This shot was taken about a month ago, near the mouth of Mimico Creek on Humber Bay. Erin, the girls and I were visiting Rosemarie and Michael who were staying in a rented condo for a month. We got a couple of weekends of some good grandparent time, and the use of their pool. We also walked along the lakeshore, which was noticeably cooler than the rest of the city.
I cannot overstate how much Humber Bay has changed in my lifetime. The former Mimico motel strip is a wall of condos, and a flourishing street life. On more than one occasion, Erin and I would stroll down to the lakeside to enjoy a coffee or a breakfast. When you’re there, in that moment, you think, yes I can do this. I can live here. The apartment, while small, can act as my bedroom while this, this is my living room.
There is, however, no school nearby. And while the city has supplied plenty of parkland to allow the kids to run around, the fact that families haven’t been planned for here is going to become an issue in five or ten years time. The area is the realm of twenty-somethings, and young couples. But young couples become young families, and then what do they do? Study after study shows that they don’t want to move to the suburbs, but where are the schools at? Where are the second and third bedrooms?
This is an old question, and the city of Toronto is grappling with it. It’s still one that’s going to affect Liberty Village in a couple of years time. It’ll be something to consider with the Port Lands, ten years after people start moving in. I hope they’ve left spaces for schools.