What’s with the tar in the tiles?
Temporary fix for pedestrian safety
A couple of days ago workers came to parts of Roncesvalles — primarily between Fermanagh and Fern — to remove loose sidewalk pavers that the City deemed a tripping hazard.
These loose pavers were removed and replaced with an asphalt patch for the remainder of winter.
The City informed the BIA that this is a temporary fix for now and that the problem areas will be fixed permanently and to the BIA’s satisfaction when warmer weather arrives.
How the pavers came loose in the first place is another question. Perhaps as the grounds settles and shifts, particularly when water gets under the tiles and then freezes, it can cause some tiles to shift.
While we’re all disappointed by the appearance of black patches on our sidewalks, it’s clear that the safety of pedestrians has to come first.
Roncesvalles Village is recognized as a successful trilogy of cooperation between the City of Toronto, the Roncesvalles Commercial BIA and the local citizens. We have the reputation of being trendy, without being pretentious, we care equally for our dearly departed Sister, as we do for our homeless and now, we have become known as the area who worked with City officials to improve common areas of foot, bike and vehicle traffic. We can boast that the streetscaping is laid out to further enhance Roncy’s delightful mixture of unique shops, casual chic dining and plentiful naturopathic services and holistic centres.
Information from our Councillor Gord Perk’s office, states that; Ron Nash from the City BIA, tells them that “the current status of Roncesvalles’ maintenance is much, much better than it was 10 years ago, but that, of course, doesn’t mean that it’s perfect.”
For 5 days a week from April 1st to November 1st:
- Littervac operators clear the sidewalks and curbs of debris.
- Street Sweepers (trucks) operate 4 to 5 times a week.
- The fly squad surveys daily for manual pickup of bulky items and a manual walk about is provided every Monday, Wednesday and Friday for the purpose of sweeping and litter collection.
During off season, the littervac and manual pickup is reduced and this service also fluctuates with weather conditions throughout the entire year.
In all fairness, The City of Toronto, as the governing brain with 44 municipal wards, 72 BIA’s, and about 2.5 million residents, is providing an adequate job. But, who knows the future of budget cutbacks?
The Body overseeing Roncesvalles’ commercial district is the local BIA. An outstanding committee of business owners who rally together to promote the area, initiate events and encourage the local business members to participate in a collective. The BIA encourages owners to additionally tidy the street in front of their storefronts. Unfortunately, group endeavors rely on equal contribution, and you’ll find that some businesses are very pro supportive, and others are less so.
Concluding the unity and without any doubt, it’s the soul of the people who motivate any action. It is the residents of Roncy who are saying loud and clear, “We’re proud of our neighbourhood and we love living here!” This collective pride has enticed the goodwill of the people who volunteer to be the change they want to see in the world… at least, our little part of the World!
Our increase in popularity brings many out to frequent our eateries and there may be a corresponding increase of on-the-street cigarette smoking. Cigarette butts are the number one offenders of our litter cast off. Many a smoker’s impulse is to stomp out their butt on the ground or bury it into a planter. It’s a problem in cities everywhere. Fortunately the new trash cans have a cigarette disposal unit built in, but most smokers don’t know it’s there. Since this is not enough to curb the problem, there are talks about requesting City involvement that can also have community programs pitch in.
Right now what Roncesvalles needs is a coordinated cleaning program that supplements and supports the generous work of the Roncy Sweeps Team and what the City provides. Awareness should be brought to issues such as proper cigarette butt disposal and on-street maintenance. With a little ingenuity and “pitching in,” Roncesvalles will continue to be the most perfect corner of Toronto!
The Grid on Roncesvalles: “This is the most perfect corner of Toronto we’ve got left.”
Yesterday, the Grid published an interesting story about “the Roncesvalles revival.” On the surface, the article cheers the arrival of new restaurants to the street, specifically the Ace and the Westerly, but it goes deeper. It raises questions about the role of community in establishing stable, successful main streets, and expresses optimism that Roncesvalles will be able to avoid the excesses of other trendy hot-spots like Ossington or Queen West.
The Ace (PHOTO: Grid TO)
The Westerly’s co-owner, legendary restaurateur Tom Earl, says he was not looking for the latest hot-spot in order to make a quick buck. “We want to be here for a long time, we want to be part of a neighbourhood—we really want to be involved. And that’s what we were looking for and why ultimately we decided Roncesvalles would be perfect.” Ace owners Maggie Ruhl and Gregg Boggs similarly cite the role of community in shaping the direction of their business. Meanwhile, other new restaurants like Barque and Pizzeria Defina also balance a certain trendiness with a community-friendly vibe, welcoming local families along with younger professional couples.
And it’s not just restaurants; let’s not forget Scout, Stasis Preserves, Green Light District Design, Roncy St. Gallery, Ecotique, Mother of All, Grateful Head, Fresh Collective and the many other new stores and services that are broadening Roncesvalles’ diversity of businesses, and preserving a healthy mix of offerings.
Why has Roncesvalles managed to get this tricky balance right, when so many other neighbourhoods have faced difficulties?
“Roncey,” writes author Paul Aguirre-Livingston, “has a stronger, smarter sense of community more closely associated with a cultural identity that runs deep and rich. [...] It’s that very pride in community—a blend of preservation and self-perpetuating drive—that becomes a powerful motivator for business owners and their patrons.”
Ruhl specifically mentions the role of community associations, including the BIA, in taking an active role in supporting and guiding the development of the street. This guidance is not adversarial or driven by suspicion. Rather, the Roncesvalles community has been able to express itself in a productive way, welcoming change as well as continuity, such that new businesses are better able to fit in. It is unlikely that a big box nightclub would be able to establish itself, says Ruhl. “What happens [in Roncesvalles] is that the associations are so involved that it’s always going to be small, little businesses.”
Let’s hope Ruhl is correct. I imagine everyone would feel better if they knew what was coming to the old Rogers space at Howard Park. But so far, I think this community can take a great deal of pride in how the street is taking shape since the end of reconstruction.
This community is why Roncesvalles remains, in the words of Aguirre-Livingston, “the most perfect corner of Toronto we’ve got left.”
A perfect day on Roncesvalles
Yesterday was a perfect day on Roncesvalles, and a great opportunity to capture the beauty of our new streetscape.
Ever since construction wrapped up in July, the new Roncesvalles has been widely praised. “The result is quite marvellous,” wrote the Globe and Mail’s Marcus Gee, and the New York Times wrote: “the rejuvenated ‘Roncey’ now makes for one of the city’s most engaging strolls.”
Here are some examples of what they are writing about.
The new streetscape features several new trees, planted in healthy growing conditions. Instead of ugly concrete “tree coffins” that usually kill trees within 5-10 years, the trees are protected by attractive guards and grates. Soon, Roncesvalles will boast a lush green canopy that will cool our street, absorb greenhouse gases and pollutants, and provide natural beauty. The unsafe “two-step” sidewalk has finally been levelled, and unit pavers provide an attractive surface covering the underground soil trenches that give our trees access to uncompacted soil, air and water. The new tree guards are intended as multi-use street furniture that you can rest against or lock your bike to.
The TTC stops are intended to be more than just places to wait for a streetcar. They have been conceived as “outdoor living rooms,” with benches, gardens, pedestrian lights, and room in some cases for displays or patios. An innovative, raised bike path allows cyclists to pass by the TTC stops without being caught in the streetcar tracks.
Roncesvalles now has the most accessible streetcar stops in Toronto, allowing direct boarding from the sidewalk. At 30 metres long, the stops have been optimized for Toronto’s new fleet of hi-tech LRV streetcars, which will begin entering service in 2014. These low-floor streetcars will be fully-accessible, air-conditioned, and will allow boarding from all four doors with the new Presto cards.
The end result is a street that is full of vibrancy and life – not just a way to pass through, but a destination in itself. Roncesvalles is a pedestrian-friendly place where neighbours can meet friends, stop to chat, and yes, to shop.
Cross-posted with the Roncesvalles Village BIA website
How sustainable tree planting was integrated along Roncesvalles
With a distance roughly a kilometer and a half, a dateline spanning close to 150 years, a strong Polish lineage but a Spanish birthright; Roncesvalles Village, attracts more Arts Cultural Urbanites per capita, than any other Toronto Neighbourhood.
Radiating off every heavily tree canopied street are “redone Four Squares” that are highly sought after by perspective home buyers. Eventually, the Roncesvalles commercial district will become a leading example of how community and urban planning had combined resources and ideas. This collaboration helped create a long term strategy for sustainable tree planting. The street’s trees used to be in concrete coffins which restricted the natural growth of the roots (see Root and crown structure), and now they are all in continuous soil trenches.
Sustainable urban tree planting is all about:
- planting native species that easily thrive in the local environment;
- growing them in a continuous soil trench which enables root expansion;1
- enabling the expansion of the overhead canopy, which serves as a climate control regulator by providing deciduous shade in the summer and solar heat in the winter;
- and finally, during daylight hours, the trees serve as environmental lungs because they consume a multitude of carbon gasses, including carbon dioxide2, which is one of the most acknowledged contributors to climate change.
Roncy Sweeps in The Star
Roncy Sweeps volunteer and local resident Ann Chrichton-Harris. Photo Credit: Ellen Moorhouse
Yesterday the Toronto Star published a column by Ellen Moorhouse on our very own community volunteers who are taking to the streets to quietly clean it up. See Trash Talk: A clean sweep for Roncesvalles. Our efforts are still in the pilot stage, so we can work out what’s needed to help keep our street looking great.
A few volunteers have been doing a regular or semi-regular sweep on two or three blocks of Roncesvalles, not far from their homes.
You’ll notice those blocks that are getting some regular TLC because they look great! We will be storing our brooms and supplies at some of the shops along Roncesvalles. Our hope is that there will be one shop per block that can provide storage so our volunteers can do a quick sweep-up when they are passing by and have a few minutes to spare. We’re also aiming for one volunteer per block, since many hands makes for short work. It’s a great way to get to know the people who work and shop along a short stretch and improve our street while getting a little air. Let us know if you’d like to get involved.
They stand on guard for trees
Our promised tree guards have arrived. There’s been rapid progress on the installation of the guards and grills this week. Over the last few days the crews have worked their way down the street and have now reached Galley.
The guards are wide enough to protect the trees to maturity. The grills provide a level sidewalk, while letting air and water through. They will also serve to filter some of the litter that has been accumulating in the tree beds. However, I’m sure you’ll still see people chucking smaller pieces of litter through the grates, particularly cigarette butts and bottle caps.
We’ll need to do some awareness building, so the tree beds aren’t turned into massive ashtrays. It bears repeating, that although the tobacco will decompose, the butts are not biodegradable. They’ll take 18 months to 10 years to decompose. So let’s remind thems-that-smoke-and-toss to use the trash cans. The new ones have a built in cigarette disposal feature at centre front.
Do you have a creative idea to help celebrate the upcoming holiday season? A fun public activity? A beautiful decorative display? The Roncesvalles Village BIA would like to hear from you!
The BIA has set aside funds to help facilitate fun and creative decorations and celebrations along Roncesvalles. If your celebration or decoration is open to all, and takes place on public space along Roncesvalles, then the BIA might be able to help bring your idea to life!
We are especially interested in activities and decorations that encourage broad participation and help strengthen the community’s ties to Roncesvalles.
If you would like more information, or have an idea to suggest, please contact John Bowker at info@shesaidboom.ca as soon as you can.
A glimpse of our street’s namesake
Sheep grazing on the Pyrenees foothills of Roncesvalles in Spain. Photo: Ed Lamb
Local history buffs may know that our main street was named by Col. Walter O’Hara after the Battle of Roncesvalles, which took place in the Roncesvalles gorge in Spain in 1813, in which he led a regiment that fought against the retreating army of Napoleon.
Here we’ve posted a few photos and a bit of history provided by our newest Roncy Sweeps volunteer, Ed Lamb, from his travels through Roncesvalles in Spain.
Ed points out that in the Pyrenees Roncesvalles of today “there is absolutely no village, no neighbourhood(s), only a large old hostal building, including a church. There are also two small hotels – the staff would live in local villages or in more distant Pamplona. The setting is wonderful in the foothills of the Pyrenees. (An earlier) …battle in 788 was as a result of Charlemagne’s attempt to push the Moors out of Europe. He failed miserably. The pass of Roncesvalles is one of only a few ways of penetrating these mountains.”
Ed has also posted a simple panoramic video of Roncesvalles in Spain on YouTube.
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To see historic photos of our street and the area, see Years Gone By: A Photo Essay of Roncesvalles Village.
For more local history, connect with The Roncesvalles Village Historical Society on facebook.
Trash talk
Community cleanup volunteer Maria Carrusca is relieved to see the new trash cans arrive on Roncy.
Yeah, I felt a little eccentric out there taking beauty shots of the new garbage cans. But, hey they’ve been a long time coming. Thanks to a bit of pressure from our BIA and Councillor Gord Perk’s office, a dozen were finally delivered this week.
The receptacles are part of the City’s coordinated street furniture. Although we got the swanky black ones featuring push-pedal operation of bin doors for trash and recyclables. Smokers take note — there’s a separate cigarette receptacle located front and centre on the grey band.
The bins should help reduce the litter that was accumulating in some places along the street and sidewalks. The push pedal operation means that you don’t have to touch gungy, germ-ridden doors with your fingers and you can operate it easily when you only have one hand free.
We’re hoping the bins will also significantly reduce the amount of cigarette butts being tossed in planting beds and tree beds, let alone the sidewalks and street. Cigarette filters take anywhere from 18 months to 10 years to biodegrade.
Getting smokers to use them is partly a matter of pointing these out to those who are still butting out on the street. Some habits are hard to change, but we’ve all seen how frequent reminders can help change our collective disposal habits.
Given the 17 blocks that encompassed the reconstruction, 12 bins are a bit thin to spread around. Not sure how many more we’re supposed to get or what is driving their placement. There aren’t any next to the TTC stops, which seems an obvious oversight. But perhaps more there are more to come.
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John Bowker
