Traffic noise on the O’Connor Dr. Bridge was so loud it was hard to talk to city Councillor Janet Davis, an audible contrast to the lush Taylor Creek valley below where trees are just starting to change colour.

I’ve long been curious about the strip of O’Connor that begins at Woodbine Ave. and heads diagonally into what was the northeast part of the former Borough of East York. I asked Davis to walk it with me because she’s been the area councillor for 15 years, though she’s not running in the upcoming election.

“We took the pork chop out,” says Davis, pointing to the Woodbine intersection. “It still functions the same, with the same number of lanes, it’s just much safer now.” The “pork chop” was a triangular traffic island that created a “slip lane,” allowing traffic to speed through rather than slow down while making a turn. Provisions were also made for bicycles.

It’s a busy area as O’Connor is one of the few routes across the valley. On foot we found a plaque that explained it’s actually called the Woodbine Bridge and its elegant concrete arch and subtle art deco touches were completed in 1931, decades earlier than I had assumed. Walking reveals details otherwise missed.

As we walked I was reminded that conscientious local councillors, regardless of political stripe, have deep institutional and geographic knowledge of the areas they represent. I think when each retires from office they should walk the streets of their wards and record what they remember, a peripatetic oral history “exit interview,” if you will.

There’s much topography here, and Davis pointed out places where combined sewers have overflowed into creeks and where basements have flooded during storms. Fixing this requires lots of infrastructure work and money, but it’s all behind the scenes, likely why the mayor and council were able to shelve the proposed stormwater runoff fee last year that would have aided this effort.

Above ground, O’Connor gets interesting at the St. Clair intersection, as the east side becomes an intermittent strip of mid-century “main street” shops with apartments overtop. The west side is a mix of industrial uses and some residential. Anchoring the industrial zone is the massive Mondelez cookie factory, formerly Peek Freans.

“This is a retail strip that has lagged,” Davis says. “But it’s in the heart of three residential neighbourhoods and people want good local shopping.” Nearly all of it is made up of independent businesses, though Davis explains they often come and go quickly. It’s a “downtown” feel in an area that is close to the big box shopping along Eglinton’s Golden Mile, which draws shoppers away, though thousands of people pass by here each day.

Despite the tough retail environment, we found new activity on our walk, including a Greek bakery set to open soon, the owner a newcomer from Athens. We also stopped in at Aftercare Cremation and Burial Service, located in a former bank. Proprietor Doug McCann says not much has changed since they opened over 15 years ago, but anticipates the Eglinton LRT will bring more businesses to the area when it opens.

“It’s a funny street,” he says. “A mix of commercial, industrial, residential and vacant lots. We need more commercial.” To that end he’s helped form a business group of local merchants that has reached out to the surrounding community.

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These formal and informal networks will help navigate the change that’s finally coming. A 2012 Avenue Study and the master plan that came out of it anticipates growth in the form of midrise, mixed-use development. The first residential building, “The Lanes: Residences at O’Connor Bowl,” is under construction now and takes its name and imagery from the bowling alley it replaced, one of a number in Toronto that have closed of late. Davis hopes the new buildings can recreate the intimate scale of retail that already exists.

In her 15 years as councillor, she says, until now, there haven’t been any Section 37 funds to use in the area, the Provincial Planning Act clause that requires new developments contribute funds for community benefits. Money from the Lanes will go to improving the baseball clubhouse at Topham Park in the adjacent neighbourhood of the same name.

Part of that neighbourhood, called Sunshine Valley, is looking into being designated a heritage conservation district to preserve the character of the wartime housing built there for returning soldiers in the 1940s. Though it remains a place where working class families can still live, prices are getting higher as small houses are torn down for monster homes.

“We are a bridge between two different kinds of communities,” says Davis of the car-based lifestyle in the suburbs, and the transit oriented one in towards the city centre. It makes for a landscape of contrasts and a place where two Torontos meet.