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UserNameToronto said:
I will echo AB's comments that the community "vibe" in Regent Park right now seems pretty good. Whoever the are residents are - owners of condos, market rate renters, or subsidized TCHC tenants - they're OK by me. I haven't really seen any sketchy business going on at all.
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Had lunch today at the Paint Box Bistro. I'm actually proud to show off the area to my out of town friends. It's hard to believe how sketchy this area was when I moved into my nearby house in the mid-1990s.
 
AlvinofDiaspar said:
It's bit of a balance - you don't want to cast too wide a net to preclude someone who may have missteped but is otherwise ok, but at the same time it's not a free for all that will end up wrecking the experience for everyone else, all in the name of "social justice" either.

AoD
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But presumably these people were actually rehoused during the RP redevelopment rather than evicted, and therefore in TCHC (or TCHC-arranged) housing elsewhere now. Is this not merely making sketchy business the problem of a different part of the city?
 
dowlingm said:
But presumably these people were actually rehoused during the RP redevelopment rather than evicted, and therefore in TCHC (or TCHC-arranged) housing elsewhere now. Is this not merely making sketchy business the problem of a different part of the city?
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Well, yes. However, the city has a lot riding on this project being a success. I'm sure they're hoping to make a new normal, and having those bad elements back right away could scare off the private buyers, and all this time and money would be for naught. They need to set a new tone in regent park, and having these people around would have made that very difficult. If this area can get a good reputation for at least a few years after it's complete, it will be much more difficult for the old RP to come back and take hold. Taking back all the worst elements before it's seen as a new and different place could have sunk the ship.
 
dowlingm said:
But presumably these people were actually rehoused during the RP redevelopment rather than evicted, and therefore in TCHC (or TCHC-arranged) housing elsewhere now. Is this not merely making sketchy business the problem of a different part of the city?
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In addition to Dilla's points above, there's another negative element that been entirely removed from the TCHC system through the re-housing of RP's population; the illegal subletter or couchsurfer.

http://www.torontosun.com/2012/07/25/gang-members-sublet-tchc-units-tenant

AIUI, many of the nastier folks associated with crime in RP were not official TCHC tenants, but were illegally living in units leased to other people. It's a problem across the TCHC, and one that can be avoided in new RP through careful screening of the returning population.

As a side note, Cabbagetown has become rather overrun by stray cats. My neighbours (including several crazy cat ladies) believe these cats were abandoned by departing RP tenants. My wife and I have adopted two of them thus far.
 
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Admiral Beez said:
As a side note, Cabbagetown has become rather overrun by stray cats. My neighbours (including several crazy cat ladies) believe these cats were abandoned by departing RP tenants.
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Really? Now that you mention it, I have seen a number of new cats roaming Cabbagetown lately but did not make the connection to RP. Interesting theory!
 
Been a while since there's been an update here.

- Wendy's is moving into the retail space of the One Park Place condo at the corner of Dundas St E and Sumach.
- The convenience store (T.O. Fine Foods) at River Street and Oak Street has closed. The space has been gutted completely, there's no signs up for what might replace it.
 
Yea, I passed by and saw the Wendy's. Disappointing to say the least. But when you consider what was there before, I guess it's an upgrade. So far though...Wendy's and Shoppers. Meh.
 
Yes that Wendy's is disappointing. But the Paintbox remains so there is another option.
I noticed too that the convenience store is completely gutted, with no indication of what is going in or when it will be re-opened. And there's been no activity in it, the past couple of days.
 
UserNameToronto said:
Oddly, retail in the West Don Lands is looking much better: Running Room, Tabule, Dark Horse...
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My thoughts exactly. And the projected population for that project is significantly smaller than Regent Park... quite disappointed with Daniels choice in Wendy's. Really no different than McDonald's, which has shown an interest in Regent Park.

From a Globe and Mail article:
Retailers didn’t initially take those locations because it wouldn’t have met the immediate social needs of the neighbourhood. And some businesses aren’t a good fit. When food giant McDonald’s asked about the spot where the Paintbox Bistro now stands, it was turned down. Chris Klugman, a George Brown professor who owns the bistro, has sent local residents to study in the college’s culinary program and has hired them at the restaurant.
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