Toronto Star: Middle-class communities disappearing

[marmar]

Middle-class communities disappearing
Big increase in poor neighbourhoods in Toronto and more rich districts, according to U of T study

Feb 08, 2009 04:30 AM

Daniel Dale
STAFF REPORTER


"PRIMO PIZZA," the sign reads. "SINCE 1965." Like the store's walls, it is green and white and red, the colours of the Italian flag, and, on the left, there is a cartoonishly mustachioed man carrying a pepperoni pie above his head. This could be any Italian-owned pizza joint in the city.

It was indeed Italian-owned until last year. Then a man named Rocky sold it to a man named Abdul.

Abdul Malik, a 43-year-old Indian immigrant, kept its name and its oven and its sauce and its dough. He made just one addition to the top right corner of the sign, easy to miss if you're darting in from the cold, above the shop's phone number.

"Halal 100%."

"Some people, when they see the sign `halal,' they don't come," said Malik, who also drives a taxi. "We're losing some customers. But we're gaining other types of customers."

The neighbourhood known to Statistics Canada as Census Tract 354 is changing. A community of 1950s red-brick bungalows, sturdy front-lawn maple trees and long, narrow driveways, it seems the very embodiment of white middle-class suburban Canadiana. But like the rest of Scarborough, it is decreasingly white.

And by University of Toronto Professor David Hulchanski's definition, it is no longer middle-class. ........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/article/584203

[Captain Hilts]

1. As someone who lived in Toronto for 4 years and still goes back for chunks of time...

the racial/cultural element here is a bit distracting of the point being made. Lower income people regardless of race are being forced into the suburbs. The high rise apt. buildings near the intersection of Yonge and the 401 remind me of the high rise enclaves outside Moscow.

[NashVegas]

2. The "Donut"

I've seen predictions of the trend: wealthy people in the city and exurbs, not so wealthy in the "donut" between.

What has to happen is people must demand affordable housing for median income-and-under earners in cities, or else get ready to start building medieval-style gates again.

I also think the situation can be relieved with a return to mixed-use zoning to allow more public parks, playgorunds, and neighborhood stores to suburban neighborhoods.

[Captain Hilts]

3. Yes. That happens. Wash DC has something like that.

The article is misleading because there are a lot of really wealthy and successful minorities in Toronto and they live in swanky downtown settings. I lived near Queen's Park. Bloor and St. George area, Grace St. and up in Summerhill and a spell up near Lawrence and Yonge. The Lawrence area was pretty white. Summerhill has a good amount of diversity.

[NashVegas]

4. Letter Responders

Here's a comment on the article:

Sorry George S. the poor are not being attracted to the suburbs so much as being kicked out of the city. The cost to build social housing in the city has become too high with a lot of NIMBYism taking place. The old rooming houses are now being gentrified and the Toronto social housing stock is in terrible shape. This is forcing new social housing and co-ops into the suburbs and crime is following. This is fine in the west end where infrastructure is up to date but out in the east, there is only the 401 and the GO service and no jobs. Where are the poor to find any job even if it's a McJob and how do they get there?

That's why more mixed zoning will be necessary in the 'burbs. For jobs and convenience.

[Captain Hilts]

5. The end of mixed zoning killed large zones of NYC - didn't Jane Jacobs note that?

Mixed zoning is GOOD!