Re Business of Leaside
Mr. Ashworth:
Sometimes being a contrarian is neat. But your recent column on 939 is just provocative.
Consider these points:
1. Residents are not responsible for adding more millions to Diamond’s pockets than the current millions they envision.
2. If the only way they thought they could make money on this site was to over-densify it to this extent, who are they hiring to do pre-feasibility studies?
3. Why is the Leaside community supposed to support the pay of construction workers who likely don’t live or shop here just to build a complex to the detriment of the area?
4. Just because the current building is ugly, doesn’t mean there won’t be something pretty one day with appropriate build constraints.
5. HAHAHA, traffic won’t be worse than what? The mess we currently have with LRT construction. Well, that might be right, but any other suggestions are wrong. With the addition of the condos at 660, 939 and Celestica, the retail in the area will have to grow and so will traffic. That’s a no-brainer.
6. Everyone understands that we may need some densification, and the buildings to the east of this are a good example. The proposed building that Diamond has in mind doesn’t fit with the area at all or with the other sites coming on board at the same time.
Maybe next time, think before you write a last minute accolade for the developer.
David Whittaker, Heath St. East
Re: The Good, The Bad, and The Poopy
I enjoyed reading this article until I reached the part: The ‘Bad’, the ‘Ugly’ and the ‘Poopy’. People who do not pick up after their dogs or leave poop bags in a neighbour’s garbage bin/leaf bag should be ashamed of themselves. Being a dog owner since 1995 (my third dog now) and living in Leaside since 1996, I have seen an increase in dog poop on our property and surrounding area (I frequently look down at the grass when I’m walking because the last thing I want to do is to step in dog poop) and it’s absolutely disgusting when I come across dog poop left on a sidewalk or on a lawn of a Leaside homeowner. I have always picked up after my dogs and have taken the poop bag home and used my garbage bin. In my opinion, there are too many dog owners out there who get a dog but are not responsible when it comes to cleaning up after them or carelessly discard the poop bag in someone else’s garbage bin.
Over the years, I have seen the garbage bin at the entrance of Serena Gundy Park overflowing with garbage, sometimes with large green trash bags on top of the bin or beside the bin. People who do this illegal act simply have no class or morals, in my opinion. At my property, there are two large dumpsters and we periodically see people driving up to them, unloading their vehicle of garbage bags and speeding off. I hope that our fellow Leasiders do not paint all dog owners with the same brush. There are the good, responsible dog owners and then there are the ‘bad’… the ‘ugly’… and the ‘poopy’ dog owners.
Annie Gray
The graffiti pictured at the lower left was done by one of Toronto’s best known artists: Elixir. Leaside Bible Chapel (now Trinity Grace Church) hired him to do this Prodigal Son mural about 10 years ago.
Russell Sutherland commented on a link Leaside Life
