Chairman Dick Watts welcomed about fifty attendees to the meeting and explained that it would be conducted in a manner similar to the monthly executive meetings held in members homes. Lifetime RHRA member Nancy Byers was introduced; she is a co-author of St. Clair West in Pictures. The second edition of this book is now sold out and we understand that the Toronto Public Library is considering printing a third edition.

Renate Gonsalves, Principal of Oakwood Collegiate welcomed the community to share in upcoming school events which include:

• December 7th at 6:30 – Kwanza banquet in the cafeteria
• January 18, 19, & 20th - this year’s annual musical, Jesus Christ Superstar
• February 9 & 10th at 7:30 – the annual music concert to be performed at St. Matthews Church.
• The Centennial celebration of OCI (2008) – a mural is being painted to commemorate the event; a museum is being established in the OCI library; the public is welcome to visit during the school day to look at the objects on display.
• Oakwood Raffle to help purchase a new treadmill for the "Treadmill Room at Toronto General Hospital". This fundraiser is to support one of our former students who requires a double lung transplant and will be in need of the treadmill room after her surgery. Her sister attends Oakwood presently. Raffle tickets are $2 each. Items to be raffled include Raptor tickets, Disney movies, signed picture of Tomas Kaberle, tickets to Medieval Times dinner and tournament, dinner at the Old Spaghetti Factory and more.

Mike Foderick, Executive Assistant to Councillor Cesar Palacio, thanked the community for the successful re-election of Councillor Palacio. He expressed that they are here to serve the residents of Ward 17 and encouraged residents to express their needs and concerns to the Councillor. He reported that an earlier proposal to install a parking lot at the corner of Glenholme and St. Clair, had been opposed by residents, and that a breakfast restaurant would soon be opening on the site.

Reports and Discussion

1. Dufferin-St. Clair Library renovations – Brigitte Richter, Manager in Charge of the Capital Project, and Caroline Ingvaldsen, Branch Head, answered questions from the floor re the renovations. Construction is scheduled to begin in the spring of 2007. The library will be closed for about a year during the construction process. Alternative library service plans have not been finalized. They will most likely involve the nearby libraries such as: St.Clair Silverthorn, Oakwood and Rogers, Shaw St, and the Wychwood branches. The renovated building will bring the outdoor wheelchair ramp indoors. A self-serve book check-out will be added. More stacks will be available to accommodate expansion of the library collection and will include more Turkish, Spanish and Portuguese literature. There will be increased efforts to meet the needs of newcomers to the area, and students of OCI and Loretto College.
   
   A motion to request that the library name be changed back to the original name of Earlscourt Library was narrowly defeated. However, a suggestion that the new program room be called ‘The Earlscourt Room’ was strongly supported by the attendees.



2. Heritage and History
   1. Regal Road School portico restoration– Harry Lay reported that arrangements to restore the school portico to its original limestone appearance began 5 years ago and repair work is finally nearing completion. A formal unveiling is scheduled for Thursday December 7th at 11am. All are welcome to attend. A special thanks to Harry and Councillor Palacio’s office for their efforts and dedication in bringing this to fruition.
   2. Earlscourt History Club – David Raymont reported that a goal of the club is to encourage a greater understanding and respect for those who lived in this area through history. It is hoped that the club's research will be stored at the library for access by all, and that there may be local history walking tours offered by interested volunteers. The next meeting of the club will be Nov. 28, 7 pm at Dufferin-StClair Library.


3. Homelessness and Affordable Housing – Peter Norman reported that Regal Heights has almost 2000 households and that there is a good range of housing options. Peter and Nathan Gilbert have visited with the Davenport-Perth Neighbourhood Centre (DPNC) to explore how the issue of homelessness and affordable housing can be further addressed. Lei Xu, outreach worker from DPNC, invited all interested to join them at DPNC for a forum on December 2nd to explore these subjects further.



4. Street Beautification
   1. Gardens – Daffodil Hill now has over 2000 daffodils bulbs planted there along with some 90 different trees and shrubs. RHRA continues to manage the hill and has recently removed about 40 invasive Tree of Heaven. Thank you to the St. Clair W. BIA for their recent donation of tulip bulbs for other community gardens.
   2. Litter, etc. – Curbside leaves are being removed by the city. Roadwork done by Enbridge has made a mess of the streets. The construction is expected to continue through next year. Specific requests re particularly messy areas should be brought to Mike Foderick’s attention (416-392-7011). St. Clair sidewalks from Oakwood to Dufferin were identified as becoming progressively darkened by blackened chewing gum. Mike will look into this problem.
   3. Tree Boulevards – in Ward 17, installation of tree boulevards can be considered if space permits, if directly affected residents are in favour, and if the roads and sidewalks are scheduled for major reconstruction. Pros include: increase of green space, possible traffic calming as streets are narrowed. Cons include: one-way streets cannot be changed into 2 way, applications for new curb cuts through tree boulevards have a high likelihood of being denied. Examples of existing boulevards can be found on: Markham street south of Harbord, Spadina south of Davenport, Gladstone Ave south of Dupont , and Holland Park east of Oakwood Ave. The meeting gave strong support to further study of establishing tree-boulevards in the neighbourhood. All were in favour of asking the city to identify which streets in Regal Heights have good technical potential for establishing tree-boulevards, on one or two sides of the street, within the next ten years. It was noted that impacts of the St Clair ROW on local streets should be included in the technical analysis.


5. Communications - David Shanoff reported that announcements can be sent to David for circulation. They are broadcast to the RHRA e-mail list of 180 if they are non-commercial in nature and not politically biased. You can easily be deleted from the mailing list upon request to David. Information about RHRA news and projects can be found at our website: www.regalheights.ca



6. The Annual Carol Sing – will be on Friday December 15th at 7 pm in the Oakwood Collegiate Parkette. All are welcome.



7. Membership – Linda DeGiorgio reported that we now have 70 paid memberships for the 2006-2007 season. Renewal forms will be e-mailed as a reminder to those families who have not yet renewed their membership.



8. Planning and Zoning
   1. Mount Royal Parkette renovations – construction work began Nov. 20 and is scheduled to be finished by the end of this year.
   2. St. Clair Transit – TTC response was received indicating that a final decision about retaining the four TTC platforms at Glenholme and Northcliffe must be made by the end of January 2007. Mike F. reported that due to the large number of petitions received from the community, the stops will most likely be retained. Detail design consultation meetings for this area are expected to begin soon and will be an integral part of reaching a final decision on this issue.


9. The STOP – Jonah Schein from the Community Food Centre gave a short presentation of the services offered there. While the Toronto Public Health recommends that the average male adult needs $40/week to eat healthily, the average monthly social assistance cheque is only $550. He is asking for support to help advocate for two things: i) that welfare add a nutritional component to their program, ii) the minimum wage be raised to $10/hour. He suggested that letters written to the MPP’s from individual residents often carry more weight than requests from organizations.
   
   Schuster Gindin reported that the Green Car barn will be used as an organic garden and will be cared for by The STOP.

Next Executive Meeting, January 16, 2007, 7:30 pm at Keating’s, 99 Springmount Ave.

Next General Meeting, May 15, 2007 at Oakwood Collegiate