TTC
• The world takes notice of a makeover done right [ Toronto Star ]
• Millions go underground [ Eye Weekly ]
• Fairness will guide TTC talks, Miller says [ Globe and Mail ]
• Commuters await TTC news conference to learn if transit workers plan to strike [ National Post ]
• TTC strike would cut mayor’s trip [ Toronto Sun ]
• TTC’s CanCon job [ NOW magazine ]
CITY HALL
• Miller defends lobbyist registry in face of criticism [ Globe and Mail ]
• Miller says he’ll speak out while in China [ Toronto Sun ]
• ‘Perfect’ time to add tunnel from Union station to PATH [ Toronto Star ]
• New $65M PATH tunnel to fix underground congestion [ National Post ]
• Red-light camera plan to head to council [ Globe and Mail ]
• $500 to help to help you see red [ Toronto Sun ]
• Tough new penalties proposed for motorists who run red lights [ CBC.ca ]
• Streets won’t have war dead names [ Toronto Sun ]
CYCLING
• City cycling 101 [ NOW magazine ]
• Lane games [ NOW magazine ]
• Buzz on bike union [ NOW magazine ]
• Bumped in the burbs [ NOW magazine ]
• Drivers are people, too [ NOW magazine ]
ENVIRONMENT
• Ontario’s greenbelt a model for the world [ Globe and Mail ]
• Going light on pollution [ NOW magazine ]
CN TOWER
• CN Tower’s glass-floor elevator aims to set new world record [ CBC.ca ]
• The world’s most defensive free-standing structure [ National Post ]
• Tower offers scary new view [ Toronto Sun ]
• CN Tower unveils glass-floor elevator [ Toronto Star ]
MISCELLANEOUS
• Sunshine statesman [ Eye Weekly ]
• Mississauga to sell utility [ Toronto Star ]
9 comments
Takes notice of a makeover done right?
What is wrong with Royson James?
To me, the Station seems incomplete.
The James puff-piece is just a bit of the civic boosterism that the Star likes to run. The Museum platform looks even cheaper and uglier than I had anticipated. Now there’s also a severe disconnect between what you experience on the platform and what you get as soon as you hit the stairs to go topside.
Rather than worldly, I think it makes us look like hicks.
I do find it a bit distressing that no one thought to ask Daniel Libeskind to create a design for the station that tied into the ROM renovation. Certainly that would have been more expensive than adding chotchkes to the pillars, but the result might have been a bit more significant.
What I find most interesting about this issue is the Toronto Community Foundation. They’ve demonstrated an ability to channel charitable donations into projects they deem significant. Certainly, had they not ponied up the first $2mil, the Museum project would never have happened.
It’s a little too easy to be critical of the station’s design and ignore the effort that went into it’s realization. This isn’t like Pape Station, where the TTC is spending it’s own money to make a “mistake”. This was private citizens and government engaged in a common project. That’s the sort of thing we usually laud, isn’t it?
Re: Josh’s comments.
The makeover was ill-conceived and misdirected right from the start. Museum station didn’t need a makeover. It was still in pretty good shape. There are other platforms on the Yonge-Spadina line that are more in need of renovation. How about fixing up the problems at Dupont, for one example? The TCF found $2 million to plaster over a piece of Toronto’s heritage and turn a station platform into kitsch. To me, it was a waste of money to little purpose. Under-teen children will enjoy the it, though.
The TTC appears to have no considered plans of its own, and appears willing to sign up, willy-nilly, with whomever will throw cash its way. And that, I think, is a problem.
If this Toronto Charitable Foundation had come to me and said that they were bent on putting two million bucks into the aesthetics of a subway station, I’d have suggested that it be restored as authentically as possible to its 1963 glory, making it a sort of historical exhibit (an actual museum, if you will).
Or, on the more practical hand, they could have put the money into a decent elevator and public restrooms. You can’t say that’s not philanthropic, charitable work.
As for Libeskind, I’m imagining an angular jumble, representing, no doubt, the intersecting trajectories of thousands of commuters.
The most valid point there seems to be that the TTC doesn’t have a plan of their own. If we were to find fault in any of this it’s that anyone with money can get something done at the TTC regardless of it’s impact on the system as a whole.
Josh: as Steve Munro notes, this is in fact public money that is being spent on “a mistake”. $2 million came from the TCF, and $3 million of public money. In addition, the public pays on lost tax revenue on the initial $2 million.
Regarding the makeover, how nice that the “world” will be taking notice — whatever that means. Will these changes actually make the City more liveable for residents? Yeah, right. If we are spending money on station projects, maybe we should be focusing less on “makeovers” and more on features that improve accessibility for disabled and elderly patrons (features that are sorely lacking in too many stations). As for those who think these makeovers are a great thing because they “celebrate” public space, why don’t we first try “properly cleaning and maintaining” our public spaces before doing anymore “celebrating”.
But of course the photo-op/media possibilities are so much less when monies are simply spent on routine cleaning, maintenance.
I don’t disagree, Andrew. My point is more that regardless of the quality of the idea, you can get public money for anything if you come to the table with some cash too. Sure, it’s like paying for the right to use a bad idea but…no wait, that’s exactly what it is…