2014 Municipal Election: Toronto Mayoral Race

[spider]

Agreed. We should be letting the community surrounding Eglinton decide what they want of their neighbourhoods, as opposed to people from outside the area whose only real interest in said neighbourhoods is being able to use their roads and demand that those roads cater to their outside wishes instead.

I wish it were that easy but it isn't because the community surrounding Eglinton is not one community but many with very different needs and desires for their specific portion of the route.

Those citizens who live and work at Avenue Road have little if anything in common with their counterparts at Keele Street or Victoria Park, the trick is to accept that your vision and their's are all valid and compromise within a necessarily global picture is required.

 

[typezed]

the trick is to accept that your vision and their's are all valid and compromise within a necessarily global picture is required.

Isn't that what Complete Streets is all about? Making the roads safe, accessible and livable for all. Rather than maintain the present dominance by certain lifestyle and transportation choices. Cars aren't being banned from Eglinton - people are simply seeking to make changes to moderate their impact. You might not get this or pretend not to get this, but I expect John Tory understands. However, he has made a political calculation to seek the support of people resistant to change.

 

[Midtown Urbanist]

Further, since the middle part of Toronto along Eglinton used to be divided between York, Toronto, North York, East York (and Scarborough in the eastern part of the Crosstown), the legacy of that era is still very present in the post-amalgamation city. So many different agencies from different regions of the city have a role in development and planning decisions throughout Midtown and surrounding Eglinton neighborhoods that it is both difficult to get all those various agencies to reach consensus, and skeptical if they (North York, York, East York, Toronto) can really provide proper representation to Midtown.

I'd vote for whichever candidate proposes to reform those agencies jurisdictions.

 

[spider]

Isn't that what Complete Streets is all about? Making the roads safe, accessible and livable for all. Rather than maintain the present dominance by certain lifestyle and transportation choices. Cars aren't being banned from Eglinton - people are simply seeking to make changes to moderate their impact. You might not get this or pretend not to get this, but I expect John Tory understands. However, he has made a political calculation to seek the support of people resistant to change.

Thank you for re-inforcing my message. I presume "transportation choices" means cars, trucks, bicycles and buses. Let me assure you that your passion for bicycle lanes at the expense of motor vehicle lanes is not universally considered a good thing East of Brentcliffe, You have expressed a desire to address this problem with great understanding and a will to compromise, I applaud you.

I see no mention of bus traffic in the EC plans. Do the planners not realize that shuttle buses traditionally replace subways when they break down? This bus subway transfer traffic will centred on Yonge and Eglinton which is planned to be only 3 lanes wide. Not smart.

 

[adma]

I agree they're not monolithically vengeful. Just monolithically stupid and stuck in an unworkable 60-year-old vision of how cities are supposed to be designed and how people should move around them. And some really are vengeful - for example Shiner recently advocated double-decking the Gardiner.

Shiner isn't the whole lot of'em. You might as well be reading those Ford-flagshipped 40-to-4 council defeats as 24-20 victories.

 

[cassius]

I wish it were that easy but it isn't because the community surrounding Eglinton is not one community but many with very different needs and desires for their specific portion of the route.

Those citizens who live and work at Avenue Road have little if anything in common with their counterparts at Keele Street or Victoria Park, the trick is to accept that your vision and their's are all valid and compromise within a necessarily global picture is required.

Agreed. And I don't see what you wrote above as being any different than, or at odds with, my comment. Can't we stop pretending that transportation modes, other than cars, shouldn't be considered and implemented if it's the wish or desires of some of these communities? Even if that means reduced car lanes, or that it doesn't sit well with our individual anecdotal experiences of how it should be, and what takes priority over what.

 

[Riverdale Rink Rat]

Thank you for re-inforcing my message. I presume "transportation choices" means cars, trucks, bicycles and buses. Let me assure you that your passion for bicycle lanes at the expense of motor vehicle lanes is not universally considered a good thing East of Brentcliffe, You have expressed a desire to address this problem with great understanding and a will to compromise, I applaud you.

I see no mention of bus traffic in the EC plans. Do the planners not realize that shuttle buses traditionally replace subways when they break down? This bus subway transfer traffic will centred on Yonge and Eglinton which is planned to be only 3 lanes wide. Not smart.

Good to have you back, spider. I forgot how cantankerous the pro-Ford posters were pre-Crack Mayor meltdown. So, you think we should plan Eglinton around the Crosstown LRT breaking down. Smart contingency planning. <rolleyes>

The 'St. Clair Disaster' that isn't -- except where on street parking mucks it up -- shows pretty conclusively that Eglinton can be also improved without causing traffic issues. And anyone working at Avenue Road and Eglinton is working in a school or retail, and I'd imagine they'd be extremely happy with wider sidewalks, more access for more customers and Ossington/Queen West levels of strollers.

 

[the lemur]

God, Sarah Thomson is such a joke and she's mostly obsessed with the Olivia "stole low income housing" smear. I don't know why I follow her on FB:

"Do you think it is okay to take a three bedroom low rent co-op home in downtown Toronto away from a low-income family in need? Even though a politician like Olivia Chow paid market rate and it was perfectly legal, why then did she suddenly start paying more when caught out by the Toronto Star?"

She just keeps proving that she doesn't understand co-op housing requires people with higher income levels AND lower ones in order to be mixed-income, and that she and Jack began paying more before the Star piece, which was prompted by Tom Jakobek, who turned out to be not the straightest of arrows either.

Again, it seems to come down to 'They shouldn't have been living there. What? No, I don't know where they should have been living instead'.

 

[Greg Banks]

Thank you for re-inforcing my message. I presume "transportation choices" means cars, trucks, bicycles and buses. Let me assure you that your passion for bicycle lanes at the expense of motor vehicle lanes is not universally considered a good thing East of Brentcliffe, You have expressed a desire to address this problem with great understanding and a will to compromise, I applaud you.

I see no mention of bus traffic in the EC plans. Do the planners not realize that shuttle buses traditionally replace subways when they break down? This bus subway transfer traffic will centred on Yonge and Eglinton which is planned to be only 3 lanes wide. Not smart.

You did read the attachment in the form of a letter by Arris Strategy Studio to Planning Growth re EC....It covers much of your concern so the committee and others are well aware of bus traffic and possible solutions....

 

[typezed]

I presume "transportation choices" means cars, trucks, bicycles and buses.

As this is prefaced by the words "present dominance" it should be clear that I'm referring primarily to the single occupancy vehicle/personal automobile. But yes I understand different forms of transport use roads. That's why I favour design that accommodates a full range of choices for getting around. Personally, my use of Eglinton (or nearby side-route alternatives) has been fairly evenly distributed over four different modes - driving, biking, walking, on the bus.

Thank you for re-inforcing my message....You have expressed a desire to address this problem with great understanding and a will to compromise, I applaud you.

You're misrepresenting my comments in a sarcastic and trollish manner. Please stop that.

(Anyway, this argument shouldn't continue in this thread once it no longer concerns the specific policies of John Tory or other candidates. So dropping out here.)

 

[canmark]

National Post: Matt Gurney: Olivia Chow meets with, is endorsed by, ranting homophobe who encourages rape

This guy realizes that The Iron Sheik is a pro wrestling villain character, right?

 

[Crazy]

National Post: Matt Gurney: Olivia Chow meets with, is endorsed by, ranting homophobe who encourages rape

This guy realizes that The Iron Sheik is a pro wrestling villain character, right?

The article's stupid, but I wish Chow would steer clear of these sort of Fordian stunts.

 

[canmark]

Toronto Life: Sarah Thomson releases another subway-themed music video, and it is glorious and awkward

 

[StatGeek]

The article's stupid, but I wish Chow would steer clear of these sort of Fordian stunts.

She did apologize and played the I didn't know who he was card pretty quickly on twitter. .

But I agree with you on both aspect, probably best to stay clear of situations like this. But then again, when do we draw that line? Do you avoid comedians/actors who might play blue (Sasha Baron Cohen comes to mind). What about a rapper who sings some R-rated lyrics?

 

[Crazy]

She did apologize and played the I didn't know who he was card pretty quickly on twitter. .

But I agree with you on both aspect, probably best to stay clear of situations like this. But then again, when do we draw that line? Do you avoid comedians/actors who might play blue (Sasha Baron Cohen comes to mind). What about a rapper who sings some R-rated lyrics?

I recently received an email from Sarah Polley titled "Why I support Olivia Chow." I think this is the sort of serious, thoughtful celebrity-type supporter it's okay to have. Even a cursory Google search of "Iron Sheik" should have raised some red flags for Chow's team.