Today's G&M features an article about a couple that bought a rundown house in the Beaches area in 1979 for an outrageous (!) $160k. Now they are selling it for over $3 million. At one time, Margaret Atwood was a young writer thankful for government arts grants. She achieved some early success and bought a home in the annex, at that time a neighbourhood dominated by large, rundown homes that had been converted to apartments and rooming houses. Today, Margaret Atwood enjoys considerably more success and her neighbourhood is one of the most sought after in the city. Neither of these conditions happened by accident. Atwood shouldn't be villified for her success or her efforts to preserve a beautiful old neighbourhood that many had written off years ago. Surely there's room for traditional, low density communities like the Annex, the Beaches, High Park and Rosedale in a diverse city like Toronto. Even if wealth is involved.