Jane & Finch

The Jane and Finch Youth Tour Leaders

Shirlon and Anthony outside of Palisades

Akilah and Stephanie leading the troops!

Photo By: Yvonne Bambrick

Photo By: Yvonne Bambrick

Photo By: Yvonne Bambrick

It’s the Jane Finch parade!

Graffiti mural done by youth at THE SPOT

These boots were made for walking, walking is what I’ll do

SHOE DEALS!!

Candy the kids gave me was so sour, my hair stood straight up.

Birds for sale at the Jane-Finch mall

Zaki Ibrahim

Two main reasons:

1. I was participating in Jane’s Walk
2. I’ve never been to Jane and Finch and was curious.

Jane’s Walk is an ode to famous urban theorist Jane Jacobs, and her theories on how to make a great city. She opposed expressways, believed in a dense downtown core and mix-used neighbourhoods in order to create vibrant urban landscapes. In fact, we owe thanks to Jane for helping to prevent Spadina from becoming one giant highway. Most notoriously known for her book, The Death and Life of Great American Cities; published in 1961 – this is still recognized in Universities and city hall’s alike, as a valuable resource for urban planners.

From all her lessons, the one that Jane’s Walk is most guided by is her belief that:

 “No one can find what will work for our cities by looking at suburban garden cities, manipulating scale models or inventing dream cities. You’ve got to get out and walk.”

And walk we did. This year, eight cities in Canada participated, and there were over sixty walks in Toronto alone.

While I was getting the ‘Inside Scoop at Jane and Finch,’ by half a dozen local youth, other people were walking these walks:

Gangsters, Dreamers and Engineers, 200 years of Drama on the Lower Don River

Green Roofs and Tree Tops

Leslieville from blue collar South Riverdale to film district a transformed neighbourhood.

Little India, Colour and Contrast

Marginal Spaces and Modist Places: tension and curiosities of neighbourhood change on west Queen west.

Parkdale with two Politicians; Peggy Nash and Cheri DiNovo

Re-imagining Jewish Kensington

And of course; Places to Bonk on Your Lunch Hour, hosted by Sasha Van Bon Bon

“Jane’s Walk seeks to get people out of their cars, and out of their ‘comfort zone’ exploring their neighbourhoods. It does so in an attempt to get people to make their own observations, formulate their own opinions about communities, cities and the people who live here. It’s ultimately about civic engagement and urban literacy.” Jane Farrow, Director of Jane’s Walk.

True dat. There’s no way, prior to my illuminating walk, that I would have taken a self exploratory trip to Jane and Finch.

Carved by the media, and my vivid imagination, I equated Jane and Finch with violence; the Toronto equivalent of HBO’s hit series THE WIRE. I wanted to see if my vision was accurate or if my misconception of Jane and Finch was akin to my North Toronto Grandma’s fears of my current Queen and Dufferin hood.  

We met in the parking lot of the Driftwood Community Centre; there were over 100 of us in attendance. A crew of the fifteen year olds greeted us and began the tour with a low-down of what happens at the centre; tutoring, dance classes, karate, basketball, Saturday Spanish soccer league, spa day and many many outdoor BBQ’s.

Next stop – the candy shop. At Jane and Finch, kids prefer insanely sour candies.

Other places we hit up were:

The Spot ; A Youth Centre
A place where youth go to hang, write resumes, find jobs and plan community activities like dinners for seniors. The centre also offers drug prevention for 9-12 year olds, Yoga classes, Homework Club and Project Canoe – which takes kids out of the city and up to the wilderness for canoe trips and outdoor adventures. One of our tour guides was excited to share how she saw a rotting moose corpse on one excursion.

The Jane Finch Mall:
Busy, colourful and full of great deals!

The field in between Driftwood and Palisades
On May 24 there is a firecracker war. 15 to 19 year olds gather from both sides and engage in blast off between the Driftwood and Palisades communities. Shirlon and Anthony explain that this is a night of pure fun, and no one brings knives or guns. (Hopefully they are careful aiming the fireworks!!).

The Studio:
This is an actual studio located at The Palisades apartments and youth use it to make music and freestyle. With the adjacent buildings housing 5000 people each, the studio will typically get 25 visitors daily.

Pet Cemetery:
Woof woof! may you rest in peace.

At the end of our tour we filed into a recreation room at a co-op housing community and were greeted with a buffet of eclectic food, home cooked by tenants. The meal included – a Somalian rice dish, empanadas, jerk chicken, Jamaican paddies, samosas – and much more, delicious.

Jane and Finch gets a bad rap, but from what I took away – it is a neighbourhood full of lush greenery, anchored in family values with a wonderful vibrant cultural mosaic.

You don’t have to wait until next year to see parts of the city you are unfamiliar with– just get outside and walk.

To view more info on Jane’s Walk:
http://www.janeswalk.net/

For more info on Jane and Finch:
http://jane-finch.com/

Contest to see Zaki Ibrahim!
Soulful songstress, who has toured with Erykah Badu and shared a stage with The Roots will be filling the Mod Club with her poetic lyrics and moving voice TONIGHT!!

E-mail contests@shedoesthecity.com, subject line ZAKI, for a chance to win a double pass. Winner will be notified this afternoon.

Take a listen:
http://www.myspace.com/zakiibrahim