Sugar Beach looks like a true confection in this photo taken by one of Sugar Beach in Winter, Martyn Weir, East York the winners of the Waterfront Photo Contest. See page 3 for more info President’s rePORT recOgnizing Our Bias For more than 30 years TABIA’s Board of The night officially began with a letter of Just like the first festival of a BIA, this enjoyable Directors composed of a dozen or so BIAs welcome from the Mayor, read by Councillor success will be repeated next year. Our plan is from across the city have come together each Michael Thompson, the Economic Development to create some firm categories out of the bricks month. They have met to share ideas and Chair, and thankfully, that was it for speeches. and mortar of our formal objectives and a few work with city departments and the BIAs— in Executive Director John Kiru read the categories from our free spirit and wishful thinking. beautification and marketing projects for our city and the reasons why each of these BIAs were If you were among those in attendance on Oct. of neighbourhoods. The Board often exchanges winners. Councillor Thompson and Mike Major, 26, please share that positive vibe and many stories about the many successes, perseverance from the City of Toronto, helped us to present accomplishments with your neighbourhoods. and dedication happening in our BIAs. the awards. We certainly hope to see you next year. Many Our unique membership has a vision that Creativity, persistence and sharing were thanks to the City of Toronto, Economic goes beyond operating their businesses. common themes. The food was good, the Development & Culture, Tourism Toronto and What they can do in their BIA affects their mood was warm and Awards Night may have the St. Lawrence Market Complex for helping to entire community and beyond. To honour this been the best BIA networking session ever. make this event possible. commitment, the Director and Board of TABIA With the listing of each accomplishment the Michael Comstock were very pleased to present the Oct. 26 TABIA tables buzzed about that topic and the shared Awards Night in the historic and elegant St. experiences of working in our respective TABIA President, Representing St. Lawrence Market Neighbourhood BIA Lawrence Hall. neighbourhoods. continued on page 2 Feted at the Awards Event 2 News to Use for Business Owners and Managers 5 Kudos! My Waterfront Photo Contest 3 Understanding Chapter 19 5 What’s inside Profile: Long Branch BIA 4 Upcoming Events and Dates 6 Feted at the event: OUTSTANDING CAPITAL STREETSCAPE COMMUNITY IMPROVEMENT AWARD IMPROVEMENT AWARD • West Queen West BIA – Anti-graffiti program • Queen Street West BIA – Small Scale - Bike Racks CREATIVE EVENT AWARD • College Promenade BIA – Medium Scale • Harbord Street BIA – Pumpkin festival - Planters • Riverside District BIA • Forest Hill BIA – Large Scale – Take a Walk on the Riverside) Wexford HeigHts Bia - Montclair Parkette CREATIVE SOLUTIONS AWARD Accepting the Festival Award, Linda Raeside, STREETSCAPE MASTER PLAN AWARD • Bloor Yorkville BIA – Financing for the Wexford Heights BIA coordinator; Michael • Bloorcourt Village BIA Bloor Street Transformation) Comstock,TABIA President; Hussein Ayoub, Co-chair; Councillor Michael Thompson; • Toronto Entertainment District BIA FELLOWSHIP AWARD Sylvester Rajaratnam, Board Member; and ENVIRONMENTAL AWARD • Lakeshore Village BIA Steve Wanless, Vice-Chair. • Bloor West Village BIA – Solar Lighting • Longbranch BIA Speaking on behalf of the BIA, Hussein • Mimico By The Lake BIA Ayoub, said, “Our BIA was very surprised and DECORATIVE LIGHTING AWARD • Mimico Village BIA appreciative for the recognition as one of the • Korea Town BIA – Tiger three award recipients in the Festival category. • Chinatown BIA – Lanterns FESTIVAL AWARD A lot of time and effort by our sub-committee • GreekTown on the Danforth BIA team and volunteers goes into organizing an GATEWAY AWARD – Taste of the Danforth event of this magnitude, and we can all be proud of our accomplishments. Thank you TABIA • The Eglinton Way BIA • The Kingsway BIA – Taste of the Kingsway and all involved for a wonderful evening.” • Emery Village BIA • Wexford Heights BIA – Taste of Lawrence BRANDING AWARD MEMBERSHIP ENGAGEMENT AWARD • Village of Islington BIA – Murals • Liberty Village BIA • Kennedy Road BIA – Wayfinding – TTC passes and Give Me Liberty Event OUTSTANDING FLORAL AWARD PAUL OBERMAN HERITAGE AWARD • Danforth Village BIA • Rosedale Mainstreet BIA ADVOCACY AWARD PERSEVERANCE AWARD • Corso Italia BIA • Dundas West BIA – Parking • Hillcrest Village BIA • Roncesvalles Village BIA – Construction • Regal Heights Village BIA SMALL BUDGET, BIG IMPACT AWARD PaPe Village Bia • St. Clair Gardens BIA Pictured are Michael Comstock, TABIA • Pape Village BIA – Annual Shop Local Contest • Wychwood Heights BIA President and Pape Village Board members • Parkdale Village BIA – Bike racks Charleen Beard, Jim Parker, Adele Kozak COMMUNICATIONS AWARD SOCIAL CONSCIENCE AWARD and Salim Hadad and Councillor Michael • Cabbagetown BIA – Blog Newsletter Thompson. • Downtown Yonge BIA Upon receiving the award, Jim Parker, Chair of • St. Lawrence Market Neighbourhood BIA the Pape Village BIA, said, “It was an honour – Bob Kemp’s Program and surprise to be recognized for our ‘big ToURISM AWARD impact’ despite our ‘small budget.’ Then again, it was Margaret Mead who encouraged us to • The Waterfront BIA – Tall Ships Event ‘Never doubt that a small group of committed Gift packages were also presented to winners people can change the world.’ The challenges of the My Neighbour campaign who created of working with a small budget means we need the prize-winning slogans for the second to keep our focus on helping the community instalment of that successful ad campaign. with every dollar we have. It is a joy for the Board to do what we can, and we gratefully John Kiru kicks off a memorable evening. receive this award.” 2 Happening in tHe 'Hoods Saluting the Blue Nose, Jim Orgill, Toronto This regular column recognizes significant accomplishments BIKE HERE! The Liberty Village BIA taking place in our BIAs. This unveiled Bike Here on Oct.31. On display month we highlight the My were 12 artistically designed bike racks and Kudos! Waterfront Photo Contest. three clusters of secure bike lockers, all of My Waterfront PHoto Contest Let us know what you’ve done so which are functional yet artistic, in support of we can spread the good news! cycling in Liberty Village and Toronto. According to Executive Director, Lynn Clay, PHoto sensitiVe the success of the Bike Here! program It began in June as a simple photo contest. The public was invited to submit their best images of can be attributed to the coming together the Toronto waterfront to The Waterfront BIA in a contest that spanned 11 weeks. Each week the of supporters including: Live Green photograph with the greatest number of votes received a prize stay at either the Radisson Admiral Toronto, City of Toronto; Toronto Parking Hotel or The Westin Harbour Castle Hotel. At the end an esteemed panel of judges determined winners Authority; Ashelron Ltd.; and York Heritage based on artistic merit. The BIA promoted the contest via TTC subway posters, their e-newsletter and Properties. Pictured is Steve Bazay of Bazay Ashworth Associates, their publicist, who knows how to get the attention of the media. The contest and Blacksmithing who turned the artists’ subsequent exhibit garnered 37 million media impressions through broadcast, print and online. conceptions into actual working bike racks. It may have had a simple beginning, but the outcome was as dramatic as the 50 stunning photos that were chosen as finalists. Over 650 submissions were posted to their website for voting using Facebook technology. The power of Facebook voting online led to more than five million viewer impressions. As Carol Jolly, Executive Director of The Waterfront BIA, noted,one Facebook vote is said to reach, on average, 140 of the voter’s Facebook friends. To complement the tremendous audience reach, the TTC subway poster campaign added at least 54 million viewer impressions over eight weeks. DIWALI BEATS AT ALBION duly noted ISLINGTON BIA From the classical Indian dance, pictured here, to ‘70s and ‘80s Carol learned that large weekly prizes are not Carol thinks that the duration of the event could tunes right up to Bollywood hits and two that necessary to engage the public. They will be shortened to eight weeks, and voter rules international singing sensations—Parichay be much humbler in the future. The 50 top could be changed to reduce the incidence of voter and Shweta Subram—Diwali Beats had all photographers received a more lasting glory. They exchange where people you don’t know can give bases covered. This was the BIA’s way of were invited to participate at the Artist Preview you their vote. In the future, only 50 votes will be saying thank you to all the customers who Gala, a wine and cheese reception at Queen’s needed to be entered into a random weekly draw shop at Albion Islington Square on October 23. Quay Terminal, where their photographs were on where the prize will be nominal. Once again, a display as large mounted posters for all to see. panel of judges will review all entries and select They have also been widely seen on the website. the finalists for the exhibit. services and the two local hotels who donated Through the tremendous publicity they received, Carol is also pleased to share that the entire weekly prizes. Along with four Ontario wineries, some may have already launched new careers. event was produced for $15,000 with the another BIA member, The Wine Rack, provided Fifty sets of greeting cards with the photo images assistance of their BIA members, including iCopy free wine tastings at the Gala. of the 50 finalists were sold with proceeds Express, Queen’s Quay Terminal, the Radisson One thing is certain: The Waterfront BIA intends benefiting the charity, Friends of Toronto Island.