With the reduction in size of Toronto’s city council, our ward boundaries have been redrawn. We are now in Ward 4, Parkdale-HighPark (details HERE).

It is more important than ever to learn about what is going on in your community, so please join us at the PRA’s up-coming Municipal All-Candidates’ Meeting to hear from and ask questions of the candidates running for city council in our ward. Stay tuned!

The 2018 Roncesvalles Polish Festival, North America’s largest celebration of Polish culture in one of Toronto’s best neighbourhoods, Roncesvalles Village! Just steps from Parkdale.

Enjoy great local and international music, including Polish folklore, Polka and Euro dance bands, and entertainment from near and far on multiple stages. Saturday night enjoy the ever-popular Dance Under The Stars. Come out and sample fantastic cuisine from over 40 renowned restaurants, cafes, bakeries, and bistros, along Roncesvalles, and of course, lots of traditional Polish fare, including pierogi, kielbasa, bigos, cabbage rolls, and much much more!

This year will be celebrating 100 years of Poland’s Independence!

Date: Saturday & Sunday, September 15^th & 16^th, 2018
Time: Sat. 11:00 a.m. – 11:00 p.m. & Sun. 11:00 a.m. – 7:00 p.m.
Place: for 18-blocks along Roncesvalles Ave.

As part of the City’s Ten-Year Cycling Network Plan, there will be changes on Beaty Avenue and Dowling Avenue in mid-late September. One-way traffic directions will be reversed on both streets. Permit parking on Beaty Avenue between Queen Street West and King Street West will be permanently on the west side. Shared lane markings (sharrows) will be installed on both streets to clearly identify where cyclists should ride in regular traffic lanes and to remind drivers to share the road.

This new cycling router will provide a safe connection between Sorauren Avenue and the Waterfront Trail and create a gateway to green-space for the Parkdale neighbourhood.

The City of Toronto is working on the design details for extending the West Toronto Railpath multi-use trail South, from Dundas Street West and Sterling Road to Abell Street and Sudbury Street, offering Parkdalians and others another active transportation/ movement option.

Learn more about the progress of this project, discuss and provide feedback on design elements of the trail, view information material and speak to the project team. To find out more click HERE or contact Maogosha Pyjor at 416-338-2850, westrailpath@toronto.ca.

Date: Thursday, September 13^th, 2018
Time: 6:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.
Place: 1140 Bloor St. West at Dufferin (New Horizons Tower, Auditorium)

Exhibition Place is 192 acres of City-owned lakeside land, whose historical mandate was for public parks and exhibition grounds, and Ontario Place comprises another 155 acres of Province-owned lakeside land and water. Toronto, desperate for public green space, could sure take advantage of these already-owned lands.

But recently, under-the-radar initiatives have been operating to put these public lands in private hands.

In 2006, most of Exhibition Place was converted from ‘Parks and Open Space’ lands to ‘Regeneration’ lands, encouraging private development and allowing leases of longer than 21 years.

And in 2010, a memorandum of agreement between the City and the Exhibition Place Board of Governors directed the Board to ‘maximize revenue from all sources’; and similarly for Ontario Place.

A community group—the West Side Community Council, comprising ten community associations—has launched a public education and advocacy campaign to call on local government to act immediately to stop the effective privatization of these lands, and rather direct resources to fulfilling the potential of these lands as public and community parkland assets.

Find out more at www.EXcluded.ca, a website dedicated to raising awareness about this issue.

The campaign will be launching at the Princes’ Gates on August 17th at 10am.

Having an energy efficient home is not only better for the environment, but it can save you thousands of dollars in heating costs. The city of Toronto has incentives you can use to improve the efficiency of your home.

Your home could be losing more heat than you think.

Use the interactive heat map to find out how much heat your home is losing. Find out more information on steps you can take to lessen your heat loss at http://www.greenparkdale.org/cool-down/  for more information.

Greenest City is having TWO workshops in the next month:

Date: Monday, August 20^th, 2018
Time: 6:30 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.
Place: 228 Roncesvalles Ave, (High Park Library auditorium)