LAWRENCE HEIGHTS REDEVELOPMENT
• ‘Massive’ plan to revamp troubled Lawrence Heights [ Toronto Star ]
• City to announce massive overhaul of low-income Lawrence Heights [ Globe & Mail ]
CITY FINANCES
• Mayor calls for ‘degradation’ fees for roads [ Toronto Sun ]
• Budget boss defends city [ Toronto Star ]
• City disputes Board of Trade deficit predictions [ National Post ]
• Utilities to be dinged for more road repairs [ Toronto Star ]
MAYORAL RACE
• Experience counts, mayoral candidate says [ Toronto Star ]
• Bike lanes an election winner for Rossi [ Toronto Star ]
URBAN GREEN
• Toronto: the greenest city in North America? [ Now Magazine ]
• T.O. game changers [ Now Magazine ]
• Smoke on the water [ Now Magazine ]
• Toronto’s most people-powered park is still struggling to make nice with the city [ Eye Weekly ]
OTHER NEWS
• Space for discussion [ Now Magazine]
• Islands in the stream of consciousness [ Eye Weekly ]
• Details: Krishna Korner [ Eye Weekly ]
• Porter: City crackdown hits park pizza nights [ Toronto Star ]
• Twitter candidate emerges, as TTC gets set to unveil customer-service panel [ National Post ]
• Coyote scare in East York [ Toronto Sun ]
• Million bucks makes school ‘heart of the community‘ [ Toronto Star ]
• Old TTC utility poles to come tumbling down [ Toronto Star ]
• Dirty snow gets artistic makeover [ Toronto Star ]
• Black history event connects youths with long list of luminaries [ Toronto Star ]
8 comments
My favourite editing oops of the week is from the Globe article:
But while Regent Park sits in the middle of Toronto’s dense downtown, blocks away from Bay Street and at the centre of numerous urban arteries, Lawrence Park was completed in 1962 as a self-contained low-income community….
“Mayor calls for ‘degradation’ fees for roads” is from the Sun and not the Star.
Thanks.
Speaking of utilities cutting up roads, one problem I encounter frequently is that when utilities have to remove a surface with decorative pavers, I see that they’re not restored, just patched with asphalt. And I’m not talking about for an initial period while the earth settles, but indefinitely.
I see this at such intersections like Bloor and St. George and Bloor and Runnymede, where decorative pavers were installed for pedestrians crossing the road.
We pay for these enhancements, and they’re supposed to beautify and improve our city!
And another thing. Trees lining roads and streets, particularly arterials, enhance the street significantly. But the trees are rendered ugly because we aren’t burying our overhead wires fast enough. The ways the trees are pruned through the centre is so often ugly.
(Sorry if that was rambling in tone.) I think the City needs a department dedicated to improving aesthetics across all public spaces, on the TTC, in parks, squares, along streets, etc.
Toronto, the greenest city in North America?.. WOW!!… oops, just realized it’s a story in NOW
I don’t see how Toronto can ever claim to be “the greenest city in North America” while still burning coal. Vancouver gets at least 80% of its power from hydroelectric, and runs a big fleet of electric buses and of course, the SkyTrain.
How could Toronto ever really compare?
A.R. I agree wholeheartedly – a proper dept is needed!
I work in the Yorkville area and although I’m really happy to see the work that the BIA is doing here, part of me wonders what will happen in the near future. Will the utility companies tear up and then patch the new granite sidewalks w asphalt like they have with the brickwork in the heart of Yorkville? Why are we investing money on things that we can’t maintain. Other cities seem to get it right, surely we can too!
The city needs to take a close look at this – and preferably not a myopic one!
For transportation, switching from car to transit make a such huge reduction environmental impact, Toronto’s higher share of transit usage trumps how the transit vehicles are powered. With our network of electric streetcars and subways, we have not shortage of electric transit, anyway.
I know it’s unlikely to say the least, but I’d love to see the construction of utility tunnels in any major road reconstruction project in the core or areas with unique character.
Instead of digging up the road whenever anything needs to be done with pipes and cables, just send some technicians into the tunnels and fix it without any digging.