[Amare]

Why would an office park need 'community space'?

The city has had ~15+ years to get its act together since the realization that Liberty Village was not going to be an office park, and accommodate the influx of residences. They failed, so we cant pin this issue solely on the initial plan for the area. As we know, the plans changed, and the city didn't accommodate for the unfortunate idiocy from the province.

Why would an office park need schools?

See point above.

63 Ossington and 29 Dufferin busses, 504 streetcar, Exhibition GO station and the fairytale future station on the Kitchener line, under construction Ontario Line Exhibition Station...

Residences have complained for years and years, and years, that the service offered by the joke that is the 29, 63, 504 and Exhibition GO were not enough. And rightly so. For years they felt ignored by the city because they were doing absolutely nothing to improve the 504. They finally decided to get serious and introduce the 514 Cherry, which then later turned into having the 514 renumbered to the 504 and having the route split on both ends. Then they got a bit more serious and implemented to King Street Pilot.

GO finally decided to start bolstering service on the Lakeshore West line which helped, but many people couldnt take advantage of it for various reason, thus the reason people were frustrated with the TTC and city. It's only now that the area is getting the transit that's really needed with the Ontario Line.

How would you change this? The roads are largely historic in that the follow older roads and rail lines from yesteryear. The biggest issue is that we don't tax / toll cars as we should so everyone uses them. But I'm open to your ideas here.

What did Miller / the Miller administration personally do to change direction, planning or otherwise, here?

We're in agreement that there's virtually little to nothing that can be done to fix the road network today. The only thing that's going to make somewhat of an impact to the area is the South Liberty St roadway. Asides from that, this road network in the area is permanently messed up.

David Miller had the opportunity to go ahead with the Front St Extension that was on the debate front for years. He decided to cancel it outright once and for good because of a lack of funds and due to the battle on cars, instead of finding a way to allocate funds.

This is the thing that hurts this area tremendously to this day, and it's why Strachan and East Liberty are a virtually gridlocked zoo 90% of the time.

 

[Jm gravel]

An issue that is never raised are the safety issues that could potentially arise from a potential lack of access to this very densely populated area were a tragedy like London’s Grenfell fire, a train wreck or something similar occur. My daughter lived down there for several years and I often wondered if the bridge to Western Battery couldn’t have been designed to allow access to emergency vehicles. Frankly I was happy when she moved..

 

[ProjectEnd]

The city has had ~15+ years to get it's act together since the realization that Liberty Village was not going to be an office park, and accommodate the influx of residences. They failed, so we cant pin this issue solely on the initial plan for the area. As we know, the plans changed, and the city didn't accommodate for the unfortunate idiocy from the province.


See point above.


Residences have complained for years and years, and years, that the service offered by the joke that is the 29, 63, 504 and Exhibition GO were not enough. And rightly so. For years they felt ignored by the city because they were doing absolutely nothing to improve the 504. They finally decided to get serious and introduce the 514 Cherry, which then later turned into having the 514 renumbered to the 504 and having the route split on both ends. Then they got a bit more serious and implemented to King Street Pilot.

GO finally decided to start bolstering service on the Lakeshore West line which helped, but many people couldnt take advantage of it for various reason, thus the reason people were frustrated with the TTC and city. It's only now that the area is getting the transit that's really needed with the Ontario Line.


We're in agreement that there's virtually little to nothing that can be done to fix the road network today. The only thing that's going to make somewhat of an impact to the area is the South Liberty St roadway. Asides from that, this road network in the area is permanently messed up.

David Miller had the opportunity to go ahead with the Front St Extension that was on the debate front for years. He decided to cancel it outright once and for good because of a lack of funds and due to the battle on cars, instead of finding a way to allocate funds.

This is the thing that hurts this area tremendously to this day, and it's why Strachan and East Liberty are a virtually gridlocked zoo 90% of the time.

I'm sorry, you think *this* is the better solution?

 

[Amare]

I'm sorry, you think *this* is the better solution?

View attachment 690798

The part up to Strachan, between Strachan and Bathurst?

Certainly 100%, magnitudes times better than the non-solution we have today.

 

[Monarch Butterfly]

If Doug Ford's Convention Centre ends up at Exhibition Place (the eastern portion which is mostly parking lots anyways, leaving the original western portion for the CNE), then the King-Liberty GO Station would be needed to feed it. GO trains from Kitchener, Milton, and Barrie could use the King-Liberty GO Sstation, since they can't use the Exhibition GO Station.

However, a pedestrian promenade is needed from the King-Liberty GO Station to Exhibition Place, Ontario Place, Ontario Science Centre, and the (Doug Ford Memorial) Convention Centre. The promenade (Atlantic Avenue?) should have trees, fountains, benches, shops, restaurants, and hotels along its path.

 

[Isfahaninejad]

Sent a note to Metrolinx ages ago asking what's going on with this and got the below response.

 

[Towered]

Sent a note to Metrolinx ages ago asking what's going on with this and got the below response. View attachment 724002

"prioritize"

 

[Red October]

1 short paragraph but had to shove a couple campaign slogans in there for good measure.

 

[Amare]

Good on you for taking initiative @Isfahaninejad.

I dont know in what planet a Bloor-Lansdowne station is even remotely useful for the ~200 riders who will use the station in any given day, seeing as Bloor GO is a stone's throw away.

But hey, Metrolinx is a clueless organization so it fits their bill (by bill I mean the exorbitant obscene prices they pay to build simple train stations).

What a clown show.

 

[north-of-anything]

I dont know in what planet a Bloor-Lansdowne station is even remotely useful for the ~200 riders who will use the station in any given day, seeing as Bloor GO is a stone's throw away.

Shocking news: thousands of people ride on the Barrie Line every day. Many of them are not headed to the downtown core.

A GO station at Lansdowne would allow for faster and more convenient connections between the Barrie Line and Line 2, but also since it's a "stone's throw away" from Bloor GO, shorter transfers to and from the Kitchener line and the Union Pearson Express (because it would be naive to assume that Caledonia GO is going to go ahead smoothly and without issue).

In my mind, Bloor-Lansdowne is more for transfers than the locals, which is completely valid. I could have used such a station today - it's tough to go places in Toronto outside of the downtown core when you have to go to Union first. King-Liberty is an important station for a different reason, as an origin and destination in its own right, but if it's being descoped then maybe the development proposals in the area need to slow down until they can get around to it.

 

[Isfahaninejad]

Lmao

 

[Amare]

Shocking news: thousands of people ride on the Barrie Line every day. Many of them are not headed to the downtown core.

I'm well aware.

A GO station at Lansdowne would allow for faster and more convenient connections between the Barrie Line and Line 2, but also since it's a "stone's throw away" from Bloor GO, shorter transfers to and from the Kitchener line and the Union Pearson Express (because it would be naive to assume that Caledonia GO is going to go ahead smoothly and without issue).

I'll love to see how many people are going to transfer from the Barrie line, go on a nice stroll to Lansdowne, subway westbound to Dundas West, and connect to the UP Express. I highly doubt the numbers will be anywhere near significant.

In my mind, Bloor-Lansdowne is more for transfers than the locals, which is completely valid. I could have used such a station today - it's tough to go places in Toronto outside of the downtown core when you have to go to Union first. King-Liberty is an important station for a different reason, as an origin and destination in its own right, but if it's being descoped then maybe the development proposals in the area need to slow down until they can get around to it.

Bloor-Lansdowne use is pretty much exactly more useful for transfers over locals yes, and it does provide redundancy for if there's issues with UPX or the Kitchener line.

My point is, with the limited dollars (or exorbitant dollars Metrolninx likes to piss away these days on projects) which project would get the most bang for its buck. It sure as hell isn't the Bloor-Lansdowne station.

 

[north-of-anything]

I'll love to see how many people are going to transfer from the Barrie line, go on a nice stroll to Lansdowne, subway westbound to Dundas West, and connect to the UP Express. I highly doubt the numbers will be anywhere near significant.

Bloor-Lansdowne use is pretty much exactly more useful for transfers over locals yes, and it does provide redundancy for if there's issues with UPX or the Kitchener line.

My point is, with the limited dollars (or exorbitant dollars Metrolinx likes to piss away these days on projects) which project would get the most bang for its buck. It sure as hell isn't the Bloor-Lansdowne station.

I mean, maybe I overstate the value of a UP Express transfer (I'd use it, though), but in a perfect world there would be some sort of direct off-street connection between the two GO stations (since neither subway station is actually between the two GO lines). I also think you might understate the amount of people who would switch between the Barrie Line and Line 2.

As for why Bloor-Lansdowne is being built over King-Liberty, I would not be surprised if the rationale is "it's cheaper to build". King-Liberty involves more than just the one GO line in its footprint, so Lansdowne is lower hanging fruit. And clearly cost effectiveness is not a priority for Metrolinx...

 

[ProjectEnd]

Sent a note to Metrolinx ages ago asking what's going on with this and got the below response. View attachment 724002

An extremely funny response given that we are in one of the most cost-effective construction environments in a decade (or more). Unless you just love getting rinsed by your friends in favourable, sometimes no-alternate-bid contracts, that is.

Anyone actually tendering work right now is sometimes holding off on signing contracts because the price they might get next week is lower than the one they'd sign today. CMs, constructors, unions, specialists, etc. are all bleeding and are desperately trying to sign anything just to keep the lights on. But I'm sure Marija knows that...

 

[Amare]

An extremely funny response given that we are in one of the most cost-effective construction environments in a decade (or more). Unless you just love getting rinsed by your friends in favourable, sometimes no-alternate-bid contracts, that is.

Anyone actually tendering work right now is sometimes holding off on signing contracts because the price they might get next week is lower than the one they'd sign today. CMs, constructors, unions, specialists, etc. are all bleeding and are desperately trying to sign anything just to keep the lights on. But I'm sure Marija knows that...

That's the thing though, Metrolinx is completely content with getting rinsed.

Their specialty is getting rinsed and milked by contractors.