originally published in the Bloor West Villager
There’s nothing like a good action movie to take my mind off my troubles. I used to like walking to the local theatre, but since the Humber shut down, that luxury is gone.
So, instead of a film, I caught a free live show Monday night at Runnymede Collegiate. It was about, of all things, the future of the old Humber Theatre. Upwards of 100 people came out.
First, we sat through the trailer for the building that will replace the theatre. We politely heard the architect PowerPoint his way through the latest design: a ten-story mixed-use retail-condo development, heavy on the condos.
Improvements over the previous design and other selling points came out at every step. Ten stories, not thirteen; 31 metres high, not 40; 50 units, not 92; an award-winning architect came up with the design; it will be a “lantern” (?) at the west end of Bloor Street; the site is underused; it’s close to a subway stop and it’s on Bloor, so intensification here is good.
When the trailer came to “The End”, the action/horror flick started.
People told tales of conflict in the streets: “You can’t turn left from Riverview Gardens (just west of the theatre) onto Bloor, so people race through the neighbourhood instead.” “What will the traffic be like two or three years from now?” “I want my street shut down so not just anybody can drive down my street!”
They took the fight to the alley: “The laneway behind the building narrows to about ten feet.” “Delivery trucks often stop in the laneway to load or unload for other businesses there.” (Hopefully not where it narrows to ten feet) “Part of the laneway belongs to the parking authority.” (If the residents can’t use it, the building needs an entrance off Bloor Street. Shudder.)
It spilled out into the parking lot: “Where do health club members park?” “Are there enough parking spots for residents in the building?” “We already have too much permit parking from people who don’t live on my street.”
To the rooftops: “Most other buildings on Bloor West are two or three stories.”
It could get ugly: “We do not have to become Yonge and Eglinton.” “It’s Bauhaus, Berlin-style.” “As an award-winning architect, do you think you’ll be hanging any awards on your wall for this one?” (The building fits in with its neighbours. And that’s the problem – the neighbouring buildings are ugly.)
Mysterious characters loom on the horizon: “My kids play in the back yard. Who’s looking down on them?”
It gets intense: “Just because the site can be intensified doesn’t mean it should be.” “Do we get a density bonus request if this building goes through?”
Will it be a life-and-death matter? “(In winter,) I won’t get any sun in my building. My poor roses will die! (in this building’s shadow).”
People want to change the ending: “Make it shorter – take out the health club,” “Build stores and the health club, and stop there!”
So far, it doesn’t look like a box-office smash. Stay tuned for the next installment in the saga of the old Humber Theatre.