www.insidetoronto.com
THURSDAY, AUGUST 2, 2012
SERVING BLOOR WEST VILLAGE, THE JUNCTION, RONCESVALLES & ST. CLAIR
Participation in cancer walk is personal for Bloor West school principal 3 >> It’s Happening in your neighbourhood. Mark your calendars. 12
Commuter life, road congestion focus of project
SWEET RELIEF
Month living in car highlights excessive time Torontonians spend behind the wheel RAHUL GUPTA @tointransit Though he suffered from physical discomfort, extreme heat and cramped conditions, Tanner Zurkoski found to his amazement he could adjust to the reality of living in a car for an extended amount of time. The 22-year-old Dupont and Dufferin area resident undertook and completed the challenge to live behind the wheel to spread awareness of the amount of time commuters across the Greater Toronto and Hamilton region spend over the course of a year. The campaign was organized by the charity Evergreen Canada. “At first I wondered why I was doing it, but then I fell into a routine,” said Zurkoski in late July, a few days after the campaign ended. “It’s a mystery how I adjusted, but I just did.” From late June to July, Zurkoski’s only residence was an orange Honda Insight, a hybrid vehicle donated by sponsor Autoshare for the challenge, in which he slept, ate and drove throughout the city. For at least 23 hours a day, Zurkoski had to remain within the car, exiting only for bathroom trips, morning showers and some meals. At
night, he wedged his six-foot-three inch frame inside the hatchback automobile and somehow found a way to sleep. Worse than the heat and the cramped spaces, said Zurkoski, was the traffic which was so heavy, he ended up sticking to smaller roadways when it was possible. “After a while, every driver became my enemy and I stopped giving them the benefit of the doubt,” he said. “Nobody uses their turn signal in Toronto.” To pass the time, Zurkoski spoke with interested onlookers about his undertaking, which also served to promote Evergreen’s MOVE Transportation Expo, which is taking place at the Evergreen Brick Works, until the end of October. From inside the vehicle, which was equipped with a camera, the York University film student interviewed urban transportation experts for a series of “webisodes” called Passenger Seat he posted online throughout the month. He also tweeted status updates from a Twitter account created specifically for the challenge. Zurkoski said many of the people he spoke with over the month were unaware of how long they were spending on their commutes, which >>>ZURKOSKI, page 10
The Bloor West Villager - A Metroland Community Newspaper
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Staff photo/MARY GAUDET
COOLING OFF: Emma Burnham, 10, at left, Nadia Shirtliff-Hinds, 10, and Taylor Shirtliff-Hinds, 13, prepare lemonade for customer Timothy Muza at their stand on Grenadier Road recently, providing sweet relief on another scorching day in the city.
Junction’s history hangs for all to see LISA RAINFORD lrainford@insidetoronto.com If you’ve never heard of the Junction’s colourful past, next time you’re in the neighbourhood walking along the retail strip, look up. On lamp posts from Quebec Avenue east to Indian Grove you’ll see the newly installed Business Improvement Area (BIA) banners; five different examples each depict@BWVillager
ing one of the area’s crucial points in history. DRY UNTIL 2000 Such as the fact that the Junction was once its own city, the City of West Toronto, or that the Junction remained dry for almost a century only resuming the sale of alcohol in 2000. The banners also highlight the Junction’s close proximity to four
railway lines known as the West Toronto Diamond and its onetime dependency on the Canadian Pacific Railway for business. Thirty-seven banners were installed, according to Junction BIA executive director Kristina Skindelyte, who said there are plans to add more. The BIA’s streetscape committee put a call out to local designers about a year ago. >>>ARTIST, page 11
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