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Toronto's Bloor West Village-a model revitalization showcase

Alex Ling in his shop in Bloor West Village
Credit Rebekah Nolan
Alex Ling in his shop in Bloor West Village

Rebekah Nolan reports from Bloor West Village, a small community of shops on the west end of Toronto. Initially home to the heart of the city’s Ukrainian community, Bloor West Village is now a multicultural hub. This enclave of mom and pop shops has existed since the 1920s and has a definite small town feel to it. 

Despite being located in one of North America’s largest cities Bloor West Village retains a small town charm and character that distinguishes it from the surrounding neighborhoods.

The tight-knit Bloor West Village community was also the birthplace of the Business Improvement Area model (BIA), which is now used to revitalize and sustain business districts all over the world. 

To learn more about the creation of the BIA, and how it affected Bloor West Village, Rebekah Nolan visits with Mr. Alex Ling, gift shop owner and cofounder of the world’s first BIA. 

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Credit SATW Foundation

Tom Wilmer produces on-air content for Issues & Ideas airing over KCBX and is producer and host of the six-time Lowell Thomas award-winning NPR podcast Journeys of Discovery with Tom Wilmer. Recorded live on-location across America and around the world, the podcasts feature the arts, culture, music, nature, history, science, wine & spirits, brewpubs, and the culinary arts--everything from baseball to exploring South Pacific atolls to interviewing the real Santa Claus in the Arctic.