Chief Planner Job Ad for - What would you like to see him/her propose to Council?

[ibhattac]

Chief Planner Job Ad for TO - What would you like to see him/her propose to Council?

The current chief planner for Toronto is retiring, the search is officially on for a new one:

http://www.municipalworld.com/index.php/JobBoard/ChiefPlannerAndExecutiveDirectorCityPlanning-CityOfTorontoON


So, what initiatives would you want him/her to propose to Council for consideration (and rejection because the new Chief Planner would probably be starting as the Councillors gear up/jockey for re-election)?

I'd like the Chief Planner to aggressively increase housing supply and unit diversity through increased densities and more mixed uses to allow for retail/office/light industrial outside of employment lands and more family-supportive units. That could make it easier for all the human service providers to have a market for which to provide services and stay viable (childcare, schools, transit, etc). Plus more customers would be a good thing for businesses, especially if those customers can work nearby.

That said, they're probably just going to land smack dab in the middle of an overworked, under-resourced planning unit where development applications simply get punted to the OMB because there's no time/resources to address the applications. Gravy and whatnot.

 

[greenleaf]

What you said, plus be a huge advocate for a downtown relief line.

 

[ibhattac]

What you said, plus be a huge advocate for a downtown relief line.

hopefully. i wonder to what extent they'll stick their head out to cut across administrative silos and advocate.

part of me dreads that they'll be competing with liz lemon and karen stintz for the ge followship award with this adminstration. i hope i'm wrong

 

[pman]

DRL, partly funded by increased taxes on commercial parking spaces, road tolls and reinstatement of the vehicle registration fee.

 

[ibhattac]

could a mod change the title of this thread to Chief Planner Job Ad for Toronto - What would you like to see him/her propose to Council? I can't figure out how to change the thread title, lol.

 

[Yoshimura]

A genuine proposal for his/her resignation.

 

[junctionist]

The chief planner should be characterized by a desire to clean up the public realm and make Toronto appear and feel more metropolitan and grand down to the fine details like restoring and installing new brick and stone paving, burying overhead wires, and implementing black traffic signals on street corners in the old city as opposed to the current hung big yellow signals more appropriate for suburban and rural roads. This individual needs to champion heritage preservation, high quality contemporary architecture, transit expansion, and the most sophisticated public spaces. He or she needs to be a progressive figure with a desire to lead and a copies of Jane Jacobs' books on his or her shelf.

 

[ibhattac]

T . . . implementing black traffic signals on street corners in the old city as opposed to the current hung big yellow signals more appropriate for suburban and rural roads . . .

Do you have an image/link to this? Sounds interesting, but I can't quite visualise it.

 

[Paleo]

The chief planner should be characterized by a desire to clean up the public realm and make Toronto appear and feel more metropolitan and grand down to the fine details like restoring and installing new brick and stone paving, burying overhead wires, and implementing black traffic signals on street corners in the old city as opposed to the current hung big yellow signals more appropriate for suburban and rural roads. This individual needs to champion heritage preservation, high quality contemporary architecture, transit expansion, and the most sophisticated public spaces. He or she needs to be a progressive figure with a desire to lead and a copies of Jane Jacobs' books on his or her shelf.

In a lot of the old photos of Toronto from the 60s and 70s I see those black low profile traffic signals. Is there a legal reason for the bright school bus yellow signals?

 

[adma]

In a lot of the old photos of Toronto from the 60s and 70s I see those black low profile traffic signals. Is there a legal reason for the bright school bus yellow signals?

From what I recall of that time, Toronto signals were all-yellow. Anything "black" would have been either earlier still, or an illusion brought about by B&W photography.

And I suppose that yellow was the nominal colour of "traffic guidance", cf. road signs, et al...

 

[Paleo]

From what I recall of that time, Toronto signals were all-yellow. Anything "black" would have been either earlier still, or an illusion brought about by B&W photography.

And I suppose that yellow was the nominal colour of "traffic guidance", cf. road signs, et al...

Yes I noticed that they are in fact yellow and not black as I had remembered. Still, I don't know why they had to move away from them and to the overbearing new signals. They don't do it like that in Montreal. New safety regulations perhaps?

 

[junctionist]

The province has a one-size-fits-all standard in the Ontario Traffic Manual that requires our ubiquitous style of traffic lights to be used. They could be black instead of yellow, but that's about it. There shouldn't be anyone more influential than Toronto's chief planner on this matter which affects downtown, historic areas beyond downtown, and anywhere where a polished streetscape matters such as the suburban city centres. The compact black style installed on street corners in older parts of Montreal is so much more attractive for streetscapes, especially in combination with buried overhead wires and attractive lighting standards. The style is quite common in major cities where planners recognized the significance of the choice of traffic signal in terms of streetscape aesthetics, be it Washington DC, Paris, London, or Chicago. One of the most egregious examples of Ontario's one-size-fits-all standard are the big yellow signals hung over intersections in front of Parliament Hill, which is completely pointless and ugly clutter beside such an important landmark. They're useful on high speed suburban and rural roads, but many urban areas in Toronto and in Ontario need a more elegant solution that doesn't clutter the streetscape.