It was raining, but I had to go to the pop-up. By the time I got there, people were crowding inside the little tent. “There’s going to be no parking!” I could hear three older men talking to each other. Another man said, “this is going to be a disaster.”
Multiple conversations at the same time. Is the City really going to take away nearly 200 parking spaces to build a tower? And how much of the 41-storey building and 6 storey addition is going to be affordable?
Locals who were there told me this wasn’t about NIMBYism. It was about doing the project in a way that doesn’t ignore them and the community.
“We’re in favour of the project. We need housing. Obviously,” says Billy Papazotos from the neighbouring Legion hall. “But do it right.” He wants to know where people who work in the area are going to park. “The No-Frills is going to have to hire security. Everyone and their brother’s going to want to park there.” Billy says he looks forward to more people coming out and speaking out about their concerns.
Ricky Black has lived in the area a long time. He’s concerned about how the project is going to affect the area. “What is affordable for the people that live in the neighbourhood? Because of the subway, developers want to take advantage. But for people who want to find proper housing, what is feasible?”
Ricky’s right. There are a lot of developments slated for the corner of Dufferin and Eglinton. Huge towers. None of them had any public information sessions on the street, not even tiny ones like this pop-up kiosk. The pop-up is the start of the City’s community consultations. And locals are concerned. Will they be listened to?
Shirley Roburn says she lives in what will be the shadow of the tower. She supports densification but she’s concerned about the size of the project and the City’s process. “It’s top-down driven by the needs of the City. This project is about the City wanting to get shovels in the ground within a year and a bit. That what guiding it. I’m just concerned that it’s going to accelerate gentrification because of the signal it’s sending. The very same day I saw this, the building going up across the street filed to go from 30 storeys to 50 storeys. That’s going to be all market housing.”
The project isn’t necessarily a done deal. But it will depend on how much local people participate in the upcoming consultations.
