Builders on a different clock

Re Street blocks unavoidable, builder says, Oct. 15 Steve Deveaux, the chairman of the Building Industry and Land Development Association, states the building industry appreciates “the frustration for what I’ll call a short-term by-product of building a great city.” He may consider two or three years of blocked lanes “short term” but I suspect those stuck in Toronto traffic jams do not share his opinion.

Perhaps his skewed meaning for “short term” is based on the fact that pre-construction condo buyers are routinely advised by builders that completion dates have been set back and must wait years to occupy their units.

I suspect Deveaux’s view is that if condo buyers can patiently wait for a few years, why can’t drivers, too? The construction industry appears to be operating on a different clock than the rest of us. Greg Sheehan, Mississauga I believe land developers’ interest in Toronto gives the city an opportunity to address the growing issue of tiny sidewalks. Instead of buildings being developed almost to the street line, they should be built on a reduced footprint to have the staging area contained within the boundaries of the purchased land and not require public street closures.

At the end of construction, the staging area’s land can be expropriated by the City and turned into public space such as wider sidewalks. Phillip Roh, Toronto