The average resident is either working 9-5 shifts or at/studying for school. Most of the rest gets spent on family, friends, church, sports and whatnot. Only a small amount of time is dedicated to active civic participations. Municipal affairs get less publicity than either provincial or federal politics by a long shot, and even within cities time is typically spent on activism or hot-button issues. There's simply no time left for the average resident to evaluate the myriads of building proposals that come through every year. And frankly, these decisions need to operate from the principle that it's private property that's being developed on - the onus should be on council and nay-sayers in community associations to provide compelling reasons as to why something can't get built, not for builders to move heaven and earth to cater to ridiculous and mercurial expectations.

At least in Fairfield and James Bay there's a strong movement to preserve single-family dwellings and fend off high-density condo invasions which drives membership. But Downtown residents don't really care; they're basically OK with development in general and certainly don't care whether the condo a few blocks away conforms to a vaguely-worded OCP or has a FSR of 4.8:1 versus 5.2:1. Unless they have a personal interest in urban planning issues and architecture they're just not interested.

I assume most downtown residents want to live in a vibrant and safe downtown, and would like to see businesses which support residents (as opposed to mainly tourists) continue to grow. And more residents is the obvious path to that happening. That's why the DRA is so puzzling to me.