[URBAN NOTE] "In Liberty Village, here comes the neighbourhood"

[rfmcdonald]

I quite enjoyed Sarah-Joyce Battersby's Toronto Star article noting the coalescence of King Street West's condo-dominated Liberty Village district into a true neighbourhood.

When Emily Runions moved to Liberty five years ago, she felt like the only mom in the village.

“We would go to the park and you would see the dogs going down the slide more than you would see the kids going down the slide,” said the 30-year-old.

Dogs still vastly outnumber the likes of Runions’ 8-year-old daughter but there are signs young families are setting up in the condo enclave.

A thriving maternity and children’s store, Love Me Do, opened three years ago. Mud outlines the sidewalks where impatient walkers manoeuvre around strollers. And the biggest sign?

“You actually do see kids in Liberty Village,” said Todd Hofley, president of the Liberty Village Residents Association. “If you go to brunch at the Brazen Head . . . you’ll see lots of families in there.”

Hofley, also the condo board president for Liberty Tower, has watched the number of children in his development go from zero to more than 40 in the past five years. Now more than 10 per cent of the units are home to children, ranging from babies to teenagers, he said.