Corso Italia: Travel and Housing
Multi-cultural Studies Series: #3
Travel modes
Corso Italia is a main TTC transit corridor going with the 512 St. Clair West streetcar going East and West on a dedicated streetcar right-of-way (ROW), which took 5 years to be completed and was a contentious project (BlogTO, 2009). 41% of the area residents take transit to work (Source #3).
Both the Lansdowne and Dufferin bus’s bring people North and South. With single lanes of car traffic on either side of the ROW, vehicle traffic can be fairly busy however these is plenty of parking lining both sides of the street. Cycling on the road is scarce and frankly seems quite dangerous. More often you see cyclists on the sidewalk slowly biking or walking their bike. Sidewalks are wide and often full of families walking together side by side, groups of friends standing outside of restaurants squeezing in a few more moments together.
Housing
Not that long ago in 2012 (Source #2) houses in Corso Italia were being sold for under $500,000. Many of these homes have been owned by the same person or family for decades and are just coming back on to the market after a lifetime. In 2019, the cheapest house I could find on the market in this area is being sold for $800,000. Some of the houses are clearly newly renovated and put back on the market or flipped. There are still many Italian features and community feeling aspects to the area.
Sources:
- https://www.blogto.com/city/2009/12/st_clair_lrt_almost_ready_to_open_ending_years_of_anguish_for_local_businesses/
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pSv9XUPZRx037%
- https://www.toronto.ca/ext/sdfa/Neighbourhood%20Profiles/pdf/2016/pdf1/cpa92.pdf
- https://www.blogto.com/city/2009/12/st_clair_lrt_almost_ready_to_open_ending_years_of_anguish_for_local_businesses
