The Future: Not so optimistic as of yet

The Regent Park area is probably the one being gentrified most rapidly in the city, or at least the one with the most plans for gentrification. If you walk around the area, although it is still very much a low-income, run down area there are signs here and there that it is undergoing a change for the better.

The most major landmark that shows what the future of Regent Park will bring is the massive mound of topsoil at the corner of Dundas and Parliament Streets. This used to be the location for community housing, before the residents were displaced and the buildings torn down in order to build a condominium on the property. Around the perimeter the construction crews have their equipment parked, ready to create change in this ghetto-like area. The billboard on the south side of the development advertises the new condo, which very few, if any, of the current residents could afford.

New businesses in the area also represent the changing face of Regent Park, and provide insight to what the area may become. An example is the Mercedes-Benz dealership just east of River Street on Dundas Street. Although this opened a couple of years ago, it could be regarded as one of the first efforts to change the area. Also, a T.D. bank opened just south of Regent Park on August 28th, which was a big deal, as there are no other banks in the area, aside from a few Money Marts and A.T.Ms, according to a Toronto Star article.

Although the change to come is supposed to be for the better, I couldn't help but wonder, where are the people living below the poverty line that once lived in Regent Park and can't afford to go anywhere else going to go? On my walk the other night, I noticed one balcony that seemed to be more cluttered than the others. This one had four or five bicycles hanging over the railing of the balcony, and others were visible inside. This made me wonder how many people were occupying the apartment, and if there were so many people living in the one place because some of them had been displaced.

Although there are signs that show that the future of Regent Park will be a more affluent, less dangerous, area, there are still many reminders of the history of the area. For example, the graffiti mural on the side of one of the subsidized homes on Dundas Street. In large tag-style letters it reads "REGENT" and then in painted notebooks to the side, it gives the history of Regent Park. Also, there are signs in the area that advertise T.C.H.C., Toronto Community Housing, and maps of the community housing projects. The people hanging around Regent Park are also memories of the past. The ones I saw, anyways. Although in the future, professionals such as doctors and lawyers may live in Regent Park, for now it's the poor, the drunk, the drugged and immigrants to Canada who have lived there since Regent opened in 1948 and very obviously have no place else to go.