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Hrm, B10 is Phil’s Place, the centre most vegetable shop on the lower level. Prime space for sure.
That particular stall has changed hands perhaps more than any other over the past decade. At least three full new sets of staff, by my memory.

Before the pandemic there were extensive plans for a complete renovation of the lower level, including opening up the west side to Market Street. This was apparently going to cause a lot of temporary rearranging and evicting of the tenants on that floor. Have all those plans been tossed way now due to the pandemic, I wonder?
 
That particular stall has changed hands perhaps more than any other over the past decade. At least three full new sets of staff, by my memory.

Before the pandemic there were extensive plans for a complete renovation of the lower level, including opening up the west side to Market Street. This was apparently going to cause a lot of temporary rearranging and evicting of the tenants on that floor. Have all those plans been tossed way now due to the pandemic, I wonder?
The updates to Lower Level are still, apparently, alive and in the City's plans for 2023 or 2024.
 
Sad state of all the dogs around the lower part of the Dog fountain in Berczy park! Why is there no regular maintenance?

E3624081-DD2C-4D5A-9754-C9AE9F6BEFBB.jpeg
 
That's exactly the assumption of the merchant I spoke to, that he'll be forced to stay open at times when he's certain he'll have no customers, at a cost of "a hundred bucks an hour." I just told him I hope things work out for the best.
With WFH, I'm used to having all the time in the world to cook dinner right now, but when I'm back in the office I could see myself swinging through the market on my way home to grab some prepared food to eat for dinner. Pre-covid it wasn't an issue because I didn't have a toddler to feed, so I could get home at six and cook something, but now I need something on the table by six or the little monster gets hangry. Later hours would be great for me.
 
FINALLY!!

Hours of operation at the City of Toronto's St. Lawrence Market will be expanded for a one-year pilot project starting Sunday, July 31.

New operating hours under the pilot will be:

• Tuesdays through Fridays, 9 a.m. to 7 p.m.

• Saturdays, 7 a.m. to 5 p.m.

• Sundays, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

• Closed on Mondays
 
FINALLY!!

Hours of operation at the City of Toronto's St. Lawrence Market will be expanded for a one-year pilot project starting Sunday, July 31.

New operating hours under the pilot will be:

• Tuesdays through Fridays, 9 a.m. to 7 p.m.

• Saturdays, 7 a.m. to 5 p.m.

• Sundays, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

• Closed on Mondays

Excellent! I'm fine w/that.
 
FINALLY!!

Hours of operation at the City of Toronto's St. Lawrence Market will be expanded for a one-year pilot project starting Sunday, July 31.

New operating hours under the pilot will be:

• Tuesdays through Fridays, 9 a.m. to 7 p.m.

• Saturdays, 7 a.m. to 5 p.m.

• Sundays, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

• Closed on Mondays
Interesting they pushed back the famous 5:00 a.m. Saturday opening.
I guess no one is getting the jump on the day anymore by shopping really early?
 
Saw this post on /r/Toronto and it makes me incredibly sad.

I have certainly noticed the increase in neighbourhood “characters”. I wonder if anyone in the city actually cares or they hope to continue opening up shelters / centres within a few blocks of each other in the St Lawrence Market neighbourhood.


I used to work doing condo security at 251 Jarvis Street last year and we were within walking distance of a safe injection site and 5 shelters.

I was accosted by more than a few homeless people there. We had one homeless person who was on drugs, tried to confront me and then proceeded to set his shoes on fire while still wearing them.

We were right behind Seaton House and down the street from the City of Toronto Safe Injection site (200 Victoria). We regularly had homeless people sleeping in our lobbies or using them to smoke crack. Our lobby washroom was used as a "hotel suite" for the local homeless population.

One of the more serious incidents we had was when a homeless person entered our lobby and approached the security guard sitting there. He threatened the guard with a knife, stole our laptop (and cellphone) and punched the guard. When he left, the door controls froze and he pulled the fire alarm to unlock the door.

Regularly, we would have mentally ill homeless smash windows on the sides of our building. We even had one homeless woman squat on the sidewalk and piss with no regard for anything going on around her.

Just before I left the building when I was in the Property Management office there, we had one homeless person break into the building and end up opening the sprinkler standpipes in 4 stairwells causing almost 100 grand in damage. He then went on a rampage through the building smashing windows and destroying property.

The City of Toronto has no regard for the local communities where they put these shelters.

There needs to be more enforcement of the laws because when all this stuff was going down at my work there was no police to be found. Most of these people were well known by building staff because they frequented the building regularly.

There were times where I was worried I may have to defend myself or if I would get harmed by a homeless person. I almost had to incapacitate someone once because they became aggressive with me.

I feel for the homeless but if they are habitually violent, have mental health or drug issues they need to be relocated or forced to seek treatment. They are a definite danger to the communities in which they reside and unfortunately the City of Toronto turns a blind eye to that fact.
 
The City of Toronto has no regard for the local communities where they put these shelters.

They place the shelters both where there is demand for them, and where it is feasible to do so.

I feel for the homeless but if they are habitually violent, have mental health or drug issues they need to be relocated or forced to seek treatment. They are a definite danger to the communities in which they reside and unfortunately the City of Toronto turns a blind eye to that fact.

While I agree that people who are a danger to others need to be removed from society until they are no longer such.......

You do realize police/City powers are limited in such cases; the most they can generally do is a get a 72-hour hold on someone. There are rare cases where more is possible..........

But assuming the problem results from being 'high' on something, the person generally no longer poses a danger once they are sober, and must be released under current laws; in the alternative, if the problem results from a mental illness
that can be controlled by taking prescription medication, once they are medicated and return to a normal state, they are again free to go.

Your issue really isn't with police/by-law in many cases, who can only do so much; its with the laws, regulations and policies as they pertain to mental health and addiction, particularly as it relates to those who perpetually
cause problems, usually due to a relapse, and/or failing to take their medication, again.

The City does not run CAMH or the various mental health wards at the hospitals; neither they nor the police can direct how these are run, and whether someone faces an extended commitment (the latter also being the subject of a legal process).

The process is described here:


The question is one of defining harm (to self or others); including assessing a patient's ability to adhere to a prescribed behavior, be that sobriety or the taking or prescription medications.

In general, the system currently defers to any positive affirmation by a person who is mentally capable of giving one at the time, that they will abide by the above.

*****

Safe injection sites are very different from shelters, and they do merit some critical examination; I happen to favour legalizing a wider range of drugs with the ability to acquire safe supplies in reasonable dosage sizes, which is plausible for many recreation substances; for those where it is not, I would still favour decriminalization.

That would address people's ability to report people to police who may be providing tainted drugs etc.

There is little doubt these facilities have saved dozens or even hundreds of lives (active medical intervention, plus prevention) ; but its not clear to me that that's having a net positive effect on survival rates of those with addiction.
I think there is some basis here for reflecting on whether we have the right model in place.

But one does have to remember that this was seen as alternative to people using back alleys, or parks or doughnut shop washrooms.
 
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St. Lawrence has definitely seen a lot of smashed windows in businesses over the last two years, but particularly over the last four weeks or so. Pretty much every night there is at least one window smashed in the King/Esplanade/Sherbourne/Jarvis area. Last night it was Bellisimo's. The night before it was Tacorito, Khao Hakka and Karma's Kitchen. The new Berkeley Cafe had their window smashed twice in three days. The strip at Esplanade and Princess (Moegi Sushi etc) had theirs smashed last week. Big Pita at Front and Jarvis was hit last week. On the Rocks was hit this week too. There have been plenty of others. I suspect businesses that haven't had their windows smashed at least once are the minority at this point.

I'm not sure it's burglaries, though. In some cases no one even enters the building - that's what Khao Hakka said, as their alarm never went off. The guy from Berkeley Cafe told me nothing was taken. I suspect it's probably one person who just likes vandalizing things, though maybe there is some petty theft involved too.
 
St. Lawrence has definitely seen a lot of smashed windows in businesses over the last two years, but particularly over the last four weeks or so. Pretty much every night there is at least one window smashed in the King/Esplanade/Sherbourne/Jarvis area. Last night it was Bellisimo's. The night before it was Tacorito, Khao Hakka and Karma's Kitchen. The new Berkeley Cafe had their window smashed twice in three days. The strip at Esplanade and Princess (Moegi Sushi etc) had theirs smashed last week. Big Pita at Front and Jarvis was hit last week. On the Rocks was hit this week too. There have been plenty of others. I suspect businesses that haven't had their windows smashed at least once are the minority at this point.

I'm not sure it's burglaries, though. In some cases no one even enters the building - that's what Khao Hakka said, as their alarm never went off. The guy from Berkeley Cafe told me nothing was taken. I suspect it's probably one person who just likes vandalizing things, though maybe there is some petty theft involved too.
Are there no CCTV cameras in the area?
 

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