New Regent: Profit or People

By Drew Halfnight

"Confidence in the future, notwithstanding what may have taken place in the past."

I'm not sure what Jennifer Wells wanted to add to public understanding of Regent Park revitalizaton in her article on the front page of the business section of today's Star.

Judging by the above quotation, it's either not much, or a whole lot.

If Wells wanted to say, as she did overtly in the piece, that Sobey's, Royal Bank and the Tim Horton's will rescue and transform poor, decrepit Regent Park into a post-modern consumer paradise complete with a "living wall" and jobs for locals, then it's not much.

If she meant the quotation as a kind of playful warning, then perhaps there's a whole lot to be gleaned from her cheerful analysis of revitalization.

Are city planners being too hasty with Regent?
Are residents suffering too much in the meantime?
Will the final product still valorize low-income people?

Will the number-one priority be to foster relationships and experiences that will help people develop community and find work in peace and safety?

What will happen to the people at the centre of this whole thing?
Will their story be usurped by the much-talked-about "owners," whose very name bespeaks convenience, cleanliness and low-maintenance when compared to the clunky, cumbersome "rent-geared-to-income tenants" mentioned in the article?

It's the magic of brand. The magic of commerce. The magic of "revitalization."

While I do believe in magic, I think it usually occurs without the help of Royal Bank or Sobey's.
It ususally happens thanks to people.

I applaud Royal Bank for its decision to stick a branch in the area. I live near there, and I know first-hand: it's amazing. As far as I know, there is not a single bank branch from Cabbagetown all the way to lower Jarvis. So hooray for a new bank.

Same goes for big food stores. I'm all for small markets over big-box grocers, but there's practically nothing, markets or supermarkets, in the area. So yippee for Sobey's, too.

And my favourite, Timmy Ho's. What the heck. Are you telling me there was a severe shortage of coffee before revitalization? But maybe Tim's will provide a safe, comfortable, well-lit public place for people to congregate over a tea or coffee late into the night, and that's great, especially when such spaces seem so lacking in Regent.

But if I had any stake in seeing Regent Park re-development work--which I do have, and we all have--I would say that the city and its corporate partners should only be humble, patient and dedicated to the well-being of the people that live there, no matter their income.

And neither the city nor their corporate partners have a perfect record on this. I need hardly mention it.

"Confidence in the future"? I dunno, Jennifer Wells.

I've got my fingers crossed, anyway.