Jane’s Walk Central Waterfront

by YQNA

I enjoyed the Central Waterfront Walk on Sunday, May 4 at 11am. It was a pleasure to meet approximately forty other participants who were from this neighbourhood, different parts of Toronto, Etobicoke and from Richmond Hill. There were tourists from New Jersey and an urban planning student from Germany. The appreciative group were a variety of ages including a newborn baby! The tour was led by Braz Menezes who was well assisted by Doug Dempsey, Ulla Colgrass and Bob Rasmussen. These energetic tour organizers are members of the York Quay Neighbourhood Association.

The tour started at Yonge Street and Queens Quay with a route along Queens Quay to the York Quay Park and back along the lake side board walk. The tour ended at the Marine Police Unit. It was interesting to learn about the history of this area, to see interesting works of art and to understand the many challenges of this important part of Toronto. To address highlights of the area, the tour organizers arranged to have wonderful speakers present specific topics. Pina Mallozzi, from Waterfront Toronto, talked about future plans. Jo Ann Roberts, an information officer from Harbour Front Centre, was an enthusiastic presenter of all the activities happening there. Police Constable Rick Arsenault told us about the responsibilities of the Marine Unit and took us inside the boat shed for a closer look at the various types of boats. Kevin Currie, from the Queen’s Quay Harbourfront Business Improvement Association, explained their initiatives, a recent marketing survey and upcoming events. All the guest speakers were generous with their time and talents and happily answered a variety of questions from the participants.

The walk was informative, relaxed and made us more aware of how important it is to make this unique neighbourhood a “people place”.

Celia Rasmussen

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