Transit-Led Development and Gentrification: a Case Study on the Eglinton Crosstown

Transit-led Development and Gentrifcation: A Case Study on the Eglinton Crosstown Aayesha Patel Tis essay examines a Toronto neighbourhood along Eglinton Avenue West, known locally as ‘Little Jamaica,’ where a light rail transit (LRT) project called the Eglinton Crosstown is currently being constructed. Drawing on personal observations and secondary sources, the paper examines negative efects of this transit development on the low income immigrant community, as the process of gentrifcation has quietly begun to ‘improve’ their neighbourhood. Residents and small businesses of the area face displacement pressures as developers, Business Improvement Areas, city government, and other stakeholders race to take advantage of urban renewal opportunities which come with new transit infrastructure. Tis paper examines three redevelopment models: Creative City, Eth- nic Packaging, and Green Economy, and how they work together to design a gentrifed future of Eglinton West. In the fnal sections, I critique these visions as racialized class projects, consider the ethnic community’s absence from redevelopment plans, and sug- gest possible planning tools which could promote revitalization without displacement. Introduction levels of immigrants and visible minorities (City of Toronto, 2011). My daily commute entails an observation of the streetscape, people and shopfronts on Eg- With rapid increases in population, high linton Avenue West from the windows of the 32 demand for housing and a burgeoning real es- bus route. Over the past two years I have seen tate market, Toronto’s center of gravity is steadi- considerable change as countless small business- ly moving northwards into inner suburbs such es have vacated, leaving nothing but yellowing as Eglinton West. Te area is expected to face newspaper and ‘for lease’ signs in their windows. redevelopment pressures as diferent stake- Slow movement of the bus is attributed to Eglin- holders race to take advantage of new transit ton being reduced to two lanes of trafc where infrastructure while attracting urban renewal the Metrolinx Crosstown is being constructed. opportunities. Tis study examines the Cross- Projected to open in 2021, the Eglinton Cross- town’s potential long term efects on Eglinton town is a large-scale transportation project West’s residents and small businesses, including which will bring desperately needed improve- the threat of gentrifcation and displacement. ments in service and efciency1. Te light rail Although multiple stakeholders have advanced transit line will extend along a 19 kilometre cor- diferent models for the redevelopment of Eglin- ridor of Eglinton Avenue between Mount Den- ton, none can be defned as mutually exclusive. nis and Kennedy Station (Metrolinx, 2014). In Te Creative City, Ethnic Packaging, and Green this study, I will be looking at the Crosstown in Economy visions overlap, working together in the western end of Toronto between Keele Street designing a gentrifed future of Eglinton West. and Allen Road. Tis strip has a predominantly In the fnal sections, I critique these visions as low-income, working class population with high racialized class projects and explore possible planning tools that could promote revitalization 1 Te $5.3 billion (CAD 2010) investment is projected without displacement. to be 60% faster than existing bus service (Metrolinx, 2015). 6 | Patel | Landmarks fronts. A small business owner who had been forced to relocate from Eglinton West told a local newspaper that “most people living in this community don’t want this condo here… the community should stay how it is” (Aziz & Bachour, 2014). Prices for a unit start at $250,000, a sum far beyond afordability levels of the neighbourhood’s current residents who work low skill wage jobs. Residents have expressed a consciousness of the Crosstown’s negative potential and a com- mon notion that Afro-Caribbean businesses and residents “may not survive the neighbourhood make-over” (Armstrong, 2014). Te community’s well-deserved transit infrastructure remains overshadowed by a fear of displacement and an opposition to commercial gentrifcation2. Tis incites debate on urban socio-spatial inequality and the disadvantage of low-income communi- ties in the distribution of and access to public Figure 1: “Due to unforeseen circumstances.” An example of one of the many small businesses services across the city. along Eglinton Avenue West that have been forced Creative City Vision to shut down or relocate since construction of the Crosstown began in 2013 (Source: Aayesha Patel, Te community’s deep roots on Eglinton 2015). West date to the 1950s when the frst Jamaican Voices of Vulnerability immigrants landed in the area, bringing with them their culture and traditions (Armstrong, Te area of study, known colloquially as Lit- 2014). To honour this, in 2014 a local politician tle Jamaica, has historically been an Afro-Carib- initiated a project to name a laneway behind bean ethnic enclave. According to Jacobs (1985), Eglinton ‘Reggae Lane’ in light of the changing commercial streets which appear to have high neighbourhood. Te name and an additional visible minority populations, multiple vacancies, mural was to commemorate the history and leg- and low levels of maintenance are increasingly acy of Little Jamaica in the 1970s and ‘80s, as a vulnerable to gentrifcation, especially if adja- vibrant epicenter of reggae music. Record shops, cent to new public developments (p. 104). Since recording studios, and concert venues once construction of the LRT began, small businesses lined Eglinton West where the immigrant com- along the strip, largely owned by black immi- munity settled down. Te initiative, led in part grants, have faced pressures of slow turnover by BIAs, is evocative of tokenism as a practice and concerns of increased rent, some having lost of gentrifcation in which cultural and historical 20-30% of customers (Aziz & Bachour, 2014). landmarks are ‘preserved’ to give an area com- Gentrifcation itself is most succinctly de- mercial appeal (Relph, 1987, p. 219). As young scribed as “the production of space for progres- professionals search for creative ambience in the sively more afuent users” (Hackworth& Rekers, places they live, Jamaican culture is deliberately 2005, p. 3). An independent cofee shop, special- constructed in an efort to “recreate a townscape ty bike store, and the sales ofce for a new high- not as it once was but as the gentrifers wished it rise condominium development punctuate the 2 As one resident succinctly put it, “Tis whole neigh- pattern of Little Jamaica’s old, weathered shop- bourhood ain’t gonna be Little Jamaica anymore” (Aziz & Bachour, 2014). Landmarks |Transit-led Development | 7 might have been” (Relph, 1987, p. 223). shops and restaurants catering to the community’s diverse heritage” (Fairbank BIA, 2015). An Local residents of Little Jamaica felt the ini- annual street festival on Eglinton West show- tiative was a token gesture which would not do cases the neighbourhood’s multicultural food much to help with pressing issues in the com- and arts, working to develop “a larger tourism munity such as economic development. Tey pull” (York BIA, 2015). Packaged ethnicity of- questioned whether the city would help to “keep ten facilitates gentrifcation as eforts to beauti- the mom and pop shops open, given the LRT fy and market the neighbourhood as a niche to construction and gentrifcation creeping in” wealthy prospective resident has been shown to (Armstrong, 2014). Te population was well cause a decline of the original ethnic population aware that the initiative was “someone’s polit- (Hackworth & Rekers, 2005, p. iii). Te York and ical move,” given to the black community as a Fairbank BIAs have collaborated with local pol- justifcation for the unmentioned gentrifcation. iticians to deliberately construct a multicultural Residents felt the larger issue was how Carib- urbanity using art and culture in order to ad- bean presence and subsequent displacement in vance the Ethnic-Creative City vision of gentri- the neighbourhood was being neglected (Arm- fcation. Such processes are not novel to Toron- strong, 2014). Te Creative City vision of Eglin- to’s ethnic enclaves. Hackworth & Rekers (2005) ton West as a gentrifed artistic hub is advanced have documented similar forms of BIA-led gen- by local politicians to sell Little Jamaica in a pro- trifcation occurring in Corso Italia, Greektown cess of ethnic branding. Te neighbourhood’s on the Danforth, and Little India. rich cultural identity is being packaged and sold to attract afuent professionals, intersecting the Green Economy Vision two visions as they employ similar practices. Te marketing of Eglinton West as an ethnic Ethnic Packaging Vision enclave parallels aspects of the Green Economy vision, whose main proponent is the municipal Business Improvement Areas (BIAs) of- government. Te comprehensive planning study ten work to actively manufacture a marketable called ‘Eglinton Connects’ ofers an extensively form of ethnicity that targets tourists and pro- detailed vision and planning recommendations spective residents. Te two BIAs included in the in anticipation of Eglinton’s rapid growth follow- study area promote Eglinton West as a business ing the Crosstown’s arrival (Eglinton Connects, and shopping destination, “ofering shoppers 2014). Te plan proposes construction of mid- and visitors a vibrant international market with rise buildings along the corridor and a complete Figure 2a, 2b: “It may be in the decades

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