September 28, 2006
The Great Gardiner Debate Begins, Ryerson Gets A New Chancellor, Street Racers Get Off Lightly
The Gardiner Report is now finally available to the public and not a moment too soon. The report outlines four options for the Gardiner. The one that's getting the most talk from the media and City Hall is tearing down a part of the elevated highway and replacing it with a widened Lakeshore Boulevard.
Drivers weigh in with their thoughts, not all of them like the Gardiner it seems, but they're right in thinking that the construction would cause serious gridlock. We personally want to remind our councillors that many of the people grumbling don't vote or even pay taxes in Toronto so take what they're saying with a grain of salt.
The Star's Jim Coyle points out that Senator Jerry Grafstein's endorsement of Jane Pitfield bordered on insulting and almost smells of old boy's club sexism.
G. Raymond Chang is Ryerson's new chancellor. The successful businessman is already on Ryerson's board and has the school of continuing education named after him.
We don't care if it's a photo-op we just like the fact that the business community got together to build a playground for some kids who need it.
Over at Downsview they have a replica of the Avro Arrow. The best part is that one of the original men who worked on the Arrow in the '50s worked on this reconstruction.
A police chase ended up wrecking a woman's porch. No one in the house was hurt.
An unreliable witness means that two street racers who killed two people are only getting convicted of careless driving, a slap on the wrist.
Photo by Henry Roxas from the Torontoist Flickr Group.
|
"We personally want to remind our councillors that many of the people grumbling don't vote or even pay taxes in Toronto so take what they're saying with a grain of salt."
This is collosally dumb and untrue (many commute from the 'burbs that are part of Toronto). Even the "outsiders" work in Toronto and spend a huge chunk of income here. More to the point - they are the users of the thing and therefore direct stakeholders in any plan. Lets ignore them in favour of what the ideologue blogger thinks. Good one.
The plan calls for a TEN lane road instead of the Gardiner! Er, how is that going to open up the waterfront to the city?! Its needed to be buried and replaced with a park like Montreal and every other good city has done.
Also, the plan keeps it West Spadina - wrong. The means that people who live West of Spadina still won't be able to walk directly to the lake.
Burry it all. If that costs twice as much sell bonds or something!
Bury it and put up toll booths for the 905ers to pay for it! Toronto for Torontonians! Rah rah rah!
I'm only half sarcastic.
Spoke with top urban planners and the answer is:
Bury it all from Dufferin over and make it a bypass (no exits). Then start charging $5 to 905ers (London-style) who use the city to finance the thing. Done.
Traffic pattern studies and past experience has shown that building wider (and more) highways doesn't reduce congestion, but the amount of cars scales to the increased capacity.
It would interesting to hear how a toll system for cars would work, coupled with cheaper, comfortable, and easier access to transit into the core (including an inexpensive and unified GO-TTC transit pass). I'm also for closing-off some of the street grid for pedestrian/recreational use, at least during certain times (similar to Santa Monica's Third Street Promenade). Imagine how much nicer parts of Ryerson would look, for example, if Gould and Victoria were turned into promenades, with street vendors, furniture, and public art.
Discouraging traffic will only work if public transit is a cheap and comfortable option, but it's also a major cultural shift. That's not to say it isn't desirable or doable, however.