QUOTED: Doug Holyday would never, ever raise kids downtown—not that there’s anything wrong with that

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I can just see it now: ‘Where’s little Jenny? Well, she’s downstairs playing in the traffic on her way to the park.’

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—Deputy Mayor Doug Holyday, on the type of tragic scenario that results when families dare to raise children in the city’s hazardous, traffic-laden core. At city hall yesterday, the former mayor of Etobicoke said he feels “there are healthier places to raise children,” though he grudgingly conceded that some people might actually want to bring up their kids downtown. Adam Vaughan, who was raised downtown and is doing the same with his offspring, leapt to defend downtown parents, and it only got more heated from there (Holyday: “Sometimes I wonder if your head’s on backwards.” Vaughan: “At least I have a head on my shoulders!”). At the root of the spat is a requirement that a proposed 47-storey condo on King Street include family-friendly three-bedroom units, a provision that Holyday called “social engineering.” City council ended up voting to keep the three-bedroom requirement—tough luck for Holyday (and for poor Jenny). [Globe and Mail]