DUNDAS STREET, FROM ANNETTE/DUPONT TO RUNNYMEDE, IS THE LONGEST, MOSTLY INTACT, CHARACTER AVENUES LEFT IN THE CITY OF TORONTO.

BLOCKBUSTING ON DUNDAS STREET WEST

The frenzied development sanctioned by the city of Toronto is obvious to anyone who strolls on its streets.

In our city, developers frantically bid for every vacant space and building, including the community heritage sites, residential neighbourhoods, places of work and worship without consideration for their intrinsic worth. Developers that have no personal link to the community, and no understanding or care of the history or historic value of these properties and with nothing more than greed in their hearts are replacing the soul of our home with soulless high and medium rise building developments. 

The historic West Toronto Junction neighbourhood is the current “stable residential area” threatened by the Ontario government’s “generous” planning initiatives. Its peaceful and richly greened streets are now under threat with plans to demolish much of Dundas Street. Small businesses, offices of family practitioners, neighbourhood stores and historic houses are to be replaced by massive concrete shoeboxes that in practice, neither serve the provincial mandate, the locals, or the city of Toronto. 

The Junction is a popular destination and a favourite meeting place for locals and visitors from across the city. It is home to many diverse cultural sites, including the oldest surviving Synagogue in Toronto that is still in use, a Maltese Catholic Church, an Arab Cultural Centre, a Sikh Gurudwara, and a Buddhist Temple. It should also be noted that little if any significance is given by developers and the municipality to the Maltese/Canadian community who has so richly contributed to the Junction area for decades. The historical relevance of this community must be preserved and safeguarded by all.

The current government of Ontario has mandated that transportation hubs need to intensify density, but to what limit?  The increase of vehicle traffic on Dundas West street will be significant. An absolute gridlock, a dramatic rise in noise and waste pollution, are among the major problems anticipated. The Neo Brutalist structures will cast adjacent properties into shadow. They will destroy the green spaces in historic yards and cut down century old trees, spaces which desperately need to be conserved as global warming continues. Ford’s vision for West Toronto is, in a single word, disastrous. It is dangerous, and most obviously near-sighted. 

The proposed development plans for the Junction will utterly mar this unique district, rendering it into a poor copy of a chaotic downtown corridor. Not only will the current inhabitants of the Junction lose their homes and businesses, which they've worked so hard for, the rest of the city and province will lose one of our most significant ties to our inclusionary past. Heritage buildings such as the JWT Town Hall, W. H. Ives Tailor Building, Campbell Block, A. C. Thompson Block will be odd ducks instead of part of the cohesive fabric of the Junction landscape.

Ask yourself this: is history important to you as a Canadian, a Torontonian?  Is a street lined with buildings laced with architectural details a joy to look at, to study and discover? Or would you rather walk down a street lined with towering buildings of featureless glass and concrete?

We are asking for your support to save one of the oldest neighborhoods of the city of Toronto, the Junction.

We demand that:

1. All development project applications in the Junction be frozen until the Heritage Conservation District (HCD) study is completed and enacted before any more projects can be approved within its boundaries and any neighbourhood demolition can occur.
2. Forbid all future development projects in the Junction neighbourhood that are not sympathetic to the heritage build form and four-story low-rise by-laws.

PLEASE SIGN OUR PETITION SO THAT WE CAN SAVE THE JUNCTION TOGETHER.