DSC
Superstar
Yes, but this one seems more 'personal". In many ways it's badge of honour to be opposed by Mammo or some of the others but they DO each have a vote.
|
|
|
- Thread starter salsa
- Start date
junctionist
Senior Member
If this project goes forward, my morning commute might become longer. But I still support it. John Tory's less contentious plan is both more expensive, and it'll achieve less. Widening the sidewalks and installing bike lanes and lush landscaping will make the street a destination in and of itself. It'll be more desirable to work, live, and visit the area. We need to unlock Yonge Street's potential. Yonge Street in North York's city centre has enough space to be among the city's finest avenues.
amnesiajune
Senior Member
It already is that. That doesn't mean it can't be improved, but there's no need to talk it down.
junctionist
Senior Member
I wouldn't put it on the same level as Queens Quay or Bloor Street in Yorkville. There are too many practical and aesthetic deficiencies. But it could be among the city's finest avenues with the transformation project and quality redevelopment projects.
sunnyraytoronto
Senior Member
This isn't about Feds pouring in over a quarter billion dollars or local BIA picking up a huge tab,.... to create some grand avenue,.... it's about getting it to a state of good repair,.... because it's a dump - as per local Councillor and City Staff.
junctionist
Senior Member
It's more than that. The city wants to enhance the landscaping with a better median and plantings along the reconfigured sidewalks. They want to add bike lanes. We're dealing with a transformative project. A state of good repair project would just repave some sidewalks and resurface the roadway.
sunnyraytoronto
Senior Member
Don't worry,... I'm quite familiar with the project, thanks.
junctionist
Senior Member
No problem.
amnesiajune
Senior Member
All of these things - resurfaced, reconfigured and wider sidewalks, the extended median, more trees and plants, fixing the 50-year-old road, rebuilt intersections - are happening no matter what the city decides to do. The discussion happening at city hall is just whether the bike lanes will go on Yonge or Beecroft.
junctionist
Senior Member
With the bike-lane plan, there's more space to work with for the landscaped median and sidewalks. It can mean more patio space and bigger planting areas for better pedestrian spaces.
amnesiajune
Senior Member
The city's presentation says the difference in sidewalk space is an average of 30 centimeters. That's not enough for trees or sidewalk patios. (As a side note, I love the loaded wording of "added to each boulevard" versus "increase in sidewalk width")
Patios in particular are just going to be based on whether developers leave space for them. There are a few places on Yonge that already have them, and there's probably a few more coming with new development proposals.
Attachments
sunnyraytoronto
Senior Member
But, but, but,... how can that be??? Just look at this "It is not to scale" comparison of 4-lane VS 6-lanes:
See with 4-lanes option, just by converting one little traffic lane to CycleTracks,... we'll get all of that wide pedestrian sidewalk width (already have widest sidewalk in City comparable to University Ave - Hospital Row section!),... with tree-lined curb (already have),... with street furniture (already have),... oh and we'll even get a subway on Yonge (already have!). Why would so many special interest groups from outside the area like CycleToronto with absolutely no local representations be lying to us locals???
See with 4-lanes option, just by converting one little traffic lane to CycleTracks,... we'll get all of that wide pedestrian sidewalk width (already have widest sidewalk in City comparable to University Ave - Hospital Row section!),... with tree-lined curb (already have),... with street furniture (already have),... oh and we'll even get a subway on Yonge (already have!). Why would so many special interest groups from outside the area like CycleToronto with absolutely no local representations be lying to us locals???
Attachments
amnesiajune
Senior Member
It's cute how they show a building actually kept within the Secondary Plan's height limits, as if that exists here.
MisterF
Senior Member
To me, for a street to be considered one of the city's best avenues it has to have, at a minimum:
- Consistently wide sidewalks made of something better than poured concrete riddled with asphalt patches.
- Planting beds and healthy street trees buffering the sidewalk from the traffic lanes. Think Dundas St next to the Eaton Centre or Michigan Ave in Chicago.
- No overhead wires.
- Infrastructure like traffic signals and streetlights that are nicer than the standard suburban design.
I don't know what height limits there are in this area, but I actually think that the 3 storeys they show in that diagram is far too short. A wide avenue like this part of Yonge should take a cue from successful grand avenues like Gran Via in Madrid: have buildings go 10 storeys straight up from the sidewalk. The buildings in North York have these dinky two storey podiums that do nothing to provide enclosure to the street. A big street like Yonge needs an unapologetically tall streetwall to help reduce the windswept character of the area. The mostly lacklustre architecture doesn't help.
salsa
Senior Member
Who cares. FYI, short building do indeed exist here.
https://www.google.ca/maps/@43.7636...6MJCouuwr48I-qxSJzVA!2e0!7i13312!8i6656?hl=en
And a lot of the highrise buildings are set back on a podium of similar height.