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What can YOU do?
Contact the folks below and give them hell!
Joe Casali, Director, Real Estate Services Tel.: 416-392-7202; jcasali@toronto.ca
Lorne Persiko, Development & Marketing, Vice President, Toronto Parking Authority Tel.: 416-393-7294, lpersiko@toronto.ca
Gwyn Thomas, President, Toronto Parking Authority Tel.: 416-393-7276; gwthomas@toronto.ca
Adam Giambrone, City Councillor in Ward 18 Tel.: 416-392-7012; councillor_giambrone@toronto.ca
David Miller, Mayor of Toronto Tel.: 416-397-2489; mayor_miller@toronto.ca
Let us know what you are doing and how we can help each other. matador@savethematador.com
Save the Matador in the media
Giambrone's tango around the Matador
JOHN BARBER
Globe and Mail, October 16, 2007
Councillor Adam Giambrone would rather talk about his recent junket to France, where he goggled at gold-plated infrastructure in his capacity as a "future leader" of la Francophonie, than the dubious future of a clapped-out booze can in his downtown ward.
On his desk there is a stack of brochures, folders and CDs documenting the marvels he beheld in France, each item fixed with a sticky note directing it to the attention of this or that local bureaucrat. Just as the TTC's young chairman once dreamed of creating a new ferry service in the midst of a fiscal crisis, today he dreams of a French-style payroll tax to fund heavy rail. On such subjects Mr. Giambrone waxes smooth and easy.
But when he comes down to Earth - particularly that part of it occupied by the Matador Club, which once served country music to late-night boozehounds - the words stop up.
What he tries to get across is that he no longer wants the Toronto Parking Authority to expropriate the club and replace it with a handful of parking stalls. But he doesn't want to say why: because the sudden appearance of a "Save the Matador" campaign, ably organized by an ambitious political opponent, caught him in the act of doing just that.
"We're not," he began, speaking of himself in the plural, comme d'habitude, then trailing off and rephrasing.
"We didn't watch, umm ..."
Trying again: "We weren't, uhh ..." Another pause, then: "To be honest with you, we didn't give it a lot of thought." more...
Saving the Matador: Let the Wookey win
Arms were up in the air when news dropped a few weeks ago that the city wants to expropriate the Matador club to pave way for a 20-car parking lot. Were these the same arms that had swayed in the air at countless shows at the late-night gin joint? Most likely, but new ones have been raised for the cause, urging the city to reconsider its plans. more...
THE MATADOR: A LANDMARK DECISION
A ruckus at closing time
The city's move to replace a historic nightspot with parking has musicians, preservationists - and the local BIA - singing the blues
DEIRDRE KELLY
The Globe and Mail, September 29, 2007
'They paved paradise and put up a parking lot."
It may be the line from a famous Joni Mitchell song, but the words ring true for patrons of the Matador, a popular after-hours club where Ms. Mitchell has been a regular. As of this week, it has been targeted by the Toronto Parking Authority for demolition.
"I've spent my life here," says Ann Dunn, a 79-year-old mother of five who bought the club in 1962 and has been operating it ever since. "We've been good to Toronto, we've launched many a career, and now Toronto wants to turn us into a parking lot? It doesn't make any sense."
The Toronto Parking Authority wants the solid 93-year-old brick building for a 20-spot surface lot, and a decision to expropriate the property was approved by city council on Wednesday morning. "Oh my god!" Charmaine Dunn, who manages the club for her ailing mother, exclaimed when told of the news on Thursday. "I needed the heart of the Matador and the heart of my own mother - the two are connected - to keep on beating. It's not what we wanted. We at least thought we could negotiate this." more...
Foes play up mix-up on Matador plans
Locals opposed to plans to level the beloved Matador are beginning to wonder why area councillor Adam Giambrone is so gung-ho about the Parking Authority spending almost $1 million of public money to make room for 20 parking spaces. more...
Bullish City Sets its Sights on the Matador
In a thinly veiled attempt at reclaiming some real estate, city officials are setting their sights on the famed Matador after-hours bar, and are apparently stopping at nothing to ensure that it's leveled to the ground and paved for parking. The city initially approached the Matador's owners with an offer of $800,000 which was quickly turned down by the bar's owners, who are prepared to sell, but want a hell of a lot more than the initial offer. more...
Rogue city agency trying to lay waste to Dovercourt streetscape
It was with increasingly incredulous dread that the news of the City of Toronto’s plan to expropriate the Matador on Dovercourt and demolish it for parking sunk in over the last few days. At first it seemed not real — impossible even in Toronto — but then like the way news that the blackout of ‘03 had turned the world topsy turvy trickled in, it was confirmed as true. First it was Christopher Hume’s column in yesterday’s Star, where he used many exclamation marks, but could have probably used a few more. more...
The gap between what the city does and what it says is growing wider.
That became clear recently when we heard that Toronto wants to buy the legendary Matador Club and tear it down to make way for a parking lot. A parking lot! A parking lot!
No, we're not making this up.
This is in the city that likes to pass itself off as the greenest on the continent. As if. more...
Is it closing time for the Matador?
The city of Toronto is taking steps to turn the storied Matador Club – after-hours honky-tonk to waiters, rounders and Hollywood stars – into a parking lot. more...