February
2, 2007
Tasty Caribbean Treats and a Neighbourhood
Tour through the Beach with Sandra Bussin
In my neighbourhood portrait
about the Beach I definitely wanted to include Sandra
Bussin, City Councillor for Beaches / East York, who has represented
the Beach for the last 18 years. After my January 25 interview with
Carole Stimmell and Sheila Blinoff from the Beach
Metro Community News and a wonderful tasty lunch at Konditor
I headed downtown towards Toronto City Hall, where I had an opportunity
to meet Sandra Bussin, City Councillor and Deputy Mayor of the City
of Toronto.
I don’t usually get a chance to interact with senior city
officials and I asked Sandra what the proper way of addressing her
would be. She simply said “just call me Sandra”, and
the ice was broken. We sat down and Sandra was ready to tell me
her life story.
Sandra Bussin in front of the War Memorial in Kew Gardens
Sandra Bussin grew up just north of the Beaches, near Woodbine
and Danforth, in the Dawes Road area. At that time the area was
mostly Scottish, Irish and English. She attended a tiny primary
school: Coleman Avenue Public School, a 6 room school house which
functioned as a hospital during WWII. As a child she played in a
series of parks: little and big Dentonia Park, where she also learned
to play tennis. Some of her friends even went on to become provincial
tennis champions. Recently she had a chance to meet some of those
friends again at the 30 year anniversary of the Dentonia Park Tennis
Club. When Sandra grew up there was no Crescent Town yet, the area
of residential highrises just northwest of the Danforth / Victoria
Park intersection. The entire area here was part of the Massey Estate,
and Victoria Park Avenue did not even continue all the way through
and dead ended at Dentonia Park. Sandra recalls construction work
on the subway in the 1960s.
Her father and mother were both born in Toronto, while her grandparents
came from Scotland. Her maternal grandfather had 13 children and
owned his own business near Gerrard and Broadview. Two of her uncles
were jockeys and had a race horse in their back yard. Sandra fondly
recalls her mom’s stories, talking about her grandfather riding
his horse along Gerrard Street.
As a child she displayed artistic talents and enjoyed drawing.
Her father would take her to the ROM (the Royal Ontario Museum)
on Saturday mornings where she studied civilization and drawing.
By grade 4 Sandra would take the street car and go to the ROM all
by herself. This exposure shaped her interest in the world and allowed
her to interact with other people in a structured educational environment.
Toronto City Hall on a crisp winter day
During the summer Sandra attended art programs at Central Tech
High School and participating in these activities helped her develop
a sense of independence. Sandra was supposed to attend Monarch Park
Collegiate once that newly built school opened. For some reason
she had always wanted to go to Malvern Collegiate which had traditionally
been the feeder school for this area. But Monarch Park Collegiate
Institute had just been built, and Sandra was supposed to be sent
there. Instead she decided that Eastern Commerce would be a good
option. In later years, when Sandra herself became a school trustee,
she tried to facilitate her constituents’ school choices when
they presented a good reason for wanting to attend a particular
school.
After high school Sandra
went to York University where she studied fine arts. To get there
she had to take the subway and a bus. During university she got
involved in film and TV production. In her third year of university
she took a summer job with then City Councillor Ann Johnston and
got introduced to the dynamics at City Hall. Sandra got to run Ann’s
constituency office as a volunteer. Leveraging this experience allowed
her to get a job at Queens Park, Ontario’s provincial parliament,
a year later. She had an interview with Morton Shulman, the former
provincial coroner who had then become a Provincial Member of Parliament
representing the Toronto area of High Park / Swansea.
At that time the CBC was running a TV series called “Wojeck”
that was based on Morton Shulman’s character and John Vernon,
a tall good-looking actor, was playing the lead role. When Sandra
first met the real Morton Shulman she said “you don’t
look like John Vernon”. (Morton Shulman was a short slight
man). Morton broke out laughing, and Sandra had the job.
Right away Sandra felt at home at Queen’s Park. Originally
she did not plan to stay in Morton’s office, she had planned
to go back to university and take another degree. But she was impressed
by Morton Shulman, “a fighter for the little guy” as
she calls him. Dozens of people would line up to see him on a daily
basis, and Sandra was there to assist them with their needs and
inquiries.
Old City Hall
Before the Ontario government had an ombudsman, Morton Shulman
would represent people that were wronged. Sandra's role was to be
“Shulman’s sleuth”, to research people’s
inquiries and prepare him for the legislature. People with concerns
and worries would come in from far and wide, and Morton would help
them. Later Sandra worked on a TV show called “The Shulman
File”, a show where Morton would take up cases of people who
had been unfairly treated and help them. She did a lot of research
and investigative work and really enjoyed this opportunity.
When Morton Shulman retired he asked her to come work with him
at his TV Show at City TV, but Sandra chose to stay at Queen’s
Park, and worked on various politician’s campaigns until she
decided to run herself. Somewhere in between Sandra got married
and had a daughter. As her daughter got older she became interested
in the school system and ran for school trustee. That was the start
of her political career, and Sandra Bussin spent 9 years as a school
trustee representing the Beaches and part of Riverdale.
Her next step was a decision to run for city Councillor in Toronto
and for the last 9 years Sandra
Bussin has been the city councillor, representing the Beaches/
East York area. To her long list of achievements Sandra Bussin has
also added the titles of Deputy Mayor of Toronto as well as that
of the first Speaker of Toronto’s City Council, a newly minted
role which will streamline the operations of city council starting
with the first meeting next Monday, February 5.
Among many other roles, Sandra Bussin is also a commissioner for
the Toronto Transit Commission and the Chair of the Roundtable for
a Clean and Beautiful City which promotes Toronto 's beautification
and citizen engagement to achieve community improvements. One of
her proudest achievements is the renovation of the Beaches
Library, a historic building on Queen Street East. The tasteful
architecturally compatible renovation and expansion was completed
in 2005 and has made the Beaches Library one of the busiest and
most used libraries in all of Toronto.
Sandra explained that there had been an earlier small glass-enclosed
addition to the library which was not very functional. Librarians
were required to carry heavy books throughout the library and the
overall design was not very ergonomic. One of the main goals of
the renovation was to create a highly functional yet visually pleasing
building, and that goal was definitely achieved.
A display for Wintercity, Toronto's Winter Festival
Another local community project in the Beach was the renovation
of the “Gardener’s Cottage” (the Kew Williams
House). A group of local female artists had approached Sandra and
asked to be able to access the building to put on some art shows.
When the last gardener, who had been living in the cottage, retired,
Sandra approached city council to secure the historic building as
a community resource. In order to furnish and redecorate the building,
Sandra partnered with the Beach
Rotary Club – Barbara Dingle, the club’s president
was a producer on the popular “Debbie Travis” decorating
television series. The Rotary Club went to work and was able to
furnish the Gardener’s Cottage with unique locally designed
pieces. The city contributed $40,000 while the rest was raised by
the Rotary Club and the entire building underwent an amazing facelift.
Architectural preservation and restoration has long been a concern
of Sandra Bussin. She also got involved with the rehabilitation
of the “Maple Cottage” a bit further west on Lang Street.
In a local legend about Alexander Muir, a songwriter, poet and school
headmaster in Scarborough, a maple leaf that had fallen on his shoulder
is said to have inspired the song “The Maple Leaf Forever”,
Canada’s first anthem. In collaboration with people such as
Carole Stimmell from the Beach
Metro Community News, Sandra created a committee to rehabilitate
the Maple Cottage. The group succeeded and the historic building
was preserved and is also used today as the location for a gardening
club. A building that was awaiting certain destruction is now a
beautiful addition to the neighbourhood.
One project that is currently underway in the Beach is the Skateboard
Park at the corner of Lakeshore and Coxwell. Formerly a baseball
diamond and sports field, construction has started to turn this
area into a recreational facility for skateboards. The first of
three phases has started, and Sandra has managed to augment the
city’s funding with donations from local cement companies.
Their contributions in the form of donated materials and labour
are valued at $1 million. Sandra was hoping that the facility would
open last fall, but the fill continued to settle on the low land,
and another layer of fill will be required before applying the cement
cap. Sandra likes being at the vanguard of community developments,
engage the community and bring different stakeholders together to
facilitate a successful outcome that works for everyone.
Toronto City Hall
We also briefly talked about the Toronto
International Beaches Jazz Festival, the premier entertainment
event in the Beach. Issues such as lack of parking, extended hours
of noise and garbage collection were addressed. Measures such as
private garbage collection were introduced, festival hours were
reduced to close at 11 pm, allowing the local residents a good night’s
sleep. Over the years Sandra has worked with the community, the
merchants and the festival organizers to find a solution that will
benefit everyone and facilitate an event that is one of Toronto’s
most popular summer festivals and draws tourists from all over the
world.
I also asked Sandra
to give me a general overview of the Beach neighbourhood. She explained
that the residents are on average well educated and really value
their quality of life. They also pitch in to keep their area nicely
maintained. On issues that are important to them they can be rather
vocal in making their views known. Sometimes there are competing
interests, particularly when you mix dog owners, seniors and families
with young children together. That’s where Sandra’s
talent as a mediator and compromise-seeker comes into play.
The Beach also has a strong commitment to the environment and Sandra
was instrumental in closing down the local garbage incinerator.
Other local environmental issues include the Ashbridges Bay Sewage
Treatment Plant. Sandra added that local residents are very keen
to get engaged, and they become experts on topics that are important
to them.
We had just gotten into a really interesting conversation when
Sandra’s 2:30 appointment arrived. That meant I had to reschedule
for another time, and February 2 was going to be the date when both
Sandra and I would be able to reconnect again. So I arrived shortly
after 1 pm today at the lunch spot that Sandra suggested: “Cool
Runnings”, a small neighbourhood Jamaican restaurant near
Gerrard and Main Streets, just across from the Main Street Library.
Sandra had already arrived, her executive assistant Dave joined
us for a bit, and we were ready to order. Caribbean food is one
of my favourites, and this place certainly has it all: Oxtail, Curry
Chicken, Jerk Chicken, Curry Goat and many other Caribbean delicacies,
at extremely reasonable prices I might add. Sandra and Dave started
off with a hearty looking stew and I ordered Fried Plantain as an
appetizer. We continued our culinary samplings – I had a very
filling Veggie Roti while Sandra ordered the Jerk Chicken and Dave
had some Fried Salted Cod.
Lunch at "Cool Runnings" - my veggie roti
The food was definitely hitting the spot, and a perfect backgrop
for our conversation. Sandra mentioned that the Main Street Library
was the one that she would go to as a child. She explained that
there are a lot of new developments going in on Gerrard Street just
east of Main, and that some of the older residents in the area felt
a little nervous about all the new homes going in. On the other
hand, the area was going through a transition , and it was important
to redevelop it.
Sandra and Dave shared some of their experiences about political
campaigning, and that both of them together probably have about
50 or 60 years of campaigning experience between them. What I did
not know was that at the municipal level all the candidates have
to use their own funds for campaigning. There is no party support
for candidates as there would be on the provincial or federal level.
Sandra laughed and said when you run for politics you learn to be
a “tinker – tailor, soldier – sailor”. Due
to the absence of external funding, municipal politics apparently
requires a jack of all trades to succeed. Sandra went through many
years of campaigns by herself, and to this day she creates her own
election signs. Many election pamphlets are printed on someone’s
personal copier in a basement somewhere. I learned that it often
takes a kind of apprenticeship to become successful in politics;
Sandra for example worked with other politicians before running
herself, and she learned some of the important ropes. She said “The
press sometimes implies that it’s easy to throw your hat in
the ring”, but based on the fact that candidates have to invest
their own funds to run campaigns, it is not as easy as one might
think.
Sandra had a jerk chicken
For the last 9 years Sandra
Bussin has been representing the Beaches / East York area at
Toronto City Council, and she says that development issues, i.e.
new real estate developments, additions, any type of construction,
have increased enormously. When she started at City Council there
was relatively little redevelopment going on in the Beach. Today,
this has become one of the most popular neighbourhoods in Toronto,
and to mention one example, a 400-unit infill subdivision is being
built as we speak in the area north of Gerrard and east of Main
Street. Much to the chagrin of the neighbours, old historic homes
are sometimes torn down and replaced with larger “monster
homes”. Sandra explained that short of designating the entire
area a protected heritage district, the hands of the planning department
are often tied, and the city is not able to prevent a new project
from going in.
Continuing our discussions about the changes in the neighbourhood,
Sandra remarked that redevelopments along Kingston Road have revitalized
that entire area and brought new retailers, galleries and cafes
to the area. Sandra added that a local business owner by the name
of Chris Papadatos, owner of the Fade In Café, has done much
to revitalize the area around Main and Gerrard. Often one individual
can make a large difference in a city.
Sandra Bussin, KC Kiplin, moi
The owner of “Cool Runnings” had entered the building,
and this was our chance to get to know a local hospitality entrepreneur.
Kiplin – “KC” – Cooper hails from the Port
Antonio parish in Jamaica, an area where a famous Erroll Flynn movie
was filmed. Since he was 18 years of age he has worked in the hospitality
industry. After his move to the United States he completed a program
in food and beverage management at Howard University. He decided
to start a new life in Canada and arrived in Toronto in 1997 and
settled in the Warden and Danforth area.
KC had a hard time adjusting to the climate and decided to return
to Jamaica. After three weeks in his home country he reversed his
decision and came back to Canada and has been in Toronto ever since.
He became a chef in a variety of well-known bar-restaurants and
started his first business, a Caribbean takeout, in the Danforth
and Danforth area.
The key event happened in 2005 when he was delivering a catering
order for a local restaurant to a nursing home in the Beach. He
realized he is working so hard for someone else, and for a while
he had been eyeing a local property just south of Main and Gerrard.
When it became available for lease, KC had one look at it and signed
the lease the same day. He completely redecorated the place and
on July 23, 2005 “Cool Runnings” opened its doors for
the first time.
“Cool runnings”, by the way is a Jamaican phrase, meaning
“it’s going well, everything is cool”. For example:
How is it going?” - “Cool runnings, man.” His
friends said he was crazy, opening a Caribbean restaurant in this
area, but KC had a dream and went for it.
Fried salted cod at Cool Runnings
He loves this little place and plans to open up the south wall
of the building and build an addition that will hold an additional
six to seven tables. Retractable doors will be able to open completely,
adding an outdoor patio feel to the new section. At the moment,
Cool Runnings is open six days a week, from Monday to Saturday,
but when the new addition opens, KC plans to open seven days a week.
In addition to all sorts of mixed drinks in this licensed establishment,
he also plans to introduce a variety of exotic juices, for example
a cucumber / ginger juice. KC is one example of the diverse entrepreneurs
that make up the landscape of this multi-ethnic city. He has grabbed
the opportunity to chart his own life as an independent business
owner.
Meeting the owner of Cool Runnings provided a nice ending to our
lunch, and Sandra was ready to head off with me on a personal introduction
to her neighbourhood. As we walked to her car, she pointed out the
Main Street Library where she went as a child. We started driving
and passed by the Ted Reeve Arena, a popular skating rink in the
area and the place where Sandra herself learned to skate. We drove
down on a street called Kimberley, and Sandra pointed out a vacant
lot where a new real estate development composed of several townhouses
is going to go in. Sandra managed to get the neighbouring property
designated as a historic property.
Lyall Avenue, an east-west connection north of Kingston Road, features
a row of pretty historic homes, dating back to the early 20th century.
Sandra pointed out two new homes that stood out from the visually
homogeneous streetscape: in the last few years a developer had come
in, taken down two historic homes and built two new larger homes
that do not quite fit into the street scene. Again, unless a residential
area is designated a protected historic heritage district, it is
very difficult to impose restrictions on the design of new properties
going in.
Our drive continued past Malvern Collegiate Institute, a local
alma mater for many Beach residents. Back out on Kingston
Road we drove by the northern end of the Glen Steward Ravine
and turned left onto Glen Manor Drive, a curvy road that hugs the
ravine on one side and is fronted with beautiful well-kept historic
Edwardian homes on the other. Sandra’s residence is located
right in this neighbourhood, just steps away from the ravine, which
makes her a bona fide Beacher who enjoys walks on the Boardwalk
and strolls along Queen Street East.
Original Toronto paving stones adorn a front yard
We stopped near Pine Crescent and Pine Glen Street, one of the
few areas in Toronto that still features cobble-stoned streets.
One of the local homes has salvaged some local paving stones and
integrated them in their garden design.
A few steps further west is a wooden footbridge that connects Glen
Manor Drive East and West across the ravine. Sandra explained that
she is holding consultations for a new ravine management program
in order to stabilize and improve the ravine. Natural and man-made
erosion are creating significant stress in this nature area, and
consultations with local residents include school age children and
adults. A new footbridge will be built soon whose substructure will
feature some rounded arches and an attractive design. Despite Toronto’s
budget issues, Sandra was able to get some money set aside for the
rebuilding of this bridge.
The foot bridge, connecting Glen Manor Drive East and West
Just south of the footbridge in Ivan Forrest Park is a natural
ice rink that is built and maintained by local residents. Sandra
mentioned that on weekends there are hundreds of children that use
this facility which is particularly pretty at night. Christmas caroling,
another community activity, takes place here around the holidays,
a very popular event also organized by the local residents. Ivan
Forrest Park is one of Toronto’s groomed parks and very popular
with local dog owners and walkers. It features one of the few waterfalls
in the City of Toronto.
Sandra in the library
As the Chair of the Clean and Beautiful Initiative of the City,
Sandra Bussin has recently proposed a new program to make the city
more attractive: a graffiti removal program has been in place for
several years which provides summer employment opportunities for
young people. Sandra just proposed to expand the program beyond
the summer months and is hoping that the program will come through
for next year’s budget. At the moment, home owners who have
become graffiti victims face rather punitive measures and costs
in order to clean up the unsightly graffiti. This type of youth
employment program combined with organized art initiatives providing
for official mural space may help alleviate the graffiti problems
that exist in so many urban areas.
Our next stop was the Beaches Library,
whose renovation and expansion is one of Sandra’s proudest
achievements. The extension, completed in 2005, is indeed an extremely
successful architectural project and integrates well with the historic
character of the building. Sandra took me to one of her favourite
spots: the sitting area on the south side of the expansion, which
provides a beautiful view of Kew Gardens and the beloved bandstand.
Her favourite spot, with the Kew Gardens bandstand in the back
We also walked upstairs and looked at a few images from the renovations.
Photos depict the creation of the famous owl sculpture in front
of the Beaches Library, and an
entire binder chronicles the contest which invited local residents
to help with the naming of the famous object. Hundreds of ideas
were submitted, including many variations of “hooter”,
“hootie”, and “Alfred the Barnyard Owl”.
The version that won out in the end was “Wordsworth”,
a slightly more sophisticated tribute to the hallowed halls of literature
that make up the Beaches Library. Sandra added that the Beaches
Library is one of the busiest branches of the Toronto Library System.
And since the renovation in 2005 public usage of the library has
almost doubled, a testament to the success of this project.
Our little neighbourhood walk then took us to Kew Beach Park, which
features one of Toronto’s most beautiful playgrounds, an important
feature in an area with many young families. Sandra started the
playground with seed money of $80,000 from the City, and the rest
was fundraised by a local organization. The community pitched in
with the construction of the playground since there are a number
of talented patio builders and woodworkers in Toronto’s Beach.
The Kew Beach playground
A few steps away, the War Memorial is the location of the very
popular Remembrance Day Ceremony that every year draws many hundreds
of people. At the foot of Lee Avenue is the Gardener’s Cottage,
or Kew Williams House, the only residential building in Kew Gardens
and a designated historic property. After the retirement of the
last gardener, Sandra was approached by several local artists to
use this building for art exhibitions.
Sandra
asked the city to designate this property as a community resource.
The zoning department indicated that the building was zoned as residential
and not suitable for non-residential use. So in conjunction with
the Toronto Beach Rotary Club,
Sandra raised money for the upgrading of the property so it would
meet all the zoning and safety regulations that would allow it to
be used as a community resource. Barbara Dingle from the Rotary
Club, who was a producer with the famous “Debbie Travis”
TV series, managed to get a group of local artists together to help
with the decorating and furnishing of the cottage which today presents
itself as a beautiful historic property.
The Kew Williams House, a.k.a. Gardener's Cottage
Another recent community project is so-called “Measurement
Park”, an unused space behind the Beaches Cinema. Students
from the Kew Park Montessori School planted some trees, and as the
trees (and the children) grow, they will be doing measurements of
the trees and learn about nature.
On our way east on Queen Street, Sandra drove by one of her favourite
streets: Balsam Avenue, and along the way she pointed out one of
her old campaign offices, today a Japanese restaurant called Ichiban.
As we were driving east on Queen Street she explained her new role
as the first Council Speaker of Toronto’s City Council. This
position was created for the new City Council (2006 to 2010) due
to a desire for greater continuity, and it was modeled on the Federal
and Provincial structures.
The Speaker of Toronto City Council and Deputy Speaker of Toronto
City Council became the presiding officers at the sitting of Toronto
City Council beginning December 1, 2006. The two positions are elected
by city council and replace the Mayor of Toronto as the convenor
and chair of council meetings while the mayor remains the Chief
Executive Officer of the city. Sandra Bussin has been elected to
serve a four year term in her new official role.
On the way back up to where I had my car parked, Sandra pointed
out another former constituency office of hers, a nicely renovated
building with a mural, located on the north-west corner of Kingston
Road and Main Street. Sandra’s footprints are all over this
neighbourhood, as a local resident of this area who grew up around
here, and as a city official representing this area for the past
18 years.
Main Street Library
Our Beaches driving tour had come to an end. Sandra
dropped me off at the Main Street Library and I sincerely thanked
her for taking this time from her busy schedule to show me around
her neighbourhood. It was a pleasure meeting Sandra Bussin in person
and hearing about her attachments to the community, a close-up look
and personal introduction to one our key municipal decision-makers.
The Beach on a cold winter day
Related Articles:
Celebrate Toronto
- An article series to celebrate my chosen home town
Gene Domagala - A human convenience
store of charity and community involvement in Toronto's Beach
Arie Nerman & the Beach Hebrew Institute:
The People's Synagogue
Vivetha Bistro: A popular spot
with eclectic food
Glenn Cochrane - Media
personality, author and expert fundraiser – a champion of
the Beach for almost 40 years
Michelle Gebhart: A
true Renaissance woman: from army brat to expert renovator, biker
lady, successful restaurateur & dedicated youth volunteer
Michael Prue: A working class success
story - from Regent Park to Queens Park
Alex Winch & the
Beach Solar Laundromat – Unstoppable when it comes to championing
renewable energy & innovative entrepreneurship
Mary Lee: A restaurant owner with a heart
for the arts
Marie Perrotta from the Pegasus
Community Project reaches for the stars
Burgie and Benedetta from the Konditor
coffeehouse create Austrian delicacies in Toronto's Beach
Bob Murdoch from Community Centre
55 - 25 years of community service in the Beach
Steve and Paul from Accommodating
the Soul B&B: hospitality with a personal touch
John Dowding: A private lesson in
photography from a true master
Lucille Crighton: A textile
arts Hall of Famer in Toronto's Beach
Lido Chilelli: Founder
of the Toronto International Beaches Jazz Festival
Fire Station 227: History, heroism
and local connections in the Beach
The Green Eggplant: Healthy Mediterranean
food and big solid portions
The Balmy Beach Club - Legend
by the Lake & Toronto's best-kept secret
The Garden Gate Restaurant a.k.a. "The
Goof" - Good food in the Beach since 1952
Ralph Noble: Firefighter,
lifesaver and creator of the most famous mural in the Beach –
a noble man indeed
Sandra Bussin
- City Councillor and Deputy Mayor shows me her neighbourhood
The Toronto Beach Rotary Club:
Service above Self and the joys of volunteering
The Beaches Lions
Club: Charity and community projects in the Beach since 1935
The Beach Business
Improvement Area: A general overview of the Beach and the merchants
and activities on Queen Street East
Maria Minna:
An Italian-Canadian immigrant story and a life-long fight for social
justice
The Beach Metro Community
News: Much more than just the news
The Kingston Road Business Community:
A neighbourhood undergoing revitalization and an integral part of
the Beach
Andrew Smith and Rachel Howard:
Creative entrepreneurs and dedicated community builders
Nevada's Ristorante: Where
hospitality is a family affair
Maria Minna: Another neighbourhood
walk and talk and discoveries along Queen Street East
St. Aidan's Church:The spirit of charity
in the Beach comes full circle
Gene Domagala takes me on a history
tour of the eastern and northern part of the Beach - a perfect day
of discovery
The Beaches Library: A centre
of learning for all ages
A walk along Kingston Road:
A shopping district definitely worth a visit
55 Division: Serving and protecting
- community policing in action
|