Death of Rail Deck Park a win for developers, loss for city

Planning tribunal dashes city’s dreams of a downtown Rail Deck Park in a ‘hugely disappointing’ decision, May 12

The promised Rail Deck Park in Toronto is no more.

The Local Planning Appeals Tribunal ruled in favour of the developer over the wishes of the city council and its people.

Some say building the park is too expensive, others claim the developer promised to build units for the homeless. These thoughts are caring but lack merit. Yes, it takes money to build a park. We contribute to taxes, so we can have a society we want. Imagine the taxpaying jobs it will create to build the park and maintain it.

COVID-19 has shown the value of green spaces. It does not matter if you live in an ever-diminishing highrise apartment or in a house. We need a place where we see each other at play, relaxing where we feel the sun, the air and the grass. We need the trees, grass and flowers to absorb some of the pollution, which threatens our way of life. To use a cliché, green spaces are priceless.

Across many of our neighbourhoods, we witness what developers have done to our heritage, to our living spaces and to housing affordability. We see boxes rising in our iconic neighbourhoods. There is no architectural interest nor any nod to the neighbourhood.

From previous developer’s unkept or muddled promises, I am skeptical of anything they say, but if they were to keep their promises and move homeless individuals to a condo/apartment it demonstrates a lack of understanding of the struggles of this population.

Research informs us that majority of homeless individuals struggle with mental health. Affordable housing without the necessary supports is only comforting to the developer’s image and to those who, temporarily, do not see homeless individuals on the streets.

So, to the Local Planning Appeals Tribunal, who are not local — please give us our sense of self-determination and let us define and build the communities we want to live in.

Anabela Cardoso, Toronto