[Adjei]

Rob Ford said a few things about tackling graffiti and how awful the drive in to the city is when there's litter up against the fences by the side of the highway, but aside from a few words and a photo op with a power washer, he didn't actually do anything, as usual.

Wouldn't this be considered "gravy" to him?

 

[the lemur]

Wouldn't this be considered "gravy" to him?

Who knows? Anything's gravy to him when he decides he doesn't like it. He seemed kind of agitated by the litter/graffiti issue - he could have spun the cleanup idea into job creation or something for disadvantaged youth to do - get 'em off the streets, à la Ford football - but for whatever reason he didn't pursue it any further.

It's like how his sole initiative regarding congestion was to paint a curb red to indicate 'no parking' (is that curb still red?) and then he lost interest.

It might suit Tory to talk about smartening up Toronto's appearance but it's probably way down the list of priorities.

 

[Adjei]

Who knows? Anything's gravy to him when he decides he doesn't like it. He seemed kind of agitated by the litter/graffiti issue - he could have spun the cleanup idea into job creation or something for disadvantaged youth to do - get 'em off the streets, à la Ford football - but for whatever reason he didn't pursue it any further.

It's like how his sole initiative regarding congestion was to paint a curb red to indicate 'no parking' (is that curb still red?) and then he lost interest.

It might suit Tory to talk about smartening up Toronto's appearance but it's probably way down the list of priorities.

Ha, I forgot about that. Good thing those days are behind us.

 

[the lemur]

Well, pilot project's over ... wonder what the conclusion was.

http://www.thestar.com/news/city_ha...ts_curbs_red_for_toronto_traffic_project.html

 

[ticky]

Having streetcar wires and the supporting wires everywhere certainly doesn't help to making a street look clean.

 

[wild goose chase]

As I said, I don't think people realize that the quote can easily be seen as a veiled putdown. And wouldn't a New York-type alpha city that was run by the Swiss basically just be a bigger version of Zurich? Which is no one's idea of vibrant or exciting, nice though it may be.

Running things like the Swiss probably doesn't refer to our design or urban planning - there was a profile of Toronto a few years ago in one of the Swiss papers in which the journalist expressed surprise at the fact we had buildings of different styles and eras plopped next to each other, seemingly at random. (Which I didn't think was necessarily a bad thing?)

I have heard the quote before and always wondered what kind of similarity with the Swiss it referred to.
My first thought was cleanliness, efficiency or perhaps punctuality, which is something strongly associated with Swiss society/culture -- but then that would be ironic considering what is said about the TTC all the time!

 

[King of Kensington]

During the 90s it seems that the image of Toronto went from a city that's boring but efficient "city that works" to a much bigger, more exciting city that doesn't.

 

[Filip]

I find Toronto dirty.. Until I go somewhere else!

Unless it's Geneva.. Geneva is so bloody clean - you could eat food off the sidewalk.

 

[the lemur]

I have heard the quote before and always wondered what kind of similarity with the Swiss it referred to.
My first thought was cleanliness, efficiency or perhaps punctuality, which is something strongly associated with Swiss society/culture -- but then that would be ironic considering what is said about the TTC all the time!

And not just the TTC ... although, I don't know, was the TTC cleaner and more punctual in the 1970s when Ustinov wrote about Toronto? Was anything about Toronto impressively clean, efficient, punctual in the 1970s the way it isn't now?

 

[the lemur]

I find Toronto dirty.. Until I go somewhere else!

Unless it's Geneva.. Geneva is so bloody clean - you could eat food off the sidewalk.

Geneva is also kind of bland, which I'm pretty sure is the sort of thing Ustinov was getting at.

 

[the lemur]

Having streetcar wires and the supporting wires everywhere certainly doesn't help to making a street look clean.

That falls more under 'tidy' than 'clean', but I get your point. The wires are kind of unavoidable but there's something to be said for how overhead wires are dealt with. Tokyo has a lot of overhead wiring (including some streetcar wires!) but I doubt you'll find stuff like surplus hydro wire in a dangling loop the way you see it here.

 

[Filip]

Geneva is also kind of bland, which I'm pretty sure is the sort of thing Ustinov was getting at.

Geneva is many things (quiet, uptight, clean...) but it certainly isn't bland. It is a tiny city (under 200,000 people), but its international profile is quite high. You can feel the 'internationalness' of the city - it's almost part of the atmosphere.

Mind you I grew up there, so I'm a bit biased. From what my friends tell me, bars close at 11, barely any clubs unless you go to France, everything is pricey; but it's the price you pay to live in a city that's all 5th Avenue.

 

[Admiral Beez]

We certainly don't have the graffiti problem that seems to curse most urban areas in Europe. I'm not referring to wall murals created with property owners' consent.

Took a walk through Cabbagetown today, up Parliament and Carlton and saw three city workers (or parolees?) with brooms and bags sweeping up rubbish. That's a good sign of a city that cares.

 

[Armour]

We certainly don't have the graffiti problem that seems to curse most urban areas in Europe. I'm not referring to wall murals created with property owners' consent.

Took a walk through Cabbagetown today, up Parliament and Carlton and saw three city workers (or parolees?) with brooms and bags sweeping up rubbish. That's a good sign of a city that cares.

We don't have a graffiti problem?

 

[Admiral Beez]

We don't have a graffiti problem?

Let me clarify that. In my experience, Toronto's graffiti problem is not nearly as bad as it is in many European cities.