junctionist
Senior Member
The only question here is whether this badinage is worse than the most ignorant sentiment in the Toronto Star comments section.
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I'll call it the Jack Layton demographic, whose concern is primarily about keeping their own little corner of Riverdale or the Annex precisely as it was when they moved there from Lethbridge or Sudbury or Detroit. This ideology becomes--as Mark Kingwell astutely observed--about saying 'no' to things, whether right or wrong. The Jack Layton Toronto is a sort of idealized urban village, where no buildings are over four storeys and a streetcar should be transit enough for anybody.
I would support a ban on high-rises because they block sunlight and create wind tunnels. But banning them for aesthetic reasons is just dumb. There are plenty of ugly low-rise buildings out there.
It's potentially an interesting discussion, though, on how much Toronto's planning culture has changed. When David Crombie was elected, he imposed a very popular universal 45-foot height limit. Such a proposal is unthinkable today. Moreover, the people who would oppose it are the very people who would have likely supported Crombie. It's the same with Jack Layton fighting against the DRL back in the 80s because it would bring more development downtown. There was a real anti-development sentiment that seems to be almost completely dead.
I can only assume this comment was thrown out as bait. Block sunlight?? Wind tunnels?
Quick as you can everybody. Were heading to Bowmanville.