{"id":70188,"date":"2021-01-20T11:14:47","date_gmt":"2021-01-20T16:14:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/?p=70188"},"modified":"2021-01-24T16:51:36","modified_gmt":"2021-01-24T21:51:36","slug":"scoop-outrage-ontario-begins-demolition-planned-community-music-hub","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/2021\/01\/20\/scoop-outrage-ontario-begins-demolition-planned-community-music-hub\/","title":{"rendered":"THE SCOOP | Outrage As Ontario Begins Demolition of Planned Community Music Hub"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Toronto<\/p>\n

[Story updated, January 24, 2021, here<\/a><\/span>]<\/p>\n

Toronto\u2019s Dominion Wheel and Foundries Company properties located at 153 and 185 Eastern Ave have sat vacant since the 1980s.<\/p>\n

The International Resource Centre for Performing Artists (IRCPA) has been working towards a feasibility study<\/a><\/span> to transform the Foundry Building site into an ambitious new Music Hub to serve Toronto\u2019s musicians.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe need for a centre for Canada\u2019s musicians has grown more urgent every year and become dire during the time of COVID,\u201d said Ann Summers Dossena, IRCPA founder. \u201cThe Foundry will create two much-needed performance venues, spaces for discussion, exhibitions and interdisciplinary cross-pollination with innovators, and affordable housing for musicians. A number of musical organizations have already expressed interest in moving their offices here.\u201d<\/p>\n

The preliminary plan included a residential space for musicians, practice\/rehearsal\/teaching rooms, a recording studio, two venues, an exhibition space, a caf\u00e9\/restaurant, and office space. Based on similar successful models in the US, the complex would be self-sustaining.<\/p>\n

Despite the planned proposal from the IRCPA and community stakeholders, the province, which owns the site, issued a surprise Minister\u2019s Zoning Order (MZO) to fast track development.<\/p>\n

While controversial, MZO\u2019s are part of Ontario\u2019s Planning Act and allows special powers to the Municipal Affairs and Housing Minister Steve Clark to make a ruling on the development of land owned by the province. The rulings are not subject to appeal by municipalities, citizens or interested parties, including environmental groups.<\/p>\n

According to Clark\u2019s office, an MZO was issued to accelerate the building of 1,000 new affordable housing units on the site.<\/p>\n

The province began demolishing the buildings on Monday, prompting protesters to show up on-site to express their dismay.<\/p>\n

IRCPA has asked for an urgent meeting with Premier Doug Ford to discuss the project and for more time to complete the feasibility study already underway.<\/p>\n

Suze Morrison, the NDP MPP for Toronto Centre, and Ward 13 Toronto City Councillor Kristyn Wong-Tam have joined the call to halt the demolition and preserve the site.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

A new group, Friends of the Foundry<\/a><\/span>, has been formed to urge the province to halt the demolition and work with the community to preserve the site.<\/p>\n

A petition<\/a><\/span> has also been set up, and has so far collected nearly 14,000 signatures. They are also calling for donations to a Foundry defence fund<\/a><\/span>.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe invite all Ontario residents opposing arbitrary planning decisions without community input to sign this petition. Today it\u2019s Toronto\u2019s heritage under threat, tomorrow it could be your community or conservation area.\u201d<\/p>\n

#LUDWIGVAN<\/em><\/h3>\n

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Sign up for the Ludwig van Daily\u00a0\u2014 classical music and opera in five minutes or less <\/em>HERE<\/i><\/a><\/span>.<\/em><\/h3>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ontario ignores pleas to turn historic Corktown Foundry Buildings into self-sustaining music complex.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":70189,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[38476,36,39,63],"tags":[39082,39081,6422,39101],"yst_prominent_words":[39076,12471,7034,8347,39079,39075,39077,39073,39078,12463,6616,6796,39074,35660,9950,10836,12762,10395,7843,39080],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/01\/Foundry-feature-image.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9bakr-ig4","amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70188"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=70188"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70188\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":70213,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70188\/revisions\/70213"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/70189"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=70188"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=70188"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=70188"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=70188"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}