Save the Matador!

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We get letters.

We have reveived many, many letters of support. A few of them are posted below.

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I have been watching with grave concern the recent newspaper reports regarding the planned appropriation and demolition of The Matador nightclub for the purposes of creating a city parking lot. City Hall needs to keep in mind that people don’t come to Toronto for business purposes only. They come to be entertained, and not just with sports, big ticket shows, theatre, and the classical arts.

Toronto has always had a vibrant popular music community. This city is known as THE place to come for young performers wanting to build careers and make names for themselves. Unfortunately, there are fewer and fewer places for them to achieve this. The Matador has had a long history of presenting and supporting emerging artists. I will not present you with a list of the established artists who got their start at the Matador. I’m sure you’ll be receiving eloquent letters from many of them. I can only say to you that the loss of this venue will be felt not just in the community in which it sits, but also by Toronto as a whole. A performance space once lost is never replaced.

Please reconsider this shortsighted decision.

Yours truly,
Sylvia Tyson

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Dear Councillor Giambrone,

Thank you for your response. For those distinguished Torontonians that I have blind copied (please excuse the intrusion), you will find it below.

Yes the Matador has a rich cultural past, but you neglected to mention that the Matador is also the place where many Canadian soldiers had their last dance before they were shipped off the to trenches in France, many, many, never to return again.

I am not sure what logical argument can be extended by the City to expropriate a historical building and tear it down for 20 parking spaces on a streetcar line in 2007, the year where Al Gore wins the Nobel Prize. When Mr. Gore accepted the award he said, "I will accept this award on behalf of all of those who have been working so long and so hard to try and get the message out about this planetary emergency," Hello City Council – we have a planetary emergency. We trust that none on City Council want this senseless destruction of a historical building to create parking to be part of their legacy.

I sense from your response that the Mayor and City Council have no control of the Port Authority, OMB and now the TPA (a public corporation owned by the City of Toronto).

We might be inclined to believe this is the case with the first two, but the latter? Is this some sort of rogue organization that you have to lobby the provincial or federal government to get control of? More...

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Toronto City Councillors are seizing the Matador nightclub, a Toronto icon, from its 79 year old owner and replacing it with a parking lot.

Many object to the transaction because of the buildings historical significance, or whether spending $800,000 of taxpayer money for 20 parking spaces was a wise economical decision.

But there remains the broader issue of why government planners should be empowered to steal from people in the name of urban renewal. In a free society, you and I are expected to purchase property without the use of force. Why should government be judged by a different moral code than we use to judge ourselves?

As it stands now, arrogant public officials believe that cities are their own personal

sandbox to play in. Where the government sees 'blight,' its victims see their hard work, their livelihoods and their dreams crushed. Many bureaucrats believe they have a right to improve the community, but there are no community rights, only individuals have rights. Communities only have desires.

Many of us simply blank out while bureaucrats stand astride society like a gang of thugs over hikers they have captured in the woods, robbing us of our private property, in repeated waves of thievery. If the rights of an individual are not respected, we are not a free nation.

Randy Clapp

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To all those concerned:

I saw this issue on the news last night. Quite frankly, I find this to be a disgrace.
I was introduced to the Matador 20 odd years ago, and have always enjoyed myself. It is a one of kind live venue with true musical history which should be fought for, not torn down.
The argument of needing more parking so people can exercise, at the “Y”, is ridiculous.
Directly across the street is a perfectly ugly government building that could make more parking than the Matador lot, why not use that? Another solution would be to stop overcrowding our neighbourhoods that don't have the capacity to take in any more.

I believe this has more to do with the city's personal view of the establishment itself, not lack of parking. It’s pretty much equivalent to stealing by my standards. The city council should be ashamed of themselves.

Personally, I'm floored by the poor management and shoddy, quick fix solutions which City Hall deems to be perfectly acceptable. Your actions are not only arrogant, but also short sighted. You do not have my support.

Sincerely,
Fionna Blair

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Mayor Miller,
Do you want to push Toronto in the right direction? Save the Matador.
We will never be able to claim our place as a world class city as long as we eschew what little cultural heritage we have in favour of the utilitarian. I know it is a small step, but at least it is in the right direction.
Get a move on!

Andrej Kopac

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When I moved here from NYC I became so enthused by the possibilities of this wonderful city.

It truly has so much to offer. History is certainly one of those things that I cherish in Toronto.

Since then I have become very disillusioned by the vision of its managers. We should be encouraging less parking lots in this city and more of a commitment to preserving the great things we have and definitely encouraging less car traffic.

Please do not make it easy for people who drive cars especially in mainly residential areas.

Believe me I know. I gave up my car 4 years ago and know that when you make it easy for drivers they will take the simpler, more polluted way.

Perhaps, I am missing something but why do we need more parking spots in the Dovercourt/College area? Maybe we could simply add more bikestands outside the YMCA.

Respectfully yours,
Bruce Whitaker

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Dear Mayor Miller,

I've recently heard about the plan to expropriate The Matador to make room for a mere 17-20 parking spots. I'm sure the truth is it will be a parking lot for a few years until it can be sold to developers triple the price, for the condos or god know what modern monstrosity will be approved cheapening the historic beauty of that corner. Toronto suffers from a lack of history. Look at any other world class city and you will find a city center intact, the only exception would be once war-torn cities that were bombed.
I lived at 665 Dovercourt for many years. It's a beautiful eclectic neighbourhood that many of us cherish. The Matador has soul, and as a resident and participant in shaping the Canadian music industry I strongly feel it should be preserved. Many artists got their start there, or headed to the Matador after their show to enjoy the friendly inviting atmosphere. It's days as a star-studded boozecan (I once stood in line there with Harrison Ford!) are over but it's still a beautiful historic space full of memories and inspiration. The interior has always baffled me, the size and grandeur is misleading to see it from the outside. The Matador should be preserved, renovated and updated, not torn down. The Ossington/Dundas local business is undergoing a re-birth. Dovercourt/College is next, if you destroy the heart of that area, it will wither.

Please re-think this decision.We should be encouraging people to use public transit, bicycles or walk more. Spend the $700,000 and develop the bike path on the unused train line from The Junction to Union station. It's a treacherous ride as is (I've fallen twice this season) and would accomodate (and likely save the lives of cyclists) 1000's of cyclists a year rather then a few privileged drivers.

Thank you for listening.
Linda Noelle Bush

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Hello

I live on Dovercourt Road just north of the Matador Club. I and the others in my household are vehemently opposed to the expropriation of the Matador Club building for the purposes of creating a parking lot. We do not need a parking lot in this neighbourhood. There is sufficient on-street parking. The building should stay and be used for housing, the club or some alternate arts space.

Richard McLellan

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Mr. Giambrone,

As a long-time Toronto resident who loves her city - and as a former resident of Gladstone Ave (my mother still lives there at 286 Gladstone) I cannot read stories about the city's expropriation of the Matador Club without becoming infuriated. To expropiate and tear down a building with an incredible cultural history simply for 20 or so parking spaces - are you and those who decided in favour of this mad, as in crazy? And you, as chairman of the TTC, of all people should be against this. Doesn't this action go against everything that someone who is supposed to favor the "Better Way" solution to Toronto transportation issues stands for?

It's not as if I don't understand how popular the West End Y is - my husband and I were members there for many years, and our daughter attended the daycare centre there from the time she was 18 months until she was in senior kindergarten. She also took advantage of the many activities, such as swimming, that the Y has to offer. And yes, sometimes members of the Y do get a ticket for parking on College Street over the allotted meter time. (I certainly have on a couple of occasions when I took the car after we had moved out of the area but still members of the Y) but that's life in the big city and the price of car ownership in an area of town that has excellent TTC facilities. If you're serving people in the neighborhood, they shouldn't be encouraged to drive their car a few blocks anyway, especially to go to a fitness centre. It's not as if I'm some tree-hugging, granola-eating zealot - I just understand the tradeoffs that must be made when it comes to owning a car in Toronto. Tearing down the Matador Club shouldn't be one of them.

I also understand that the area is becoming a more popular place for "middle class" types to live. (Funny, how for so long, this incredible area of the city was never given the respect it was due.) But to tear down a piece of Toronto history for parking!!!! Even if parking were desperately needed, I notice that there is at least one or two properties that would be far more appropriate - how about the vacant lot at College and Rushome that I drive by when I take my mother home from the nursing home my father now lives at? think it used to be a gas station, which makes me think that the environmental issues associated with that fact, and the need for soil remediation should anyone try to build on it, makes it a perfect candidate for simple parking. Or how about the large corner restaurant and lot in the same vicinity on the south side of College? Nothing historic about that place. So people would have to walk a few more steps to Dovercourt - it's certainly within your two-block search criteria. I don't agree with expropriating anything for parking, but there must be better options than tearing down the Matador!

You seem like a smart young man, someone who should know better than to support actions like the expropriation of the Matador. But from some of your decisions lately - including your support of razing the Matador - and taking away a person's property to do it - makes me think you've been seriously led astray.

Sincerely,
Zena Olijnyk

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Words can hardly express my outrage at the ill-advised plan to erase years of history to placate a few drivers, by destroying the Matador, all for a few parking spaces.

I'd like to believe that Toronto is smarter than this, that the idea of creating a green and liveable city is more than just an idea.

The Matador is a legendary part of our city's musical heritage, something that deserves to be preserved and treasured as such.

I hate to see Toronto becoming a place that makes things more convenient for driving, but has less soul.

I have seen the level of traffic in our city explode over the last few years, and frankly it's made the city a less attractive and liveable place.

I want our city to be liveable...to have clean air...to encourage public transportation...all the things that make a city great!

We can do better than this!

Tearing down historically important buildings is not the way to move forward together.

I would ask that you give serious consideration to stopping this plan before it's too late.

Once gone, lost forever.

Greg Bennett
Toronto