[TrickyRicky]

Spider, I'm not attempting to change your opinion on the subject but I just think that it would benefit many Canadians who have strong feelings on the subject of immigration to recognize that a) Our perspectives are not "normal" they are highly particular and beset with particularities as strange to outsiders as hijabs or arranged marriages are to us. and b) Immigrants are just as critical and highly aware both of the strengths and the weaknesses of our culture.

One of the ironies I find is the concept that immigrants are these lazy moochers draining the system. While I don't deny some do come here for that reason, the reality is that most immigrants come here precisely because they feel on balance they can make it in Canada. They feel they can make it precisely because Canadians themselves are so intrinsically uncompetitive, coddled and lazy. It seems that, the very things we fear in newcomers are perhaps the mirror of our own weaknesses. And it would be hard to deny that Toronto has not benefited on some levels economically and culturally from exposure to high levels of immigration.

That said, I am not in opposition to your assertion that immigration levels should be questioned. We should not be dependent on immigration for our prosperity, nor should we be creating an immigrant underclass if the evidents suggests that our society is structured in such a way that they have very little opportunity for social mobility.

 

[Register123]

Exactly how are new immigrants "forced" to live in cities other than the big 3? I've never heard anything like this, how would it be enforced?

 

[Irishmonk]

According to Doug Ford all this city needs is giant Ferris wheel and a monorail to take us there. (But try to keep it a secret, we don't want Cleveland and Detroit finding out.)

 

[kkgg7]

Building more subways!
I think the first priority is to triple Toronto's existing subway system.

 

[44 North]

Building more subways!
I think the first priority is to triple Toronto's existing subway system.

I agree. And not a Sheppard Subway. A subway line that actually make sense (i.e - another line passing through the core).

 

[nfitz]

I agree. And not a Sheppard Subway. A subway line that actually make sense.

Which is why they started construction on the first 25 km of the Eglinton line last week. A downtown line would be great too.

 

[kkgg7]

Which is why they started construction on the first 25 km of the Eglinton line last week. A downtown line would be great too.

I think a west-east line on Queen St makes a lot of sense. Queen West has too much car traffic and pedestrians find it hard to navigate though the busy commercial street. Queen East, although a prime location, remains highly under-developed. If a subway goes along it all the way to the beaches, there should be plenty of potential. Right now, too many passengers have to reply on the BD line, which makes it extremely crowded during rush hour. Streetcar can be eliminated on King, Queen and Dundas, opening up the streets for pedestrian traffic.

I don't know the rationale behind the Sheppard line. There has been complaints that the ridership is low. There are only 4 stations, which don't really bring people anywhere, of course ridership is low! YOu need it to be a network in order to take full advantage of having a subway system.

 

[Torontovibe]

Building more subways!
I think the first priority is to triple Toronto's existing subway system.

A downtown relief line is what I think we need most. (along Queen Street)

 

[Riverdale Rink Rat]

I think a west-east line on Queen St makes a lot of sense. Queen West has too much car traffic and pedestrians find it hard to navigate though the busy commercial street. Queen East, although a prime location, remains highly under-developed. If a subway goes along it all the way to the beaches, there should be plenty of potential. Right now, too many passengers have to reply on the BD line, which makes it extremely crowded during rush hour. Streetcar can be eliminated on King, Queen and Dundas, opening up the streets for pedestrian traffic.

Not that I don't think a subway that connected along Queen wouldn't be a bad idea, I must admit I don't understand your logic. A subway is for delivering people from long distances away -- you don't take a subway one or two stops. A subway along Queen would be about whisking people from the core to BD at Pape and further north (all the way to Eglinton?) How does that help or hinder Queen East?

Queen West -- if you eliminated the streetcars, you'd get more cars, no? How does that help pedestrians?

And, on Queen East, the streetcar promotes streetlife by dropping people to walk to Distillery (more King East than Queen East, but still), the Opera House kiddies, the downtowners hitting Ruby Watchco or Table 17. A subway would have all those people headed downtown or points north, no?

 

[Thanos]

Queen West -- if you eliminated the streetcars, you'd get more cars, no? How does that help pedestrians?

And, on Queen East, the streetcar promotes streetlife by dropping people to walk to Distillery (more King East than Queen East, but still), the Opera House kiddies, the downtowners hitting Ruby Watchco or Table 17. A subway would have all those people headed downtown or points north, no?

Well if you had a subway line going down from Bloor, say along Parkside because you have access to High Park, connecting to Queen St and running along Queen all the way to Victoria Park and then up along VP until Bloor again. Why would you need a Queen streetcar then? How does eliminating the streetcar when there is a subway right there take away from the street life?
Ste-Catherine street in Montreal has a subway running along the most used parts of the street and very little in the form of other public transportation and it has not taken away from the street life. Many cities are like this around the world.

 

[Red October]

What we really need is a direct line from Union to the airport, similar to Chicago's Orange Line to Midway and Blue Line to O'Hare.

Also a Queen crosstown route, a North-South route in Etobicoke and Scarborough would be nice.

 

[kkgg7]

What we really need is a direct line from Union to the airport, similar to Chicago's Orange Line to Midway and Blue Line to O'Hare.

Also a Queen crosstown route, a North-South route in Etobicoke and Scarborough would be nice.

that's what I always say a city with 2.5-3 million population should have. TTC subway is big enough for 1 million.
Unfortunately, I don't think we will have what Chicago currently does even in 2030. Toronto was short sighted enough to have missed the opporunity when it was cheap and fast to building subways. From now on, policy makers will always complain it is too costly, precisely because they waited long enough for it to be costly. The city could have built 2X the Yonge and Bloor line combined after the 1980 but it seems to be happy with the seemingly nice title "North America's second largest public transit" and never had the vision to be really great for the future.
I would predict that if Toronto ever loses to other cities, it is mostly due to its inability to quickly moving people around.

 

[kkgg7]

Building more subways certainly is an effective solution, but costly nonetheless - if there was an incentive of sorts for using alternative transportation (with city support of course) I think that would do the trick, it would be cheaper and healthier (yeah, I know that's not a big win for some people)

The current situation (where commuting by public transportation takes much longer than commuting by car) isn't exactly helping...

what kind of "alternative transportation"? In order for people to choose public transit over cars, the transit need to be
1) affordable - at least cheaper than driving
2) reliable
3) convenient

Now TTC seems to fail in all three. A friend of mine lives close to Don Mills station. It takes 20 minutes to drive to Pearson but 90 minutes to take public transportation (the fastest way being going through downtown).
In terms of reliability, frequent unknown disruption almost every week.
Affordable? Most expensive in North America, and most large Western European citie such as London and Paris.

Without some fundamental change, it is very hard to convince people to give up their cars.

 

[neubilder]

"How Can Toronto improve? How can Toronto become a better city overall?"

.... by making sure the Ford's don't destroy the waterfront. Don't think it could happen? Think again. Who would have believed these idiots could get elected in the first place!?

I urge everyone to email all of the councilors who support the Ford's or who are on the fence regarding their waterfront proposal to take over the Port Lands.

Here is the list of councilors: http://app.toronto.ca/im/council/councillors.jsp

Here is a list of those who need to be swayed (green and yellow): http://fordfortoronto.mattelliott.ca/2011/09/07/scorecard-port-lands/

Please write a brief and professional letter asking each councilor to NOT support the Ford's taking control of the waterfront.

 

[jaycola]

Maybe it's time to renew this thread for the new year?

Building on the "Avenues Study" I think city hall needs to form a development advocacy office to encourage and hasten development along these main streets. Through zoning flexibility, a streamlined application process, access to development financing and fostering partnerships between land owners and qualified developers, we could turn these long neglected stretches into modern, urban neighbourhood centres. Funding for this office would come directly from the development/permit fees collected and there would be a long term revenue benefit from increases in valuations.