I went for a walk this week in my neighborhood. I walk there frequently, however this time I paid special attention to what has been happening with the housing developments in the area. As I mentioned in my previous entry, housing is a major aspect of the R-C vision and after acquainting myself with the reports and highlights, I wanted to see how this was physically manifesting itself. The vision mentions several types of housing as desirable. Low-rise apartments, single family homes, row-houses and character homes are just a few. There are many high-rise apartment buildings that have gone up in the past 10 years that do not meet the community members’ preferred housing types. These were probably built in the very early stages of the vision and therefore were most likely approved before recommendations were sent to city council.
As I mentioned in my last entry, there is also a set of low-rise apartment buildings that have recently been completed. This has led to a huge increase in both pedestrian and automobile traffic. When we first moved here 4 years ago, the park at the end of the street was pretty quite and now it is very busy throughout the day and evening.
I also noticed 5-6 lots under construction where older houses have been demolished and new houses are being built. All of these new houses, although not completed look the same. They are all similar structurally and are doing little maintain the character and diversity that the R-C vision claims to embody. The recommendations made by residents do not seem to have been implemented yet. It would be interesting to find out if there are plans to do so in the near future.