DEVELOPMENT
• CAMH launches Phase Two redevelopment [ Toronto Star ]
• Markham’s food fight [ National Post ]
• Urban designer quits in dispute over waterfront sports complex [ Toronto Star ]
URBAN GREEN
• Incineration: a recycling killer? [ Toronto Star ]
• Health concerns still cast a pall over incineration [ Toronto Star ]
G20 CONFERENCE
• Toronto braces for G20 logistics crunch [ Globe & Mail ]
• Diplomatic immunity doled out to thousands of Toronto visitors as G20 approaches
[ Toronto Life ]
OTHER NEWS
• Doggie do-do in bags littering streets [ Toronto Star ]
• Texting for sexual health advice [ Toronto Star ]
• Walk signal causing pedestrian confusion [ Toronto Star ]
• Warm weather brings crowd out to Easter parade [ Toronto Star ]
• Crowds overwhelm single Toronto Island ferry [ Toronto Star ]
• Inside the Toronto Coffee Conspiracy [ Globe & Mail ]
• Kenk’s bikes end up in the right hands [ Toronto Sun ]
• Bike thefts sparked historic raids [ Toronto Sun ]
11 comments
Man, that “Urban designer…” article is a bummer. Nothing will doom the waterfront more than suburban, car-oriented development.
Here is one from a few days ago that should not be missed……..
Former Mayor John Sewell calls Toronto ‘crybabies’
“Property tax hike could fund transit”
If these light rail transit lines are so critical to the health of the city, why don’t the crybabies on city council fund them with increased residential property tax? Why don’t they take the mid-point for property taxes in the GTA, raising them so every homeowner pays $500 more a year than in the draft budget? That would pour about $400 million this year into these transit lines.
If you want the lowest taxes in the GTA then you can’t afford all the transit improvements you want. If you want more transit, then maybe you can’t have the lowest taxes. Which is it for the crybabies?
The eastern waterfront is probably going to end up a pastiche of suburban design mediocrity. Corus’ new building looks like something from a 905 office park, the waterfront condos at Yonge appear to have some sort of cul de sac drive up from Queen’s Quay, the sports complex will have a giant surface level parking parking lot, and the renderings of the new George Brown buildings make it look tamer than the Centennial HP Science and Technology Centre in Scarborough.
What a waste of opportunity. Then again, that’s what we might be known for and what many bitter former Torontonians in BC remember about the city.
Yeah, I biked by the Corus building yesterday, and it totally sucked. I’m hoping Sugar beach and Lower Sherbourne park turn out nice.
Push the button, he says… Kind of hard when you’re on a bike, and some intersections just don’t seem to detect the presence of bikes. Besides, it’s dangerous to have the opposite signal countdown, only to turn green again. I’m sure lots of people step out into the intersection before noticing that their signal hasn’t actually changed. It’s an accident waiting to happen.
Don’t worry about Queens Quay East being too car oriented, because they are planning on taking down the Gardiner at Jarvis. So now all the auto traffic coming from the north, north-east, and east will be at street level rather than be grade separated from local and pedestrian traffic…
…Oh wait
To ADM:
Toronto’s been pretty good for setting their road sensors to detect bikes. 3 Vertical Dots on the pavement indicate where to stop your bike to get a green.
Re. The Corus building.
That’s what you get when the the government at city hall, which fancies itself as ‘city builders’ builds. A taxpayer funded ugly building, paying a lower tax rate. Sold to us as an example of employment growth in the city and as a ‘catalyst’ to encourage more commercial development in the area. Yet there is no real job growth. It merely consolidates employees scattered among the city under one roof. As far as the rest of the area is concerned, all we are going to get is the bill for cleaning the soil to build more condos.
If this is what passes for progressive in Toronto then god help us. Hopeless ideologues is more like it.
Joel, they work when there are those 3 dots, but not all intersections are equipped with those
ADM & Yu: Usually, you don’t even need the three dots. Just look for the cut line in the pavement that indicate where the sensor loop is. Aim for the center line if there’s a choice. If it still won’t detect your bike, you can complain to the city to adjust the sensor’s sensitivity.
Vancouver has an effective network of off-arterial bikeways, because they have a) pushbuttons for bikes easily accessible at the side of the road, and b) countdown timers that respond near-instantly and act consistently.
How many times have I wiggled my bike over the pavement sensor, seen the countdown start only to have it end 3.2.1… psyche! Even if I hit the button, I have to wait for another 2 minute rotation.
It’s a really really stupid design choice that probably saved 1 relay in the traffic light control box.