Patricia Starr

So here I am, sitting in Mel Lastman Square reading up on high risk takedowns and money laundering as part of the research I need to do for my new book.  I now live nearby.  The ambiance is fabulous.  A wonderful square to walk through, lots of community events day and night, lots of benches to sit on, some in the sun, some under trees, stores all around if you need to shop, restaurants right there if you get hungry – I just love it. All kinds of interesting people walk by.  And wonderful dogs – I love dogs.  There is this huge bulldog – he must weigh close to l00 lb.  He always wanders over to the tiny water fall next to where I sit –  he enjoys having his chin scratched – it is so interesting how love of animals brings strangers together in friendly converations.

And today is the Korean Festival.  Music, games, interesting food, and such friendly people.   Whoever is in charge of the bookings/programming for the park should be commended. The park is fabulous!

Have 25 years really passed since I chaired Mel’s re-election campaign?  There was no park then – no stores, no restaurants, hardly any traffic and certainly no condo towers.

I wonder whatever happened to Barbara Greene who ran against him?  She had vigorously  opposed Mel’s campaign back then – accusing him of lying to the people about his real redevelopment plans for North York and that he was keeping those plans secret.

“He sold us out!” she kept insisting. “Rubbish, what a joke, ha ha!” was the official response.  Mel won easily.

And I now admit to some uneasy feelingsl – the unbelievable density in this area is about to get even worse – there are six, count them, six, forty-plus story condos under construction at the corner of Yonge and Sheppard – not to mention all the others along the rest of the Yonge St corridor. There are real concerns that the crowds now passing by me today will soon become throngs making access to the park, the subway and local amenities limited.

The density in this area has now created a backlash of condo committees trying stop any further development.  So what is the answer?  Mel was a great mayor and a great personality. Expansion is necessary – our needs and desires change – but what if? What if Barbara Greene had been able to convince North Yorkers about the reality of her allegations? She did turn out to be right And thinking back so many years ago, I wonder why she never produced the kind of documentation that would have strengthened her campaign and might have made a difference.  An interesting  question .

Would we have done better if the pace had been much slower?  Would the Sheppard subway that facilitated the condo developments from  Bayview to Don Mills still have been built arbitrarily  at such a cost?

Hindsight is 20-20.