Carol's+Observations

back to User Study | main page = = =**Carol's Observations**=

I visited Don Mills for the first time on a Saturday morning. It was fairly quiet and there was not a lot of traffic even though Lawrence Avenue East is a major street. There were a lot of residential buildings all around, but they were mainly low rises or smaller. There were no posters on the telephone posts or lamp posts, which was very different from where I lived--St. Claire West--where random postings of anything (yoga workshops, tutoring, fitness programs, painters for hire, garbage removal for hire, nanny for hire, etc.) can be seen everywhere. Without this system of communication, I wonder how do the people of Don Mills get to know what is happening within their community.

As I stood at the major intersection of Lawrence Avenue East and The Donway East, I realized show flat everything was. The only buildings that stood out were the RBC building in the Don Mills Shopping Mall, and some apartments that were less than 10 floors tall. Again, this was a big contrast to the St. Claire West neighbourhood where condominiums and high rises occupies several blocks of St. Clair Avenue West. The east side of Bathurst Street and St. Claire Avenue West, in particular, has many senior retirement buildings that has large outdoor advertisements that market directly to that demographic. Don Mills residential buildings, in comparison, do not have those cues, and appears much more utilitarian. Alex had told me that Don Mills has a large senior population, yet just by the looks of these buildings, I could hardly tell. I did notice, however, that benches was a common feature that appeared throughout this neighbourhood in front of the residential buildings, at the Don Mills Shopping Mall, and on the side walks. This suggests to me that maybe the community do serve the seniors, or to the community in general. But I wonder if that was about to change with so many condominium advertisement boards standing at every corner of the Lawrence Avenue East and The Donway East intersection.

When I went to the Don Mills Shopping Mall, I was honestly disappointed and somewhat confused. There were no entrance signages that welcomed visitors to the Mall. From outside the Mall, there were hardly any indications that it was a mall save for some road signs and Mall banners at the smaller roads leading into it. The idea of an outdoor mall was not so strange to me as opposed to the small sidewalks and cramped roads meandering through the mall. I wonder how they will deal with shoveling the snow and directing traffic once winter comes. More strange still are the benches that face directly to the window displays. It is quite obvious that the entire Mall makes no effort to hide that they have spending in mind. The shops are easily the same ones I would find in Eatons Centre or Yorkdale--upscale brand names that attracts people with high income. Perhaps that is why the developers are placing so much effort on selling condominiums--to attract a new breed of residence who can actually afford to shop in this place. Which brings me to question why is it that there were hardly any people on a Saturday morning at hip, young, "exciting" new mall? There were hardly anyone around even at 10 AM! I bet that it would not come as a surprise that people living in this neighbourhood would rather take the effort to go all the way out to other shopping malls like Eatons Centre or Yorkdale than to shop in the Don Mills Mall. I know I would.

Overall, my impression of Don Mills as an industrial, blend, and business-oriented place has not changed even after I have looked at other features of Don Mills such as the library, an Anglican church. It is a shame that the hub of social activities in the library or a church is estranged from the marketing efforts of new commercial developments because I believe it is more important to show potential Don Mills residents that there is more to living in Don Mills than just shopping.

on to Alex's Observations