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Well, the walk I was referencing was along Dufferin St between St Clair and Eglinton with all those hills. Now that its getting warmer I guess I'll have to take up walking regularly again to get in better shape. Once I walked along Bloor St from Lansdowne to Woodbine and I think it took me over three hours (I was sightseeing along the way though), then I had enough and hopped onto the subway.
 
urbandreamer said:
I'll grant you weekend traffic on the Roncy streetcar line is very different--you've got plenty of Polish folk going to church for example. That said, the current transit plan should reflect what the neighbourhood is becoming, not what it was. It's becoming a wealthy enclave of mostly white waspy folk. How do I know? I worked for Elections Canada at a polling station a few years ago and could see old vs. new Roncy money. Now, as an Englishman myself, I don't see that as a bad thing....
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Except that it's "Stuff White People Like" type of white waspy folk, i.e. little or no different from the kind that's displacing the Italians and Portuguese further east.

Really what keeps the riding NDP is the older generation of immigrants+new immigrants and residents of the rental apartments, like in my immediate neighbourhood. As the area increases in wealth, and apartment dwellers come in from increasingly diverse places (it's interesting to see the new arrivals entering my complex--3 years ago they were mostly Eastern European while now they're becoming a mix of Turkish, Latin American and English/Irish immigrants. I see these newbies leaning more towards the Liberals.
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Though you overlooked my "nominal opposition" point--and with that under consideration, the Roncy neighbourhood has actually been swinging significantly *more* NDP, not *less*, esp. relative to the Tories in the past generation. And for that, blame not the immigrants: blame the Nash'n'DeNovo-loving "white waspy folk". Of course, they can alway swing Kennedy; but, that isn't Tory...
 
urbandreamer said:
^Although the Junction is picking up again, without tram service. The decline of that strip had more to do with NFTA and the changing economy--industrial employment lands dying, the movement of old Junction families to either the 'burbs (for better job opportunities) or other trendier Toronto neighbourhoods--than lack of streetcar service.
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Having the former city of West Toronto (Junction) going wet, after decades of being dry, also helped.
 
You know...all this discussion re questioning the rationale of a Roncesvalles car can be overcome if you simply view Roncy as the perpendicular extension of King Street--which in terms of streetcars and whatever else, it practically *is*, hardly an "orphan line" the way that Mount Pleasant was. In which case, why not keep the car?

OTOH if you want to be "fair and balanced" in arguing against Roncy, you might as well argue against streetcars along Broadview as well.

Or against streetcars, period, if we go by the argument that all they serve are the egos of the Jane Jacobs/Steve Munro school of urban left-liberal sentimental goody-goodyism. (In which case, the word "tram" becomes contemptuous code language, a little like how Republicans use "liberal") So maybe re the anti-streetcar crowd: today Roncesvalles, tomorrow the world...
 
No. You've got it wrong. Streetcar/trams are fantastic, I love them. But the reality is Toronto doesn't have the $$$$ or the built form to support them, so let's move on and get the buses rolling. We're moving people here, not ideas.
 
Then why do you find them fantastic and love them? Sounds like a pretty shallow and insincere "love" to me.

When it comes to Roncesvalles, you might as well be telling us you prefer Timothy's to Alternative Grounds...
 
^I can't stand either of those coffee places. Although Timothy's does have more attractive girls hanging out. A.G.'s is for aging hippies and mommas. Us real hipsters hang out at Cherry Bomb and Lit Espresso Bar.

Are you implying buses are proletarian while streetcars are for yuppies? Well guess what--the average commuter couldn't care less as long as the service is fast and affordable. How about those electric trolley buses they've got in Vancouver? Brilliant.
 
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I can't remember the last time streetcar service in this city has been either fast or affordable.
 
urbandreamer said:
^I can't stand either of those coffee places. Although Timothy's does have more attractive girls hanging out. A.G.'s is for aging hippies and mommas. Us real hipsters hang out at Cherry Bomb and Lit Espresso Bar.

Are you implying buses are proletarian while streetcars are for yuppies? Well guess what--the average commuter couldn't care less as long as the service is fast and affordable. How about those electric trolley buses they've got in Vancouver? Brilliant.
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Well, if you want the ultimate visual embodiment of "aging hippie"...

winners-steve.jpg


Which may say a lot about, er, the case for a Roncy car.

Of course, the average commuter doesn't care less who he is.

Not that Cherry Bomb and Lit aren't fine--though as with so much recent Toronto hipness, there's a touch of pay-a-premium lookitme pretentiousness and Jeff Stoberesque there-goes-the-neighbourhoodness about their realm; so I wouldn't be surprised if they attract the yupscale lookit-me-I'm-hipster types who are eager to turn Roncy into the next North Toronto...
 
Why should I care about some Tory wannabe?

Ironically, Cherry Bomb offers the cheapest brew on the strip. A.Gs is the most expensive, and worst coffee (aka bitter and dirty) on the strip, next to Timothy's.

I love North Toronto!
 
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