When I see the social services map provided by the Garden District Resident Association:
http://www.gardendistrict.ca/in_our_garden/map_social_services.html
although the map is clearly a few years old, most of the social services in question are actually north of the Park, yet Moss Park is the congregating point and hence the current reputation it has.
So..
Where will all these new condo dwellers coming into the area, living on the edge of large park, want to walk their dogs (currently there is always a large group in St James Park), or play with their kids?
My hope would be that the park would become better used as it's intended purpose, and it would be a thriving park for many. Hopefully, with these condo developments part of their development contributions to the city would go towards Moss Park.
I forgot to mention EastSide Lofts, as well as the proposed redevelopment of the Canada House Tavern, the most impactful proposed developments for this intersection.
And ofcourse, there is the retail on the south side Queen across from Moss Park already transforming. I really like those buildings, as well as the ones on Queen east of Sherbourne. It is quite easy to see with some cleaning up, the buildings and the area would be quite beautiful and hopefully thriving.
Or perhaps this is all wishful thinking on my part.
Ironically, an article was written about the Canada House Tavern yesterday..
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http://www.torontosun.com/News/TorontoAndGTA/2007/08/31/pf-4460078.html
Those were the days at the grungy old Canada House, where beers flowed and stories were told among friends
By MARK BONOKOSKI, NATIONAL AFFAIRS
"Once upon a time, there was a tavern
"Where we used to raise a glass or two
"Remember how we laughed away the hours
"Dream of all the great things we would do."
-- Mary Hopkins
Yes, those were the days, my friends, those "once upon a time" days we thought would never end. The days when there was a sign painted along the entire east-side wall of the Canada House tavern where we used to raise a glass or two.
"You've tried the rest, now try the best," it read.
It was a crock, of course. The Canada House was a dump.
But it was our dump.
The place is boarded up now, and has been since circa 2003. But there is a sign on the boarded-up entrance, recently noticed by this passerby, proclaiming that the Canada House tavern, the historic pissoir at the hardscrabble corner of Queen and Sherbourne Sts. will become a 59-unit mixed-used condominium -- step one, perhaps, in gentrifying a core-city junction that is today rife with crack addicts, lost souls and down-and-out hostel dwellers.
HOCKEY AND BEERS
Michael Cole is named on the sign as the planner.
But he doesn't work for the city any more.
So the sign is old.
Looking back, it doesn't seem like all that long ago that the Canada House doled out its cheap draught beer and its pickled eggs. But it was.
Every Friday, at noon, way back when, the boys at the Sun booked the ice at the Moss Park Arena, conveniently parked across the street from the Canada House.
The names flood back, a few of them already departed. The late Bob MacDonald, who earned the bowl-of-pudding face he wore back in his drinking and semi-pro hockey days on the East Coast. The late Patty Fullan, Bob MacDonald's partner on defence for years. The late Cam Norton. The late Roy (Shackie) Howard. All gone. Bruce Blackadar, too, was a Canada House habitue before he authored Last Call. Blackie never played hockey long, but he was "the crowd" in the stands at Moss Park, as well as the honourary convenor.
Names, names, names. Peter Worthington, Les Pyette and his brother, Nellie, Brian Vallee, Claire Hoy, Hugh Wesley, Pete Kotzer, Billy Boyd, Dr. Jim Brooks, Jac Holland, Cliff Ritchie, Rocky McCabe, Mario Sgroi, Gary Blackwood -- all still around, one hopes, although most of the skates are undoubtedly now hung up in favour of gentler pursuits.
One hour of hockey at Moss Park, and then a few hours at the Canada House, often until closing time. The place smelled of stale beer and festering urinals brimming with moth balls and cigarette butts.
It smelled as old taverns should.
Debbie MacDonald is the information director for FiveNine, the Toronto management and construction company in charge of overseeing the construction of the condominium complex where the old Canada House tavern now stands empty and idle.
"We're in a stall," she says.
OPPOSITION TO PLAN
While it is difficult to comprehend how an area so down in the dumps as the corner of Queen and Sherbourne would resist the restoration of a rat's nest like the Canada House, and the resurrection of a modern condo building with the Canada House facade, this is nonetheless what is happening.
"We want to rehabilitate something ugly and set up something quite beautiful," MacDonald says. "Yet we are getting some resistance from neighbours when it comes to re-zoning.
"We would like to break ground as soon as possible, trust me, but we have to deal with the zoning issues first."
A number of calls were placed to the city's planning department. The person who now has Michael Cole's former number -- (Cole, apparently, has moved on to work for the province) -- knows nothing about the project. And neither does the city planner who the city hall switchboard operator claimed rules the roost in that part of town.
Messages were left hither and yon. And then pay dirt was hit, and city planner Greg Pereira was suddenly on the phone -- arguing, rightly, that there is planning and then there is good planning. And, as he put it, "good planning takes time."
"There is a domino effect to planning," he said. "And a dynamic. When you do it, you want to do it right. You want to ensure that the park across the street can still get sun. You want to ensure that future development goes hand-in-hand with proposed development.
"Things change over time, and change has its own dynamics."
At city council's direction, there will be one more public consultation meeting on Sept. 11, giving area residents and future developers another opportunity to voice their concerns and put forward their suggestions.
The old Canada House, as might be suspected, was recently "listed" by city council as a heritage site. And who's to argue that?
It began its life in 1897 as the Kormann House Hotel, the innkeeper being one Frantz J. Kormann. As a reason for recently "listing" it as a heritage site worth preserving, city hall's heritage preservation services points to a design that is "a representative example of a late 19th century corner hotel ... its design highlighted by a bevelled corner, the application of Classical detailing, and the varied fenestration associated with the late 19th century Renaissance Revival style."
A LITTLE TRIVIA
But, here's a piece of trivial information that the heritage preservation might appreciate, if only for a fleeting moment.
On the day this June that city council voted to "list" the old Kormann House Hotel as a heritage site, it was also 110 years -- to the day -- that Frantz Kormann first threw open his doors at the corner of Queen and Sherbourne.
That's a lot of years, a lot of beers, and a lot of names flooding back.
"Through the door, there came familiar laughter
"I saw your face and heard you call my name
"Oh, my friend, we're older but no wiser
"For in our hearts, the dreams are still the same
