Toronto #Ward10 #SpaFY or Fort-York Spadina

Toronto’s Ward 10, otherwise known as Fort-York – Spadina, where I am currently running for City Councillor, has one of the most competitive elections. The other 13 candidates appear to be well-funded, well-organized and have filed their papers (and implicitly started their official campaigns) long before I have. And that may very well be because this ward is quite magical, with its most unnatural, gerrymandered look.

So what do we know about this ward? Here’s the “411” on Ward 10, with a couple others below as comparison.

Ward 10 Spadina-Fort York

Boundaries: Dundas St. W. to the north, Bay St. to the east, the waterfront to the south and Dovercourt Rd. to the west. 21 km²

Demographics: There are 115,506 people with an average age of 36 (of which only about 73K can vote); 6% of residents are under 15 years old and 7% of residents are over 64 years old. The average household size is 1.7 people with a median household income of $76,270. The percentage of visible minorities in the ward is 42 per cent. From 2011 to 2016, the population grew by 40%.

Languages: (2016) 62.1% English, 6.0% Mandarin, 4.8% Cantonese, 2.6% Spanish, 2.5% French, 2.3% Portuguese, 1.6% Farsi, 1.5% Russian, 1.4% Arabic, 1.2% Korean, 1.0% Tagalog, 0.9% Hindi, 0.9% Polish, 0.8% Vietnamese, 0.8% Italian, 0.7% Urdu, 0.5% German, 0.5% Panjabi

Candidates: 13 + 1 incumbent – see ggl-ss link below or the official list at TOward10

Other representatives: MPP Chris Glover (NDP) and MP Adam Vaughan (Liberal).

Advance voting:  Trinity Community Recreation Centre Assembly Hall, 155 Crawford Street and Harbourfront Centre Main Loft, 235 Queens Quay West

Voting Day: Trinity Community Recreation Centre, 155 Crawford Street and St. Andrew’s Centre, 73 Simcoe St, Great Hall, Main Doors Off of Simcoe Street

While this is not immediately obvious in the stats above, our Ward is blessed with a number of landmarks and special neighbourhoods, such as the Toronto Islands, Harbourfront, the Entertainment District, the Financial District, Liberty Village and CityPlace.

Before we leave stats, let’s 2 look at two other wards, for comparison purposes. Ward 11 is immediately North of Ward 10, while Ward 14 is to the East (Greektown), and they both have lower median household incomes.

Ward 11 University-Rosedale

Boundaries: CPR rail and Mount Pleasant Cemetery to the north, Don River and Bay St. to the east, Dundas St. W. to the south, and Ossington Ave. to the west.

Demographics: There are 104,311 people with an average age of 41. The average household size is two people with a median household income of $69,276. The percentage of visible minorities in the ward is 31 per cent.

Candidates: 6 + 1 incumbent 

Other representatives: MPP Jessica Bell (NDP) and MP Minister Chrystia Freeland (Liberal)

Advance voting: Cecil Community Centre Hall, 58 Cecil Street and Rosedale United Church, 159 Roxborough Drive

Voting Day:  Same as advance

Ward 14 Toronto-Danforth

Boundaries: Don River to the north, Coxwell Ave. to the east, Tommy Thompson Park to the south, the Eastern Channel and Don River to the west.

Demographics: There are 106,875 people with an average age of 40. The average household is 2.3 people with a median household income of $71,226. The percentage of visible minorities in the ward is 32 per cent.

Candidates: 8 + 2 incumbents.

Other representatives: MPP Peter Tabuns (NDP) and MP Julie Dabrusin (Liberal).

Advance voting: East York Community Centre Gym, 1081 1/2 Pape Avenue and Matty Eckler Recreation Centre Upstairs Meeting Room, 953 Gerrard St E

I have previously covered the fight over the shrinking Toronto City Council. I won’t revisit it, but you can find it on the Globe and Mail (tgm-guide); the CBC guide (cbc-wards) is also interesting.

I summarized the candidates’ social media accounts in the Google Spreadsheet linked below as well as under the image above. I will delve into it in a future article.

What is left to consider for this article is the neighbourhood associations (or similar NGOs) activating in this Ward or in its immediate vicinity.

• Alex Wilson Community Garden
• Niagara Neighbourhood Now
• Annex Residents’ Association   www.theara.org
• Atkinson Housing Co-op/Alexandra Park Residents’ Association   www.atkinsonhousingcoop.com
• Bathurst Quay Neighbourhood Association   www.bqna.org
• Cityplace Residents’ Association  www.cityplaceresidentsassociation.ca
• Friends of Kensington Market https://www.facebook.com/FriendsofKensingtonMarket/
• Fort York and NA
• Garment District Neighbourhood Association  www.GDNAToronto.org
• Grange Community Association   www.grangecommunity.ca
• Harbord Village Residents’ Association  www.harbordvillage.com
• Huron-Sussex Residents Organization  www.huronsussex.org
• Kensington Market Action Committee www.kensingtonmarket.org
• King-Spadina Residents Association   www.king-spadina.com
• Palmerston Area Residents Association   www.palmerstonara.org
• Seaton Village Residents’ Association  www.seatonvillage.ca
• Toronto Entertainment District Residents Association http://mediamave7.wix.com/tedra
• Queen Street West BIA
• Wellington Place Neighbourhood Association www.wellingtonplace.org
• York Quay Neighbourhood Association   www.yqna.ca

This map better illustrates ward boundaries.

Sources / More info: ggl-ss, TOward10, PDF, wiki-spafy, elon-spafy, tgm-guide, 25wards-PDF, cbc-wards

Andrei Zodian: #ward 10, #election 2018, #gerrymandering, #voting places, #advance voting, #neighbourhood associations, #neighbourhood, #neighborhood, #da hood (Tags)