Developer’s speech angers resident

Re. “Housing mix key for core, planner says,” Nov. 9

The opinions in a speech to real estate developers by Stantec’s vice-president of community planning, Simon O’Byrne, made me cross.

He specifically cites my neighbourhood, Glenora, as a NIMBY community needing more density. Last I heard, Glenora had upwards of 50 skinny homes, several garage suites, duplexes and walk-ups, a seniors’ home, three schools, a highrise and several more towers going up.

He claims “developers are kind of leading the charge” on affordable housing by building skinny homes, corner duplexes and garage suites.

But that charge is toward profit, not affordability. In Glenora, developers have been buying and driving up the price of all the once-affordable postwar bungalows and tearing them down, putting up two skinny homes or one monster house, all priced out of reach for most people. That is why such a process is more aptly called “gentrification.”

This gentrification drives up property values on existing homes and also city taxes.

Consequently, young families can no longer afford to live in my area, and many longtime residents can no longer afford to remain in their homes. O’Byrne’s desire “to make Edmonton a more just and egalitarian place,” while noble, is at odds with the reality of gentrification.

Planners and developers, not residents, are the ones making “the city centre … an enclave of the wealthy.” Lynda Somerville, Edmonton