From Sunday. Condition of road on Yonge is terrible. Need new line painter too.

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I've seen worse. The sidewalks are crowded but, abysmal doesn't come to mind on their condition
 
My guess is that they're holding off until the street is redesigned, but I'm sure others here know better than I.
 
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jozl said:
Another thread for Yonge Street is also here.
http://urbantoronto.ca/forum/threads/yonge-street-downtown.9227/page-46 in the "Design and Architectural Style forum. Another Yonge Street thread is here:
http://urbantoronto.ca/forum/thread...wntown-yonge-bia-city-of-toronto.18076/page-8 In the "Buildings" forum.
Like Yonge Street itself, the forum threads are disorganized and confusing. Mods: is there anyway to consolidate the Yonge Street threads into one place?
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Those have been merged into one thread here.

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maestro said:
I've seen worse. The sidewalks are crowded but, abysmal doesn't come to mind on their condition
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"I've seen worse" doesn't justify the terrible quality of city planning work and construction along the main street of Canada's largest city. My friend visited from India and the first thing he wanted to see was this famous Yonge St. he'd heard about. When we got there, he was clearly trying to be polite, but after 5 minutes he said it was disappointing and couldn't believe that it was considered a destination for tourists.
 
Yonge is a diverse street. There are nice parts. There are not so nice parts. There are high rises . There are low rises. It's urban. It's suburban. Any long street in the world is likely to have as a diverse look. The public realm is also only one aspect. The private realm has been much more colourful than the public realm for my entire lifetime south of Bloor to Dundas. It's just a popular corridor to get from A to B. It is what it is. I question why you took your friend to the uglier part of Yonge.

Always hoped for gentrification and it's now happening. I do wish its gentrification would have taking a much different route from condo-fication and I do partly blame planning policy on that one.
 
felix123 said:
"I've seen worse" doesn't justify the terrible quality of city planning work and construction along the main street of Canada's largest city. My friend visited from India and the first thing he wanted to see was this famous Yonge St. he'd heard about. When we got there, he was clearly trying to be polite, but after 5 minutes he said it was disappointing and couldn't believe that it was considered a destination for tourists.
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I have a similar experience with showing Toronto to some foreign students from Japan, Korea, and Taiwan a few years ago.
They expected a mini New York, but in reality, they pointed out the excessive and "complicating" hydro lines along King, and Queen Street West (and throughout the city),
the fractured roads along downtown Yonge (and throughout downtown), and the excessive amount of parking spaces amidst the small, derelict "heritage" buildings. The overall consensus was that Toronto feels "desolate". I mean you can't really do much about the parking lots, but with the wealth of Toronto, the city could upgrade and consider the quality of its infrastructure and how it is interfacing with the public. When you consider the size and wealth of Toronto, the overall quality of the city is definitely lacking. But I guess it is what it is.
 
biospherian said:
I have a similar experience with showing Toronto to some foreign students from Japan, Korea, and Taiwan a few years ago.
They expected a mini New York, but in reality, they pointed out the excessive and "complicating" hydro lines along King, and Queen Street West (and throughout the city),
the fractured roads along downtown Yonge (and throughout downtown), and the excessive amount of parking spaces amidst the small, derelict "heritage" buildings. The overall consensus was that Toronto feels "desolate". I mean you can't really do much about the parking lots, but with the wealth of Toronto, the city could upgrade and consider the quality of its infrastructure and how it is interfacing with the public. When you consider the size and wealth of Toronto, the overall quality of the city is definitely lacking. But I guess it is what it is.
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The same thing can be said about our famous Queen West as well.
 
There's much construction happening on Yonge and there will be more to come. As much as we all would like to see an improvement in the public sphere and roadway along this very diverse street, it's going to take a long time. But this is Toronto and this is what rapid growth does. There will be noise and dust in the air for years to come. For those who lament the grunginess of this main street as an embarrassment to the city, I suggest you take out- of- towners for a stroll downtown and along the waterfront. I did this walk myself last Sunday to St Lawrence market, and sitting quietly at the fountain at Berczy Park , and then along the burgeoning east waterfront . I was impressed by the crowds who were obviously enjoying themselves. The previous day I enjoyed seeing the brilliant new Trillium Park at Ontario Place. Born in Toronto, but not living here for many years, I feel like the wide-eyed tourist every time I come. Like someone has famously said, " it'll be a great city if they ever finish it ". I'd add to that, that it's very interesting watching them do it.
 
biospherian said:
I have a similar experience with showing Toronto to some foreign students from Japan, Korea, and Taiwan a few years ago.
They expected a mini New York, but in reality, they pointed out the excessive and "complicating" hydro lines along King, and Queen Street West (and throughout the city),
the fractured roads along downtown Yonge (and throughout downtown), and the excessive amount of parking spaces amidst the small, derelict "heritage" buildings. The overall consensus was that Toronto feels "desolate". I mean you can't really do much about the parking lots, but with the wealth of Toronto, the city could upgrade and consider the quality of its infrastructure and how it is interfacing with the public. When you consider the size and wealth of Toronto, the overall quality of the city is definitely lacking. But I guess it is what it is.
Click to expand...
This is something that really hit me about Toronto after living in Boston for a number of years. Simply put, our public realm is very shabby, and this is just inconsistent with how a lot of people imagine a Canadian city will be. It's unfortunate.
 
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