[MisterF]

Unfortunately, it's faaaaaaar more complicated. When talking about the public realm, Toronto has like 1400+ parks, whereas Vancouver has around 300. There are a lot of factors involved but, I think, one of the most crucial problems is the lack of widespread (affordable) artistic clubs, classes, and workshops all around the city, as well as those that try to encourage people to join them.

I was one of those kids back in the day but I did not go as far as to tag stuff. I was certainly headed in that direction though.

Also, some people just want to watch the world burn.

Its also worth noting that Toronto is 5x larger in terms of area than Vancouver is, and its especially worth noting that compared to Toronto - Metro Vancouver is an extremely polycentric region with Vancouver itself really only being a small part of it. This isn't a one-to-one comparison.

Sorry if I'm being harsh but these responses are all too typical - there's always an excuse. I don't think the difference between the public realm in Toronto and Vancouver is as much as some say, but I do think that we need to stop making excuses. The size of the city or the number of parks shouldn't make a difference to whether or not our major streets look half decent.

 

[ARG1]

Sorry if I'm being harsh but these responses are all too typical - there's always an excuse. I don't think the difference between the public realm in Toronto and Vancouver is as much as some say, but I do think that we need to stop making excuses. The size of the city or the number of parks shouldn't make a difference to whether or not our major streets look half decent.

... what exactly am I excusing? I'm not entirely sure what it is you think I'm arguing. I'm simply making a factual observation - comparing the quantity of parks in 2 completely arbitrary and non-comparable city limits is a pointless metric that doesn't give us any meaningful information. Toronto's city limits are quite broad, and include a vast amount of suburbia where its extremely easy to build small parks/playgrounds, as well swaths of natural ravines and rivers that inflate the amount of greenspace. Most importantly, this metric tells us nothing about how much greenspace there is in urban areas such as downtown Toronto. Meanwhile Vancouver has far more restrictive city limits, which prominiently excludes parkland that is otherwise quite close to the city - such as those found in the University Endowment Lands, and the various mountains and greenspace north of North Vancouver.

That being said if I was going to try and analyze how much green space both cities have close to their downtowns, Vancouver wins no questions asked. Stanley Park is massive and is right next to downtown - 10m away from Waterfront by bike. Besides Centre Island, the only thing Toronto has that is even remotely comparable would be the Don Valley which is quite a bit further away. Like yes, I agree that Toronto does have a green space problem, the only question would be how easy would it be to solve.

 

[nfitz]

I'm not entirely sure what it is you think I'm arguing. I'm simply making a factual observation - comparing the quantity of parks in 2 completely arbitrary and non-comparable city limits is a pointless metric that doesn't give us any meaningful information.

Comparing the number of parks or playgrounds in 1920s neighbourhoods though has meaning.

That being said if I was going to try and analyze how much green space both cities have close to their downtowns, Vancouver wins no questions asked. Stanley Park is massive and is right next to downtown

Stanley Park is about 2 km from downtown and 1.5 km from the nearest subway station. It's right next to all the condos in the west end, Davie village etc.

The start of all the linear parks along the Don River is Riverdale park at about River and Spruce. It's about 2.3 km from Queen and Bay, and about 1.9 km from the nearest subway station (1.1 after Riverside/Leslieville opens).

Not exactly dissimilar.

 

[MisterF]

... what exactly am I excusing? I'm not entirely sure what it is you think I'm arguing. I'm simply making a factual observation - comparing the quantity of parks in 2 completely arbitrary and non-comparable city limits is a pointless metric that doesn't give us any meaningful information. Toronto's city limits are quite broad, and include a vast amount of suburbia where its extremely easy to build small parks/playgrounds, as well swaths of natural ravines and rivers that inflate the amount of greenspace. Most importantly, this metric tells us nothing about how much greenspace there is in urban areas such as downtown Toronto. Meanwhile Vancouver has far more restrictive city limits, which prominiently excludes parkland that is otherwise quite close to the city - such as those found in the University Endowment Lands, and the various mountains and greenspace north of North Vancouver.

That being said if I was going to try and analyze how much green space both cities have close to their downtowns, Vancouver wins no questions asked. Stanley Park is massive and is right next to downtown - 10m away from Waterfront by bike. Besides Centre Island, the only thing Toronto has that is even remotely comparable would be the Don Valley which is quite a bit further away. Like yes, I agree that Toronto does have a green space problem, the only question would be how easy would it be to solve.

Your and GameonBrad's posts were in response to to a post describing Vancouver's better public realm, sidewalks, landscaping etc. My point is that the size of the city and the number of parks have nothing to do with the standard to which we build our downtown streets. They don't excuse the rather poor standard of streetscaping in Toronto and Ontario cities in general.

 

[GameOnBrad]

I was cleaning up my photo storage and came across this photo from July 18th, while walking back into the city from Ookwemin Minising. Wonder where this was heading *smirk*

 

[PL1]

Ok! I ran home today for the first time in a couple of weeks, so here are some shots of the Don Valley Crossing Bridge (DVCB). Shots are of the works north to south.

North works

Centre pier, just south of the river

The works just north of the DVP, including some workers laying what may be weeping tile/drainage:

And finally the portal, including some massive concrete bits tying in the bottom of the hill:

Edit: remove double photo

 

[kotsy]

Ok! I ran home today for the first time in a couple of weeks, so here are some shots of the Don Valley Crossing Bridge (DVCB). Shots are of the works north to south.

North works
View attachment 679786

Centre pier, just south of the river
View attachment 679787


The works just north of the DVP, including some workers laying what may be weeping tile/drainage:
View attachment 679788View attachment 679789View attachment 679790

And finally the portal, including some massive concrete bits tying in the bottom of the hill:
View attachment 679792View attachment 679794

Edit: remove double photo

Great update!

On the note of the Minton portal: excavation is starting early October!

 

[Smiffy]

Excavation starting at Pape station October,
Crane installation starting mid September.

 

[A 6264]

Re. the post above about work on Pape station, in Spring 2024 most bus routes along Pape were diverted to run along Broadview to Broadview Station instead. At that time, restoration of bus routes along Pape, to Pape Station, was promised to happen "before the end of 2024". In late 2024, it changed to "before the end of 2025". Do you get the feeling that service won't be restored before the end of 2025? Maybe instead of inching it forward by a year every year, they should just say, "before the end of 2040, for real"?

 

[PasticheProtégé]

Some retaining wall sections rolled down River St today. It’s the first time I’ve noticed them come this way.

 

[GameOnBrad]

The boring machines have names. Short from Metrolinx. If I recall, the names were announced last week.

 

[kotsy]

The boring machines have names. Short from Metrolinx. If I recall, the names were announced last week.

I feel like it was at least a month ago now. Their social media posts are often weeks-old news.

 

[Allandale25]

The boring machines have names. Short from Metrolinx. If I recall, the names were announced last week.

Congrats @JasonParis !

 

[kotsy]

New presentation slides for the Lakeshore East Joint Corridor Early Works Construction Liaison Committee is out.

Here's the construction update slides:

 

[kotsy]

Gerrard Station/Portal Update:

Riverdale/Leslieville Station site:

Further south:

Cosburn demolition update: