The Making of a Medley
Newsstand: November 23, 2009
The Daily Photoist: November 23, 2009
Urban Planner: November 23, 2009
"This is why we'll never have the Olympics," remarked one of Torontoist's companions last night, as we spotted the large and impressively deep pools that had formed in the stairs leading down to Osgoode Station. We then heard an announcement over the public address system: a water main had burst and flooded Union Station, necessitating evacuation. So we headed down University to get a look.
(The puddles at Osgoode and St. Andrew, we were told, were not caused by pipe bursts but rather by a combination of the rain, the melting snow, and the fact that the remaining snow had clogged up the on-street drains, resulting in an overflow into the stairwells.)
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At least the floors are cleaner now.
Check out the St. Patrick station stairs on the SE corner of Dundas & University. It's perpetually wet, slippery, and hazardous.
Or the NW corner of St. Patrick during a thaw. The landing is often a wading pool when the drains get clogged. Lots of people tip-toeing and hopping through it after navigating the deathtrap slippery stairs.
This morning Union subway station stank of, in addition to the quaint smell of barf, horse.
To clarify, the flooding at Union Station last evening was *not* caused by a watermain break. Toronto Water continues to investigate the cause.
Given the amount of water, it is, perhaps, an understandable conclusion, but an incorrect one.
Brad Ross
Toronto Transit Commission
A dirty place made even more disgusting. But still I read countless Torontoist articles romanticizing the TTC. I can never understand why.
To be fair, this is the time of year when it looks the worst since the snow concealed a lot of garbage which is impossible to clean until it melts.
The thousands of cigarette butts scattered outside bars and restaurants are incredibly repulsive. Apparently, for many, many smokers, the world is their ashtray. Disgusting.
That garbage shouldn't be there in the first place to be hidden by the snow. What's so difficult about putting garbage in garbage cans?
It's hard to imagine there are people who think Toronto is the 'clean' version of New York or wherever else. Seas of cigarette butts and black gum on the sidewalks, garbage-smeared silver bins, newspapers blowing everywhere, slick black puddles in subway stations, plastic bags caught in trees...
Obviously you've never been to New York...
Cities are going to get a bit messy. But you've got to be kidding me if you think we've got the same mess level as New York. I mean, cigarette butts? Garbage in the garbage bins? Gum on the sidewalks? That's the worst of it?
I shouldn't have to visit New York to think Toronto is clean.
and grafitti.......
and grafitti...... to brighten up the dark corners and make drab places interesting. Always looking on the bright side, eh DaveH?