Hundreds visit Build a Better Bloor Dufferin booth

Volunteers staffing our booth at the Big on Bloor celebration July 21were run off their feet by people interested in what is happening in our neighbourhood.

Many people strolling the street festival stopped at our booth to express their opinions and learn more about the proposed development of public lands at the south-west corner of Bloor and Dufferin.

It’s proposed that the three public schools located on the site will be torn down and four luxury, high-density, condo towers be built, with a two-story retail mall anchoring towers that stretch to 47 stories.

“Our booth was perfectly located,” said David Lush who volunteered at the booth. “We were right across from Bloor Collegiate Institute and Kent PS and people could imagine what we are losing with the sale of our land.

“Behind our booth was the 13-storey New Horizon Towers and they could think about what a 47-storey condo would mean for our neighbourhood.”

Over 400 people gave us their names and e-mails and asked to receive BBBD’s newsletter.

In the decade since it was first proposed to sell the 7.3 acre property, the community has consistently said any sale must include provisions for:

• Affordable Housing—Housing must include family-friendly two and three-bedroom units, provisions for students and artists and those with diverse incomes.
• Green Space—the west end of Toronto has less parkland per capita than Toronto as a whole.
• Community Space—A community centre or Hub that can meet the community’s needs for daycare, meeting rooms, performance space and activity centres.
• Schools—a fully funded formula to build a new high school to meet the needs of our students in a new century.