Just over a year after winning the battle to refuse a liquor licence at what the community considers to be a problematic address, Christie Ossington Neighbourhood Residents Association (CORA) are ready to do battle with a new operator at 842 Bloor St. W. who wants to operate a licensed establishment.
According to the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario spokesperson Lisa Murray, applicant Yemane Kideane will likely have to face a public hearing on the issue since the commission has already received some letters of objection after notification of the pending licence application was revealed.
CORA co-chair Angela Blackburn said the neighbourhood has fought hard to clean up the area to sees the licence as a slide back downhill.
This bar and the one across the street, West Side Bar BQ both had their licenses revoked. Police charged the former licence holder at 842 Bloor St. W. (then 12:30 Bar/Bar Bloor) with a number of charges including permitting drunkeness and supplying liquor to underage persons, according to Toronto City Council document which endorsed opposing the licence re-application in 2006.
Although, the bar has since changed hands, Blackburn feels that CORA simply cannot support another licensed establishment in the area, given the history.
"It's not conducive to what we're trying to do as a neighbourhood," said Blackburn. "We really fought to clean up that parkette."
Irene Parkette, located behind the bar, was often littered with beer bottles and cigarette butts in the mornings, said Blackburn.
Members of the residents association would clean the park, digging the butts and bottles out of the children's sandbox.
"We have a lot of children and families in the neighbourhood," said Blackburn, adding the group is trying to encourage members to support local businesses in order to create a more stable area.
Ward 19 (Trinity-Spadina) Councillor Joe Pantalone said that he will be bringing a motion to Toronto-East York Community Council next week (Jan. 15) to request that council ask the AGCO to hold a public hearing on the issue.
"I want to know more and the only way to know more is through proper process," said Pantalone, not prepared to write off the liquor licence entirely.
"I want to be fair to the applicant, whoever they may be."
However, he did add that the community has worked hard to improve the area.
"Good things are happening," he said. "We don't want to see (the neighbourhood) slip backwards."
The Guardian could not reach Kideane for comment. There was no answer at a number listed at 842 Bloor St. W., under the owner's name.
According to the AGCO's Murray, the application process is not yet complete, so a date has not yet been set for a public hearing.