The Vale of Avoca is a Midtown ravine which sits so close to the lives of millions of residents that they hardly seem to notice it. That’s probably because it is “down there” for most of them as they ride over the St. Clair Ave. E. bridge coming and going from Yonge St. and the Line One subway. The Vale of Avoca was most recently in the news last May when large sections of the embankment behind homes on Rose Park Crescent fell away, threatening the stability of the homes. Now five residents association will ask the City next week to begin work on fixing the Vale of Avoca. It is said to be suffering from years of erosion and neglect. As reported by CBC writer Muriel Draaisma, the Deer Park, Summerhill, Moore Park, North Rosedale and South Rosedale residents associations will ask the City’s parks and environment committee at its November 17 meeting to develop a master plan and a working group for the ravine.
STABILIZE EMBANKMENTS
The spokesman for the association is John Bossons. His agenda is to clean up the Yellow Creek, which runs through the ravine, stabilize embankments and return the forest in the ravine back to a condition where there is undergrowth that will keep banks from eroding so quickly. Residents say the network of trails on the east and west sides of the ravines are not safe. Some like to dash across to Yonge Street from Moore Park by way of steps off Rose Park Crescent. But the steps are not sanctioned by the City and are considered to be built on unstable inclines. The name Vale of Avoca comes from the poem The Meeting of the Waters by Irish poet Thomas Moore. Landslide drops Rose Park backyards into Yellow Creek
