Education: When students face expulsion from school
By David Hayes, Toronto Star, December 11, 2011 Early last June, lawyer Renai Williams led 16-year-old Ian McGrath and his mother, Gillian, into a boardroom at the offices of blue-chip Bay Street law firm Affleck Greene McMurtry LLP. They looked nervous in what Williams realized were probably intimidating surroundings, so she began by telling them […]
The extraordinary richness of the renting world
By David Hayes, Toronto Star, January 5, 2013 Another 12 months of telling renters’ stories has passed and I’d like to start off the New Year by looking back. Sadly, some things haven’t changed: it’s increasingly expensive to live in downtown Toronto and little affordable housing is being built because there is no will to […]
Education: When students face expulsion from school
By David Hayes, Toronto Star, December 11, 2011 Early last June, lawyer Renai Williams led 16-year-old Ian McGrath and his mother, Gillian, into a boardroom at the offices of blue-chip Bay Street law firm Affleck Greene McMurtry LLP. They looked nervous in what Williams realized were probably intimidating surroundings, so she began by telling them […]
From the factory floor to funky tabletop
by David Hayes, The Toronto Star, September 6, 2011 One day, while walking past a cluster of craftspeople at the Distillery District, I spotted some funky looking furniture. In a world filled with laminated particleboard and second-rate construction, these rough-hewn pieces, handcrafted from reclaimed wood and nicely welded metal stands and frames, stood out. They’re […]
Housing coop still thriving 30 years later
by David Hayes, The Toronto Star, November 14, 2009 I recently moved into a two-bedroom townhouse in Cathedral Court, a housing coop in St. Lawrence neighbourhood, and attended my first annual general meeting. Rather than a for-profit landlord, coops elect a board of directors from among the members and decisions are made democratically. Aside from […]
This garden helps a community flower
West end’s The Stop is a go-to place for thousands who benefit yearly from the centre’s food-based programs By David Hayes, The Toronto Star, September 05, 2009 As I walk alongside Opal Sparks on our way to The Stop Community Food Centre’s 8,000-square-foot community garden in Earlscourt Park, she is saying, “If more money was put […]
Never a Wayward Word
To read A.J. Liebling today, 35 years on, is to weep for the absence of such a wickedly skilled scourge. We so need him By David Hayes, The Toronto Star; April 26, 2009 The Sweet Science and Other Writings by A. J. Liebling (edited by Pete Hamill) The Library of America, 2009 1,057 pages, Of the […]
Renter-activist has eye on Queen West
by David Hayes, The Toronto Star, June 14, 2008 Walking the three blocks of Queen West that separates The Gladstone Hotel from The Drake Hotel, Misha Glouberman points out the bars that have opened or are at various stages of construction. “The density of bars in this neighbourhood is incredible,” he says. “People think noise and bars […]
The art of coach house lodging
Historic outbuilding makes winsome abode for collector at a crossroads in his life By David Hayes, The Toronto Star, October 20, 2007 In addition to my girlfriend, Jennifer and I, the guest list for a recent Ed Jackson dinner party included a horde of Mickey Mouse dolls, a detachment of plastic Mounties, a dozen or so Fisher […]
Shameless, driven, mortgage-free
Megan Griffith-Greene and Jeromy Lloyd have put off home ownership to chase their dreams By David Hayes, The Toronto Star, August 4, 2007 Smart, savvy, independent-minded teenage girls don’t have a lot of choice in magazines. There’s Seventeen (“Get the latest fashion, beauty, dating, and health tips. Plus, win freebies, take quizzes, and check your […]