Historicist: "The city that nobody loves"
Elsewhere in the Ist-a-Verse
The Daily Photoist: November 23, 2009
Urban Planner: November 23, 2009
Peter Kuitenbrower writes about the Bloor St. Redesign in the National Post today. At first glance, the plan seems great, lots of trees, public art, better walkways for pedestrians and fewer parking spots. All good things if you want to make a more walkable neighbourhood.
We were saddened to read that bike lanes were nowhere to be found in this plan. If the BIA and the City were planning to widen the sidewalk and take away parking spots, a bike lane could've been put in along the stretch of Bloor between Church and University, taking away what would've been a huge hurdle for the Take the Tooker campaign that wants to see a continuous bike lane along the Bloor-Danforth corridor.
But this oversight isn't peculiar. There doesn't seem to be much political will for bike lanes and not from this particular part of the city. But what is alarming for Torontoist is how cyclists seemed to be completely ignored in these plans. In almost all of the Brown and Storey drawings the city's bike posts are missing, replaced by planters. Here's just one set of examples (the before shots are above)
We love flowers and benches as much as the next person but hope that this is just an oversight by Brown and Storey and not how the street is actually going to be designed. Designing streets to be more walkable isn't always easy. And convincing the business owners of Yorkville to give up street parking must've taken some serious arm twisting but let's not forget that it's not just about cars and pedestrians.
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What I don't get (after reading the Post story) is why the city of Toronto doesn't water the trees they have, even to the point of letting them die? While Montreal's blue collar workers are far from perfect, they do manage to water the city's trees. And doesn't it rain on Bloor Street? Can't believe the design has to call for an underground watering system...
sorry, but why exactly does bloor street need a redesign?
Hi Shawn,
from what I know it has a lot to do with how the city plants trees in these really really cramped little concrete planters. They can't get enough water and I doubt that the city has the budget to water them properly. People also lock up bikes to them, throw garbage into the planters and tons of other bad stuff. Trees get no love or respect.
Montreal sidewalk trees suffer the same indignities. I don't know, maybe its happening here and I just haven't noticed. Or maybe our summers are less hot and dry. On a related note, Beaubien Street near where live in Montreal just got new fancy sidewalks (why do we redo sidewalks when the streets are in such bad shape?) and the little squares reserved for trees have been filled with... asphalt. Apparently they're coming back "later" to dig out the asphalt and plant trees. Not a good sign.
They did that on University Ave a year or so ago. They finally figured out that frost will kill a tree unless the soil has some connection to the ground. It cant just live in a concrete box on the sidewalk.
They fill'em with asphalt to reduce liablity. They made good, and planted trees later that summer. There's still hope!
Toronto's concrete planters have to be some of our worst eyesores. They're ugly, they crumble, and they're treated as trash cans for passers-by. It's really sad how tiny and scrawny the trees are in them, year after year after year.
Thanks again to Adam Giambrone and the Toronto Cycling Committee for dropping yet another ball. What are we paying these people for?
The Toronto Cycling Committee is made up of citizen volunteer members sooooo I believe that answers your question. As for Adam.... I'll leave the invective to you.
Y'know, looking at the picture again, it seems like there's plenty of room between the curb and the planters for cyclists. A few cans of spray paint and you've got a bike lane safely set apart from both cars and pedestrians. No invectives necessary. :)
While Torontoist complains about the lack of bicycle lanes, the National Post is mourns the loss of 53 parking spots.