[LINK] "Bloor Street's Perpetual Construction"

[rfmcdonald]

Guest columnist at blogTO Lana B. writes about how cosntrucction at Bloor Street West near Yonge has changed the neighbourhood for the worse, and for an extended period of time.

I started working in the area about a year and a half ago. From what I remember, you could still park at the meters on Bloor Street in 2007. However, in May 2008 construction went full-blast and the transformation of Bloor Street began.

A part of the street has been taken away from the traffic in order to accommodate crowds of pedestrians and flowerbeds. My daily trek to work became increasingly interesting, as construction fences were moving constantly from one side of the street to the next, and you could never predict what route you might be taking the next day! But the noise and the dust from drilled asphalt became contributing factors to an onset of headaches, and even the free facials from The Bay couldn't alleviate the stress.

Never mind the things that are a work in progress... given that financial and scandal problems are abounding, there are growing (perhaps premature?) concerns that what was supposed to be erected at the corner of Yonge & Bloor (the Bazis International condo aka 1 Bloor East) may never come to be. Remember, a whole block of old townhouses housing local restaurants and retail had to be knocked down in order to make way for the Bazis mega-tower project. What would go it its place were it to all fall out?

Go read the whole thing, and look at the pictures.