It is time that the…

It is time that the government wake up realize that developers do not need incentives to build. They don't need cuts to environment parameters as incentives to build either. Developers make a ton of money building, period.

In Europe, there are stringent laws that require developers to consider the existing area, both environmentally and aesthetically. Green spaces are part of that. Any good architect knows this. Governments have looked the other way for decades and have allowed greedy developers to ruin important wetlands and green spaces, sprawling and wasting valuable land just to make it easier for themselves.

I grew up in inner city and know the importance of green areas, especially for the population who live and work in high-rises. The heat rising off the asphalt alone increases the temperature in the city, making the city an oven in the summer heat. The absence of canopy trees does create a desert effect increasing heat and accelerating wind speeds. There is no relief for residents when adequate green space is bypassed and disastrous when this practice accumulates across an entire district.

Please lets follow the example led by Europeans and lets form committees for all proposed developments comprised of architects, landscape architects, environmentalists and representatives from the community, especially the artists, who will together make the decisions. Most importantly let's not go backward. We already have in place, Prior to the Ford govt., that every new development requires to 20% to allocate lot to green space . Please keep this in place. Let's stop being stupid!!