To Whom It May Concern

I am an original owner at Parliament Square. I was a first-time homeowner when I bought my condominium. I was very impressed with the building and the possibilities for the development of the neighbourhood as well as our community. While the view from my unit isn’t one of the Lake, I quickly learned the advantages of living on the north-facing side of the building. It is much cooler in the summertime and the sunsets are amazing! I also enjoy the City view at night, with all the lights of downtown lighting up the sky. I bought some patio furniture and a lounge chair to make the balcony a comfortable living space during the warmer months.

Since the construction started last year, I have not used my balcony. I did not use it last summer and I have not used it this summer. It is impossible to keep clean. The dirt is incredible. In fact, I rarely open my windows other than a few inches for a few hours at a time because of the dirt that accumulates on the curtains and the carpet. In addition, the noise during the day makes it impossible to open the windows while watching TV, listening to music, talking on the phone or reading quietly.

I like a lot of light in my living space so my curtains do not reach the top of the window frame. There is space above all my curtain rods in both the living room and the bedroom to allow the light to enter my suite at all times of the day. The windows in the bedroom are floor to ceiling and wrap around to the side of the balcony. I chose to put sheer curtains here to get maximum light exposure.

During the initial phase of the tower construction, there was a very large, brilliant spotlight affixed to the crane and it shone into my bedroom every night, for weeks at a time, lighting up my room like an airport runway. I made repeated complaints to Comsec and eventually, had to involve the help of Pat McConnell’s office to get this light turned off at night. Lewis Builds would turn it off for a night or two, and then it would come back on again. The entire process had to be repeated again and again and again. Finally, the tower advanced upward to the point where the light no longer impacted on my unit but rather, the people who lived above me. No explanation about the purpose for this light was ever given, even though I repeatedly asked for one.

During the construction process of the lower portion of the building, my privacy has been an issue, especially now that the workers are working directly opposite my unit. They are less than 100 yards away from me and my living space. Eventually, I will have to deal with my neighbours having the same perspective. I literally have to sneak out of bed in the morning, on the “wrong” side of the bed, so they won’t see me. The crane operator on this part of the building had a bird’s eye view of my bed for weeks, through the upper part of my windows not covered by curtains. I have to make sure I am appropriately attired at all times when I am near a window and covered up while I am in bed.

Since buying my property in 1999, the value has increased steadily each year due to the completion of the third condo building at 80 Mill Street and the continued development of The Distillery District. I now believe the proximity of the new building on the north side of Parliament Square will have a detrimental effect on the value of the units in my building, especially those on the north side between the second and seventh floors, whose views are partially or completely blocked by this monstrosity. Considering how the building was first “pitched” to us (i.e. the western most edge of the tower will start at the eastern most edge of our building, the lower portion will only be six stories, etc.), I am adamant that any further development on the site be scrutinized with the utmost concern for the overall affect on current and future residents. The current project was a total “white-wash” and we were given false information so that the developers could get approval to push ahead with their plan.

It makes me sad to think of how the original dream for The Distillery District has become so distorted by the greed and manipulation of Cityscape, not to mention the gross and continued lack of consideration shown by Lewis Builds to the occupants of Parliament Square. This 32 storey tower hardly embodies the spirit intended by the original developers of The District and it does absolutely nothing to maintain the integrity of this extremely important historical site.