One of the things I love most about this city is how cranky we can be. After living in Kingston for the better part of four years, I've come to appreciate how active Torontonians are in the development, maintenance and planning of their city. Whereas in Kingston, dangerous intersections go unnoticed and delapidated roads go unkempt, Torontonians don't hesitate to get obnoxious in public (and, ahem, the blogosphere) to have their way.
As real estate values skyrocket in Toronto (average house prices have jumped 19 per cent this year, topping out at $409,058 in January), lifting gurus are hungrily eyeing public spaces all around the city looking to capitalize on prime investment. On Wednesday the Toronto Catholic District School Board voted to close St. Cyril Catholic School in 2013 and sell off the valuable land in the North-York area. Its 400 students will amalgamate with St. Antoine Daniel. The land is estimated to be worth about $14 million.
Over in Etobicoke, residents are still waiting on the fate of Fairfield Park, which is one of nine sites the city has put on the market as surplus land. The 4.7 acre lot is considered to be an excellent fit for housing development. The City needs to buy the green space or the park will be developed into residential units.
The Toronto District School Board (TDSB), which owns the Seniors Centre and parking lot by the park, is talking about building four-storey seniors' housing or dense townhouses. Councillor Peter Milczyn has ensured residents the City would only allow low-density units would be built if an agreement over the land wasn't reached, but that's no reassurance for the area's families who use the park regularly and use the green space for soccer games and weekend activities.
It's time to put our lobbying talent to use. Once one school or park is sold off, many more will follow - unless the housing market really is a bubble about to burst. But if housing prices come down - as many predict they will - that means developers will simply hold on to the land until the market picks up again, without doing anything with it. The City won't have control over the property anymore so it won't be a regularly maintained space.
Toronto still needs parks and it definitely needs schools (especially French immersion schools). Parks and schools are complementary goods with houses: The more people moving into a neighbourhood, the more public spaces and schools we need to serve them.
The City is blinded by the mind-boggling profit to be made from its land right now. But we can't let it lose sight of our neighbourhood's long-term needs. It's pretty obvious what will happen if all our parks get turned into townhouses. The mall rat population will multiply and Dr. Phil will set his sights on Toronto's dreadfully out-of-shape youth - and we certainly wouldn't want that.
We've been through this many times before. Spadina Ave. almost got turned into a highway back in the 1960s but thanks to public pressure, we got a subway line instead. Take a look at some of the land at stake around your neighbourhood because it might be one of the many whose fate is in the City's hands.
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