Coping with construction -- and lots of it -- a key issue in Ward 8

Thestar.com
October 3, 2018
Francine Kopun

The problems facing Ward 8 are laid out at the corner of Yonge and Eglinton.

The streets are partially blocked for construction of the Crosstown LRT, leaving one slim lane for cars moving in any direction.

The Eglinton Crosstown LRT project and an abundance of new condos mean much of the Eglinton-Lawrence ward is under construction.

An enormous drill towers over the intersection, where schools of commuters float up from the subway on escalators and walk through mud to cross Eglinton Ave., past a young pregnant woman panhandling.

Up the block, well-heeled Baby Boomers slide into cars that cost what a house used to cost in this neighbourhood, once dismissed as an outpost and now dubbed “midtown.”

Condos are under construction in every direction.

It’s rich, it’s poor, it’s under construction and stuck in gridlock. This is Ward 8 Eglinton-Lawrence, in the run-up to the municipal election on Oct. 22.

“There’s no community being built and the existing community is being destroyed,” said Marilyn Myers, a long time resident of the neighbourhood, voicing concerns held by many -- that development is swamping existing services, infrastructure and housing.

WARD WATCH

Ward 8 Eglinton Lawrence

BOUNDARIES

Hwy. 401 to the north, Yonge St. to the east, Eglinton Ave. to the south and CNR tracks to the west.

DEMOGRAPHICS

There are 114,395 people with an average age of 40.4. The average household size is 2.6 people with a median household income of $78,670. The percentage of visible minorities in the ward is 31 per cent.

OTHER REPRESENTATIVES

MPP Robin Martin (PC) and MP Marco Mendicino (Liberal).

Voters have three weeks to decide which political candidate will work hardest and best at fixing the problems.

As she did her first time around in 2014, Councillor Christin Carmichael Greb is playing up her connection to Mayor John Tory. Her election website features five pictures of her with Tory and a letter of praise from the mayor. It also mentions she’s a valued ally of Tory and a strong supporter of his vision.

Incumbent Christin Carmichael Greb is playing up her connection to Mayor John Tory in her election campaign.

She won the ward with just 17 per cent of the vote in 2014, and has been criticized for not being responsive enough to residents and for allowing the heritage Bank of Montreal building at Roselawn Ave. and Yonge to be torn down by a developer.

She said in an interview she made streets safer during her tenure, lowering speed limits around schools, adding stop signs and pavement markings to make the walk to school safer for children. She said she brought in changes at the intersection of Avenue Rd. and Lawrence Ave. that substantially reduced accidents.

A mother of three, she was instrumental in getting the city ban on playing street hockey lifted.

She said she has fought to win concessions from developers and that her office did not receive notice that the Bank of Montreal building was about to be torn down.

“It doesn’t have to go through council. We didn’t know about it, my office didn’t know about it. We have changed that loophole now,” said Carmichael Greb.

She said she routinely polls residents to find out what their views are instead of relying only on what residential associations say.

Her best-known opponent is Mike Colle, who represented the riding provincially for 23 years before being narrowly defeated in June. A former high school teacher, he served on York council before moving to Metro council in 1988, where he served as TTC chair.

Candidate Mike Colle represented the Ward 8 area provincially for 23 years before being narrowly defeated in the June election.

Colle announced his candidacy in the ward on the same day in July that his son, TTC Chair Josh Colle, made the surprise announcement that he would be leaving politics after eight years on council.

Mike Colle said there are about a dozen developments underway in the ward and another 15 in the works.

“People feel overwhelmed. The infrastructure just isn’t keeping up. We need some sort of pause and review to grab a hold of this out-of-control stuff and give people a sense that there is a plan.”

He wants a moratorium on demolition permits and wants to establish infrastructure capacity tests that would demand more from developers than a study by consultants paid for by the developers themselves.

Candidate Dyanoosh Youssefi, a former criminal defence lawyer who lost in the old ward by 800 votes in 2014 -- she came third to Carmichael Greb -- said transit in the ward is so poor people would rather drive than ride their bikes or try to take the overcrowded subway.

Candidate Dyanoosh Youssefi, right, seen canvassing last month, wants to focus on building complete communities within Ward 8. "If you just put up highrises and walk away, you're building condos and not communities," she says.

She said young people can’t afford to live in the ward and seniors on fixed incomes are struggling. Schools are overcapacity and the sewage system can’t handle the increasing population.

Youssefi wants to focus building complete communities within the ward.

“If you just put up highrises and walk away, you’re building condos and not communities. It doesn’t have to be that way.”

Candidate Jennifer Arp, a Toronto District School Board trustee, said the ward is one of the most socially diverse in the city, including neighbourhoods like Lawrence Heights.

“What I am concerned about are band-aid solutions. I’ve seen people come in and throw money at the problem without engaging the community.”

She said that during her time at the TDSB, the board rebuilt its governance structure, an experience that she says she can bring to bear on the newly organized city of Toronto.

Candidate Beth Levy said her priority will be to preserve rental stock and affordable housing by requiring developers to include affordable units in their projects.

Candidate Beth Levy says her priority as a councillor would be to preserve rental stock and affordable housing.

She said she will also fight for safe streets and that the proposed Relief Line to ease crowding on Line 1 Yonge-University subway should be the city’s first transit priority.

“I think it’s essential that it get built first,” said Levy.

Candidate Lauralyn Johnston is a Toronto city planner who has taken an unpaid leave from her job to run for office.

Candidate Lauralyn Johnston, a Toronto city planner, says she wants to be proactive, to talk "to the community about things before they become problems."

 “I’m offering a different type of engagement for the community. I want to be proactive -- talking to the community about things before they become problems,” said Johnston.

Eglinton-Lawrence candidates: Jennifer Arp; Christin Carmichael Greb (incumbent); Mike Colle; Darren Dunlop; Lauralyn Johnston; Beth Levy; Randall Pancer; Josh Pede, Peter Tijiri and Dyanoosh Youssefi.