Ossington Subway Station

Inside Station-difference in lighting from one
end of the track to the other

1 of several artists murals outside
Daycares in Neighbourhood

 The Ossington Subway station is on the Bloor – Danforth Subway line and was opened to the public in 1966 and serves about 25,000 people a day.   There are great bus connections going in every direction.  On the outside of the station I noticed a beautiful wall mural that was drawn on a wall outside of a daycare center. The painting depicts a varied race of parents and babies in a mythological setting.  One onlooker had told me that it once was a police station.  I ponder at the image and just take it in as an elaborate form of advertisement since there are more than one mural in the neighbourhood that adorn other daycare walls.  I would still rather see this type of thing instead of the usual stereotypical form of advertisement.

Janes Walk 2010

Ossington station is also a meeting place of many once of year who come to gather for “Janes Walk – The Wizard of Ossington” . There are over 40 “Janes Walks” across Toronto – all meeting up at various subway stations throughout the year.  The walks were originally the brainchild of  the late Jane Jacobs, who believed that we were losing 5 important pillars in our lives. To quote her, these are the lists that culturally if we lose them, she believed we may as well be entering the Dark Ages again.

“

1. Community and Family

2. Higher Education

3. The Effective Practice of Science

4. Taxation and Government

5. Self-policing by Learned Professions             “

The walks are designed to bring us together as a community, to learn about our culture, our neighbourhoods and to stop, and look around at a slower pace. 

You can find a list of walks to get involved in at www.janeswalk.net

Summerhill Subway Station

Summerhill Station (click to enlarge)

Summerhill Subway station is on the Yonge-University Spadina Line of the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC).  It was opened in 1954 and serves only 5,000 people today.  This is mostly due to the fact that there are no buses or streetcars coming in or out of the station.  Nearby, just south of Summerhill is the former Summerhill North Toronto station which was once owned by the Canadian Pacific Railway (formerly CP rail) as of 1998.  

Summerhill Tower now LCBO)and then (CP Rail Station-1916)

Currently the building is being used as a Liquor store, but ever heard of history repeating itself? Apparently there have been proposals being made by GO Transit to have this landmark reopened as a railway for commuters coming from downtown's Union station and being used as a major interchange, but this hasn't been readdressed again since 2000, so it’s obviously not a major priority right now.  We will be seeing major infrastructural changes in the city that are now underway, known as the LRT (the lightrails).  I am currently working on a project to discuss that, but it will take some time. I'm excited about the LRT in Toronto as I am sure a lot of you will be.  I see it as a real move forward and anticipate a lot of people will be using this mode of transportation. Even above and beyond the novelty aspect of it, it's fast, (up to 70kph (which is faster than street traffic), safe, affordable (save on fuel, parking, maintenance), accessible for everyone (includes automatic doors, escalators, elevators), and of course environmentally friendly (uses electricity, no air pollution, plus in one trip a rider will use 65% fewer greenhouse gases.  But I'll save all that exciting stuff for another day!