Toronto has been deemed one of the top 10 most expensive places to live in the world. Shoe box condos can cost $2,500 with only one bedroom available in the unit. Apartments with roaches inside and drug addicts outside can go for the lowest $1,300 (I pay $1,425 myself) and as high as $1,700 a month for a one bedroom apartment.
I have lived in at least 10 different buildings in the downtown area and close surrounding areas from Parkdale to the area in question Cabbagetown. From 1998-2000 I was a resident a resident of 280 Wellesley Street East A thirty-three floor building located at the corner of Wellesley Street East and Parliament Street in the east side of Toronto’s downtown area. The buildings neighbor the infamous Bleecker Street, where a cluster of gritty high rise buildings are located. A mix of public and government housing rentals inhabited by a melting pot of working class people, street hustlers, newly landed immigrants and drug addicts. Through my residency in the late 90s, my roommates and I used to catch 3-4 mice daily on the sticky traps that we felt like we were purchasing in bulk at the time.
Fast forward to now 2019 and the inevitable is happening. The now 50+ year old buildings are failing apart to the point that the residents were forced to live through numerous times in 2018 without running water and/or electricity. As told below in the CityNews Toronto YouTube clips, the residents in the area are currently going through the same turmoil and 3rd world conditions I went through in 1998 as today February 9, 2019. Changing weather conditions seems to have caused a water mane break causing flooding, loss of electricity and heating. Hundreds of residents have been forced to seek refuge, walk up dozens of flights of stairs to their homes and find ways of heating and lighting their homes for any kind of remote comfort.
It seems like a stealth mission to speak to the building management to get any comments on this tragic residential structural break down. In my own quest to get more information on this issue I reached out to an old friend of mine who currently works in the management office. As our conversation started she was very welcoming. However when I notified her that I was doing this story, she shut down. Denying any of the things that are clearly happening in the naked eye of the public i.e. lack of electricity, heating etc. The only quote I was able to get was “Oh nothings wrong. Everything is back on again. I’ll call you back.” I guess the fact that this is a national story now got her spooked, with clear evidence that residents are still undergoing these grueling conditions as you read this article.
Let me know what you think below. Why big cover up? Has there been the massive building neglect that the property management are been being accused of? What’s the worst buildings in the GTA in your opinion?
-FRD
Content Credit:
YouTube.com/CityNewsTorono