Neighbourhood Alliance founder bids farewell to Uptown Yonge activists

“Farewell for now.”

That was the subject line read by members of the Uptown Yonge Neighbourhood Alliance on Jan. 19 when founder Belinda Karsen sent them an email announcing that, after 10 years in Toronto, she and husband Scott would be taking their young family back to their native Vancouver at the end of January.

Karsen started the activist group in August 2013, in response to a condominium proposal for 2779 Yonge St. that she felt threatened the character of her Yonge and Lawrence neighbourhood. While the initial cause struck a chord with local residents, she says it was the camaraderie forged between neighbours that inspired her to use her organization to hold neighbourhood barbecues and park clean-ups, in addition to the development-related meetings.

UYNA’s boots-on-the-ground duties will now be divided between vice-president Peter Suchanek, treasurer Lisa Cameron and officer Kathy O’Craven, while Karsen herself plans to remain the primary contact at the group’s email address and will continue writing updates from her new home.

“No one person is going to take over my entire role, because everybody’s very busy,” Karsen admits.

Belinda and Scott Karsen met in Vancouver, through a mutual love of running and triathlons. Their 2004 move to Toronto was supposed to be temporary: she planned to earn her master’s degree in English at York University, then complete her PhD at the University of British Columbia.

But their neighbourhood charmed them both, and before she could apply to UBC she learned she was accepted into York’s PhD program. Then she became pregnant with the couple’s first child, Fox, who is now 3, and they bought a house in North Toronto.

“We assumed that we were going to stay here for the rest of our lives,” Karsen said with a chuckle.

But then Scott, a former vice-president of finance, found himself laid off from his job in late 2013. With only “tentative nibbles” to show for his job hunting in Toronto, they finally began to listen to headhunters who were suggesting better opportunities awaited in Vancouver. Ultimately, they secured a new position as a CFO for him there.

Belinda Karsen says she anticipates continuing the sort of neighbourhood advocacy she began in Toronto when she arrives in British Columbia. Fort Langley, her destination neighbourhood, is a historic community with residents who often fight to maintain its character in the face of development pressure.

“I looked at their website and it was really out of date,” she remarked.

She said she is “thrilled” by the legacy of her community projects here, and hopes that it will inspire others to become more involved in their neighbourhoods.
“People shouldn’t be intimidated, thinking they don’t have the right background,” she said, noting that she knew nothing about municipal politics or urban development bylaws before founding the UYNA.

“I think so long as you present yourself as informed and reasonable you’ll be given a lot of respect by both city staff and your fellow citizens,” she said.