Building Cities

As a young child I used to create make-believe cities out of blocks and old shoeboxes. My city housed a large collection of dolls and included a hospital, fire station, stores and many houses (for some reason I never had a police station. I guess I just assumed that my dolls were good). Each night I had to put the blocks away which meant that every morning I had to recreate my city from the ground up. As I grew older the magic of the city was lost to Barbie and Ken, but while it lasted it was fun. Just like my make-believe city, Toronto was once a magical place with room for everyone. Toronto no longer has a place for everyone. In areas like Jamestown and Regent Park the working class is being pushed out. Just like my city, Toronto is constantly being rebuilt. However, instead of improving the apparent flaws, these problems are simply paved over. Slowly but surely Toronto is losing the magic that it once had as problems continue to be patched over with cookie cutter condos that only bury the issue until it inevitably resurfaces. It is time to recreate the magic of the city of Toronto. It is time for affordable housing and realistic solutions for both homelessness and crime. Maybe everyone needs to have that childlike imagination for our city.