this is nuts. completely and totally nuts.
i just finished reading this bat shit crazy article in the toronto star about a family who bought a house in the hopes that they could demolish it and rebuild a completely accessible home. the family, the teehans, decided to move from their home after melissa teehan was diagnosed with Transverse Myelitis in 2007. melissa has been in a wheelchair since 2007 and has limited use of her hands and feet.
of their original home, her husband greg writes: "when we bought it it was a rundown 100 year old 2 story home. We adored it. It took my father and I years to complete the renovation, the extent of which is worthy of its own blog. We never pursued the thought of moving or building a new home, though the thought had crossed our mind. The truth was, we were content in our little 3 bedroom house."
but things change and the house was inaccessible, so the teehans started searching for a place to build a home that could give melissa the ability to be self sufficient and autonomous in her own home.
in january, the teehans found a listing for 204 beech (in the beaches! beech in the beaches..) anyways, they checked to make sure it wasn't a heritage home and that they could make their desired changes to the property(ie: tear it down and build a new home in its place). the home didn't have heritage protection and they had the go-ahead to do whatever they wanted with the property and home they had purchased.
enter crazy lady across the street, who likes looking at the house the teehans have just purchased.
elizabeth brown lives across the street from 204 beech and she thinks that the house is a "sterling example of beach cottage style, and it has a turret."
well, a TURRET isn't very goddamned accessible. but that doesn't matter to old ms. brown. if her "beloved balmy beach neighborhood is to retain its look and feel, the house at 204 beech cannot be replaced with a modernist box."
she can't even see the house during the summer, but she wants it to stay there because "it's [her] visual."
so she calls her city councillor and COMPLAINS about the plans to demolish the house.
according to the toronto star article, brown "expresses her appreciation for the teehan's challenges" but she also accuses geoff teehan of exploiting his wife's disability to "win support" for his project.
when the reporter left her house and asked her age, elizabeth brown smiled and said she is 44, and added "I don't have a disability. Sorry. If I did, maybe I could use that, too."
yeah, i'm so sure the teehans scoured the city for the perfect house that wasn't protected by heritage status so they could tear it down and make it accessible. what greedy jerks they must be!!
maybe you could "use" your disability if you had one, elizabeth brown?? you are a monster!!
since when do torontonians get a choice about development in their city?
like, i don't want a condo going up at bathurst and dupont. i didn't want them to demolish the empty, weird parking lot thing with the old trailer in it and replace it with modernist living spaces, but they're going to. i don't get to say "but i liked looking at that shit yo, it's pretty!!"
no. because development marches on. neighborhoods change. this lady is giving the beaches a bad name by acting so entitled that she thinks her VIEW is more important than someone's LIFE.
so now this lady's complaint has gone to her councillor, who has gone to heritage staff and argued for a speedy decision on whether or not the property should be protected.
seriously, beaches, give up the ghost. if you want every pretty house protected at the cost of someone's life, you need to turn that shit into museums because it just isn't fair otherwise.
read the whole story here and let the madness sink in.. it's amazing that these people don't turn their attention to more pressing social issues. like, your pretty turret is being torn down??? ummm, people are starving and homeless in this city.
i'm all for heritage protection and i lived in a heritage house once and suffered the consequences of the drafty windows and old stove, but this house is not protected and these people did all the sleuthing they could beforehand. so just give them their goddamned house and move on.
i just finished reading this bat shit crazy article in the toronto star about a family who bought a house in the hopes that they could demolish it and rebuild a completely accessible home. the family, the teehans, decided to move from their home after melissa teehan was diagnosed with Transverse Myelitis in 2007. melissa has been in a wheelchair since 2007 and has limited use of her hands and feet.
of their original home, her husband greg writes: "when we bought it it was a rundown 100 year old 2 story home. We adored it. It took my father and I years to complete the renovation, the extent of which is worthy of its own blog. We never pursued the thought of moving or building a new home, though the thought had crossed our mind. The truth was, we were content in our little 3 bedroom house."
but things change and the house was inaccessible, so the teehans started searching for a place to build a home that could give melissa the ability to be self sufficient and autonomous in her own home.
in january, the teehans found a listing for 204 beech (in the beaches! beech in the beaches..) anyways, they checked to make sure it wasn't a heritage home and that they could make their desired changes to the property(ie: tear it down and build a new home in its place). the home didn't have heritage protection and they had the go-ahead to do whatever they wanted with the property and home they had purchased.
enter crazy lady across the street, who likes looking at the house the teehans have just purchased.
elizabeth brown lives across the street from 204 beech and she thinks that the house is a "sterling example of beach cottage style, and it has a turret."
well, a TURRET isn't very goddamned accessible. but that doesn't matter to old ms. brown. if her "beloved balmy beach neighborhood is to retain its look and feel, the house at 204 beech cannot be replaced with a modernist box."
she can't even see the house during the summer, but she wants it to stay there because "it's [her] visual."
so she calls her city councillor and COMPLAINS about the plans to demolish the house.
according to the toronto star article, brown "expresses her appreciation for the teehan's challenges" but she also accuses geoff teehan of exploiting his wife's disability to "win support" for his project.
when the reporter left her house and asked her age, elizabeth brown smiled and said she is 44, and added "I don't have a disability. Sorry. If I did, maybe I could use that, too."
yeah, i'm so sure the teehans scoured the city for the perfect house that wasn't protected by heritage status so they could tear it down and make it accessible. what greedy jerks they must be!!
maybe you could "use" your disability if you had one, elizabeth brown?? you are a monster!!
since when do torontonians get a choice about development in their city?
like, i don't want a condo going up at bathurst and dupont. i didn't want them to demolish the empty, weird parking lot thing with the old trailer in it and replace it with modernist living spaces, but they're going to. i don't get to say "but i liked looking at that shit yo, it's pretty!!"
no. because development marches on. neighborhoods change. this lady is giving the beaches a bad name by acting so entitled that she thinks her VIEW is more important than someone's LIFE.
so now this lady's complaint has gone to her councillor, who has gone to heritage staff and argued for a speedy decision on whether or not the property should be protected.
seriously, beaches, give up the ghost. if you want every pretty house protected at the cost of someone's life, you need to turn that shit into museums because it just isn't fair otherwise.
read the whole story here and let the madness sink in.. it's amazing that these people don't turn their attention to more pressing social issues. like, your pretty turret is being torn down??? ummm, people are starving and homeless in this city.
i'm all for heritage protection and i lived in a heritage house once and suffered the consequences of the drafty windows and old stove, but this house is not protected and these people did all the sleuthing they could beforehand. so just give them their goddamned house and move on.
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