St. James Town TV News (Audio): Reimagining Public and Open Spaces in St. James Town
By Dimitrije Martinovic
(Dimitrije is staff journalist at FOCUS MEDIA ARTS CENTRE)
In this episode RPTV Report Dimitrije Martinovic interviews Laurel Chistie, Senior Parks Coordinator and Landscape Architect, and Corrine Fox, Parks Planer, who both work for The City of Toronto, and are directly involved in the St. James Town Connects Framework. The goal of this project is to provide the St. James Town North area with a multi-service community centre, improvements to parks, and the maintenance and repair of St. James Town buildings.
The St. James Town Connects Framework which is the overarching title for the entire project, “builds on the 1989 Community Improvement Plan (CIP), the St. James Town 2000: A Community Action Plan and the St. James Town Open Space Study (2003)” (City of Toronto).
Among the key areas that have been identified by both the city and resident’s groups as having the most impact, the creation of improved parklands and open spaces. Known as the Open Space and Ontario Street Concept Plan, it will include:
* Wider sidewalks
* Connected and safe pedestrian walkways
* Improving open space to better meet the needs of the local community
* Enhancing the pedestrian experience through the addition of lighting, tree planting and seating
* Reorganizing solid waste and surface parking to achieve mid-block connections
Revitalization has become a catch-all term that is being deployed to describe large scale improvements to a neighbourhood– it is however a two-edged sword – and it both gives as it takes away. The gains to the community through revitalization will immediately be obvious, but what will happen to rents as the property value of the neighbourhood goes up and the area once again becomes desirable to upper income professionals and their families?
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