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Leslieville / Studio District

Thanks Bill, yes I did and I too believe that etc,,,news did the right thing by publishing the letter. By the way, here is a copy a copy of my text/notes of my oral deputation before City Council on Jan.15/08:

Deputation Re: Agenda Item TE12.7 January 15/2008 Committee Room 1, City Hall Official Plan and Zoning By-law Amendments - South of Eastern Planning-Study-bounded by Eastern Avenue, Don Valley, Lakeshore Boulevard East and the east side of Woodfield Road - Final Report.

TEXT:
Toronto, is hanging on by the skin of its teeth to provide even the most basic services to it's residents. And now Toronto is TURNING DOWN a vast source of revenue from Smart!Centres in Leslieville? Is the City suddenly overflowing with money???? I don't think so !

I am STUNNED that the City does not recognize the ECONOMIC BENEFITS a Smart!Centres Project brings to Leslieville and to Toronto as a whole. I can only shake my head......in disbelieve.!

Here are some of the ECONOMIC BENEFITS:

$ 220 Million Dollars investment in the community

2100 Full and Part Time Jobs

1800 construction jobs over 2 years

$ 5 Million Dollars in development and permit charges/fees

$ 3.8 Million Dollars in annual property Taxes


IMPACT ON RETAILERS

Smart!Centres will not KILL the existing retailers on Queen Street.

First of all, there are at least 60 if not more, 60 restaurants,bars, coffee shops, fast food outlets, deli's etc. on Queen Street East from Connaught to the Don River alone. 60.... !

Secondly, the " retailers " ; are very unique by in what they have to offer; Art Galleries - Antique Stores, One of a kind stores- Retro Furniture Stores - , followed by Animal Clinics, Dental and Medical Offices, a couple of Drug stores and Paint Stores, and a few Gas Stations etc...

The FEAR that these " retailers " will be negatively impacted by the Smart!Centres Project on Eastern Avenue is a MYTH. Even some business have already indicated that yes.... MORE consumers will come to Queen Street because of Smart!Centres on Eastern Avenue.

I urge Council to be SMART!..... and welcome the ECONOMIC BENEFITS Smart!Centres is bringing to Leslieville, welcome the revenue that is generated from this project, and above all..... welcome and help us in the revitalization of Eastern Avenue and Leslieville as a whole.

Thank you

Peter Crawford
 
You might as well say that an extraordinarily cheesy retro-condo won't kill the community, either--yet that doesn't make it any less unacceptable, or worth fighting...
 
I don't see a condo development, that brings more consumers into the community.... as a " kill " effect. Nor do I see Smart!Centres on Eastern Avebue as a ' kill " effect.

What we will see though is a thriving, bustling community with choices for everyone and...the revitalization/beautification of Eastern Avenue as we have never seen before.

I am almost 70 years old, so chances are I will not see this happen in my life time but I hate to think that anyone would want to see this barren dirty stretch of Eastern Avenue remain this a dirty, dark street for the next 10-15-20 years. The City's " vagueness " in disclosing "who-what-when" is coming in gives rise to concern.
Peter
 
PeterC said:
I don't see a condo development, that brings more consumers into the community.... as a " kill " effect. Nor do I see Smart!Centres on Eastern Avebue as a ' kill " effect.

What we will see though is a thriving, bustling community with choices for everyone and...the revitalization/beautification of Eastern Avenue as we have never seen before.

I am almost 70 years old, so chances are I will not see this happen in my life time but I hate to think that anyone would want to see this barren dirty stretch of Eastern Avenue remain this a dirty, dark street for the next 10-15-20 years. The City's " vagueness " in disclosing "who-what-when" is coming in gives rise to concern.
Peter
Click to expand...

I don't think any of us want Eastern to remain the way it is now. It truly is an ugly stretch that I would not want to stroll down on any given day.
That said this development is not the best use for this land. If say a condo project was added and the parking spaces scaled back to a reasonable amount, an not being the centre piece of the development.
Maybe if some of the giant box stores included were scaled back a bit and the project was truly urban and pedestrian/human in scale I would probably support it. In it's current size and state I think I would rather see this built south of lakeshore, say right next to the suburban canadian tire?
This project does do a fine job of masquerading around like an urban development, even though it's the furthest this from urban.
I don't think this will make Eastern Ave any sort of destination street, it will remain a busy, by-bass of queen, except it will be clogged with tons of cars turning into a badly designed big box store in the middle of a tight urban neighbourhood.

and the jobs they add will no doubt SUCK, we have enough dead end minimum wage jobs.
 
It seems to me that many people yap before they know all the facts,
concerning Leslieville re-zoning for the land around Eastern-Lakeshore.
Smartcenters will NOT be a big box, WILL NOT lower house prices or pay lower wages. As for lower wages, next time you all go to Tim Hortons or Wendy's or shop in small stores (Queen St) ask what their employees are paid!
So far as I have heard twice from the City Planners (once at a local meeting and at city hall, all the planners have said is,
"We have a vision, high-end paying jobs offices with stores serving mainly the workers and industries planned " .
What they are, or will be is unknown, and as qouted to myself personally when I asked who are they,the Planners answer was "we cannot release that information to the puplic at this time"
I ask all in here, do not these unknown industries and offices with stores that mostly cater to workers close at 6pm? Do not all these educated high paying people go home and not all live in Leslieville? So after 6pm it looks to me like a ghost town. I ask what economy will this produce for the area after 6pm? Another reason to just walk on by..?
At least with Smartcenters, people will have a choice to "enter" into this area,and spend. Smartcenters opens 9am to 11pm a day.(more shifts & people employed to cover hrs)
And let us not forget offices & Industries open 8am to 6pm a day, Holidays,offices are closed sometimes 2 weeks,and long weekends.

The rezoning of this land will only restrict & limits what comes to Eastern Avenue and Lakeshore.
DavidG
 
The 'unknown factor' what's worrysome the most.
The City has not been forthcoming on what type of high paying industries are planning to locate or re-locate to Eastern Avenue. That is worrysome, very worrysome... hence the unknown factor.. The City has chosen to keep us from knowing what type of companies may or may not make Eastern Avenue their home-base which begs the question: what's the big secret...is it going to be a Slaughter-House that's moving in? Under the City's scenario anything is possible, anything....anything.

Contrary to Smart!Centres who hosted an open house at a local school, showing model versions of the project, and providing the audience a first hand look at the project including traffic configurations etc. and answering any and all questions.

I, as are many others in Leslieville are in favour of the Smart!Centres project and since I don't want to sound like a broken record in re-stating my position over and over again, may I suggest that if anyone still needs more detailed on their proposal to please visit the Smart!Centres website at: www.thefoundrydistrict.com
 
I wonder if anyone here are members of "Working Families for Wal-Mart" or the other astroturf groups trying to prove that there's community support for auto-centric, anti-urban, horrible employers like Wal-Mart (like the time they fired a friend's father because he got hurt on the job at a Wal-Mart, and then had the nerve to go through WSIB).

I note that the website that PeterC posts does not have site plans, just proposed elevations. Inside will be lots and lots of parking. The doors facing the street, I will bet money on, will be mostly locked, making the faux-urban facades veneers at best.

Smartcenters will NOT be a big box, WILL NOT lower house prices or pay lower wages.
Click to expand...

These are the typical tenants of "Smart!Centres":
Wal-Mart (just about every Wal-Mart built since the Woolco takeover in Canada has been in a First Pro / "Smart!Centres" development - is "Smart!Centres" WalMart's developer b*tch?) :
Winners/HomeSense
Rona/Home Depot
Canadian Tire
Best Buy/Future Shop.
Sport Chek/Sport Mart/whatever else Foranzi bought

Big boxes all.

The development will be full of "big box" retailers typical to the developer.

The City has not been forthcoming on what type of high paying industries are planning to locate or re-locate to Eastern Avenue. That is worrysome, very worrysome... hence the unknown factor.. The City has chosen to keep us from knowing what type of companies may or may not make Eastern Avenue their home-base which begs the question: what's the big secret...is it going to be a Slaughter-House that's moving in? Under the City's scenario anything is possible, anything....anything.
Click to expand...

LOL! The city going to allow a slaughter house to move in instead of big boxes! The only ones left in Toronto are decades old, and as if they'd allow that, anyway! The city had something closer to the Liberty Village employment lands in mind, where there's lots of more prestigious jobs as well as commercial (Dominion plaza) and residential.
 
PeterC said:
I don't see a condo development, that brings more consumers into the community.... as a " kill " effect. Nor do I see Smart!Centres on Eastern Avebue as a ' kill " effect.

What we will see though is a thriving, bustling community with choices for everyone and...the revitalization/beautification of Eastern Avenue as we have never seen before.

I am almost 70 years old, so chances are I will not see this happen in my life time but I hate to think that anyone would want to see this barren dirty stretch of Eastern Avenue remain this a dirty, dark street for the next 10-15-20 years. The City's " vagueness " in disclosing "who-what-when" is coming in gives rise to concern.
Peter
Click to expand...


Actually, that earlier "slaughterhouses" reference made me think of another location that's been revitalized by way of Smart!ification of a sort: the Stockyards zone at Keele and St. Clair.

Aside from the fact that there's still industrial/meat operations in the vicinity, all I can say about that stretch of St. Clair is: some "revitalization/beautification". Big boxes on one side; ticky-tacky tract subdivisions on the other. And big deal if it "brings in consumers"...
 
Attention Sean (moderator)
Dear Sean
I have a question, before HomeDepot or Ikea or Leons or HomeSense where did everyone go to get items such as bedrooms dining rooms fridge & stoves computers etc? I know when I remodelled my house before I had to go outside of my area travelling far and wide just to go looking. Letting a Smartcenters in Leslieville will keep residents and $$$ in Leslieville. And by the way please go visit the Wal-Mart in Dufferin Mall (not exactly a BIG BOX)
DavidG
P.S oh, and btw I dont work or know anyone that does work for Smartcenters or Wal-Mart, I' m just a resident who does not want to have to travel just to look for items that are affordable; many residents here feel the same way.
 
DavidG said:
Attention Sean (moderator)
Dear Sean
I have a question, before HomeDepot or Ikea or Leons or HomeSense where did everyone go to get items such as bedrooms dining rooms fridge & stoves computers etc?
Click to expand...

For the record, here's the original Smart!Centre
250px-Eatonstoronto1920.jpg
 
DavidG said:
I have a question, before HomeDepot or Ikea or Leons or HomeSense where did everyone go to get items such as bedrooms dining rooms fridge & stoves computers etc? I know when I remodelled my house before I had to go outside of my area travelling far and wide just to go looking. Letting a Smartcenters in Leslieville will keep residents and $$$ in Leslieville.
Click to expand...

Most of the $$$ will go to a place called Bentonville, Arkansas. I also don't think residents will vacate Leslieville because of the lack of a big box complex. What about Gerrard Square? At least the Home Depot took over a failed Sears store and has brought "bargains" for home remodelling to the area, in a way that doesn't go against city plans for a prestige employment district. Other big-box type retailers, like Winners, have also moved in to the mall, which isn't pedestrian hostile and re purposes an once-dying mall.

Home Depot will also move into Queen West - while I've got issues with that, it replaces a parking lot and an example of an urbanization of a big box store. Same with Best Buy/Canadian Tire at Bay and Dundas. "Smart!Centres" is proposing a power centre, one of the most anti-urban forms of retail out there, where parking is the main thing.

And there's the moral opposition to Wal-Mart, a retailer I refuse to shop at for reasons I have made clear in the past.

Oh, and this.
 
dear Sean
There happens to be more then one person using one computer, under thier own passwords in this house. And as you can clearly see each has a right to thier own opinions, I don't call that "coincidences as you put it. If this is a "problem" for anyone Please let us know.
DavidG
 
wow, looking at those plans sure does show an outstanding amount of parking surrounded by, hhhhhmmmmm looks like big box stores, just like the one all over suburbia. And I think Sean is dead on when he says that the doors facing the street will be locked creating nothing more than a fake urban complex.


and if Walmart at Dufferin mall isn't big box, than I don't know what is. it's huge, a box, and surrounded by parking. looks like bigbox, acts like bigbox, hmmm must be big box.
 
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