Historicist: Life in Wartime
The Daily Photoist: November 9, 2009
Elsewhere in the Ist-a-Verse
Urban Planner: November 9, 2009
Newsstand: November 9, 2009
The TTC has gotten approval to start construction on the St. Clair Right of Way. Hopefully this ends the protracted legal squabble that had more twists and turns than a John Grisham novel, including a decision overturned because one of the judges had a conflict of interest. Torontoist, has strongly supported faster, better transit and honestly doesn't feel that a ROW will destroy the neighbourhood like the folks at Save Our St. Clair claims. Inconvenience cars and deliveries maybe, but destroy a whole neighbourhood? Last time I checked the best way to do that was not fixing gridlock and by pushing a heavy amount of traffic onto your streets.
Spacing Wire beats everyone on this story but BikingToronto's Joe Travers has some insightful albeit pro-cycling analysis. We want to pull out a particularly juicy piece of analysis from his post:
The Divisional Court's decision first mentions that the Ontario Municipal Board ruled on Jan 26th of this year that while the new Official Plan wasn't "official" in the formal sense, it was still valid in terms of urban planning theory (I'm heavily paraphrasing here).
So in practice the new Official Plan isn't official but in theory it's in practice? Yes, we're confused too but that's why we're not lawyers.
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FINALLY!
I can't wait for the streetcars to start running again... the whole bus-acting-as-streetcar sytem at St.Clair drives me mental cos it has caused the bus platform to be packed with Westbound people I don't know... ha ha ha I am such a transit snob.
When I first moved to the St. Clair and Oakwood area, I was fully in favour of the ROW. Now, after listening to S.O.S. and John Sewell's arguments, I don't particularly care either way...
The current streetcar limbo situation, however? As someone who goes from Oakwood along St. Clair to Yonge every day to get to work, it's driving me FRIGGIN' INSANE. I don't mind switching from the streetcar to the shuttle bus at St. Clair W station so much... when they time it right. But when I have to wait an extra ten minutes at the subway, I fume and fume and fume.
Also, I have long since given up riding the shuttle bus all the way into the St. Clair subway station. I get a transfer and hop out at Yonge and go into the subway on foot. It saves a good couple of minutes that would otherwise be spent going all the way around the block and into the station.
Anyway, soon after my lease is up in July, I'm going to move to another part of town. The commute has become too much of a hassle. The next two years (possibly more if S.O.S. appeals) of constructing the ROW are going to be hell for commuters judging by the way the TTC has handled things up so far.
Why would anyone want a ROW on St.Clair when the current ROWs on Spadina and Queens Quay are an abobination to the character of the street.
Ugly!
Spadina is certinaly not ugly. The two rows of parking spaces was much mor ugly. Anyway, I'd take ugly over having a congested street with shitty transit. Enviro concerns trump everything.
And SOSs arguments are shit since they only stand for a few businesses. The community is behind it.
The trouble on Spadina and Queen's Quay is not the ROW. It is the true scourge of Toronto.....DOUBLE PARKERS!! A pox on all their houses.
The ROW on Spadina destroyed the streetscape. The streetcar on Spadina takes longer to go from Bloor to Queens Quay than the streetcar on Bathurst.
The ROW on Spadina destroyed the streetscape. The streetcar on Spadina takes longer to go from Bloor to Front than the streetcar on Bathurst.
The ROW on Spadina destroyed my wallet. I've spent more than two thousand dollars in the past year there.
(I almost spent ten bucks on St. Clair a few months ago, but fortunately remembered how bad the streetcar service is and picked another restaurant.)
Finally! I used to live on St. Clair. Maybe now this will also discourage old Italians from standing in the middle of the Goddamn road and yakking away while cars and bikes try not to run them over.