Page 12 - HHM-Winter-2021

COMMUNITY NEWS
NEIGHBOURHOOD
Heritage
FROM THE DESK OF COUNCILLOR MARK GRIMES
I’ve lived in Etobicoke-Lakeshore for a very long time. I grew up here, my wife and I raised our kids here, and I’ve watched our community change through my own eyes. While change brings new opportunity, it’s important that we also take steps to preserve the history of our neighbourhoods. Understanding where we’ve come from will help guide us in the direction we’re going.
Looking at Humber Bay today, it may be difficult to imagine what it once looked like, but we don’t have to look far to see some connections to the past. Little remains of the old motel strip, but its history is preserved in the names of the new streets created through the development process. Shore Breeze Drive and Silver Moon Drive are named after two motels once found along this strip. Palace Pier Court pays homage to the old amusement pier that stretched out into Lake Ontario. Constructed in 1941, the Palace Pier was a thriving dance hall during the post-World War Two era, until it was destroyed by fire in 1963. Its memory survives in the name of the street, as well as in one of the original footings that still stands at the end of Palace Pier Court. The namesake for Annie Craig Drive goes back a little further, and is named after an old steamer ship that operated in the area in the late 1800s as part of the Humber River Ferry Company. The flag pole that
sits perched at the entrance to Humber Bay Park East was originally located at the former Hillcrest motel, and I worked with the Humber Bay Shores Condo- minium Association to preserve and relocate it to ensure that the Canadian Flag can fly overlooking our commu- nity. In our neighbourhood, there is a story about everything.
The decline of the motel strip brought an opportunity to secure more public space for community use. Humber Bay Shores Park was created when the former City of Etobicoke adopted the Motel Strip Secondary Plan in the late 1980s. Through this plan, property owners were given greater density rights in exchange
for 15 acres of private development lands — this resulted in the creation of the park that we all enjoy today. This push for more publicly accessible space com- plimented existing efforts by the Metropolitan Toronto and Region Con- servation Authority that began in the 1970s, with lake-filling operations to create more land-mass that would even- tually become Humber Bay Park East and West. In need of some revitalization, City Parks staff recently completed the Humber Bay Park Master Plan, which outlines short, medium, and long-term investments that we can make to get more out of our parks. The first projects to be completed will be the refurbish- ment of the ponds in Humber Bay Park East, as well as the construction of a small, indoor community space. You can read more about the Master Plan at www.markgrimes.ca/hbpmp.
Our community has a rich history. Whether you’re new to the community, or you’ve lived here for decades, I’d encourage you all to dive in and see what new things you can learn about our neighbourhood. HH
Mark Grimes is the Councillor for Ward 3 Etobicoke-Lakeshore. He is a life-long resi- dent, activist and businessperson in south Etobicoke. He can be reached by email at councillor_grimes@toronto.ca, or by phone at 416-397-9273
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