“We got our LCBO, so we’re good”: Liberty Villagers on their neighbourhood’s bad rap
“We got our LCBO, so we’re good”: Liberty Villagers on their neighbourhood’s bad rap
Liberty Village takes a lot of flack, and it’s easy to see why. It’s a heavily developed condo community that’s cut off from the rest of the city by railroad tracks, leaving only two major routes in and out. Liberty Village Park, the only green space of note, includes just a single small play area, even though, elsewhere in the neighbourhood, plenty of space is devoted to unsightly swaths of surface parking. The 504 King streetcar, the area’s main TTC connection to downtown, is almost unridable during rush hour. There are even battles over dog shit. But how do the people who live and work in Liberty Village feel about it? We asked some of them whether the neighbourhood deserves the put-downs.
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- <strong>Vince Ching, 30</strong><br /> <br /> <strong>Occupation:</strong> Royal Service coordinator, Royal York Hotel<br /> <br /> “Transit’s horrible. The 504 is ridiculous. But at least with the 63 bus you can get up to Ossington not too bad. I like the seclusion. We got our LCBO and we got our liquor, so we’re good.”
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- <strong>Simon Allard, 38</strong><br /> <br /> <strong>Occupation:</strong> Barber<br /> <br /> "Probably the worst thing is the King streetcar or lack thereof. But I think everything else—being walking distance from Exhibition Place, having the 63 that comes right through Liberty Village and goes to and from a subway station—is actually really good."
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- <strong>Shonna Eden, 26</strong><br /> <br /> <strong>Occupation:</strong> Retail manager<br /> <br /> “I like the buildings. I like the potential for growth as well. I feel like I would like to come here to work on my laptop.”
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- <strong>Oksana Orel, 25, and Rostik Pro, 28</strong><br /> <br /> <strong>Occupations:</strong> Model and driver, respectively<br /> <br /> Oksana: “They have cool coffee shops. It’s a nice, interesting neighbourhood. If you can’t go to the Distillery, just go to Liberty. It’s a little pocket of coolness.”
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- <strong>Kayla Matos, 26</strong><br /> <br /> <strong>Occupation:</strong> Publicist<br /> <br /> “Everything’s really close together. So if you’re doing your groceries, you can go to the liquor store. It’s kind of like a one-stop shop.”
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- <strong>Jes Clarke, 24</strong><br /> <br /> <strong>Occupation:</strong> Casting producer<br /> <br /> “I’ve lived here since June. It's very convenient, I must say. But I feel like I'm much farther from downtown than I used to be."
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- <strong>James Calder, 33</strong><br /> <br /> <strong>Occupation:</strong> Regulatory compliance officer<br /> <br /> "For me, it's about accessibility. I work down the street, so I can walk to work. My wife has a horrible time taking the 504, though. It's a nightmare. She's pregnant, so it's only going to get worse. Liberty Village isn't really built for families."
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- <strong>Genvieve Cofsky, 34</strong><br /> <br /> <strong>Occupation:</strong> Project coordinator<br /> <br /> “My husband usually takes the streetcar, and this year I’ve had to drive him to work because he just can’t get on. I’m content, but I’m in a condo, so it’s starting to get small. I just had a baby, so we definitely need to move somewhere where there’s a little more space.”
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- <strong>Derek Wong, 27</strong><br /> <br /> <strong>Occupation:</strong> Sales administrator for pre-construction condos<br /> <br /> “I love it. I work here, too, so I don’t have to drive anymore. The neighbourhood is full of people my age, so it’s a great neighbourhood to be in. Traffic does get congested every now and then.”
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![](http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=https://torontolife.com/city/got-lcbo-good-liberty-villagers-neighbourhoods-bad-reputation/&title=“We got our LCBO, so we’re good”: Liberty Villagers on their neighbourhood’s bad rap&picture=https://cdn.torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/liberty-village-intro.jpg&description=[caption id="attachment_306874" align="alignnone" width="656"] (Image: Giordano Ciampini)[/caption]
Liberty Village takes a lot of flack, and it's easy to see why. It's a heavily developed condo community that's cut off from the rest of the city by railroad tracks, leaving only two major routes in and out. Liberty Village Park, the only green space of note, includes just a single small play area, even though, elsewhere in the neighbourhood, plenty of space is devoted to unsightly swaths of surface parking. The 504 King streetcar, the area's main TTC connection to downtown, is almost unridable during rush hour. There are even battles over dog shit. But how do the people who live and work in Liberty Village feel about it? We asked some of them whether the neighbourhood deserves the put-downs.
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