I awoke to the news that Loblaws will be opening up on the outskirts of Kensington Market in 2016. I understand it’s going to be part of a condo tower. Our city is changing so fast. These days I live in the SW corner of the amalgamated Toronto and from my vantage point the changes in the city seem amplified. I hardly recognize my old King & Bathurst neighbourhood any more. It’s condo city.

Kensington has been remarkably resilient over the years. It’s a rag-tag treasure in our city, and it’s one of my favourite places in Toronto. I hope it can survive this latest scheme.

One day when the whole area is filled with big ugly condos we’ll look back and ask, hey whatever happened to Kensington? How did we let it slip away. I wish collectively we had a better instinct to protect the character areas of our city.