Toronto Seaton House Redevelopment | 36.88m | 9s | City of Toronto | Montgomery Sisam

The suburban arterials are at least safe and not full of drug addicts/dealers. You're confusing 'dull' with 'depressing'.

No. Streets like Dufferin north of Eglinton, for just one of a thousand examples, are far more depressing than George Street.
 
No. Streets like Dufferin north of Eglinton, for just one of a thousand examples, are far more depressing than George Street.
I was thinking more of the backyard fence abutting the street kind of arterials/parking lots strip plazas (ex. Leslie, between Lawrence and York Mills, and Lawrence Ave E, east from the CPR to basically its eastern limit). Dufferin is one crappy street though, as you mentioned.
 
49 GEORGE ST
Ward 27 - Tor & E.York District

Proposal for an Offical Plan and Rezoning Amendment in relation to a new 9 storey instiutional building that will provide 378 long-term care, 130 bed transitional assisted living, 100 bed emergency shelter, and 21 units of affordable housing with a 4,000 sq m community service hub
Proposed Use --- # of Storeys --- # of Units ---
Applications:
Type Number Date Submitted Status
OPA & Rezoning 16 111311 STE 27 OZ Feb 1, 2016 Under Review
 
The suburban arterials are at least safe and not full of drug addicts/dealers. You're confusing 'dull' with 'depressing'.

It's true. I'd rather see some pine fences lining the streets than people on skid row. Pine fences enclose the backyards of successful people who own houses and have families.

With that said, the plight of the destitute is nothing to ignore:

Almost half of all homeless men who took part in a study had suffered at least one traumatic brain injury in their life and 87 percent of those injuries occurred before the men lost their homes. While assaults were a major cause of those traumatic brain injuries, or TBIs, (60 per cent) many were caused by potentially non-violent mechanisms such as sports and recreation (44 per cent) and motor vehicle collisions and falls (42 per cent).
(source)

The sad reality is that any smart and capable person can suffer a traumatic brain injury and lose everything of value in their lives through cognitive decline--their employment and their ability to maintain relationships, for instance. A person with a TBI can seem perfectly normal but slowly come apart through faulty memory, an inability to concentrate and other subtle cognitive impairments. Some experience negative personality changes and see their relationships with their partners and families fall apart. It leads to unemployment and social isolation.

We need a good safety net and to invest more in research and rehabilitation so that people can get their lives back together. TBIs can happen to anyone. Some people make full recoveries from TBIs, but their effects can be devastating in many instances.
 
^ Agreed. I'm definitely not happy with the closures of so many shelter beds without a clear plan to replace these, as well as improve capacity in the shelter system (which is currently operating above 95%+ daily, in contravention of the city's own policy to keep shelter usage at 90% of total capacity). The new shelter in Leslieville is a good start but it's only replacing the old Salvation Army shelter at College and McCaul that closed last year (and will still result in a reduction from 124 beds to 80 in the new shelter). The loss of 500 of the 600 beds on George Street, as well as the rapid gentrification of east downtown that's closing hostels and rooming houses, is definitely going to strain the system worse and see far more people forced onto the streets for lack of space.
 
It's true. I'd rather see some pine fences lining the streets than people on skid row. Pine fences enclose the backyards of successful people who own houses and have families.

With that said, the plight of the destitute is nothing to ignore:

 
Any forward momentum on this street is a positive thing in my opinion. I'm sure it will also give people a bit of hope to see progress for marginal communities.
 
Any forward momentum on this street is a positive thing in my opinion. I'm sure it will also give people a bit of hope to see progress for marginal communities.

Don't assume that the community is necessarily in favour though - there are complaints about how the plan to decentralize and shrink the shelter operations at Seaton isn't matched by capacity increase elsewhere.

AoD
 

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