Are BIAs the key to Toronto's future?

The building blocks of a great city are vibrant communities, thriving neighbourhoods. Many pockets of engagement around the city will make the whole a beautiful place in which to live. As such, City Hall needs to find ways to encourage and support our neighbourhoods -- not simply the well-known communities (Greektown, Chinatown, Little Italy), but the no-name, no-tourist, just-regular-folk variety as well.

But how?

My modest proposal: a matching grant program.

Seattle has done it successfully – profoundly successfully, as a matter of fact. They began modestly in 1988 by putting some money aside to help neighbourhoods – but the neighbourhoods were to do the work, unleash their creativity, and take the lead in any project.

If the community got together and came up with an idea to enrich their collective life, and they came up with half the money for the project (or committed to volunteer labour, etc.), then the City matched the proposal.

The initiative and momentum of the projects were clearly in the hands of the community members, but City Hall could come alongside with some much-needed help and financial support. Brilliant! Run-down parks were beautified, murals were painted, garden patches established, sculptures commissioned, and the list goes on. Twenty-two years later, Seattle is still supporting its communities. Why not us?

When I thought about this, I realized that Toronto already has a limited version of the matching grant program in our BIA’s (Business Improvement Areas, of which Toronto has 71). If a BIA takes the initiative to put in park benches, decorative lights, banners, etc., the city will pay for half of the capital cost (and the individual BIA pays the other half). The city’s BIAs and their surrounding residents have been greatly helped by this rather limited matching program.

How much more could this city be enriched through a Seattle-like matching grant program? Imagine the possibilities! Imagine the energy and collaboration that comes when we actively engage in our own neighbourhood – and our politicians are “there” for us and help us in a practical sense. Seattle started small because they weren’t sure they could afford it; 22 years later, they know they can’t afford NOT to do it. Why not us?

About Rev. Jim Parker

Mr. Fresh: From selling drugs to cleaning the air

Photo by: M. Ann Phillips, Ph.D.

Mr. Fresh is a local entrepreneur who says that the Jane/Finch Community and Family Centre’s Green Change Project helped to validate the importance of his green business venture. Mr. Fresh participated actively in the Green Change Project in 2009, completing the 45 hour Green Change Agent Training Program and conducting more than 50 green home audits with community residents, many of whom were already his customers.

The Green Change Project was a one year collaboration of the Toronto Region and Conservation Authority and the Toronto Community Housing with the Jane/Finch Community and Family Centre as the lead. The project provided basic training to Green Change Agents in different environmental themes and engaged residents in various community greening activities. Thanks to the commitment and passion of these Green Change Agents, the project received tremendous success and media attention on the front page of the Toronto Star, was identified as one of Toronto’s four environmental game changers in the NOW Magazine and is a finalist for the Green Toronto Awards. A seed was planted.

Now, thanks to the financial support of the Ontario Trillium Foundation over the next three years, an expanded collaboration with the Jane Finch Green Jobs Coalition and the partnership with other community organizations such as the Black Creek Community Health Centre, the Green Change Project is ready to take root. The collaborative partners are also actively seeking financial support to establish a Centre for Green Change. The goal of this Centre will be to identify and attract green business entrepreneurs like Mr. Fresh and other environmentally conscious residents and youth and provide training and support to them to further their career in the green economy while greening their community, protecting its natural heritage and retrofitting community assets.

This concept works from a community asset building approach and is exactly what is needed in Jane and Finch. As he explained in a recent interview with M. Ann Phillips, long before he earned the title of ‘Mr.’ Fresh, back in the days when he was just Fresh, he was already an entrepreneur, though his path was not always as socially conscious as it is now.  Mr. Fresh started doing business when he was in Grade 4.  His career began by selling chocolates and he gained a lot of hands on experience and developed his entrepreneurial spirit from his early experiences.

Like many youth growing up in poor marginalized communities with limited opportunities, his life took a detour when he was seduced by the opportunities that the business of the street can offer.  It was getting involved with his eco-friendly business that saved his life according to Mr. Fresh.  It took him away from selling drugs and being involved with guns and all the other aspects of life on the street.  “My name is Mr. Fresh. I’d like to be known as Mr. Fresh.  It tells you who I am and where I am coming from.  The community loves that.  They gave me that name.  I didn’t become Mr. Fresh just like that.  I was given that name.  When I was working and hustling I used to be Fresh, and I became Mr. Fresh over the years of doing the air freshening business.”

Mr. Fresh developed his environmentally friendly business, a line of 4 different air fresheners with 3 natural scents and an unscented one, when he realized that it was time to change his life and do something different.  Fresh attributes his success to the support of the community. He says “the whole community has bought my air fresheners.  The whole community has supported me. ”

“Our community would like to have more clean air and more places where we can buy organic food and fruit.  We don’t have those things now.  If we can have more trees and more green areas, if we keep doing this it will be good!”

The main message Mr. Fresh learned from the Green Change program is “This is our only planet and we have to take care of it!”

Written by: M. Ann Phillips, Ph.D. and Rosemarie Powell

About Rosemarie Powell

Should we preserve Toronto business institutions?

While I was out at the Toronto Women’s Bookstore recently reading from my new book Hip Hop World, and asking some very tough questions about race, gender, globalization and youth culture, I couldn’t help but feel a sense of dread when the employee at the store informed me that the store’s doors may be shut by the time summer rolls around.

The idea of yet another crucial institution falling by the wayside does not sit easily with me. My definition of "institution" might fall loosely outside the textbook definition, but it involves time-honoured venues with a social purpose that have profound impacts on large groups of citizens.

I don’t have the space in this blog to list the large numbers of authors, thinkers, feminists and activists who have benefitted over the last 3+ decades from the Bookstore hosting events, readings, and engaging Toronto’s Creative Class to do more good. Are we going to now add this bookstore to a long and growing list of socially relevant not-for-profits with a deep, rich history that go under without a fight?

It’s the Toronto Women’s Bookstore. And this plea is coming from an African-Canadian man who sees the value of having a venue where mostly female writers and thinkers, including ones from racialized groups can get a chance, get some proper shelf space, more respect.

I’ve seen others bookstores and pop culture fare in my immediate community go six feet under - Third World Bookstore, 28 Lennox – and still other more mainstream-y venues like Sam the Record Man, Pages Bookstore – and I can truly report that too many of the things that make Toronto unique, in a liberal, progressive, all-inclusive, multi-culti kinda way have either fallen by the wayside, or are threatening to, as the gaps between the have and have-nots widens.

We make claims, often, of being this world-class cosmopolitan city. But where’s the political will to assist and help preserve these institutions that make Toronto unique?

Hey, I love H&M’s and Home Depot as much as the next working class guy, but some of these businesses that have taken the place of older buildings and businesses that are the living evidences of communities that make Toronto somewhat interesting, that work to conserve our cultural heritage, are contributing to the McDonaldization of my city. And Mickey D’s menu needs much tweaking.

Independent entrepreneurs in the city’s downtown core need better tax breaks, more incentives to help them navigate their dreams through a nasty gentrification that has driven large aspects of many lesser-off communities to the ‘burbs. There’s dollars and cents, and then there’s dollars and sense.

Is there some way to establish some piece of legislation to help preserve, for the benefit of the city, select venues of historic, traditional or artistic interest? Am I appealing to a venture capitalist of any political persuasion to come help save the day?

Maybe.

Can the fine folk at City Hall (or any arm's length investors with sway that might hang around in the shadows at 100 Queen St. West) please weigh in on this?

About Dalton Higgins

Retail in our neighbourhoods

Adam Zendel.

Why do we have such an aversion to the development of retail space in the city of Toronto?

We all use retail spaces on a daily basis, and if we had easier access to retail spaces we would not need to use our cars as much to drive outside of the city or far away from our homes to get to the stores that we need. If we made it easier to develop retail spaces in closer proximity to residential spaces we could walk to stores.

I just spent a weekend visiting a friend living in an area of Chicago call Lakeview and had the opportunity to see how great it can be to live in close proximity to retail. I didn’t get in my car once over the weekend and when we wanted to go out shopping, all we did was walk down the street (no more than one minute) to the grocery store (2), pharmacy and many other retail shops, cafes and restaurants. When we ran out of milk it was a quick walk to get some more – not a drive!

What if we all lived like in areas like this? We would not need to get in our cars for simple little tasks like getting a litre of milk or a head of lettuce.  We could walk down the street, see our neighbors and get what we need. 

I don’t think that we can develop retail spaces like this overnight. However, if we thought outside of the box and allowed for these types of developments in close proximity to residential areas, I think we could create a more livable and more enjoyable city!

About Adam Zendel