Wards

Ward 27 Toronto Centre-Rosedale

By Sumaira Shaikh, University of Toronto/Centennial College

Profile

The average family household income was $104, 877. Of the 73 per cent of people in the labour force, only 4.7 per cent were unemployed. In terms of education, 63 per cent of the population were currently attaining or had already attained a university degree, with only two per cent having less than a Grade 9 education.

Of the 34,670 households in the area, 73 per cent of dwellings were apartment complexes with five or more storeys. About 32 per cent were owned and 68 per cent were rented.

A highly diverse area, Toronto Centre-Rosedale is made up of a large Chinese, South Asian and Black community with smaller pockets of Filipinos, Koreans, Arabs, Latin Americans, West Asians, Japanese and South East Asians.

Campaign Snapshot

Seven city council hopefuls are challenging incumbent Kyle Rae in the Ward 27 Toronto Centre-Rosedale municipal election. And one word that resonates among them all is "change."

While the election issues in the ward range from the need for political accountability, better transportation, increased management of homelessness and financial accounts, the issue of development ranked high among all candidates.

Situated in the downtown core, Toronto Centre-Rosedale has been rapidly flourishing with new buildings and condominiums. While Rae take a lot of pride in this development for its "architectural beauty," his opponents accuse him of having no long-term development plan.

The ward has continued to grow with high-rise buildings, causing concern among residents about how the city is going to look, and how these tall buildings will impact their quality of life and availability of green space.

Chris Reid, 26, is a structural engineer who says there are serious problems with the way development is heading in the area. The city, he said, is engaged in what he dubbed "dumb growth." "Residents are not saying 'No' to growth. They understand that they need to accommodate the growth," he said. "But they don't see a long-term vision in how the neighborhood is going to look." Rae calls himself the "go-to guy" for neighborhood heritage preservation and urban development and while he has created more than five acres of parks and open space during his 15 years of service to the ward, his opponents say this is not enough in comparison to the need.

"There should be a policy that for every 1,000 people, there should be X amount of green space," Reid said.

Susan Gapka, who has served on the city's advisory committee on homelessness and socially isolated persons, says among the people she has met, she found them to be quite wary of the development in their area.

"We need to have development with a conscience," she said. "We need to have green space, accessibility for pedestrians and increased accessibility for public transit."

Gary Leroux, a candidate who has participated in the renewal of the Nathan Phillips Square and the redevelopment of Cawthra Square Park said the city has a strong official development plan, but Rae just chooses not to follow it.

"The issue is mainly about the official plan. Our current councillor seems to think that he can take it only as a guideline and do whatever he wants," he said. "What is happening is the planning department does one thing, instructors do one, and councillors do one.

"Everyone is doing everything but following the official plan, which is causing chaos in the look of the city."

Carol Golench, a candidate who has worked for the Solicitor General of Canada and holds a doctorate in participatory democracy said the problem with the development plan is that it lacks transparency.

"Development in our area seriously concerns me. We have applications that are proceeding without consultation with the community," she said. "We need to communicate with our communities and need to make sure they are involved in development decisions from the beginning to the end.

"We need to make sure we take a balanced approach to development, making sure we have enough community services and infrastructure to accommodate it. We need responsible development."

Also running are Cam Johnson, Rob Bezanson, and Daniel Young.

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