Dear AnnettemeetsJane,
assuming that your UT name isn't just a play on words and that you actually live at Annette and Jane, I'm wondering why you feel the need to weigh in on a building that isn't anywhere close to where you live? As someone who lives with 5 minutes of the site, I think it would have been an amazing addition to the area, even if it doesn't necessarily fit in with the other buildings.
I live at Annette and Jane, which is actually only 10-15 mins. by bike from the site - and not at the other endof the planet as you seem to think. (I actually happen to spend a lot of time in the Bloor and Dundas area as historically that was where we first lived when we came to Toronto. My family uses Keele C.C. on a weekly basis, and we have some involvement in activities at Bishop Marrocco and IRC elementary, but that is beside the point...)
If you look back through the posts you will see that I stated from the outset what my interest in the decision is. A planning decision about the corner of Bloor and Dundas is actually a precedent for every other corner in the city that lies on an Avenue. There are several projects west of Giraffe which also propose tall buildings and I am curious whether the developers will get them through the planning system, and how. Each successful application that includes exemptions to the Official Plan erodes the Official Plan. I am interested in the dynamics of this process.
Please note however: If posters on the forum were confined to commenting on projects within 5 mins. walk(?)of their home it would be a very slow board indeed. Just because you do not agree with a poster does not licence you to start telling them when they may or may not post on a topic!!! Thank you for your interest in my post!
Also, the argument that European cities such as London have density without height is flawed in the sense that these cities have many more subway lines and a much better public transit system than we do. We are forced into buidling density in a limited number of areas, as opposed to spreading it out.
I think that you are thinking about the service in Central London, which is well served by the Underground, buses etc.. Once you get out of the central "downtown" area, Toronto's public transit looks pretty good in comparison. Have you lived in London, or just been a tourist there? London has more lines to spread the population, but the population is 1/3 of the population of the entire COUNTRY of CANADA. Most of the population of London live in low or mid-height buildings. I am sure that one of the transit specialists could produce figures about the numbers of people per mile of subway lines and we could argue round and round with this...but I can't be bothered. Maybe the telling observation is that Londoners generally do not to have cars, and almost never have more than one per family. How many floors of every multiple occupancy building in the GTA are dedicated to housing cars? Remove the four floors of parking from every 16 storey building and you and I might come closer to agreeing about what a disirable building looks like.
Why build beautiful, environmentally friendly buildings when we'll always have the Crossways Mall, two used car lots, and abandoned buildings to look at.
Because of the transit links and other desirable features of the area, the value of the land will increase and the car lots and abandoned buildings will be replaced by buildings sooner rather than later. The question is not when, but what replaces the car lots. As I have also said, I like Giraffe as a bulding. However, I also think that successful cities vary in character and texture as you move from area to area. Toronto currently celebrates the diversity of its communities, and if the diversity is valued it is worth encouraging. Erecting random buildings which do not relate to their surroundings on every Avenue corners, will produce the homogenous, characterless sprawl we see in other North American cities. Giraffe, built at Bloor and Dundas, in 20 years would look as out of place as Crossways does now because like Crossways it is out of character and scale with the rest of the buildings in the area. But that is my opinion, and given that Giraffe will not be built in its current form, a hypothetical argument. The OMB, like me, does not agree with you that it would be an amazing addition to the area. Unfortunately for you, the OMB opinion actually counts, for a lot.
I am sorry that your grapes are sour.
AmJ
