How would you feel if a developer wanted to build a new condo on the CN Tower or erect two buildings directly attached to the Rogers Centre?
Satirical signs, which resembled ones used by the City of Toronto to show development application details, showed up in Toronto over the weekend.
Global News found one of the signs in front of Old City Hall showing a ‘proposal’ calling for a 90-storey condo and the conversion of the existing heritage building into a parking garage.
Artists Glo’erm and Tuggy are behind the Development Proposal project, which is aimed at raising awareness about Toronto’s condo boom. Several mock sign designs are posted on the project’s website.
A lot of the condo growth has been in downtown Toronto and one local councillor said the artists got city hall’s attention.
“I see it as an act of political protest and street theatre – it’s almost like it has come together,” Coun. Kristyn Wong-Tam told Global News
“Considering how many development signs there are around the city, one may actually walk by them and just say, ‘Oh, it’s another condominium tower,’ until you realize that the sign is sitting in front of Old City Hall.”
Wong-Tam said the city is “on fire” with condo construction and cranes in the sky.
She said Toronto has exceeded provincially-mandated intensification growth targets, but added public infrastructure investments and improvements to city services haven’t kept up with the development.