Not everybody thinks the same

By: Lori Harito

I'm a little embarrassed to write this, but my sister has never heard of Regent Park.

My sister and I have this thing where we watch Global News at 6 p.m together, then comment on the news and roll our eyes at the garbage that's thrown out there sometimes.

My sister had no clue why I was so excited when I saw Regent Park come up on Global News last week. She's 25 years old, and works at a job where she hires people from every type of community and I'm sure Regent Park has come up many a times.

She had no idea of the reputation Regent Park has, she had no idea it was near where I go to school and frankly she had no idea there was even a redevelopment. When she blankly stared at me while I was explaining everything, I didn't know if I should laugh or cry.

Now I say this because, not everybody lives in my bubble, has my thoughts or has the kind of privileges that us journalists in downtown Toronto have of knowing exactly what's going on in our city. We have a unique perspective on everyday life that some people don't get couped up in their 9-5 desk.

This blog has a theme (I swear): Not everybody knows what's going on, not everyone knows Toronto's neighbourhoods, its issues and stereotypes, and not everyone thinks the way I do, or thinks how I thought they would.

Last week was my week to be surprised I suppose, first by my sister not knowing anything about Regent Park, and then when I spoke to my next subject for the feature, Sean Purdy. He's a wonderful guy who I've had the pleasure of interviewing, and he's one of those interview subjects you can only wish for in your journalistic life. Sorry, I'm not bragging, I just get excited over it! He's a knowledgeable guy and had a lot to say...so I was shocked when he openly admitted that he was AGAINST the redevelopment. Throughout the whole Regent Park experience, through talking to almost everyone that would talk to me at Regent Park, I had never heard one person say they were against this redevelopment. I mean, it's all anyone can talk about. Everybody is looking at it as Regent Park's great saviour....but now Sean Purdy brought the other side to me. Made me see outside the box and made me realize that there are ALWAYS two sides to everything...which falls perfectly in line with my overall feature story.

In his opinion, the redevelopment project has been pumped up by the media way too much, and has been seen as this great development that will help Regent Park. But he doesn't think that it's the solution to Regent Parks' woes, it's just masking the real problems. He thinks there is more work to be done in Regent Park, and one is for people to stop labelling it and start accepting Regent Park.

You gotta love when there's opposing sides.