↗ View this article in the original PDF newsletter
This year both Councillors Cressy and Layton retired after years of service to the Fort York neighbourhood, as well as to the city at large. Joe Cressy represented Ward 20, including the part of Fort York National Historic Site located east of Bathurst St (Victoria Memorial Square and the future site of Lower Garrison Creek Park), from 2014 until the city-wide reduction and reorganization of ward boundaries by the province in 2018. After re-election in 2018, he continued to represent Spadina-Fort York (Ward 10), which now included the whole of the national historic site, until his taking up a new Joe Cressy with his wife, (Courtesy of Joe Cressy) appointment at George Brown College in spring of 2022. Mike Layton represented Ward 19, including most of the national historic site (west of Bathurst St), from 2010 until 2018, when he was re-elected to represent UniversityRosedale (Ward 11). In this newly-defined ward, he was no longer overseeing any part of Fort York National Historic Site. Councillor Layton did not seek re-election this fall. Both councillors, always approachable and generous with their time, worked toward resolving complex ward issues and provided much attention to and support for Fort York. Councillor (and Deputy Mayor) Joe Pantalone, who represented Ward 19 before Mike, provided leadership for the planning, budgetting and construction of the Fort York Visitor Centre. Mike inherited this file in 2010 and continued to secure Section 37 funding vital to constructing the Visitor Centre. At a time when the City’s commitment to the longenvisioned pedestrian/bicycle crossing over the railway from Garrison Common was faltering under Mayor Ford, Mike championed its revival, overseeing a very successful designbuild process by the City’s real estate arm. Mike’s presence was felt within the fort walls, too, as he recalls: “I entered into a 2012 Mad About Marmalade Mike Layton in the Mike Layton) contest but came dead last because my Campari Grapefruit 8 The Fife and Drum April 2022
marmalade was ‘too boozy.’” Along with his work supporting bicycle infrastructure, affordable housing and climate action in Toronto, Mike established the Aboriginal Affairs committee, moved the declaration of Truth and Reconciliation, fought for the Indigenous Affairs Office and championed the Reconciliation Action Plan. For Joe Cressy, opening up Fort York to the wider city has always been a priority. Having grown up and spent most of his adult life working downtown, Fort York was everpresent: “School trips to the Fort as a young kid, concerts and festivals (often on a date) as a young adult, countless evening meetings as a City Councillor at the Visitor Centre, and annual Remembrance Day ceremonies – Fort York has played a big role in my life.” Inheriting the Garrison Crossing project from Councillor Layton, and working seamlessly with the private and public sector, Joe made sure this project, including
its two-span bridge, bike paths and South Stanley Park, was completed successfully, opening to the public in September 2019 (see F&D, October 2019). Joe, and Mike before him, worked closely with David O’Hara, the Fort York Manager, to secure a future system of both north-south and east-west connections and public green spaces following Garrison Creek and the railway lines, with Fort York at the centre, helping to fulfill the vision set out in Fort York: Setting It Right (June 2000). With much of the groundwork now done, Fort York and neighbourhood stakeholders will continue to work with Spadina-Fort York Councillor Ausma Malik, to ensure this vision is made whole. We are grateful to both Mike Layton and Joe Cressy for their skill in working with staff and stakeholders alike, and for their dedication to the public good in advancing both the protection and opening up of Fort York National Historic Site.
Original printed pages
