Correct Hood Info
As a resident of the area I wanted to correct some information that has appeared in posts past in relation to sex offenders and Holly Jones.
The oft repeated quote about the number of sex offenders in the area was inaccurate and the result of the mania that surrounded the case. In fact depending on which newspaper you read there were different numbers, different areas, and different attributions for the quote. The most quoted was that there were 200 sex offenders within a 3 KM radius of her home.
First off,a simple 3 km radius is the entire west end of Toronto.; Not just one small community. It would take in lots of different communities. Somehow this fact changed to "in her neighborhood" during the manhunt.
The actual number and quote was initially attributed to police and then social workers and then just a "source" but never actually attributed to a specific report or person.
The reality, as written about a year later (2004) in the Globe and Mail by George Emerson, was that the statistic and its implications were a mistake made offhand that got caught up in the media swirl and nobody bothered to question it. Hollys area on Sterling Road, and in fact the West end has no more offenders per capita than anywhere else. Of course a year later the press were all over the Cecila case and the press had moved on and especially online thats why you still see this erroneous stat on display.
This information is important as people need to have a real image of the Dundas/Roncy area and the whole west end. I love the area and have lived in it for 29 years. The area around the Feather Factory is certainly undergoing a major improvement and is worth a look.
That said, the Feather Factory is a cheaply made fake loft that has a lot of legal issues to solve before anybody can call it a residence. More and more condos are having reduced parking as that kind of lifestyle becomes more of the norm but overall the issues here are huge and I really wonder what the developer was thinking. To call opposition NIMBYism is a bit inaccurate as Plazcorp is attempting to circumvent laws, zoning, approval, code, and fees.
In terms of the Giraffe at Dundas and Bloor, there is a fair amount of support for the building as many see that the corner really needs something to bring it back to life (there actually are some god stores there now). A new TTC entrance and a few other compromises are on the horizon so I think the odds are pretty good that it will happen; this is where buildings like this should be put and from what I have seen, unlike FF, this will be a quality building.
