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YongeTOmmorrow is about as half-assed as you can get. It was designed by and for cars with box checked for sidewalks.

Yonge should be completely pedestrianized from Bloor to King with 6AM to 10AM allowed for delivery trucks and none on the weekends. Every other city on the planet manages to have pedestrian only streets but in Toronto, the cars must come first. This is why Toronto will never have the public sphere that Montreal enjoys. Even supposed "car-loving" Calgary has a 5 block 24/7 pedestrian only zone right downtown and is the most successful in the whole country.
 
ssiguy2 said:
YongeTOmmorrow is about as half-assed as you can get. It was designed by and for cars with box checked for sidewalks.

Yonge should be completely pedestrianized from Bloor to King with 6AM to 10AM allowed for delivery trucks and none on the weekends. Every other city on the planet manages to have pedestrian only streets but in Toronto, the cars must come first. This is why Toronto will never have the public sphere that Montreal enjoys. Even supposed "car-loving" Calgary has a 5 block 24/7 pedestrian only zone right downtown and is the most successful in the whole country.
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Never say never. You must not know about the Downsview redevelopment 🙄 and that's happening in the inner suburbs.
 
Downsview is in the suburbs, we are talking about the city's most important and prominent street.
 
ssiguy2 said:
YongeTOmmorrow is about as half-assed as you can get. It was designed by and for cars with box checked for sidewalks.
Click to expand...

This statement is a gross exaggeration, and I'm being charitable.

ssiguy2 said:
Yonge should be completely pedestrianized from Bloor to King with 6AM to 10AM allowed for delivery trucks and none on the weekends.
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Says who?

I'm all for pedestrian streets, and Toronto will get more of them, including some small sections of Yonge....... That aside did you just forget that there's a night bus on Yonge that needs to be accommodated, and many other issues....

ssiguy2 said:
Every other city on the planet manages to have pedestrian only streets
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Really, every city?

ssiguy2 said:
but in Toronto, the cars must come first.
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Toronto has slashed car lanes downtown on arterials roads by over 30% in the last 10 years.

That will work its way up to 45% in the next 5 or so............

ssiguy2 said:
This is why Toronto will never have the public sphere that Montreal enjoys.
Click to expand...

No, Toronto will not enjoy as much of what Montreal has in this respect, in the near-term anyway, because Montreal has a public utility commission that buried its wires, because Montreal spends more on horticulture (flowers) and streetscapes, per lane km, and because Montreal has a huge head start.

But the gap will close.

ssiguy2 said:
Even supposed "car-loving" Calgary has a 5 block 24/7 pedestrian only zone right downtown and is the most successful in the whole country.
Click to expand...

I'm laughing..........you clearly haven't been there.
 
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ssiguy2 said:
Downsview is in the suburbs, we are talking about the city's most important and prominent street.
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What makes that southern stretch of Yonge from where you've described the most important and prominent? When one transformation happens, it often creates a chain reaction across the city, so I think you're missing the point.
 
I don’t have a good feeling with Parsons leading the design here.

Their Landscape portfolio is mostly tacky UAE, Saudi, and Kuwait auto-dominated public realm. Literally pavers in a wavy pattern with a few palm trees and call it a day.

They seem to have zero experience with major streets in dense urban centres.

Unless they are using an external consultant for LA
 
goodcitywhenfinished said:
Any idea how the Province's temper tantrum is going to effect the viability of this project going forward @Northern Light ?

Are we looking at this project potentially being stalled once again?
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There are no bike lanes proposed between Queen and Gerrard, so unless the legislation more broadly regulates all traffic lane removals, the answer would likely be 'no'; though cycle tracks are proposed in the Gerrard to Carlton segment.

This plan is already passed, but I don't recall if the associated by-law changes have been made. If not, there is always a risk.

We really need to see what the draft legislation says..........

We also have to see if the government is really committed to passing it.
 
I am in Montreal once again, and tonight after dinner walked along St. Catherine’s for a few blocks, west of the HBC building. They have begun the construction season here, blocking off St. Catherine’s from McGill to Stanley, as they extend the sewer, utilities and streets scape project to the west. This is an interesting project to me. The street ( St. Catherine’s) is broadly comparable to Yonge, but not directly comparable. And Montreal has in essence narrowed the one way traffic on the street to two lanes, one lane really, plus service parking. And widened the pedestrian areas considerably. And streetscaped to some extent. No concrete to speak of, big pavers and granite, trees and other surface service areas ( seating, patios etc). The effect is a very friendly pedestrian experience, especially with the pedestrian first cross walks at intersections, and I would think that experience extends to those on two wheels. And, very importantly, they have lessened the dominance of the car, and eliminated the need for a car to access the street, this ‘need’ is nil. There is plenty of rapid transit crossing and nearby, and plenty of parking as well, off street. The net effect is plenty of people walking, with a variety of purposes in mind. And with the space to do so.

The other item of note is that the streetscape is very favourable for snow removal. An important consideration in every Canadian city.

Is this perfect? I am sure there are issues. But would Yonge street in Toronto look better with this model? Without a doubt.

And on a side note. If you are in Montreal, and you need a quieter resturant with superior service, better food, not outrageous prices ( but not roadhouse either), a quieter and classy ambience, and a place where you can talk….then Brasserie Henri in the Hotel Birks (Phillips Square) is most recommended. They have never failed me or our clients.
 
I'll just chip in some photos of the finished work so far that @just east of the creek is referencing above: (all from same source, credit at bottom)

1743706518626.png


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Source: https://montreal.ca/en/topics/sainte-catherine-ouest-project#&gid=2&pid=1
 
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This oddity with the usual suspects inserting “hey look at me” (ie. Montreal) into every topic is getting a bit cringe. This isn’t 1975 where the two cities were relatively equal, Toronto has far surpassed Montreal in every socioeconomic metric. The only thing literally left are number of Stanley Cup wins and total length of bike lanes….I expect Toronto to reign in on one of these in my lifetime (sorry Leafs).

For smaller cities like Montreal, Calgary etc. sure it works for them, but.a city the size of Toronto needs a balanced approach. You can’t just cut cars out of the picture.

As far as the YongeTOmorrow project goes, I like it. It’s certainly not perfect, but it is definitely a step in the right direction.

www.yongetomorrow.ca

The Proposal

www.yongetomorrow.ca www.yongetomorrow.ca
 
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