East York

Title: My Neighbourhood Blog
Name: Dante Hall
Course Code : C0-108W Tools / Processes
Date: Wednesday November 28, 2012

Assignment: Local Reporting Blog
By: Dante Hall

East York is a district in the city of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was a semi-autonomous borough within the overall municipality of Metropolitan Toronto until 1998, when it was amalgamated into the new "megacity" of Toronto in 1998.

Traditional East York is southeast of the river, and the neighbourhoods of Leaside, Bennington Heights and densely-populated Thorncliffe Park are northwest of the river. The heart of East York is filled with middle-class and working-class homes, with extensive high-rise developments along peripheral major streets and in Crescent Town and Thorncliffe Park.

This is my Home.

View East York Area in a larger map

Secord Community Centre

Secord Community Centre is located in the Danforth Ave and Main Street area on 91 Barrington Ave. 

Secord is a City of Toronto - Parks, Recreation, and Forestry funded community Centre. It is a "priority centre", meaning it is in a high-risk area (High risk youth, with low income families), so the majority of all programs are free due to the location. 

It's a centre where the people from the community can come and inquire about day to day things. Those in need can find out about where to find apartments, clothing donations, and other important necessities in order to live comfortably. 

Secord is like a second home to many people but most importantly the Youth that attend the programming. The programs are run by caring, compassionate and helpful staff.Many of the staff themselves have grown up in similar areas where it isn't always safe, free programming doesn't coexist with the community and  income isn't always high in the household.

"To me, Secord has been a place where I take pride working in, knowing that we take care of our community and the Youth that take part in the programming. During my elementary and high school years, the centre has always been a place where i could go to and simply hang out or talk to the staff about any issues I was facing." Says Sara Stanisic, a youth worker at the centre. "Secord has also allowed me to reach my goals as a youth, by providing me with the right and fun programming needed at the time. Knowing that the staff and centre have done such an amazing job with the youth in my generation, I knew I wanted to become a staff worker there and help other children and youth reach their goals and aspirations as well."
 

Photo Credit to InsideToronto.com

Some of the recreation programs offered at the centre are: instructional sports, cooking club offered for adults, youth and children, Yoga and Zumba classes, Karate for kids ad adults, senior programs where seniors get together, socialize and make crafts, youth programs, which include both a Young Ladies group and a Young Men's group and after school homework club.
 Secord Community Centre is a place of belonging, where everyone despite their gender, race, cultural background or religion can come to and feel welcomed by anyone and everyone with a caring and family  like atmosphere.

East York's 704 Mortimer Problem

East York is thought of as a great community, a community where it’s a rare occurrence for any sort of negative news. But there’s always trouble in paradise.

704 Mortimer is a housing complex run by the Fred Victor Centre, a foundation that through charity provides affordable housing to those in need. For years tenants have brought issues to management like flooding and water leaks. On Tuesday November 20^th, 2012 in the early hours of the morning the main water line on the third floor gave out and busted. Water then flooded the building and leaked through ceiling sending water throughout the building.

The following day the tenants of the building, many being single mothers were told by management that they must move out for the next 6 months in order for the proper repairs to be made.

Repair work has already been started, ripping up the carpet and tearing down walls to help avoid further mold and water damage.

“We feel absolutely terrible about what happened … but we don’t have any options here,” said Mark Aston, the executive director of the Fred Victor Centre per TheStar.com. “We have a team of seven people working on (relocation), and we’re working with the City of Toronto to find units for one to four months,” he said. “Obviously we are also going to do whatever we can do to support tenants, cover the costs of moving and any damage to their property”

Tenants of 704 Mortimer patiently wait outside their building

Photo Credit to Keith Beaty of the Toronto Star

The MPP of the East York-Beaches area, Michael Prue is aware of the situation.

“They have very few options in their lives. To just be uprooted from your home and told you can come back in 6 months is problematic.” He says, “…women with small children in school, how to get them out of one school and into another, where they might move, how close is that to all the resources they need and their jobs, it’s tough.”

Councilor Janet Davis plans to set up a tenant meeting sometime this week with services present, including Ontario Works and Toronto Public Health, to see what people need , whether it’s furniture, bedding or kitchen supplies per TheStar.com.

Friday Night Lights

If you’ve lived in East York, you’ve heard about the historic Friday Night Lights game. 


 For the past 8 years East York Colligate Institute and Leaside High school have held an annual football game on a Friday night, usually a key game in each teams season. The Leaside Lancers come to EYCI’ Memorial Field to face off against their arch-rivals, The East York Goliaths, with the Junior game Kicking off at 5pm, and the Seniors squaring off at 7pm. 


 On October 5th, 2012, the Leaside’ senior team won 14-7 tying the 8 year contest at 4-4.


Video Credit to the "Kalytta" Youtube channel


Some game-play of the 2008 Game between the Two rivals. The video also illustrates the unity and atmosphere that the game brings to the community every year.

*NOTE*: Its best if you start the video off at the 3:33 mark.


After nearly a decade of play, the annual competition between the two rival schools has attained legendary status, not just among the thousands of alumni of both schools, but among the tens of thousands that live within both communities. 

 East York football in particular has been a tradition in the East York community since the 1940s. “The games were on the radio, on CKEY,” said Ken Hills a linebacker for East York in the late 1940s, “So that team became the centre of attention in the East York community". per The Toronto Observer.

 East York collegiate as a football powerhouse back then, so it became a tradition that they would play every Friday night. 


 It is a tradition in the East York community that is popular annual event, and won’t be undone anytime soon.