Toronto Bloor Street Revitalization | ?m | ?s | Bloor-Yorkville BIA | architectsAlliance

From the Globe:

Bloor Street shopping strip loses its parking
Wider sidewalks part of new look
JEFF GRAY

From Wednesday's Globe and Mail

June 11, 2008 at 5:20 AM EDT

Toronto's posh shopping strip on Bloor Street West is getting a $20-million makeover funded by local businesses that will mean ending all on-street parking, narrowing the road, lining it with trees and installing wider, black-granite sidewalks.

However, the new-look "mink mile" will still include a special lay-by - a cut into the sidewalk for cars - right in front of high-end retailer Holt Renfrew. Meant for deliveries and picking up and dropping off customers, the idea was questioned by left-leaning city councillors yesterday, who wondered why the outlet needed special treatment.

But Peter Clewes, the architect who led the street's redesign, defended the plan. "It's a political world, it's a complicated world. They are a major, major benefactor into this project. It's one of the compromises that you make in the creation of any project, and I think it's a reasonable element," Mr. Clewes told a city hall committee yesterday

The long-delayed project to transform Bloor from Avenue Road to just past Church Street will see the city borrow the money up front, to be paid off gradually by the businesses along the ritzy strip. Construction is to begin this summer and be completed in 2009.

Cycling activists also targeted the project yesterday for failing to include bike lanes, even though the city is studying how to accommodate bikes across Bloor.

Kyle Rae, the local city councillor, said the project was about turning the street from a thoroughfare into a destination with wide sidewalks for pedestrians: "It has been seen as a traffic corridor for most of its life, and what we are doing now is turning it into a place."

Daniel Egan, the city's manager of cycling and pedestrian infrastructure, said the narrower road and lack of parked cars would make the new Bloor better for cyclists, although activists disputed this.

Mr. Egan said traffic volumes - 30,000 cars a day - meant that the new narrower Bloor still needed four lanes and could not accommodate full-size bike lanes. However, he said the street could be retrofitted with bike lanes later.

The city usually faces a revolt from merchants when the subject of reducing on-street parking comes up. In this case, the local businesses association has agreed, but not all the retailers love the idea, said Briar de Lange, general manager of the Bloor-Yorkville Business Improvement Area. Ms. de Lange said the Holt Renfrew lay-by - which anyone will be free to use - is needed because that block lacks side streets for drivers to drop off shoppers.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080611.wbloor11/BNStory/National/

AoD
 
adma said:
Darn. No parking = fewer rich-bitch-getting-out-of-car upskirt opportunities
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There's always Holt's, and the actual village to the north... However, I've had a hollywood-like rich bitch moment as she got out of a limousine to go to a Chanel party.
 
Seems like a short strip - you'd think that with the completion of the ROM and TMC, they would invest a little extra money to extend it at least until Bedford street?? Sadly no bike lanes will be included either..

p5
 
p5connex said:
Seems like a short strip - you'd think that with the completion of the ROM and TMC, they would invest a little extra money to extend it at least until Bedford street?? Sadly no bike lanes will be included either..

p5
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i don't think the bloor-yorkville bia extends beyond avenue road, and it's their project.
 
From the Star, by Hume:

Now we'll all be able to walk the walk on Bloor St.
Jun 16, 2008 04:30 AM
Christopher Hume
Urban Affairs Columnist

Sometime in the next year or two, Bloor Street will finally start to look like what it is – a major urban destination.

After more than a decade of effort, local businesses and the city have hammered out a $20 million plan that will transform Bloor, from Avenue Rd. almost to Church St., into a precinct that is more pedestrian friendly than ever, with a vastly enhanced public realm.

The last step in the epic process came last week when the city approved bylaws that allow for widening the sidewalk and removing street parking.

And despite what you might think, local merchants were in favour of the scheme. Typically, it's business owners who oppose any proposal to limit vehicular access. Think of St. Clair Ave. W. and Kensington Market.

But as the Bloor Streeters understand, pedestrians are good for business. This has been borne out in cities around the world, including Copenhagen, Edinburgh, Tokyo and Stockholm. In every case, merchants screamed that banning cars would kill their business, only to discover they were wrong.

Besides, there are only 54 parking spots on this stretch of Bloor, with 7,000 in nearby lots and garages. By getting rid of the street spots, the sidewalk can be increased significantly and 130 trees planted.

"It started about 11 years ago," explains Briar de Lange, general manager of the Bloor-Yorkville Business Improvement Area. "Then we discovered the city had this antiquated water system under the street, so they had to rip it up to replace it. That work is almost done now, and we can create a beautiful public realm."

Construction is expected to begin July 14.

By the time the dust settles, in 2009 or '10, the sidewalks of Bloor will be paved in granite. There will be a series of granite planters on both sides of Bloor, each with a tree and a yew hedge. And the poor plants may actually have a shot at survival; they will be provided with the room they need to grow roots.

Of course, Bloor has already undergone something of a transformation; when the Michael Lee-Chin Crystal opened at the Royal Ontario Museum last year, the area acquired an important public space. Though still unnamed, and largely unrecognized, the square in front of the new Bloor St. entrance can become a major gathering place. It's still waiting to be fully furnished, but that will happen.

"This is catching up," Councillor Kyle Rae (Ward 27 Toronto Centre-Rosedale) says frankly. "It's taken years; they started talking about it before I represented them. It's all about pedestrian improvement. Bloor Street is a destination. And to have businesses lead has been fantastic."

As Rae explains it, the landlords on Bloor agreed to pay a levy that will allow them to repay the city's $20 million loan over the next 20 years.

Though the money will be spent on one street, the whole city will benefit. Bloor, after all, is Toronto's most elegant shopping district, and a cultural hub, which means it belongs to everyone.

The 30,000 or so vehicles that use Bloor daily can still be accommodated, but now pedestrians will also feel welcome.

Reclaiming the city from the automobile won't be easy, but resistance is futile. Given that the age of cheap fuel is drawing to a close, it's critical we do everything possible to make Toronto pedestrian friendly. This is the first step of many. The fact it will unfold in such a popular precinct means the whole city will be paying attention. After so much time talking the talk, we'll be able to walk the walk.

Christopher Hume can be reached at chume@thestar.ca

http://www.thestar.com/News/GTA/article/443981

AoD
 
AlvinofDiaspar said:
From the Star, by Hume:

Now we'll all be able to walk the walk on Bloor St.
Jun 16, 2008 04:30 AM
Christopher Hume
Urban Affairs Columnist

Though the money will be spent on one street, the whole city will benefit. Bloor, after all, is Toronto's most elegant shopping district, and a cultural hub, which means it belongs to everyone.


Christopher Hume can be reached at chume@thestar.ca

http://www.thestar.com/News/GTA/article/443981

AoD
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This is all good, except there is not a bicycle lane in sight.
 
I think bicycle lanes are silly downtown personally. No reason why bikes and vehicles can't share the lanes downtown. Traffic isn't exactly high speed on Bloor.
 
khristopher said:
I think bicycle lanes are silly downtown personally. No reason why bikes and vehicles can't share the lanes downtown. Traffic isn't exactly high speed on Bloor.
Click to expand...

Many people will not entertain a bike as a mode of transportation because they don't feel safe without a "buffer zone" between cars, buses, trucks and courier trucks speeding by. A bike lane prevents aggressive, bike-hating drivers from "squeezing" a cyclist against the curb (very common) but most importantly gives cyclists a small part of the road to commute in a relatively stress free space.
 
really I hate when people drive downtown and think they should be able to drive like it is Highway 7 in Woodbridge..
 
dt_toronto_geek said:
Many people will not entertain a bike as a mode of transportation because they don't feel safe without a "buffer zone" between cars, buses, trucks and courier trucks speeding by. A bike lane prevents aggressive, bike-hating drivers from "squeezing" a cyclist against the curb (very common) but most importantly gives cyclists a small part of the road to commute in a relatively stress free space.
Click to expand...

I do understand that. If our police were more active in enforcing laws, maybe drivers would be less aggressive towards cyclists.
 
Hume ghostwriter?

Could it be that Hume is being ghostwritten now? Here's an actual column without his normal depressing asides. I'm so shocked by this that I've had to do some edits of my own:

Sometime in the next year or two, Bloor Street will finally start to look like what Toronto has never had the imagination or organizational skills to accomplish – a major urban destination.

After more than a decade of effort, local businesses and the city have hammered out a $20 million plan that will transform Bloor, from Avenue Rd. almost to Church St., into a precinct that is more pedestrian friendly than ever, with a vastly enhanced public realm.

The last step in the epic process came last week when the city approved bylaws that allow for widening the sidewalk and removing street parking.

And despite what you might think, local merchants were in favour of the scheme. Typically, it's business owners who oppose any proposal to limit vehicular access. Think of St. Clair Ave. W. and Kensington Market.

Toronto has typically been slow to understand that successful cities aren't merely funnels for traffic, but as the Bloor Streeters understand, pedestrians are good for business. This has been borne out in cities around the world that are more forward thinking that Toronto, including Copenhagen, Edinburgh, Tokyo and Stockholm. In every case, merchants screamed that banning cars would kill their business, only to discover they were wrong.

Besides, there are only 54 parking spots on this stretch of Bloor, with 7,000 in nearby lots and garages. By getting rid of the street spots, the sidewalk can be increased significantly and 130 trees planted.

"It started about 11 years ago," explains Briar de Lange, general manager of the Bloor-Yorkville Business Improvement Area. "Then we discovered the city had this antiquated water system under the street, so they had to rip it up to replace it. That work is almost done now, and we can create a beautiful public realm."

Construction is expected to begin July 14, though with Toronto's ability to endlessly put off necessary improvements to the public realm, that date could slip for years.

By the time the dust settles, in 2009 or '10, the sidewalks of Bloor will be paved in granite. There will be a series of granite planters on both sides of Bloor, each with a tree and a yew hedge. And the poor plants may actually have a shot at survival; they will be provided with the room they need to grow roots unlike so many of the trees planted uselessly around Toronto only to die within months.

Of course, Bloor has already undergone something of a transformation; when the Michael Lee-Chin Crystal opened at the Royal Ontario Museum last year, the area acquired an important public space. Though still unnamed, and largely unrecognized, the square in front of the new Bloor St. entrance can become a major gathering place. It's still waiting to be fully furnished, and given the city's ability to neutralize even its greatest public spaces with inadequate planning, this may never happen.

"This is catching up," Councillor Kyle Rae (Ward 27 Toronto Centre-Rosedale) says frankly. "It's taken years; they started talking about it before I represented them. It's all about pedestrian improvement. Bloor Street is a destination. And to have businesses lead has been fantastic."

As Rae explains it, the landlords on Bloor agreed to pay a levy that will allow them to repay the city's $20 million loan over the next 20 years.

Though the money will be spent on one street, the whole city will benefit. Bloor, after all, is Toronto's most elegant shopping district, and a cultural hub, which means it belongs to everyone.

The 30,000 or so vehicles that use Bloor daily can still be accommodated, but now pedestrians will also feel welcome.

Reclaiming Toronto from the automobile won't be easy given the low expectations of its citizens and their resistance to change, but resistance is futile. Given that the age of cheap fuel is drawing to a close, it's critical we do everything possible to make Toronto pedestrian friendly. This is the first step of many. The fact it will unfold in such a popular precinct means the whole city will be paying attention. After so much time talking the talk, we'll be able to walk the walk.
 
Hah! Nicely sprinkled with just the right dash of cynicism to feel comfortable and recognizable! Archivist, you get the job of 'Hume-erizing' anything Chris writes while on lithium!

42
 
Uhh those renderings look a lot different from what was first proposed... the benches are absent from all of them, whereas the original proposal was a little more imaginative with curved planters, seating, and public art. These renderings look incredibly dull... it literally is a reconstruction of the sidewalk and some slightly raised planters.

Definitely a victim of The Cheapening.

EDIT: Made a little comparison post on my blog
 
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