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But this time something more interesting is going on. Resident and business groups in Yorkville, learning of all these towers, teamed up with Councillor Kristyn Wong-Tam and “forced” (Ms. Wong-Tam’s word) the developers to a meeting last year with those who have an interest in this sliver of land, to come up with a joint plan. Intensive meetings continue, including one this week.

“It’s not about saying no all the time,” said Mr. Caliendo, who lives on Berryman Street, just northeast of the development. “It’s about making it better. We know the towers are going in. We want really good building design.”

Ms. Wong-Tam laughs as she recalls the four developers meeting each other at city hall.

“They all have height envy,” she says. “If my neighbour is proposing 80, then I want 80.”

On Friday, Oren Tamir, a senior planner, and James Parakh, a manager of urban design, sits down with me at city hall. They spread out maps of Yorkville, Mr. Parakh’s sketches imagining walkways, and a white Styrofoam model crowded with tall rectangular spikes that represent the towers over which the developers are lusting.

I ask whether crowding in all these towers can improve Yorkville.

We need to do a better job on the mitigation

“Yes,” Mr. Parakh replies. “When we approved 18 Yorkville Avenue 10 years ago, it came with a park. And when we worked with the Four Seasons, it came with another open space that bookmarked the fire hall and the library. What we are trying to do is take some of the lessons about water features, landscape, pedestrian connections and outdoor cafés, and bring them into this landscape east of Bay.”