The Roncesvalles Polish Festival is upon us once again. Come and join in the celebration of both the traditional and contemporary sides of the Roncesvalles Village community. Free activities for the kids, beer gardens for the adults and food, music and other entertainment for everyone. Remember, Roncesvalles between Howard Park and Galley will closed to traffic for the two day event. The Roncesvalles Village Business Improvement Association provides a few more details on their website.

Those walking, or driving, by the corner of Dundas and Roncesvalles may have been surprised to see a new business opening up in the old bank of Montreal building—and, no, it isn’t Starbucks (yet, anyway). Actually it is not even a real business. The 60s-style sign reads “Mr. Pinky’s Hefty Hideaway, ” on first thought, maybe a new-retro burger joint, perhaps a high-end and hip theme bar?

Actually, Hairspray, a new movie based on the Broadway musical, which was itself based on John Water’s 1988 camp classic, will be shooting in the neighbourhood. In the movie Mr Pinky is the owner of a large-size only clothing emporium named the Hefty Hideaway. The film will star John Travolta, Queen Latifah, Amanda Bynes, Michelle Pfeiffer, and Christopher Walken, among others. NorthRonces.com suggests you watch out for traffic ensnarlments in the coming days, or perhaps get in the spirit of things and take your pen and go autograph hunting.

Northronces.com is given a welcome mention in Hilda Hoy’s article in today’s Sunday Star (the article does not appear to be freely available on line) on the future opening of a Starbuck’s coffee shop in the old Bank of Montreal building at Dundas and Roncesvalles.

Hilda writes that Northronces.com, unlike others in the neighbourhood, is not that taken aback by this development, and that is indeed the case. She does not mention, however, the main reason for this lack of concern and that is that North Ronces, north of Hewitt Avenue, could use the boost to its profile.

As mentioned in a previous blog entry this part of our neighbourhood is generally considered an afterthought to area residents, a stretch that one visits only on the way to Loblaws or the Dundas West Subway station. Although there are a number of interesting small businesses—both old and new—in the area they face a challenge that other Roncesvalles businesses do not. Starbucks will hopefully signal the beginning of increased care and attention to the Dundas-Ronces corner.

Hating Starbucks has become a pop culture given

Is this a case of “gentrification”, “corporatization” or “globalization” and should we be concerned? Perhaps. There is definitely no shortage of Starbucks hatred, both justified and not. There is even a Starbucks “delocator” which helps you find out where Starbucks “is not” by showing where you can find non-corporate coffee shops across Canada. I have experienced this sort of generalized “Starbucks panic” first hand a number of other times, most notably in Vancouver’s east end back in the late 1980s. At the time, funky Commercial Drive, a cross between Toronto’s Little Italy and Queen Street west of Bathurst, was already home to a number of wonderful, well-established Italian and Portuguese cafés and was well known across the city as the place to grab an espresso or capuccino. Starbucks—back then a relatively new phenomenon even out on the Left Coast—opened up in the midst of this coffee plentitude to much consternation, probably more than I have experienced today in and around the Roncesvalles neighbourhood.

What ended up happening? Well, Starbucks was an instant success. What was even more shocking to some, however, was that the older establishments continued to thrive as well. I noticed that Starbucks simply attracted a different clientele that was not usually seen in the, shall we say, more colourful and idiosyncratic cafés. Further, the patrons of the latter became even stauncher in their support of their favourite hot-watering hole. Today, on Roncesvalles Avenue, while Starbuck fans will undoubtedly flock to the new location, many others will continue to frequent their caffeine provider of choice. In my case, that would be Alternative Grounds, for its great Fair Trade coffee, but even more for the unique local flavour and community it provides.

I had mentioned, a couple of posts back, that the City of Toronto report on the MegaBin/Eucan trial engaged in some interesting number juggling and justification concerning the community’s response to the trial. Most interestingly, the authors of the report had concluded that the 2,387 on-line surveys, of which 85% were negative, could be marginalized in favour of the 199 interviews conducted on the street, of which, “83% support the initiative citing revenue generation as the primary motivator.”

The on-line survey was concluded to be “interested” in that the people filling out the on-line survey quite possibly came to it with an established opinion formed through reading newspapers stories on the trial or engaging in some independent research of their own. God forbid! (more…)

I was pleased to see The Roncesvalles Village Business Improvement Area (RVBIA) speak out against the MegaBin trial in their Spring 2006 Business Bulletin. This supports the findings of the City’s report which states that while 4 BIAs supported the trial, 8 disapproved and 5 of those who did, including our RVBIA, officially rejected the trial.

Hats off to the RVBIA from NorthRonces.com.

Here is the pertinent passage from the report:

4 BIA’s expressed their support of the new bins, while 8 BIA’s expressed disapproval. Furthermore, 5 BIA’s (Roncesvalles Village, West Queen West, Kennedy Road, The Danforth and GreekTown on the Danforth) expressed their official rejection of the Eucan proposal either verbally, via signed statements, or via community petitions.

I just read a great article in Saturday’s Globe & Mail, highlighting the work of the Toronto Public Space Committee against the commercialization of Toronto’s…well, public spaces. The article, by Anthony Reinhart, focuses on the total marketing strategy that has overwhelmed the TTC Subway stations. You are probably familiar with this latest in advertising trends where a single product/company buys up all the advertising rights to a particular location for a period of time. They then proceed to apply ads to every possible surface including the floors, walls, stairs, garbage bins, as well as those places usually reserved for ads such as billboards, poster hoardings, etc. The result is that the subway platform becomes one giant all-encompassing ad. Currently, Global TV and Homer Simpson has taken over Union Station. And this is not to mention the new TV monitors and their constant sell.

The Toronto Public Space Committee is leading the charge against this colonization of our city and our imaginations by what are essentially private interests. One of their more interesting projects is called “The Better Way; Redesigning the TTC: Replacing Ads With Your Imagination” an invitation to Torontonians to recreate a TTC without ads:

Artists! TTC Riders! We invite you to re-imagine the TTC without any commercial advertising. Using this new blank canvas as a starting point, you can redesign the interior or exterior of entire vehicles, or subway stations, or focus on a specific feature such as a turnstile or a fare box.

Feel free to explore different media including photo illustrations, sketches, paintings, animation and sculptures.

Deadline for submissions is: October 31st 2005

This is a great way to draw attention to a growing problem. As the ongoing Eucan MegaBin issue indicates, the City of Toronto has been seduced by advertising dollars to give up our streets to commercial clutter. As citizens we just take for granted the inevitability of self-interested visual garbage. Here is a chance to fight back.

Finally, you may be wondering why I have not provided a link to the Globe story mentioned above. Unfortunately, the article is “subscription only” and unavailable for wide public consumption. So, just as our material public space dwindles so does our virtual public space. The result is a reduction in our ability to have an open discussion about important issues.

North Roncesvalles, like most of Toronto, slows down in August. The body numbing heat, Ontario’s cottage culture, and our meditative preparation for the increased fall and winter workload lighten street traffic and bring a relative quiet to the neighbourhood. While business owners do not really appreciate this late summer lull it is a defining attribute of this city and NorthRonces.com is not immune. Despite some light travel and heavy lethargy I have come across a few quick hit items that may be of interest:

Picture the Railpath

An early posting on NorthRonces.com highlighted the wonderful plan to establish a bike path along the Go Train corridor that cuts diagonally across the city just east of Roncesvalles. Railpath.ca has recently posted a number of architectural drawings and other images of the proposed route from the Junction, past north Roncesvalles and ending just beyond Strachan and King. The image reproduced here shows a representation of the path as it goes past the Nestle factory as seen from the Dundas West bridge.

The Railpath looking north from the Dundas Street West bridge.

Road work ahead in 2006

Another issue I have been looking into has been road work that will takeover Roncesvalles Avenue in 2006. The TTC will be rebuilding the streetcar tracks along Roncesavlles and I am sure we can look forward to much noise, traffic, dust–all a challenge to restaurant, pubs and retail businesses of the neighbourhood. The good news is that the Roncesvalles Business Improvement Area (RBIA) Beautification Committee is working with the city with hopes of integrating a series of street improvements with the general upheaval. According to RBIA chair Tony Cauch, these improvements may include “the introduction of decorative paving in a single elevation sidewalk”, “Gateway Entry Markers and new benches and planters”. The RBIA hopes that by working in consultation with the city (including Councillor Watson and members of TTC Design) that the overall street improvement strategy maybe reduced from 5 to 3 years. I am currently trying to get schedules for the actual roadwork but, as of this posting, I have had little success.

The Roncesvalles Polish Festival

Finally, the annual Roncesvalles Village street festival will be soon upon us. By renaming the more ecumenical “Harvest Festival” the “Roncesvalles Polish Festival”, RBIA organizers hope to capitalize on the sentiment (and the crowd) that was displayed after Pope John Paul II’s death earlier this year.

This issue is somewhat contentious as many North Ronces residents and business owners wonder if the Polish Festival will represent the real diversity of the neighbourhood and, perhaps, attract a demographic that may not fully appreciate the new, non-Polish businesses that are now driving the street to new heights of popularity and interest. The purpose of the festival is, after all, to create an image of Roncesvalles that will stick with Torontonians year round and draw them back again and again.

A positive sign is that organizer Andrew Chomentowski conceives the Polish Festival as “a culturally influenced festival and not one which is exclusive to people of Polish ethnicity.” He envisions the event along the lines of the “Taste of the Danforth” street festival, a celebration that has its roots in Toronto’s Greek culture and has subsequently developed a strong, city wide appeal. If this broad inclusive vision is maintained in the selection of entertainment, as well as through actively consulting the non-Polish businesses in the neighbourhood, the festival could be the highlight of the year. We will revisit this issue again. The Roncesvalles Polish Festival will be held on Sept 17-18.