General rating of the project

  • Great

    Votes: 8 7.2%

  • Very Good

    Votes: 15 13.5%

  • Good

    Votes: 39 35.1%

  • So So

    Votes: 13 11.7%

  • Not Very Good

    Votes: 16 14.4%

  • Terrible

    Votes: 20 18.0%
  • Total voters
    111
Ok I'm going to say one more thing than move on. It's very easy for those who don't drive to think they know better, but how do you honestly tell the majority that you are right and they are wrong? Commuters are the majority, and any planning decisions that don't take them into account would have the opposite effect as desired when we get a very pro car Mayor and Council (This is how Rob Ford got elected in Toronto, he wanted to stop the "war on cars" as one of his biggest promises).

The reason I brought up 14 st is because it handles the same volume of people that live in Downtown and the Beltline combined. Commuters vastly outnumber those who walk, so any changes made to streets that restrict traffic flow need to be carefully considered to ensure they don't negatively affect more people than they benefit. I think building a park in the middle of 9th would look cool, but it would barely get used and would be very bad for traffic. If you want to improve 9th or any of the other large 1 ways, narrowing lanes, planting more trees and having a more attractive streetscape is the way to go, but eliminating lanes all together would not go over well, look at how mad people are about the cycle track! The easiest improvements we can make in this city would be to get rid of all the laybys we have on these 1 ways (The one in front of Gulf Canada Square is a perfect example of traffic priority over pedestrians) as they narrow the sidewalks to only a couple feet in places.

And to be clear, I'm a cyclist far more than I'm a motorist, so if I'm going to lobby for anything, it's more bike lanes thank you very much!
 
This thread has taken an SSP like detour!

Great pics of the ongoing development on site as they continue building out the crown. I am also really interested to see how the podium starts looking from the park side as opposed to the road side- has the potential to be really nice with those patio areas (if they survive the construction process lol...)
 
Mountain Man said:
Ok I'm going to say one more thing than move on. It's very easy for those who don't drive to think they know better, but how do you honestly tell the majority that you are right and they are wrong? Commuters are the majority, and any planning decisions that don't take them into account would have the opposite effect as desired when we get a very pro car Mayor and Council (This is how Rob Ford got elected in Toronto, he wanted to stop the "war on cars" as one of his biggest promises).

The reason I brought up 14 st is because it handles the same volume of people that live in Downtown and the Beltline combined. Commuters vastly outnumber those who walk, so any changes made to streets that restrict traffic flow need to be carefully considered to ensure they don't negatively affect more people than they benefit. I think building a park in the middle of 9th would look cool, but it would barely get used and would be very bad for traffic. If you want to improve 9th or any of the other large 1 ways, narrowing lanes, planting more trees and having a more attractive streetscape is the way to go, but eliminating lanes all together would not go over well, look at how mad people are about the cycle track! The easiest improvements we can make in this city would be to get rid of all the laybys we have on these 1 ways (The one in front of Gulf Canada Square is a perfect example of traffic priority over pedestrians) as they narrow the sidewalks to only a couple feet in places.

And to be clear, I'm a cyclist far more than I'm a motorist, so if I'm going to lobby for anything, it's more bike lanes thank you very much!
Click to expand...

I have to say I'm going to have to disagree with you 100% about 9th Avenue, the original aspect of this discussion relating to the streetscape directly in front of this project.

Bow Trail already reduces to three lanes further west adjacent to the Buick GMC. All of the commuter traffic is being handled just fine through that section of three lanes. A large amount of traffic uses the two northernmost lanes to turn onto 11th street and often the only traffic in the southernmost lane is turning south. Through traffic often uses the two central middle through lanes the most to avoid being stopped behind those waiting to turn. You could instantly remove lanes east of 11th street with barely any noticeable impact.

I don't think just because someone drives a vehicle the same route every day they instantly know what's better for our city, let alone how to determine road capacity. Letting drivers and traffic lanes solely dictate urban planning leaves you with Los Angeles.
 
Sorry all, I didn't mean to invoke the vitriol of "the bad place", I only meant that the discussion about the west village development has been completely taken off route to a discussion about transforming the major arterial roads into the downtown core. I think it was a well-intended and good debate all around, also a reason I like this site more. But maybe that debate deserves it's own thread! :)
 
second tower is cooking

05B913CE-E8C3-426D-8E60-29101C498F6F.jpeg
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heightjunkie said:
Sorry all, I didn't mean to invoke the vitriol of "the bad place", I only meant that the discussion about the west village development has been completely taken off route to a discussion about transforming the major arterial roads into the downtown core. I think it was a well-intended and good debate all around, also a reason I like this site more. But maybe that debate deserves it's own thread! :)
Click to expand...
There's the Urban Development thread that would be perfect for that type of discussion.
 
Ok... it's turning out way better than my fears when the glass was only 10 or so storeys up. This is turning good, tower-wise.
 
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