Jane’s Walk on Saturday May 6 at 1PM
Starting with a tour of the brand new York Recreation Centre, this walk will examine the terraforming of Kodak Heights for the Crosstown Maintenance & Storage Facility, before examining the work for the Mount Dennis station. At MD Public Library, see TPL’s innovative new technologies with a hands on demonstration. The walk ends at St Mary & St Martha’s where there will be refreshments and an opportunity to discuss the progress and problems of the Crosstown and other changes to the area. The walk will feature expert speakers for each aspect, as well as community members to give lived experiences.
Earth Day Clean-Up very succesful
Major turn-out at today’s Clean-Up; the MDCA would like to thank everyone who participated; the children who worked as hard as anyone else, the whole families who turned up, including the multi-generational families. We lost count at one point but there was 45 participants; we also lost count of the amount of garbage that was picked up from the ravines, by the first half-hour, and before everyone had showed up yet, we had already tied up 12 garbage bags of mostly recyclables.
The ravines we were at are particularly beautiful overlooking Topham Pond. Of course the litter and garbage spoils the scenery but it was a beauty day, with lots of birds flying in the blue sky; we spotted lots of red-winged blackbirds and robins, but also a male and a female cardinal, a downy woodpecker, a feral cat, a squirrel and a hawk. The Earth was happy, and by the end of the event after picking up all the visible garbage, the floor of the steep woods became as beautiful as the clear sky above it. Thanks again to everyone who helped out.
3rd Clean-Up good turn out despite the rain
A big thank you to the 10 individuals who helped out today, braving the rain to participate in this litter pick-up effort, including a family of 4. Sadly we didn’t remember to take a group photo.
We cleaned along Dora Spencer Rd. and then a smaller group broke out to clean Portage Gardens Park. Though we filled about 30 bags worth of litter (a majority of which are recyclables) much more work remaind to be done on the ravine edge of Portage Gardens Park.
We invite community members to reach out to MDCA if they need help organizing further clean-up dates on the Portage Gardens Park ravine edge. And once again we like to thank all those helping to beauify Mount Dennis.
2nd Spring Clean-up: Good turn-out, great result.
We want to thank everyone who came out to our second Clean-up event this past Saturday. It was a large and enthusiastic group; we had a hard time getting everyone in the group photo 🙂
Everyone put in a great effort. We filled 33 garbage bags! One-third with recyclables and the rest with litter or smaller dumped items. We also created a pile of miscellaneous large objects that had been dumped in or beside the ravine. It was a chance to crack some jokes with neighbours we knew, as well as meet new neighbours. If this sounds like a nice Saturday morning to you, why don’t you join us for one of our next events:
April 15th Dora Spencer & Portage Gdns. Park – meet 10 am, Weston at Dora Spencer
April 22nd Lambton & Astoria ravine edges – meet 10 am, Lambton at Astoria
April 29th Emmett Ave. – meet 10 am, Emmett at Verona
Our clean-ups happen in public areas, especially along the ravine edges and last for just two hours. Garbage bags, gloves and other equipment will be provided. Why not get some exercise in the fresh air, meet neighbours you might not know, and help beautify some of the areas which make Mount Dennis special. All ages are welcome. Students can earn community hours.
MDCA again has a co-sponsor. One hour plus of clean-up work earns you a “half-off any drink” supercoffee coupon. If you also tweet or Instagram a clean-up photo tagging @supercoffeeMD & @MountDennisCA, then your drink is completely FREE.
PS: Want help organizing your own Mount Dennis clean-up at another time? Email us info@mountdennis.ca or phone 416-614-3371
Mount Dennis Spring Clean-Up!
The yearly MDCA spring clean-up is a series of community volunteer events that takes place throughout the month of April. We invite members of the community to join us on walks and pick up as much trash as we can to help keep Mount Dennis beautiful. Below are the details for the five consecutive Saturdays in April 2017:
MDCA/supercoffee SATURDAY SPRING CLEAN-UPS #MDSpringClean
1st Jane & Pinehill ravine edges – meet 10 am Bartonville at Jane
8th Somerville & Sunnybrae ravine edges meet 10 am, west end of Glenvalley Dr.
15th Dora Spencer & Portage Gdns. Park – meet 10 am, Weston at Dora Spencer
22nd Lambton & Astoria ravine edges meet 10 am, Lambton at Astoria
29th Emmett Ave. – meet 10 am, Emmett at Verona
Our clean-ups happen in public areas, especially along the ravine edges. Garbage bags, gloves and other equipment will be provided. Why not get some exercise in the fresh air, meet neighbours you might not know, and help beautify some of the areas which make Mount Dennis special. All ages are welcome. Students can earn community hours.
MDCA again has a co-sponsor. One hour plus of clean-up work earns you a “half-off any drink” supercoffee coupon. If you also tweet or Instagram a clean-up photo tagging @supercoffeeMD & @MountDennisCA, then your drink is completely FREE.
PS: Want help organizing your own Mount Dennis clean-up at another time? Email us or phone 416-614-3371
Eco-Neighbourhood on CBC-RadioCanada
This is a french interview on CBC Radio Canada, hosted by Line Boily and her program Heure De Pointe with Mount Dennis Community Association member Johnny Dib discussing the Eco-Neighbourhood vision of Mount Dennis. These are the highlights from the interview:
- Recent success of the community to scrap the fossil fuel power plant
- Recognition from City officials of our role in the success of TransfromTO
- Recognition at a citizen-organized event on April 4th in City Hall
- Concrete proposals that the MDCA has made, some achieved some underway, like the Eglinton LRT battery, bus routes to the largest employers in Mount Dennis, improvements to cycling infrastructure etc…
- Beyond emissions: the association’s vision for a walkable, livable and healthy community. As well as storm water management and food security.
The host said it’s easier to stop a polluting power plant than to change lifestyle choices. Johnny agreed but reminded the listeners that the emissions-free battery was not an obvious outcome and took months of active pressure. The MDCA is optimistic about the future and is confident that with support from local residents and businesses we can achieve our Eco-Neighbourhood vision.
Zéro #emissions dans le quartier Mount Dennis à #Toronto ? C’est l’objectif de l’association @MountDennisCA. Ent avec Johnny Dib à 17h45!
— L’heure de pointe (@HDPTORONTO) April 5, 2017
In the News: Mount Dennis wants to reach Net Zero
Metro Newspaper and other media outlets covered the Mount Dennis Community Association’s Eco-Neighbourhood vision.
Reading Garden at Mount Dennis Public Library
Residents of Mount Dennis have teamed up with the Mount Dennis Public Library to apply for the City of Toronto’s Partnership Opportunity Legacy Fund in efforts to improve the library’s reading garden and engage community members. Chiara Padovani (resident), Jean-Marie Boutot (resident) and Nora Lay (Mount Dennis librarian) were at the Eco Neighbourhood Open House to present a brief overview of the project. Complete with a vertical garden, solar-panel operated ventilation and a rainwater collection system, the vision for the garden was beautifully portrayed in local resident and George Brown Architectural Technology student, Rachel Carter’s concept drawing. The team is trying to engage as many residents as possible before submitting the application (due April 21st), and invited community members to fill out a survey available online here. If you’re interested in getting further involved in the project, please contact eco@mountdennis.ca!
Eco-Neighbourhood Open House
In a packed room at the Mount Dennis Public Library, the Mount Dennis Community Association invited the community to celebrate recent environmental wins and to discuss further what is needed to pursue the Eco-Neighbourhood vision.
Speakers included:
- Rick Ciccarelli and Mike Matos spoke on behalf of the Mount Dennis Community Association
- Local residents and library staff spoke about the reading garden in the library
- Elected officials congratulated the community for their recent wins
- City officials who presented the Transform TO climate action plan
- A TRCA official spoke about the potential for SNAP program in Mount Dennis
- Metrolinx spokesperson who recognized the community and shared some info on the Eglinton Crosstown as well as the upcoming RER line.
After the presentation, the residents made comments and asked questions and the conversation continued past the event’s end time.
The York Guardian newspaper covered the event and wrote this about it:
The association held its EcoNeighbourhood open house Monday, April 3, which was attended by approximately 60 people. At least 40 of those were residents, the rest were politicians, partners, etc.
“The 40 people in the room came because they wanted to. We had people who heard about this on CBC radio’s Metro Morning and wanted to see what it’s all about, people from other parts of the city,” association president Mike Mattos said.
He said the response has been positive. The local initiative could even work as a case study for future projects across Toronto and beyond, Mattos said.
The project requires partners, such as Metrolinx, which recently announced it would build a battery backup energy system in Mount Dennis for the Crosstown LRT. It includes the City of Toronto, which aims to make Mount Dennis Toronto’s first Net Zero community. It includes Toronto and Region Conservation and the TO EcoNeighbourhoods Initiative to invest their resources and contacts for local projects. And it requires local buy-in.
