In fact, Robin taught it to his band and they use it to warm up before his shows.

Queen for a Day is showing for a limited engagement. If its run is extended, will you be along for the ride?
I can extend for a week, and then I run out of time. I would love to see it as a hit and go back and revisit it.

Queen For a Day: The Musical, Richmond Centre for the Performing Arts, 10268 Yonge St., 416-259-1625. Sept. 26 – Oct. 7

What I Wore: sometimes, the perfect outfit is already in your closet

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Looking at a jam-packed wardrobe and feeling like you’ve worn every piece to death is the worst feeling. On those days, putting together a fresh outfit can feel tortuous and nearly impossible. On the other hand, the absolute best feeling is turning around and seeing the entire closet with what seems like a fresh set of eyes and finding something new buried deep within the old.

This outfit, for example, is made up entirely from worn-many-times-before pieces that have somehow never managed to come together at any point previously. Surprising, especially since they found each other with ease in a frantic five-minute outfit change that started out in pajamas.

Sometimes it feels like I have to pound my head against a brick wall to come up with an outfit out of my closet; other times, the key pieces just float out to form a chic look out of thin air. It’s reminiscent of when Cher Horowitz picks out her school outfit in Clueless, only minus the ’90s computer software and revolving dream closet.

What I Wore: vintage army jacket from Pretty Freedom, silk blouse by Mara Hoffman from TNT, vintage A-line pleather skirt from London, clutch by Jenny Bird, shoes by Alexander Wang from The Outnet

Gracie Carroll is a Toronto-based freelance writer whose work has appeared in ELLE UK, ELLEcanada.com, Plaid magazine and FILLER magazine. Keep up with her daily blog at www.graciecarroll.com.

Drink This: Campagnolo’s Viuda Blanca

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10:30 am

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Occupying an unassuming corner lot on Dundas West, Campagnolo is one of the neighbourhood’s go-to joints for Italian fare. Outfitted with wooden accents, terra cotta tiles and a chandelier or two, the restaurant fills tables with folks eager to gobble down goods from the ever-changing menu.

Manning the bar is James Playford, who mixes cleverly-named beverages like the Phil Collins and the Six of Spades. Having spent time in Montreal’s bar scene honing his craft, Playford poured drinks at The Dakota Tavern for a stint before jumping ship to run this one.

The Viuda Blanca ($12) — named after a ’70s flick — brings together cardamom-infused Tromba tequila and Chase elderflower liqueur. Shaken with fresh lime juice, lavender water and a sprinkling of sugar, the libation is double strained into a Marie Antoinette coupe and garnished with a single star anise.

Come mid-October, Playford intends to offer up drinks like mulled wine and a Russian black tea martini.

Campagnolo, 832 Dundas St. W., 416-364-4785

Other must-try Toronto cockails:

The Streetcar from Weslodge Saloon
The Cain & Abel from Church Aperitivo Bar
The Perfect Storm from 3030

Morning Throwback: elephants have been stuck in Toronto for a while now

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Who needs Bob Barker and the rest of the zoo drama when Toronto elephants can take to the open road with their best friends in the adventure of a lifetime?

The Hogtown Cure is opening this fall as a locavore-friendly deli and café in Little Portugal

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4:47 pm

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West-enders are about to get a new purveyor of locally-sourced deli meat, produce and grab-and-go grub. Chris Schroer and Steve Ireson, along with another business partner, have just signed a lease at 1484 Dundas West and hope to open The Hogtown Cure as a deli and café by mid-November.

“This is going to be your standard deli-café,” Schroer says, “but we’re sourcing directly from farmers and using a lot of Canadian products.”

Schroer has been involved in the food industry for years, having spent time working at Jamie Kennedy’s now-shuttered Provenance Regional Cuisine (Schroer cites the celebrity chef as a mentor). Meanwhile Ireson has a lengthy resume in nightclub management.

The Hogtown Cure is currently in talks with suppliers such as Monforte, ChocoSol and 100km Foods. The idea is to match the locavore ethos of Provenance, but with a more accessible food selection and less of an emphasis on French cuisine (which means more bacon and less terrine). If all goes according to plan, the deli will offer sandwiches, veggies, prepared foods and more. It will also make its own sausages and smoke and cure its own meat.

Schroer and Ireson aim to have their venue open early for coffee and pastries, and stay open until the evening (8 p.m. or so) to cater to the after-work crowd.