Saturday, February 16, 2019

The invasion of Little Italy.

"Big change is coming to the south end of the neighbourhood at the intersection of Preston and Carling in the form of condo towers. Nearly a dozen projects are either proposed, approved or under construction, including three buildings that will claim the top spots on the cities list of tallest buildings". (From Wikipedia, Little Italy.)
And you want to see a mega hospital on the grounds of the Sir John Carling Building? Ottawa Community Housing recently bought 933 Gladstone, and the area will be transformed into Ottawa's Regent Park. Toronto's Regent Park is a ghetto, a slum and is owned by Toronto Community Housing. Many social housing projects in Toronto are hotbeds of illegal drugs and prostitution. YouTube has a video featuring the former CMHA hood, Google "Regent Park Toronto one of the dangerous neighbourhoods".
The term urbicide is defined as the destruction of a city or an urban area. Urbicide was coined by critics of urban planning in the United States.
Jane Jacobs was the author of "The Death and Life of Great American Cities" and she believed that a city allowed to function properly has a soul.
Residents of Kingston, Ontario have created a grassroots organization to stop the proliferation of high rises on their turf :
"Most residents are frustrated over the sheer scale of development that's being proposed and the perceived lack of political will to stop developers from asking to exceed the height and density rules." From "Residents gather to fight tower power in downtown Kingston" by Bill Hutchins, November 11, 2017.
 Whenever Ontario developers encounter roadblocks they dip into their deep pockets and appeal to the Ontario Municipal Board and they inevitably win. Some local politicians have a condescending attitude towards the individuals who elected them to public office; who pay taxes. I used to watch City of Ottawa council meetings on television. Whenever members of the public gave a presentation a few of the Councillors did not even have decency to listen to them. They would be engrossed in their BlackBerry devices or they would talk to other politicians or even leave the Council chambers. If that is what they think of us in public I can imagine what is going on behind closed doors.




















No comments:

Post a Comment