Downtown Eastside - Old Town - Corktown : In The News

 A new study from the Centre for Research on Inner City Health out of St. Michael's Hospital suggests that there could be a link between the density of both cheque-cashing establishments and stores that sell alcohol and the risk of premature death in people aged 20 to 59. While the study, published in BMJ Open, doesn't directly link alcohol sellers/payday loan providers with early death, it does draw a correlate.

PsychCentral reports:
The researchers also pointed out that check-cashing establishments tend to be located in economically challenged neighbourhoods which may also be areas where “mental illness and self-neglect are more prevalent.”



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Source: PsychCentral

Chefs de Mission from 27 National Paralympic Committees were in Toronto last week for a final meeting in anticipation of August's Parapan Am Games. As the event's Chief Executive Officer of TO2015, Saäd Rafi, told the German-based International Paralympic Committee, the games are poised to "leave a legacy in the Americas." 

The Toronto-hosted Games are set to be history-making, thanks to a few key additions. Among these: a National Paralympic Committee support grant developed to help cover travel costs to and from the Games, and a Parapan American Development Programme to build capacity in sport management, coaching, and developing the capacity of physically and visually impaired  athletes. 

“We continue to be impressed by the preparations for the TORONTO 2015 Parapan Am Games and the efforts by Canada to create a real legacy from these Games that benefits the entire region of the Americas,” said American Paralympic Committee President Jose Luis Campo.

Among the 15 sports included in the Games will be archery, judo, powerlifiting, wheelchair basketball, wheelchair rugby and sitting volleyball.


Source: International Paralympic Committee

Following a crowdfunded production campaign, local startup KnowRoaming has made its product available for purchase. Already, techies and travellers have taken note. 

The reason for the fanfare: KnowRoaming promises to reduce pricey mobile roaming charges. It's an exciting prospect, even for mobile customers not subject to Canada's astronomical fees. 

The company's sticker SIMs get placed onto a phone's regular SIM, which then lie dormant until a person leaves their home network. At that point, the sticker enables the SIM card to pick up whatever happens to be the local network. Once a sticker kit has been purchased directly from the company's website and installed onto a phone, users can buy credits through an accompanying Android, iOS or web app to reap their savings. 

As the Globe and Mail reported earlier this year, KnowRoaming isn't an entirely novel concept; it essentially offers to step in as a low-hassle roaming provider. But it might just stick.

Source: Engadget

Travel guide gurus Lonely Planet have anointed Toronto among the world's Top 10 Cities to visit in 2015.

"Two North American metropolises on the well-beaten path bracket Lonely Planet's Top 10 Cities list for 2015, one of an annual variety of best-of and trend-spotting rankings announced this week by the travel publisher, which also compiled them into the Best in 2015 book and travel planner," reports the San Francisco Gate.
 

It turns out that a post-apocalyptic Toronto might just be a beautiful thing to behold. At least, it would be through the eyes of sci-fi author Jim Munroe.

The writer has teamed up with artists Matthew Borrett, Terry Lau and Sanford Kong to create images of a gorgeously grim future Toronto, which will be featured in a calendar given out to contributors to Munroe's latest crowdfunded story series. The resulting vignettes are both haunting and surreal: A collapsed CN Tower puffs black smoke over the Gardiner Expressway in one, while vinelike spider legs wind around downtown cityscapes in others.

io9 reports:

"Those of you familiar with Munroe's work may recognize a lot of these scenes from his last film, Ghostswith Shit Jobs,which features a segment about what happens to Toronto after the cityis invaded by giant spiders and its local internet cloud goes into foreclosure."

Giant spiders might be less-than-ideal, but even as an imagined dystopia, Toronto manages to look world-class. 

Read the full story here. 
Source: io9.
 

Little India is changing, and the New York Times has noticed.

"Sari shops and curry emporiums still dot Gerrard Street, the main artery in Toronto’s Little India. But over the last decade, much of the city’s South Asian population has decamped for suburbs like Brampton and Rexdale," the publication writes.

"Now, as artists and young families move into the neighborhood’s neat single-family homes, Gerrard Street’s affordable storefronts are attracting creative entrepreneurs priced out of trendier districts. The fresh crop of businesses is giving this east-end enclave a vibe that’s both edgy and homey. And with a wave of Irish immigrants settling nearby side streets, a distinctive lilt can now be heard on the strip."

Coffee house and gallery Flying Pony gets top nods for its "bold works by emerging Canadian artists like Gilles Arsenault and David Irvine," while The Swag Sisters, a "tiny toy shop where Legos share shelves with duct-tape wallets from MarinaRocksToronto – a.k.a. the 15-year-old Toronto designer Marina Wilson," receives additional praise. 

Eateries Tea n Bannock and Lazy Daisy's Café are applauded for traditional cuisine and local-faire, respectably. 

And lastly, Gerrard Art Space gets a write up for its "multimedia exhibits, Sunday afternoon concerts, ukulele classes and children’s art workshops."

Read the full story here. 
Original Source: The New York Times

In one year, Toronto and the surrounding region will become home to the 2015 Pan Am/Parapan Am Games and to celebrate the Canadian Paralympic Committee has released a moving video showing three Canadian medal hopefuls practicing for the games.

Featuring 17-year-old swimmer Danielle Kisser, bronze medal winner of the 100 metres breaststoke at the 2011 Games; cyclist Jaye Milley; and wheelchair basketball player David Eng, who was part of the gold medal team at the 2012 London Paralympics; the video harnesses the power of training, hope and passion and turns it into fuel for the forthcoming games. 

Entitled, “Are You Ready?”, the slickly edited video focuses on Parapan athletes as the Toronto Games will feature qualification positions for the 2016 Paralympic Games in Rio. 

"I am hugely confident that Toronto will deliver the best ever Parapan American Games in one year's time," Americas Paralympic Committee (APC) President Jose Luis Campo is quoted as saying. 

"Two years ago, I witnessed how successful the London 2012 Paralympic Games were in Great Britain,” he continues. “I really believe that the Parapan American Games can have a similar impact in Canada in terms of raising the profile of Para-sport and changing perceptions of people with an impairment."

The Pan Am and Parapan Am Games will kick off on August 7, 2015 and will feature 1,600 atheletes from 28 countries and territories. 

Watch the video below.



Read the full story here. 
Original Source: Inside the Games

Toronto's Underpass Park--a 2.5-acre park now in construction under the city's Eastern Avenue, Richmond and Adelaide overpasses--has topped the The Atlantic magazine's list of the world's "9 Cool Projects Under Freeway Overpasses." When complete, Underpass Park will transform a derelict and neglected space into a bright, multi-use pedestrian thoroughfare. 

The Miami Herald encourages its readers to visit Toronto's Distillery District. The former industrial site turned car-free arts center is lauded for its historic architecture, appetizing restaurants, and its concentration of stunning galleries and sculptures.

"This is a safe, clean, comfortable city. Its eclectic streets and scenic avenues appeal to your inner walker, and few parts are better to explore on foot than the automobile-free, pedestrian-friendly Distillery District.Just off Lake Ontario, with the CN tower and a collage of skyscrapers hovering above, this former industrial area melds the corporate and cultural in a historic setting. Walking through the Mill Street entrance, you'll immediately get the picture, as did virtually everyone I encountered, by either posing for a camera, or employing one, sensing the significance of it all."

"By 2001, the distillery had become mainly rubble when Matthew Rosenblatt and Cityscape, collaborating with Dundee Real Estate Development, began to re-create the area into something that people, a local or a tourist, would return to, Rosenblatt says."

"Viewing business as art, and intent on establishing a neighborhood where you "get a sense of the city's culture," Rosenblatt and his cohorts have taken 44 buildings, the largest collection of Victorian industrial architecture in North America, and incorporated business, retail and artist spaces into a setting that exudes small-town charm. Walking these streets is akin to visiting an amusement park, and not having to pay for the rides, as the visual feast is entertainment enough."

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original source Miami Herald

Twin cities newspaper StarTribune writes on Toronto's captivating Distillery District neighbourhood. The restored Gooderham & Worts Distillery is lauded for its unique art galleries, many shopping and dinning destinations, and historic streetscape.

"Toronto is a safe, clean, comfortable city. Its eclectic streets and scenic avenues appeal to your inner walker, and few parts are better to explore on foot than the automobile-free, pedestrian-friendly Distillery District."

"Just off Lake Ontario, with the CN tower and a collage of skyscrapers hovering above, this former industrial area melds the corporate and cultural in a historic setting. Walking through the Mill Street entrance, you'll immediately get the picture, sensing the significance of it all."

"By 2001, the distillery had become mainly rubble when Mathew Rosenblatt and his development partners began to re-create the area into something that people, locals or tourists, would return to, says Rosenblatt."

"Viewing business as art, and intent on establishing a neighborhood where you "get a sense of the city's culture," Rosenblatt and his partners have taken 44 buildings, possibly the largest collection of Victorian industrial architecture in North America, and incorporated business, retail and artist spaces into a setting that exudes small-town charm. Walking these streets is akin to visiting an amusement park, and not having to pay for the rides, as the visual feast is entertainment enough."

"Koilos," a 14-foot tall, crouching sculpture by California artist Michael Christian, lords over Distillery Lane, alerting Parliament Street entrants that this is not going to be your ordinary walkabout.

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original source StarTribune

The Toronto Star writes on entrepreneur Andrea Brockie and her St Lawrence Market-based business Selsi Sea Rocks. Brockie got her start selling bath salts at a temporary sidewalk stall outside the St. Lawrence farmer's market on Saturdays. Now, 6-years later, Selsi Sea Rocks has moved to a permanent stall inside, is open seven days a week, and sells over 40 different kinds of salt from around the world.

"Adrea Brockie likes salt. So much so, she's turned it into a business"

"Through Selsi Sea Rocks, a six-year-old company based at the St. Lawrence Market in Toronto, Brockie sells and distributes about 40 different kinds of salt from around the world."

"It's something I enjoy doing, but it's not what I studied for," says Brockie, of Toronto."

"She started with a temporary stall outside the St. Lawrence farmer's market on Saturdays. There were a few problems, and those close to her were skeptical at first."

"Out on the sidewalk, the rain would come and it would start dissolving the salt, so I decided to get a stall inside the market."

"She moved indoors, where the lamps and the increasingly-large selection of salt were safe from the rain, and she could operate five days a week. She rents out warehouse space as she needs it."

"That kind of business discipline was part of the plan she'd developed during a year out of the working world, under a federally-funded program. Anyone on EI can apply to join the program, today called the Ontario Self Employment Benefit Program.It gives successful applicants a year to come up with a business plan, and coaches them how to start and run a small business.Earning income while on EI usually means your benefits are clawed back, but people who make money while in OSEB don't experience this as long as the money is invested in their business."

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original source Toronto Star