If you have lived in the community for some time you can see on a daily basis all the development that is taking place around us.

The green and spacious Etobicoke that I know has changed. It seems like every parking lot, car wash or empty space in the area is being dug up to construct buildings, mostly tall and unattractive condos.

Today realtors are describing our still-struggling community as “much-desired, desirable, safest, chic and having charming cafes.” The developers are making a fortune as they carve up the area.

There are dozens of major construction projects that are underway right now. It is difficult to obtain a list of the projects, which should be posted online so residents can keep track.

Residents are being driven out of the area, and their homes, due to the sky high costs. Not many can afford to buy into an upcoming development as Verge Condos, at the south-west corner of The Queensway and Islington Ave., at the Cineplex Theatre Queensway movie theatre site.

A Scotia bank and bar and restaurant fronting The Queensway are slated for closure or already shut. Verge condos development will occupy the front of the property as the Cineplex remains open for business.

Verge Condos, at 1001 The Queensway, will feature a 17 storey and 10 storey towers, with a total of 545 units, which start at more than $500,000 each. The estimated completion date is set for Spring 2025.

The development is being constructed by Rio-can Living, which claims to have 81 residential buildings with over 20,000 units in the pipeline.

Also on borrowed time is a Hyundai dealership north west of the intersection that has been there for decades. A developer has proposed a 14-storey, 325-unit condominium for 1045- 1049 The Queensway, on the dealership site.

Major changes are also planned for the half-empty Kipling Queensway Plaza, which houses Sobeys.

Plans have been on the books for years to build condos on that site. A large chunk of mall’s parking lot will be modified for used as a ramp for the Queen Elizabeth Way.

Further up the street eight towers are being built in the Dundas St. W. and Shorncliffe Drive area. The Six Points Interchange area will also houses a new Etobicoke Civic Centre and other buildings are planned to enhance that area.

Also coming are townhouses and condos planned for a site at The West Mall near the outgoing Etobicoke Civic Centre.

And construction at the Mimico Go Station has begun on a Grand Central Mimico (GCM) community, which will span four city blocks, consisting of nine buildings with 2.1 million feet of residential space and also commercial space.

We better take some photos and remember South Etobicoke as it now, since it will be gone soon, filled with towers, less green space and be a wind tunnel similar to what has happened to Humber Bay Shores, with the construction of 15 towers on the former Mr. Cookie site.

We live in one of the best communities, with Lake Ontario and downtown Toronto at our doorstep. Residents support each other and it is truly ‘a village in a city.” We have to hang on and not get pushed out of the way by development.

Tom Godfrey is Publisher of The South Etobicoke News, who lives in the community. He was a reporter at the Toronto Sun for many years before deciding to use his skills to work in community journalism.