In today's Star: Christopher Hume offers a robust defence of the Yorkville condo tower projects. My own sense, with all due respect to Jane Jacobs, is that the Yorkville that the projects' opponents are defending, and are sentimental about, has long since been erased.
"For many of Yorkville's self-appointed defenders, the big issue is height. Like many Torontonians, their fear of tall buildings borders on the pathological. Maybe they have forgotten that they live in a city, a contemporary city where highrises are - and should be - a fact of life.
" ... Yorkville already has its share of anti-urban buildings, short and tall, that should never have been allowed. What it needs now are buildings that give back to the neighbourhood, that reinforce the streetscape and re-establish at least the scale and rhythm of the Victorian city. That can be accomplished whether or not there's a tower on top. Indeed, the 18-storey condo at 100 Yorkville would bring more residents, rather than shoppers, to the area and help make it a real neighbourhood. Eyes on the street, as Jane Jacobs might say.