Regent Park: a real neighbourhood

By Maria Nguyen

Spend enough time in Regent Park and you may find Regent Park an oasis community amid the cold, corporate city that is Toronto.

Where I live, there's no place to "hang" but Eaton Centre, shoddy pubs and pretentious lounges. Some of my neighbours are friendly, but most of them are weirdos, snobs and yuppies. I constantly feel out of place.

But in Regent Park, there are parks, basketball courts, and community centres where people can hang out, play or learn something together. Everybody seems to know one another; they stop and chat randomly on the sidewalks. Neighbours sit in their front yards and mingle; kids gather in front of their apartment buildings and listen to music together.

I don't know about you, but that's what I would call a real neighbourhood: There's always something to do and someone to do it with without spending tons of money.

Even as the buildings come down, wet cement flooding cold grounds and residents relocate, the ccmmunity carries on. Kids still go to school and walk home from school with their moms and friends. At 3p.m. in Regent Park, you'll be overwhelmed by the sounds of laughter and chitchat. Regent Park never seemed deserted to me from the many afternoons I've spent there.

I find refuge and comfort in Regent Park. I've spent a lot of time here the last two months and the place continues to remind me of the places I myself used to live in. There are more trees, more gardens, and more children in Regent Park than in other downtown areas. And that, to me, is comfort.