It looks like a ‘giant cruise ship’

A public meeting was held on Sept. 24 regarding the proposal to build a seven- or eighty-storey condominium on the 2 Laird (at Malcolm) site of the old Leaside Post Office.

This location is literally the gateway into Leaside, at a very busy traffic intersection (really two intersections, one at Laird/Millwood, and another a few feet away at Millwood/Southvale), with an entrance in between them into Malcolm, a one-way street, and another at Krawchuk Lane immediately behind the post office building.

The proposed condo would lead to increased traffic infiltration on a large number of streets in its vicinity, and create a dangerous traffic situation around the site.

It is too big, too high, too dense — in short, it doesn’t fit. One attendee referred to it, all too accurately, as resembling a giant multi-storeyed cruise ship!

This is an issue that all Leasiders need to be concerned about, no matter where you live. If this gets approval, it could be a precedent for future development proposals anywhere in Leaside.

Meanwhile, the SmartCentre North fight continues.  LPOA awaits further answers from the developer’s consultants.  We need more (and more accurate) traffic estimates, for both North and South Leaside. We’ve also noted that an objective retail and economic impact study must be done, and have challenged the city’s hiring of a firm which has a track history of working for SmartCentres.

It’s essential to ensure that the information on which the city will depend, before taking a position on this development, is not biased in any way.

Elsewhere in this issue of Leaside Life is an article from Leaside Unite, with whom LPOA is working closely, with more details.

On another matter, the Eglinton Crosstown LRT-to-be continues to make newspaper headlines. The LPOA supports more and better public transit, but we’ve been concerned since the LRT was first proposed that, once built, surface transit along Eglinton would be drastically reduced or even removed.

LRT stations are far away from each other. There will still be a need for enough buses to carry local passengers.  If little (or no) surface transit is planned along Eglinton once the LRT is constructed, the TTC will be less accessible to Leasiders than currently, and Eglinton will become less safe for pedestrians, especially at night.

The LPOA will continue to keep a close eye on all of the above issues.

And now a question to you:  what is your opinion of the new traffic lights and turning changes at Laird and Wicksteed/McRae?  Do you find them confusing? Less safe than even the previous unsafe configuration was?

On these and other local matters, we want to hear from you. Get to us through LPOA, Sunnybrook Postal Outlet, 660 Eglinton East, PO Box 50055, Toronto M4G 4G1, or lpoa.ca, and leasideunite.com.

Sometimes people ask if they really can make a difference: “I’m only an individual,” they say. All the more reason for you to join LPOA and Leaside Unite: we can be most effective together.

About Carol Burtin Fripp 136 Articles
Carol Burtin Fripp is Co-President of the Leaside Residents Association, and is Chair of the LRA's Traffic Committee. Over the years, she has served on numerous East York and City task forces. Now a retired television producer (TVO and CBC), she writes Leaside Life's monthly LRA column, and has created a daily international current affairs newsletter read from Newfoundland to New Zealand.