The new Temperance St looks nice when it's empty (as in the pictures above), but now that it's fully open, almost half of the street (the north side close to the tower-side curb) is taken by parallel-parked cars. And no, they're not illegally parking - there are rates posted and I think there's a parking meter.
 
Toronto wasn't just a frontier town, it was designed as an army outpost. It wasn't some fancy Parisian architect designing our streets. It was the British army engineering corps. If I remember correctly, in addition to a grid, the street width as designed to allow exactly two army logistics wagons to travel next to each other in each direction. Pedestrians and cafes weren't a consideration.
 
Wish Yonge street's side walks were this wide with trees and patios lining it up. The original Toronto urban planners definitely didn't think this through

yongetomorrow is in the works. Design should be similar to this. Albeit probably 2030 before we can actually walk on it.
 
In the early 1900s, Toronto was a frontier town. No one could conceive it'd ever surpass Buffalo or Detroit.
Toronto was hardly a frontier town in the 1900s. By 1921 it had surpassed Buffalo in population; it was a similar size as Detroit at the turn of the 20th century, however Detroit exploded with the rise of the automobile.

But importantly, Temperance is no wider than Yonge. The City could do this exact same thing if we'd finally just kick cars off of Yonge St.
 
Indeed; it is hard to fault our ancestors for failing to predict the future!

Or likewise, for the successors to fail to accept change and expropriate to widen Yonge Street.
Street widenings have often required the demolition or partial demolition of buildings.
In some cities, that why historic basements extend below the sidewalks after the street level part has been cut back.
 

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