Cabbagetown Streetscape Revitalization Plan (Sun Arts Design)

[junctionist]

What baffles me is why the city sometimes replaces older concrete poles with wooden poles... does a wooden pole maker have a cousin at city hall?

Toronto Hydro started using concrete poles after some fleeting moment of enlightenment about aesthetics in the 1980s. They started eliminating overhead wires, but never committed to getting rid of them completely. The idea was to eliminate the older bunch of wires at the top of the wooden poles, and just keep the overhead wires for local power delivery to buildings along the street. That was an improvement, but not that significant.

I think they're still eliminating the older clusters of overhead wires because a few years ago, the ones along Annette Street in the Junction were removed. They've returned to wooden poles because they last longer, and the agency doesn't see aesthetics as a priority. On streets without overhead wires, you shouldn't see wooden poles. Toronto Hydro apparently has no plan for totally eliminating overhead wires in the city--not even along major streets. It's not appropriate for a high-profile international city.

 

[pman]

I suppose it's an opinion. I've been living in a major European city for the past 4 years...my passport has dozens upon dozens of stamps...and yet nothing brings me home to Toronto like a tangle of overhead wires & old hydro poles.

Shabby chic. No other city like it.

You're right about two things - we are shabby and Toronto's concept of what makes a desirable public realm is unique. But chic? Really? Paris is chic. So is Barcelona. Toronto's is just sad.