Interesting Facts
The Dundas West BIA is considered to be a very stable residential/commercial area.
The BIA benefits from close proximity to Toronto’s downtown, Lake Ontario, The Gardener Expressway, High Park and Dufferin Grove.
As well, this area will see further transportation improvements when the Dufferin Jog Elimination Project is completed in 2009, a main north/ south arterial roadway that passes through the heart of the DWBIA.
Compared to other areas of the city especially that just east of the BIA, one can still find reasonably priced real estate and rents.
There is an emerging arts/designer based community in the neighbourhood.
The community well-served by McCormick Park, home to McCormick Recreation Centre and Arena.
The BIA already enjoys strong alliances with some key stake holders in the neighbourhood such as the Church, Art Lives Here, The Councillor, McCormick Recreation Centre and the Police.
Residents and local business owners have observed that are a greater number of professional families from primarily non-portuguese backgrounds moving into the area over the past five years.
In his research Bulletin for the Centre for Urban and Community Studies at the University of Toronto, Carlos Teixeira identifies little Portugal as a neighbourhood in transition. Teixeira points to three trends:
* the movement of many Portuguese from Toronto’s downtown to the suburbs;
* the arrival of urban professionals, who seek to buy older houses close to the downtown core
* the arrival of immigrants and refugees from the Portuguese diaspora (including Brazil and Portugal’s former African colonies.
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