News & Community

It sounds like a rerun of the nightmare that has held Don Mills in its grip for the past couple of years: Residents at Don Mills Road and Steeles Avenue are threatened with the redevelopment of their indoor mall into an outdoor lifestyle centre. In addition, the developer plans to build 2,100 condominium units. However, the nightmare is scheduled to run in reverse order: the condos are to go up before the mall comes down. Click here to read the story in the North York Mirror.

David Slotnick, an outspoken neighbourhood advocate, is calling on residents and friends to join his Willowdale Neighbourhood Association to help oppose the monstrous development. Kudos to David and his supporters! Toronto needs more committed residents liked David Slotnick to help protect neighbourhoods in the city. If more people stood up to bad development, developers and government representatives would be forced to listen. We applaud and endorse the efforts of David Slotnick and the Willowdale Neighbourhood Association. You can contact David at dslotnick@rogers.com to join his e-mail list.

And to catch a glimpse of the shadows that will be cast in and around the Don Mills Centre if the monstrous condo development proceeds as threatened, click here to read an article on the subject in the Toronto Star.

January 21, 2008
Response to North York Mirror article: Redevelopment of Don Mills Earns Applause (print issue)

Published January 18, 2008

Click here to read the article online.

1. The article refers to the negotiations between a Don Mills ratepayers' association and Cadillac Fairview and two community meetings held by the ratepayers' association to inform the community of the conclusions. The article conveys the impression that the scenario discussed at these meetings is the only option available to Don Mills residents. However, we have been informed by a member of the Don Mills community working group that several other options were discussed at last week's meeting of the working group. The City Planning Department, which runs the working group meetings, should ensure that the wider Don Mills community is informed about these options before "legally binding" documents are signed for the redevelopment. A public meeting organized by the City would offer an opportunity to do that.

2. It is no great achievement that Cadillac Fairview has agreed to "knock six storeys off the two proposed 32-storey condominium towers." The condos will still be towering at 26 storeys--a whopping 18 storeys higher than permitted by the Central Don Mills Secondary Plan, which requires that "...no building or structure will exceed 8 storeys." Why has this been so blatantly ignored by all parties involved in the negotiations? Furthermore, the "knocked-off" six storeys will now be added to the other condominiums that will be built on the site. This is nothing to be proud of.

3. Regarding the anticipated community centre, let's remember that Cadillac Fairview has broken many commitments in the past, including the widely advertised promise to turn the Don Mills Centre into "more than a mall." Let's also remember that it costs money to run a community centre and that the City coffers are empty. Giving up on all that the Don Mills Centre once was to Don Mills is a very high price to pay for an as-yet uncertain community centre.

4. The article quotes Terry West, president of the DMRI, as saying, "The fact that there is a change to the look of the shopping centre is really not going to change our community." Let us not lose sight of the fact that it is not just the "look" of the shopping centre that is changing. It is also its function. The new Yorkville-style "Shops at Don Mills" will not serve the day-to-day needs of Don Mills residents. Instead, they will cater to a new upscale crowd that Cadillac Fairview aims to attract. For most of us, these stores will be useless. Clearly, it is far more than the "look" that is being changed.

The quote continues: "We have to roll with the punches, get on with life and not live in the past." In the case of the Don Mills Centre redevelopment, we are "rolling with the punches" at the expense of our seniors and disabled friends and other community members whose quality of life is severely impacted by the redevelopment, and we are "getting on with life" but are ignoring a huge crime against our community.

The Don Mills Friends website will stand witness to that crime and will continue to make known the evidence that the various parties to the crime would much prefer to bury.

January 15, 2008

Bringing Bloor Street to Don Mills

Three paragraphs in an article in the January 15th issue of the Globe and Mail discuss the radical change in the character of the Don Mills Centre currently underway with the construction of high-end retail stores to replace the shopping mall that was demolished in 2006. Click here to read the article.

One sentence reads, "Instead of enclosed spaces, the new Don Mills Centre hopes to capture the ambience of Toronto's Bloor Street, Vancouver's Robson Street or Montreal's St. Catherine Street, the three top retail areas in Canada."

Demolishing a mall of mostly local merchants that served the existing community's day-to-day needs and replacing it with high-end stores along landscaped streets that serve not the local community, but new residents and visitors whom Cadillac Fairview hopes to attract certainly does alter the character of the Don Mills Centre, which will now be called "The Shops at Don Mills."

It is a crime that this was allowed to happen—a murder in broad daylight that occurred with the blessing of our politicians and others who could have made a difference but instead opted to become accomplices in the crime.

And now we are told that this crime, officially called "Phase One," is anathema—it cannot be mentioned because the only issue now officially under discussion is Phase Two, the residential component of the redevelopment that will further alter the character of Don Mills with high-rise condominiums and the displacement of our medical community at 75 The Donway West. Rest assured, our politicians will approve this phase as well, and we'll get more of Bloor Street in Don Mills.

A murder is a murder, and it does not become undone by burying the body and planting pretty flowers on the grave.

Don Mills is being changed forever—a model community of worldwide acclaim destroyed by greed and lack of respect for human values and community.

"There may be times when we are powerless to prevent injustice, but there must never be a time when we fail to protest."
- Elie Wiesel

December 10, 2007
Don Mills article in Eye Weekly magazine

Shawn Micallef, a columnist with Eye Weekly magazine, has dedicated his Stroll column in the Dec. 6, 2007, issue to Don Mills--"The Good Suburb," as the column is titled. The article does a terrific job at conveying Don Mills history, evolution, and its uniqueness as a role model for effective neighbourhoods. The last section of the article addresses the redevelopment of the Don Mills Centre and its impact on the community. Click here to read the article online.

The article poses an excellent question that Cadillac Fairview and other developers everywhere would do well to reflect on: "This gets to the heart of the problem with quasi-public spaces: what responsibility do owners of such places have to their community?"

Shawn Micallef is also Associate Editor with Spacing magazine and has posted additional material and photos about Don Mills on the Spacing blog, which can be read by clicking here.

November 23, 2007
Cadillac Fairview pulls out of Don Mills Centre working group: North York Mirror

Click here to read the full article.

Click here to read the full letter announcing CF's withdrawal.

October 1, 2007
The Flops at Don Mills and the Complete Transformation of the Don Mills Community

The complete transformation of the Don Mills community, announced by Cadillac Fairview President and CEO Peter Sharpe in an interview with Business Edge earlier this year (click here to read the article) continues with the advertising of the planned "Shops at Don Mills," intended to replace the Don Mills Centre mall that was demolished in 2006.

Anyone who visits the old Don Mills Centre website, www.donmillscentre.ca is now redirected to www.shopsatdonmills.ca. There is no longer a Don Mills Centre. According to this restaurant review article in last Saturday's Toronto Star (scroll down four paragraphs in the text of the article), one of the planned fancy "shops" will be a 23,000-square-foot fine foods store. Along with the planned character-altering through-roads, the five-level parking garage, and the 32-storey condominium highrises, these shops will contribute to the complete transformation of Don Mills.

In view of this transformation-in-process, who can honestly claim that the redevelopment maintains and enhances the character of the area, as required by the Central Don Mills Secondary Plan?

Don Mills Friends has been saying all along that the redevelopment violates the Secondary Plan, but our concerns were systematically dismissed, both by the developer and all levels of government, along with the more than 5,000 protest signatures we gathered in Phase One.

Most hurt by the results will continue to be Don Mills' large concentration of seniors and disabled citizens, for whom the stores and services will be difficult to access, both from the point of view of transportation and logistics, and from the perspective of affordability. Like some wheelchair-dependent voters at Sunday's debate between the candidates in the upcoming provincial election (see http://www.thestar.com/article/262171), many of them will effectively find their "access denied."

Reminder: North York Community Council Meeting on October 2nd:

The North York Community Council, on Tuesday, October 2, at 11:15 a.m., will be discussing Cadillac Fairview's application for a 5-level parking garage to be constructed on the Don Mills Centre site. Click here to read the notice.

Click here to view the agenda for this meeting. Scroll down to page 22.

September 24, 2007

1. COA Hearing September 26th

A Committee of Adjustment hearing will take place on Wednesday, September 26, 2007, to consider another "Minor Variance from the Zoning By-Law."
Click here to read the fence post, which provides these details.

The variance is for:

The construction of a one-storey retail building closer to the line than permitted by the zoning by-law.

September 26, 2007, 3:15 p.m.

Committee Rooms 3(a) and 3(b)

North York Civic Centre, 5100 Yonge Street.

For a copy of the Notice or for further information, call 416-395-7100.

2. North York Community Council Meeting October 2nd

Click here to view the agenda for this meeting. Scroll down to page 22.

3. Wheelchair accessibility of shuttle bus

Last month, Don Mills Friends wrote a letter to Cadillac Fairview enquiring about the possibility of making the Don Mills Centre shuttle bus to Fairview Mall accessible to wheelchair users. We have received a response from CF. Click here to read it.

4. September Town Crier article

Developer appeals to OMB in bid to move Don Mills project forward. Click here to read the article.

5. Community working group

A community working group, at which Don Mills Friends is represented, has been established by City Planning and is meeting on a regular basis to discuss the community's needs and concerns around the new development. If you have any thoughts or suggestions that you would like to have represented at these meetings, please e-mail them to use at donmillsfriends@pathcom.com, so we can ensure that they are brought forward at the next meeting.

August 22, 2007
Don Mills shuttle bus not wheelchair accessible: wheelchair users upset about discrimination

At the July 24, 2007, Don Mills community meeting, a wheelchair-dependent resident asked Cadillac Fairview about the lack of wheelchair accessibility of their Don Mills shuttle bus that runs several times a day between Don Mills and Fairview Mall.

Anne Morash, the Cadillac Fairview executive in charge of the Don Mills Centre redevelopment, said that she had not been aware that the bus was not accessible to wheelchair users. An article published in July 2006 in the Town Crier indicates that the problem was brought to Cadillac Fairview's attention more than a year ago. Click here to read the article.

Prompted by further recent complaints from Don Mills wheelchair users, Don Mills Friends has written a follow-up letter to Ms. Morash, enquiring about Cadillac Fairview's plans to remedy the situation for the upcoming fall/winter season. Click here to read the letter.

We hope for a positive response from Cadillac Fairview that will return to wheelchair-dependent Don Mills residents at least a fraction of the independence they enjoyed prior to the demolition of the Don Mills Centre indoor mall.

July 26, 2007
Residents angry about height of condo towers at Don Mills site

The article in the North York Mirror online edition and posted at this link: http://insidetoronto.com/printArticle/29691 reports on the July 24 Community Meeting.

While residents are indeed angry about the height of the planned condos, they are also angry about the entire project, which completely transforms their community into something it was never intended to be.

The 32-storey twin towers are not the only thing that violates the Central Don Mills Secondary Plan, which calls for change in the community to be managed in a way that retains and enhances the [once] existing character of the area and for the Don Mills Centre to be strengthened as a community centre. The entire redevelopment concept violates this plan, which was put into place to protect an exemplary and well-functioning community. Why is this being ignored?

We also have an indication in this article that City representatives are, once again, poised to hide behind the OMB, saying that "Cadillac Fairview has taken the decision out of council's hands" (by appealing to the OMB in advance of a council decision). The community must not allow them to do this. The OMB is not God. Our city representatives have a mandate to represent our community's interests, and we must hold them accountable for that. At the very least, they must do all they can to fight this atrocity and tell the OMB in no uncertain terms why this monster development does not belong on the Don Mills Centre property. Sending a few complacent staff members with recommendations to the OMB hearing is not enough. But if the entire North York Council rallies along with the community, the OMB will have to listen.

July 16, 2007

Response from the Chair of the Don Mills Foundation for Seniors

The Chair of the Don Mills Foundation sent a response to our July 9th posting entitled "Who speaks on behalf of Don Mills?" and requested that her letter be posted on our website. Although she seems to have misunderstood our communication, which was not issued as a personal challenge or attack on her or any other person but merely stated facts and asked questions that would be asked in similar situations of any other group, the following paragraph excerpted from her letter would be of interest to those who have been following the events of the Don Mills Centre redevelopment and wondered why the wider community was being ignored:

Our interest in Cadillac Fairview is two-fold. We’d like to see a Life-Lease building on the site, so that those seniors still in their homes can have a viable option available by moving to an “aging in place” facility in the community. Secondly, the Foundation needs space for our day programmes as we will need to vacate our current location in a little over a year. We are hopeful that a Community Centre might be able to accommodate us in this regard.

It seems that a further question that needs to be asked is whether it is fair that those who negotiate with the developer and the City have been and continue to be willing to make extreme concessions, which, in phase two, include the potential loss, for thousands of Don Mills residents, of the medical practitioners and services located at 75 The Donway West, to accommodate specific goals of a special interest group, at the expense of the wider community, including the many other seniors and disabled citizens who reside in Don Mills.

As per the Chair's request, her letter (along with the response from Don Mills Friends and our original post of July 9th) is posted on our website at: http://www.donmillsfriends.org/DMF_for_Seniors_Correspondence.htm.

July 9, 2007
Who speaks on behalf of the Don Mills community?

When Don Mills residents or other interested parties write to Cadillac Fairview (CF) requesting the developer take the community's wishes into consideration, they are typically told that extensive consultations with the community have already occurred and are ongoing. How can CF say this when they have completely ignored more than 5,000 petition signatures and countless other voices of protest during the past 18 months? Who are the residents with whom they are consulting?

On several occasions, there were reports that the Don Mills Residents' Inc. (DMRI), a ratepayers' group representing about 1,000 households, was negotiating directly with CF. An excerpt from DMRI's July 2007 Newsletter confirms this:

"It was also agreed [at a recent North York Community Council meeting] that a group of community representatives be formed to meet with Cadillac Fairview and the [sic] City staff to try and resolve issues arising from the Phase Two application. DMRI will participate in these meetings but will continue to discuss our main issues of height and density, traffic, environmentally sound and sustainable buildings, and community services directly with the City and Cadillac Fairview."

In other words, there will continue to be exclusive negotiations between DMRI, the City, and CF.

In this context, it may be of interest to note that a member of the DMRI executive is also the Chair of the Don Mills Foundation for Seniors (DMF) on whose board sits also a CF representative. Further, CF has been a sponsor of events organized by DMF.

In other words, there are ties between CF and DMF, and between DMF and DMRI. This causes one to wonder: Is this just and fair, or does it represent a conflict of interest? And could it be the reason why the wider Don Mills community continues to be ignored?

July 6, 2007
Committee of Adjustment Decision re above-grade parking garage on The Donway West

The Decision Document from City Planning Division regarding the "Minor Variance" permission on the above-ground parking garage is now posted on our website at http://www.donmillsfriends.org/COA, where you will also find several other documents related to this application.

As previously advised, the "Minor Variances" regarding the height of an above-ground parking garage and a reduction in the side yard setback along The Donway West were approved, seemingly to accommodate a specific design of an intended parking garage. This approval was given despite all our letters and speeches of protest, and in spite of the fact that the Central Don Mills Secondary Plan states that above-grade parking structures should be discouraged. Who is discouraging the planned above-grade parking structure?

Not City Planning staff, who, as we learned, have been working closely with Cadillac Fairview and submitted a letter IN SUPPORT of the variance application.
Not the Don Mills Residents Inc., whose president, as we learned, submitted a letter IN SUPPORT of the application.
Not our Councillor, who did not attend the hearing and did not provide any information to our group regarding the application or the hearing, even though we had been promised inclusion in a community consulting group that was supposed to be formed.

It is clear that, by supporting the Minor Variance application, these parties support the construction of the parking garage itself and are thus paving the way for a speedy site plan approval before the majority of Don Mills residents even learn of the plans for it.

It is clear that the City, at various levels, is cooperating with the developer and is, once again, poised to ignore the wider community.

Make no mistake: The fancy public hearings and public meetings and consultations are just a charade--a circus paid for with taxpayers' money. Oh yes, they'll pretend to listen, but they'll turn around and approve whatever they planned to approve all along, no matter what the residents say.

Without massive, vocal, and persistent public resistance, not only at the July 24 Public Meeting but beyond, we will soon have a high-rise condominium jungle, a parking garage, and horrible traffic congestion in Don Mills, along with all the increased noise, pollution, blocked sunlight, and nasty wind tunnels that those things bring---courtesy of those who claim to be acting on our behalf in negotiations with the developer.

So, what will you do? Will you stand up for your community? It's up to you, folks...

June 20, 2007
Committee of Adjustment Decision re Above-Ground Multi-Level Parking Garage along The Donway West

Thank you to everyone who came out to the Committee of Adjustment Hearing on Wednesday, June 20, and/or wrote a letter to oppose Cadillac Fairview's application for a "minor variance" permission in building an above-ground multi-level parking garage along The Donway West.

Several of us stated our concerns at the Hearing, and you can read some of our letters on the COA page of our website: http://www.donmillsfriends.org/COA. On this page, you will also find background information regarding the application.

At the Hearing, we learned that Terry West, the president of Don Mills Residents Inc., had submitted a letter IN SUPPORT OF the application. He was not present at the meeting. We also learned that City staff had worked closely with Cadillac Fairview and was IN SUPPORT OF the application.

After listening to our concerns and asking a few questions, the Committee approved the application.

Afterwards, one of the Committee members walked up to us and said: "I sympathize with your concerns. Where is your Councillor? You need to take up this matter with your Councillor." Indeed, where was our Councillor? Why was he not at the Hearing, defending the Don Mills community?

May 7, 2007:
North York Community Council Decision re Don Mills Centre

At the North York Community Council Meeting on May 1, 2007, Don Mills Friends was represented by several of our members, some of whom made a deputation. To read the text of the deputation made on behalf of Don Mills Friends, click here. To read a letter sent to Council by a Don Mills resident, click here.

The "decision document" pertaining to the May 1st North York Community Council Meeting is now available online; click here. To review the Council decision for the Preliminary Report--Official Plan and Zoning Amendment Applications for the Don Mills Centre site, scroll down to page 34 in this document.

We welcome the decision to hold a community meeting regarding phase two of Cadillac Fairview's Don Mills Centre redevelopment application, as well as the inclusion of Don Mills Friends and other groups of residents in an ongoing community consultation process.

However, we must not lose sight of the simple and obvious fact that this application (click here for details) contravenes the Central Don Mills Secondary Plan, which calls for change in the community to be managed in a manner that "retains and enhances the [once] existing character of the area" and calls for the Don Mills Centre to "be strengthened as a community centre." Clearly, neither of these conditions is respected in this application. There are many other specific points in the Secondary Plan that are also violated. And, of course, the application specifically requests an amendment of the Official Plan and zoning requirements.

One of the foreseeable outcomes for the community to remain aware of is that the City, and the small group of Don Mills representatives who have traditionally been involved in negotiations with Cadillac Fairview, will use the community centre concept, for which they have been building up an appetite among residents, as a bait and bargaining tool to convince the community to concede to Cadillac Fairview's requests for an Official Plan Amendment and Rezoning.

There should be no negotiations and no bargaining to permit the violation of regulations that were specifically put in place to protect a community and its character.

March 28, 2007:
Transforming the Don Mills Community

For anyone who had any doubts about Cadillac Fairview's intent to transform not only the Don Mills Centre, but the entire Don Mills community,
here is an interesting read:

In this Business Edge interview, http://www.businessedge.ca/article.cfm/newsID/14993.cfm, Cadillac Fairview's president and CEO, Peter Sharpe, has the following to say about the Don Mills Centre redevelopment:

We are currently in the midst of a complete redevelopment of the Don Mills Mall in Toronto into an outdoor-lifestyle centre that will transform the space and the community into a mixed-use, residential, retail and office space. This leading-edge design and the new retailers it will attract to the area will certainly make it a destination that people will come from far away to enjoy.

Note that he says that the "complete redevelopment...will transform the space and the community."
There you have it.

This transformation of Canada's model community is proceeding against the community's wishes and despite the fact that Don Mills is supposedly enjoying protection through the Central Don Mills Secondary Plan, which requires change in the community to be managed "in a way that retains and enhances the [once] existing character of the area," and despite the Ontario Government's recognition of Don Mills as a heritage area.

Something has clearly gone very wrong in Don Mills, and the continued silence of our mayor and other politicians is infuriating, to say the least.

PR Nation has responded to the interview with a terrific new post on its Don Mills blog appropriately titled "Interview with the Vampire." Check it out here:

Interview with the Vampire

March 20, 2007:

Mr. and Mrs. Douglas Lee join Don Mills Friends

Don Mills Friends is pleased to announce that Douglas Lee, MBA, MSc, Hon. OAA, FRAIC, known as "the Architect-in-Charge" for Don Mills, and Mrs. Lee, have joined Don Mills Friends as honorary members, alongside Mr. and Mrs. Macklin Hancock (Don Mills Master Planner) and Mr. and Mrs. Henry Fliess (distinguished Don Mills architect), who joined in January.

All three gentlemen were honoured at a recent Don Mills Heritage Celebration with a tribute for their outstanding contributions in the planning and building of Don Mills, Canada's award-winning model community.

"The event brought back many memories of the work and dedication of a young group of planners, architects and engineers, whose ideas and ideals at the time were not always shared by the business and development communities," wrote Mr. Lee in an e-mail to Don Mills Friends. "So it was especially gratifying to be honoured in this way and to see that our efforts of many years past were appreciated by Don Millers young and old, and especially the old."

Mr. Lee concluded by saying, "Don Mills Friends should be commended for your efforts to save and protect the qualities of life that the Don Mills community is able to provide, and Mrs. Lee and I wish you every success in your endeavours."

Don Mills Friends extends a warm welcome to Mr. and Mrs. Douglas Lee.

March 1, 2007:
Don Mills Heritage Celebration a Great Success

Thank you to everyone who came out to our Don Mills Heritage Celebration on Wednesday evening, Feb. 28. As City Councillor Denzil Minnan-Wong pointed out, the auditorium at the Don Mills Library was filled to capacity, with some of those attending only able to find standing room at the back and in the doorway, spilling over into the lobby area.

The event was a unique opportunity to meet and greet our guests of honour, Don Mills Master Planner Macklin Hancock and renowned Don Mills architects Douglas Lee and Henry Fliess, as well as Globe and Mail columnist and CFRB radio show host Dave LeBlanc and Toronto Sun columnist, author, and AM740 radio broadcaster Mike Filey. Videotaped interviews with Messrs. Hancock and Fliess, and a live interview with Mr. Lee offered unique glimpses into the origins of Canada's first planned community and the amazing skills, planning, and building that contributed to its creation.

Special thanks to our guest speakers, The Hon. Yasmin Ratansi, M.P. for Don Valley East, and Denzil Minnan-Wong, City Councillor for Ward 34. Ms. Ratansi noted that the large turnout at the event was an indication of how much people appreciate living in Don Mills and how greatly they value their community. Mr. Minnan-Wong pointed out that the builders of Don Mills had built not only homes and buildings but an actual living community.

Ms. Ratansi also read a special message from The Hon. John Godfrey, M.P. for Don Valley West. In his letter of congratulation, Mr. Godfrey refers to Messrs. Hancock, Lee, and Fliess as "urban visionaries."

"As we currently give greater consideration to the impact of global warming and climate change in our lives," Mr. Godfrey's letter states, "it is very impressive to think Mr. Hancock, Mr. Fliess and Mr. Lee were so many years ahead of their time in their environmentally friendly vision for Don Mills. Their idea of a community surrounded by greenbelt with pedestrian paths leading to schools, parks and businesses, along with the integration of industry into the community allowing residents to live and work in the same area, are features which have proven to be timeless."

Click here to read the full text of Mr. Godfrey’s letter.

Paul Zanettos, a young communications professional who moved to Don Mills with his wife and infant daughter less than a year ago, pointed out how significant it was that so many of the original Don Mills residents were either still living in their original homes in Don Mills or, if they had moved away at some point in time, had since returned to Don Mills. "People not only moved here but stayed here," Mr. Zanettos said.

The wonderful display of historical photographs of Don Mills was expertly put together by Don Mills landscape architect Karl Frank and offered a fascinating journey into the past of our wonderful community.

The talented Ollovus Singers, as well as pianist Aaron Tan, set a special musical tone for the evening and underscored the celebratory nature of the event. Our raffle featured fabulous donations from our generous sponsors, whose support of the evening is greatly appreciated.
Click here for the full list of sponsors.

Thanks to all of the hard-working volunteers who made this evening a great success.

Click here to view photos of the event.

January 29, 2007:
Henry Fliess and Macklin Hancock Join Don Mills Friends

The distinguished Don Mills architect Henry Fliess and his wife, Mimi Fliess, and the community's famed Master Planner, Macklin Hancock, and his wife, Grace Fraser Hancock, have joined our Steering Committee as honorary members. "We are honoured to be able to welcome Mr. & Mrs. Fliess and Mr. & Mrs. Hancock among the members of our residents' group," said Tony Dickins, Steering Committee Chair. "Both Henry Fliess and Macklin Hancock have made immeasurable contributions to making Don Mills the enviable neighbourhood that it is today, and both are deeply concerned that Cadillac Fairview's redevelopment of the Don Mills Centre site introduces a drastic and unacceptable change to the heart of Don Mills and thereby dramatically alters the way in which Canada's first planned community has functioned and was designed to function. As icons in the history of Don Mills architecture and planning, Mr. Fliess and Mr. Hancock are in full support of our objective to see a new indoor mall constructed on the Don Mills Centre site."

We are currently conducting interviews with Messrs. Fliess and Hancock and will make these available for viewing on our website in the near future.
To read the North York Mirror article concerning this event, click here.

January 16, 2007:
Paul Zanettos Joins Don Mills Friends. Paul Zanettos, a Communications Professional living in Don Mills with his wife and infant daughter, has joined our Steering Committee. As a representative of a younger demographic, Paul expects to work with our group to ensure that the new mall on the Don Mills Centre site is built to accommodate all members of Don Mills, including the younger families moving into the community. "At least half of the new mall should be covered," said Paul. "On a cold winter day, what's the point of having an outdoor mall?" A design enthusiast, Mr. Zanettos is also unwavering in his belief that the new centre should be a modernist building, designed to match the original architecture of Don Mills.
To read Paul's blog on the Don Mills Centre, click here: http://prnation.wordpress.com/tag/don-mills-centre/

January 7, 2007:
More trees slaughtered in Don Mills. At least ten more healthy, full-grown trees were axed near the sidewalk of Lawrence Avenue East and The Donway West and in the former parking lot of the Don Mills Centre. This is in addition to several trees already cut in the summer.
Click here to see the photos of the stumps of fresh-cut trees in January 2007. Photos of the trees before they were cut can be seen in any of the other albums posted on our photo albums page.
Click here to read a related article in the February issue of Town Crier.
Click here to read media reports/reaction to trees cut in the summer of 2006.

Christmas 2006:
A Don Mills Christmas Carol

18 December 2006:
Photos from the community holiday event, A Don Mills Christmas: Santa Needs an Indoor Mall, on Saturday, 16 December 2006.

Thank you to MPP Kathleen Wynne, Ontario Opposition Leader John Tory, and Councillors Cliff Jenkins (Ward 25), Denzil Minnan-Wong (Ward 34), and Michael Thompson (Ward 37), for coming out to our event in support of an indoor mall on the Don Mills Centre site. Special thanks to Salvation Army Major Braddock for bringing a Salvation Army Kettle, and to volunteers from the Food Bank for picking up the boxes with Food Bank donations.

16 December 2006:
Globe and Mail article

14 December 2006:
Reclaiming the Official Plan: A Greater Vision for Toronto (and Don Mills)
By Tony Dickins

It has been almost 40 years since Toronto held a Stanley Cup parade on Yonge Street. Back then, George Armstrong hoisted the cup as captain of the Leafs, and was congratulated by the mayor of Toronto, William Dennison. The planned community of Don Mills was a mere teenager, with the Don Mills Centre having been constructed in 1954.

Now, the city of Toronto is maturing—a city of old and new cultures, and varied interests. Like many of us as we get older, it is losing its vision. We live for today, instead of taking chances that might provide for greatness tomorrow.

We need vision to determine where we want to be in five years, ten years, and twenty-five years. We must embrace the future; not scorn it.

Our Official Plan in Toronto is bereft of power. Instead of witnessing development with vision, our city is urbanized through street fights between ratepayers and developers. Ultimately, decisions are proclaimed by unelected officials at the Ontario Municipal Board. The combatants in this process usually leave without the feeling of victory. The exercise has only succeeded in wasting time and money, not in achieving the goal of good growth and development for Toronto. While many ratepayers are upset at having to fight for their neighbourhoods, developers are similarly frustrated in their efforts of trying to do their job.

A recent decision by the OMB regarding development in the Annex was vehemently opposed by the late urbanist Jane Jacobsen. She believed that our neighbourhoods can no longer manage the growth of the development.

An Official Plan that has meaning, and is upheld by Council, would convey a vision for Toronto. In Don Mills, there is a Secondary Plan that was put in place to outline the development and integrity of the original planned community. The goal of the plan is “to manage change in the community in a manner that retains and enhances the existing character of the area.”

The Secondary Plan concept and its objectives are now being ignored. Cadillac Fairview has proposed development in various stages, and there is talk now about the amenities that will be provided in the next phase. However, once stage one has been built and established, there is no turning back. The developer of the project can then make its claims based on a current phase only—as opposed to the planned development as a whole. Given that the stages of the development have already changed several times for phase one, it is impossible to predict the outcome of future stages. In a decade, we are likely to have a development far removed from the intent of the Secondary Plan.

Our city politicians too often sacrifice the future for the immediate benefits. After all, a political term is short, and the electorate has an even shorter memory.

In order to be effective, our Official Plan must embrace change and development, while maintaining the integrity of established neighbourhoods. And then we must follow it.

06 December 2006:
Boycott Cadillac Fairview Shopping Centres
Click here for a related article in the December issue of Bayview-Mills Town Crier.

The holiday season is in full swing, and Toronto malls are bustling with shoppers. As this article discussing retail trends in last Saturday's Toronto Star states, traditional malls are hard to beat when it comes to shopping in comfort and style, and no retail concept delivers as consistently as traditional malls do.

But the residents of Don Mills no longer enjoy that convenience thanks to Cadillac Fairview, the company which recently demolished the Don Mills Centre indoor mall despite thousands of voices of protest. Don Mills Centre customers and merchants alike feel ignored and betrayed by the developer who they thought was working in partnership with them.

Over the past weeks and months, several of our members and friends have asked us to respond by calling for a boycott of Cadillac Fairview shopping centres. We appreciate that it may be difficult for some of you who depend on shuttle buses or public transport to cooperate with such a boycott. However, for those of us who have a choice as to where we do our shopping, the following is a list of Cadillac Fairview shopping malls in the GTA to boycott during the holiday season and beyond:

Erin Mills Town Centre
Fairview Mall
Hillcrest
Markville Shopping Centre
The Promenade Shopping Centre
Sherway Gardens
Toronto-Dominion Centre
Toronto Eaton Centre

We encourage you to avoid shopping at these malls and take your business to other malls, whose owners honour the trust relationship they have with merchants and customers and the communities in which they operate. We know that many of you have already been boycotting Cadillac Fairview malls individually, but collectively, we can have greater impact.

And as you plan your holiday shopping, please remember the displaced Don Mills Centre merchants who served us well for so many years and are trying hard to rebuild their businesses in new locations!

Thank you for your cooperation, and happy holidays to you and yours!

05 December 2006:
Two more former Council candidates join our group
Concerned Don Mills Residents for Maintaining the Don Mills Centre Indoor Mall is pleased to announce that two former Ward 25 Council candidates, Tony Dickins and Peter Kapsalis, have joined our citizens' group.

With John Blair already on our team, this brings to three the number of former Ward 25 Council candidates on board.

The extensive business experience and creativity that Tony and Peter bring to our group ensures that we are now an even stronger team working for justice and a new indoor mall on the Don Mills Centre site! We will shortly be reviewing our plans as to the next steps that we intend to take towards achieving this goal.

October 27, 2006:
Dave LeBlanc, Globe and Mail columnist and CFRB radio show host (The Architourist), comments in spacing.ca/votes:

What is at issue here is that CF had many, many meetings with the community during which they pretended to give a crap about what the residents wanted. I know, because I attended most of them. Macklin Hancock, the man who planned Don Mills in 1952-53, was at one of these meetings and they fawned over him and even asked for his advice, which was, essentially, to make sure they didn't build a faux Tudor crapfest of an outdoor mall that looked completely out of character with the rest of the 'hood as well as keep some (if not all) of it enclosed.

Then, in a classic "let's gain their trust and then screw 'em" scenario, they went ahead and demo'd the whole site even tho' they promised they'd do the demolition in phases, thereby leaving thousands of people with no place to shop and gather. They've completely ignored all dissenting voices (including Don Mills housing architect Henry Fliess and the aforementioned 5000 petition-signers) and, in my view, pulling the biggest PR boner of their long corporate life.

As Hancock once told me, Don Mills may have been surrounded by the suburbs but it was planned as a "New Town" and CF has just ripped the heart right out of it.

Click here for the original blog and additional comments.

Toronto Star articles by Joe Fiorito

Globe and Mail article by Dave LeBlanc

Don Mills Centre photo albums

Community Art

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