Shabby Public Realm

[DSC]

Done!

I reported one on Front a week or so ago and got THIS response.

"Your email has been forwarded to Astral for review / response / resolution. If you do not receive a reply within three business days, please contact quality@astral.com directly."

Amazingly, it was replaced!

 

[deerparker]

 

[Admiral Beez]

Goodness, today I took a walk from Bayview along Rosedale Valley Road to the stairs at Mount Pleasant. The entire area has litter and garbage strewn about everywhere. There are seemingly abandoned encampments and just piles all crap everywhere. Why is this allowed to look like this? Isn’t there a city department responsible for clearing trash out of our ravines and parks?

 

[Northern Light]

Goodness, today I took a walk from Bayview along Rosedale Valley Road to the stairs at Mount Pleasant. The entire area has litter and garbage strewn about everywhere. There are seemingly abandoned encampments and just piles all crap everywhere. Why is this allowed to look this this? Isn’t there a city department responsible for clearing trash out of our ravines and parks?

I'm not sure about the new dedicated ravine cleaning crews that were hired in the last year, but most Parks staff are seasonal w/their jobs ending between Sept 30-Nov 30 each year. (just like mowing crews and cleaning staff for seasonal washrooms).

The City's plans for this stretch of ravine will probably reduce these issues somewhat in the years to come.

Major work at the Glen Road bridge include new ravine trail access; the entire trail system at the bottom is also being rebuilt in 2022-2024 time stretch.

To reference the work in the Glen Road area, see this post by me here:

Glen Road Pedestrian Bridge (Morley Callaghan Bridge)

This bridge is being replaced in 2019/2020. Details at: https://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/mmis/2017/pb/bgrd/backgroundfile-109541.pdf • Toronto Preservation Board – Fall 2017 • Finalize Environmental Study Report; − 45-day Public Review Period (Winter 2017) • Detailed Design – 2018 / 2019 −...

urbantoronto.ca

For the improvements to the trail along Rosedale Valley Road.......see here:

Cycling infrastructure (Separated bike lanes)

Hi all, Longtime lurker (I used to have a profile/account a decade ago but the username/password have been lost to time). I don't believe I've seen any info about the Rosedale Valley Road Multi-Use Trail Reconstruction project on this thread and I believe the project page on the city website is...

urbantoronto.ca

** Note, the Admiral has me blocked, so someone else may need to share the answer with him, LOL **

 

[Northern Light]

As I'm on a walk today, I see an example of how not to do public realm that merits sharing.........

What exactly does this relatively new development on Merton think they are irrigating?

All those pipes in order to foster mud...........sigh.

Its possible the sidewalk simply isn't wide enough here; and also that with parking permitted adjacent to the curb, too many people are traipsing over the would-be sod.

But what this really smacks of to me, is that when the sod was laid, it wasn't allowed to establish.

Once grass takes properly, it can with stand some abuse.........

But not in the first 60-90 days.

It needs time to put down roots and get established.

North of Eglinton, we have an example of how this is done properly:

The fence here is obviously temporary, but its giving the grass a chance to take hold.

Note that the sidewalk here is also considerably wider than the first one so 'passing traffic' is less likely to encroach on the grass.

 

[Richard White]

As I'm on a walk today, I see an example of how not to do public realm that merits sharing.........

What exactly does this relatively new development on Merton think they are irrigating?

View attachment 373897

All those pipes in order to foster mud...........sigh.

Its possible the sidewalk simply isn't wide enough here; and also that with parking permitted adjacent to the curb, too many people are traipsing over the would-be sod.

But what this really smacks of to me, is that when the sod was laid, it wasn't allowed to establish.

Once grass takes properly, it can with stand some abuse.........

But not in the first 60-90 days.

It needs time to put down roots and get established.

North of Eglinton, we have an example of how this is done properly:

View attachment 373898

The fence here is obviously temporary, but its giving the grass a chance to take hold.

Note that the sidewalk here is also considerably wider than the first one so 'passing traffic' is less likely to encroach on the grass.

251 Jarvis/200 Dundas Street East are the same way. They have irrigation pipes in the mud.

I was responsible for getting quotes to put proper flowers and things in there but nobody could figure out if the system was operational of just for show.

 

[Northern Light]

In addition to the Irrigation issue; I also noted an issue of sidewalk maintenance on my walk that lies squarely with the City.

Here, I'm not so much irritated by the lack of nice material/design as I am by a completely unsafe walking surface.

The above is Hillsdale, at the eastern approach to the bridge over the TTC tracks.

Not remotely even/level...........

 

[DSC]

The photos above show the latest Transportation project. In the early fall 2021 they sent teams around spraying orange paint on MANY sidewalks to highlight trip-hazards. St Lawrence was ablaze with orange paint. They have done this before but this year (despite covid) they actually moved to Stage 2 and sent crews around trying to deal with the hazards by using asphalt. to smooth things out. As seen in the photos above.) In previous years they would do the paint but then winter would arrive (who knew?) and no asphalt would be applied. By spring the paint had faded so .. Frankly, this is their best effort for decades though it would obviously be even better if they did the spray painting in the spring so that over the summer they could do permanent concrete repairs. Baby steps, baby steps!!.

 

[DSC]

Not sure that having Utility companies repairing their own cuts is working too well but .. See http://app.toronto.ca/tmmis/viewAgendaItemHistory.do?item=2022.IE29.11

Infrastructure and Environment Committee consideration on April 26, 2022

IE29.11

ACTION​

​

​

Ward: All​

Oversight and Accountability within the Utility Cut Process​

 

[Northern Light]

Not sure that having Utility companies repairing their own cuts is working too well but .. See http://app.toronto.ca/tmmis/viewAgendaItemHistory.do?item=2022.IE29.11

Infrastructure and Environment Committee consideration on April 26, 2022

IE29.11

ACTION​

​

​

Ward: All​

Oversight and Accountability within the Utility Cut Process​

They always miss the boat.

The key here is have a single utilities duct/corridor for Fiber, gas, water, managed by a single entity, w/the various services paying at-cost fees to properly deliver and manage same.

If there was one entity responsible, and one-shared set of fiber, the number of cuts would be drastically reduced, perhaps by as much as 80%, then the one entity would have the requisite expertise on repairs and could perform those in-house.

 

[DSC]

They always miss the boat.

The key here is have a single utilities duct/corridor for Fiber, gas, water, managed by a single entity, w/the various services paying at-cost fees to properly deliver and manage same.

If there was one entity responsible, and one-shared set of fiber, the number of cuts would be drastically reduced, perhaps by as much as 80%, then the one entity would have the requisite expertise on repairs and could perform those in-house.

Yes, this has been discussed here before and the Montreal practice is clearly better (in theory anyway) - though having lived there for 30+ years they too seemed to have lots of utility cut problems! See: http://www.csem.qc.ca/en/notre-reseau.html They did set this up over 100 years ago and it would certainly be VERY hard to do it here now as the area below the streets is a honeycomb of pipes and wires and (based on the Wellington fiasco and others like it) nobody really even knows exactly what is where!

"For over 105 years, the « Commission des services électriques de Montréal » (CSEM) has acted on behalf of the city of Montreal.

The CSEM promotes and encourages the burial of cabled networks on the Montreal territory by associating with the City of Montreal and with numerous energy and telecommunications companies and providers.

The CSEM coordinates the efforts of all involved parties to offer a reliable, secure and durable underground and aboveground network.

In all, since its inception the CSEM has developed an underground conduit network that covers over 770 kilometers of streets with over 23,5 million meters of cable.

The CSEM intervenes in all building projects on the Montreal territory requiring connections to the conduit networks."

 

[Northern Light]

Yes, this has been discussed here before but the Montreal practice is clearly better (in theory anyway) - though having lived there for 30+ years they too seemed to have lots of utility cut problems! See: http://www.csem.qc.ca/en/notre-reseau.html They did set this up over 100 years ago and it would certainly be VERY hard to do it here now as the area below the streets is a honeycomb of pipes and wires and (based on the Wellington fiasco and others like it) nobody really even knows exactly what is where!

"For over 105 years, the « Commission des services électriques de Montréal » (CSEM) has acted on behalf of the city of Montreal.

The CSEM promotes and encourages the burial of cabled networks on the Montreal territory by associating with the City of Montreal and with numerous energy and telecommunications companies and providers.

The CSEM coordinates the efforts of all involved parties to offer a reliable, secure and durable underground and aboveground network.

In all, since its inception the CSEM has developed an underground conduit network that covers over 770 kilometers of streets with over 23,5 million meters of cable.

The CSEM intervenes in all building projects on the Montreal territory requiring connections to the conduit networks."

I say hire Montreal to set it up here, and build it in pieces as roads undergo full reconstruction.

It'll take about 50 years to get it all done; but that's better than not doing it.

 

[junctionist]

The problem might be that those who run the city are uncomfortable admitting that Montreal has done certain things better.

 

[Northern Light]

The problem might simply be that those who run the city are uncomfortable admitting that Montreal has done certain things better.

Lets trade; we'll send them some TPL staff to improve their library offerings, they send us their CSEM folks and their snow removal team.

Then, we can make similar trades w/other places to adopt best practices from around the world.

(Hopelessly optimistic, I know......)

 

[daniel_kryz]

Lets trade; we'll send them some TPL staff to improve their library offerings, they send us their CSEM folks and their snow removal team.

Then, we can make similar trades w/other place to adopt best practices from around the world.

(Hopelessly optimistic, I know......)

We both know a full-on trade would be impossible. However, it would be such a great idea for cities to send & receive successful and knowledgeable staff to improve the each city's weaknesses!