Special - Sep 1991

Digital Archiving Completed by the Ethnography Lab, A University of Toronto Anthropology Initiative
and Produced in Collaboration with David Perlman/Wholenote Media Inc between July-December 2015.
,-'D
2/DRUM SPECIAL
September 5, 19
a 1
Continued from page 1 ...
Letter from the publishers
If this Downtown West is to thrive as a place for the working poor and
for immigrants, and for the homeless, and for agents of change, and for
yuppies and yumpies and grumpies and visitors, then more than ever
before we need our newspaper. Because the way this city has swelled,
there is no-one to speak for us, but us. Only the small can stay
interested in the small issues upon which downtown neighbourhood life
depends.
We've followed the twists and turns of Kensington for tWo
years now .. -city politics, social services, market matters. We have heard
and learned from people around us--our neighbours, our friends, and
critics.
DRUM has had its ups and downs. We've ended up, too often,
trying to work for all the causes that we discovered needed work. So
we've struggled--how do you you report something in which you
yourself feature? We've grown humbler about other media's
shortcomings, as the list of things we're also afraid tq write about
grows longer. We understand what people· mean when they say "but we
live here."
We have thrown lots of our own money and almost all of our
time into keeping DRUM beating--growing from 4000 copies of a 4-
pager_ to 16000 copies of a paper that has reached 20 pages on
occaston.
We have done so with the help of dedicated people (P~igi
Rockwell, Angie Choly, Mike Milando, Colin Puffer, Kate MacNeill
Burt, Buzz Burza, Larry Walker, many others) who have worked anp
worked, at the nitty and the gritty--the typing, the talking up, the
stuffing of flyers into papers, the delivery door by freezing winter
door.
We have only got _this far because of loyal support from some
individual merchants in the Market (they are the ones in our directory
month in and month out). And St Stephen's Community House took the ·
chance, early, of trusting us to carry their message. While the
Community Business Centre at George Brown College continues to give
time and patient energy in helping us make the slow transformation
from eclectic basement blurt to, potentially, functioning business.
A year ago, the Kensington Market Businessmen's Association
guaranteed a $5000 line of credit for us, at Bread and Roses Credit
Union. It was from this slender thread that our fortunes dangled
through the whole past year. (Remember the recession? The one "they"
say is over? We can't. Remembering is for after. And this one's still
on.) Anyway, the KMBA gave us a chance. So did Blackbird Design
Collective, inspiring workers--making readable newspapers out of our
'lllutterings, from day one. They .worked for very little money, even
when We had it, and for even less, or nothing; when we didn't. And,
most miraculously, taught us steadily to do without them if needs be.
.So each time out a self-made DRUM comes closer to reality~ ~
Two years later, we are amazed and heartened by people who
care whether DRUM makes it or not. Not because they .agree with our
ideas, but because they know now that DRUM also has room for
theirs. · _
No big paper in the big city has the staff or the time to follow
month in and month out 'What happens to Kensington's canopies; or
whether we get a by-law to protect the hundred or so apartments above
the stores here; or whether the hospital puts in housing when they
rebuild their parking garage; or whether we are consulted when parks
and rec. finally decides to do something about our park to make it safe
and suitable for all our people (toddlers too). There are hundreds of '
things that the neighbourhood paper, if it is thriving, and controlled by
the neighbourhood, can spend time on.
Those of you'who know us and have grown with us know that
the end of the summer is always our crossroads. ·And here we are
again, ready not only for another year, -but ready finally to put the
paper into a public pla~e, so that. you who care to can more fully make
it yours.
DRUM at last has a publicaUy accessible home--276 Augusta
Avenue. From this base we can plan how to keep DRUM beating, with
your help, in our part of town. If you cared to read this letter this far
you may likewise care to be part of the planning. Come to our open
house, Sunday September 15. 2-6 pm, and see. ·
~~~~ 7"/~ 13~« .tL
David Perlman, Masha Buell
Open House
276 Augusta Avenue
·(DRUM'S NEW HOME)
• •
Sunday Sept 15
2.00 pm to 6.00 pm
FOCAL
~
276 AUGUSTA
363-DRUM _
276 Augusta AvE
is
DRUM's New
Home
Regular Hours?
Yes, once we hav
them!
In the meanwhile
we'll be there
more often than
not! So drop in tc;
place an ad, chec
the assignment
boards, drop off a
article, share an
idea, pick up sam
back issues (or
help us establish
regular hours!)
Attention all merchants!!!
Are the weekend parking woes
driving business away ?
Tell your customers ...
YOU DON'T HAVE TO WAIT!!!!
Try the hospital's visitor parking:
p
p
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u
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D~ SQUARE ST. ANDREW
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G
D~NDA: &TREE; WEST.., L-..--JG
1 1
I • I •
_.
!I!Di il It . IN
MINUTES AWAY!!!
$3.50 flat rate
(This information is a service of the Kensington Market Busi·ness Ass·ociatior
- phone Bert, 923-9270) ' · ·