and so it begins...
A start on shoring up lakefront
Jul. 14, 2006. 05:54 AM
CHRISTOPHER HUME
The dream of a green waterfront will come true, if only for 10 days in August.
The bored, er, board of the Toronto Waterfront Revitalization Corp. has approved a plan that will close the two southern lanes of Queens Quay W. from Aug. 11 to 20 and turn them into a "linear park" between Spadina Rd. and York St.
The scheme, proposed by Rotterdam-based firm of landscape architects, Team Eight, and its local collaborators, was the winning submission in an international design competition held earlier this year.
As the TWRC board heard yesterday, the idea behind the proposal is to give Torontonians a chance to see for themselves the vast potential of the waterfront. It will also give planners a chance to build a full-scale mock-up and learn where improvements could be made.
Though it seemed to come as news to at least one befuddled board member (who asked whether this road closure would become an annual summer event), the hope is that it will be a prelude to a permanent reconfiguration of Queens Quay and the surrounding area.
But until then, Queens Quay will be reduced temporarily to two lanes of one-way traffic, westbound. The Martin Goodman Trail, which currently ends at Spadina and doesn't start again until east of Jarvis St., will be extended through the central waterfront.
It will become a four-metre-wide roadway for bikes and rollerbladers. Directly south, there will be a grassy strip. It will be enhanced along the sides of various slip heads with small sandy beaches, not intended for swimmers but more than enough for kids to play in.
The cost of the 10-day experiment will be $900,000, a lot of money, for sure.
But as one board member rightly pointed out, "This is our chance."
Indeed it is. Though opposition can be expected from the NIMBY brigade, i.e. some local residents and merchants, the issue goes beyond mere convenience of drivers who park in underground garages. Though they can rest assured, they will all have access to their spots.
More important, however, are the future of the waterfront, its revitalization and the completion of the city. Torontonians have listened to promises for years about how the waterfront will one day be reconnected with the city and once again become part of their lives.
Though that would necessitate the removal of the Gardiner Expressway and the burial of the railway tracks that separate the city and the lake, these are unlikely given the general feeling of civic poverty, the lack of political leadership and vision, inadequate funding for public transit and widespread automobile dependence.
But there are still things that can be done to bring the waterfront to life.
That's what the Team Eight plan is all about; it starts with the premise that much of the land along the water's edge should be handed over to people, not cars. This will be an extremely contentious issue in August and all eyes will be focused on whether the needs of pedestrians are ultimately given precedence over those of drivers.
This is what everyone says they want, but they could easily change their minds. Getting Torontonians out of their cars isn't easy; board members themselves seemed more concerned about parking than, for instance, programming during the 10-day closure.
"We have the support of most of our partners," said TWRC vice-president for planning and design Chris Glaisek.
"We need to give people a sense that this part of the waterfront has been handed back to them," Glaisek added.
All that remains is city council approval for the road closure. That is expected to pass easily, especially as community council recommended the move Tuesday.
One thing no one raised was the possibility the plan might succeed too well. What if Torontonians decide they want the rest of the city handed back to them, not just the waterfront? What if they decided they're sick of overcrowded streets, endless gridlock, underfunded transit, overly narrow sidewalks lined with dead trees and breathing filthy, exhaust-filled air?
Where would it end? Not just Toronto the Good, but Toronto the Green. And to think, it could all start on Aug. 11
www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1152827412769&call_pageid=970599109774&col=Columnist969907619189