Sir Novelty Fashion
Senior Member
^ ...and as such was the chief promoter of it's downtown, which he wanted to rival Toronto's downtown. That desire was the genesis of the Sheppard subway, in fact.
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Hipster Duck
Senior Member
^What's ironic is that, despite the Sheppard subway, downtown North York actually feels less important now than it did in 1998. That's not because it's declined, but because downtown Toronto has really boomed, and pulled itself out of that late-90s Mike Harris-induced funk.
I think it feels that way because downtown has finally gotten the height monkey off its back. 60 is the new 30. North York is only really starting to see this trend. Give it 10 years, and when North York has some 60+ towers of its own, it may feel different.
Palma
Senior Member
Just because you have 60* height towers does not mean you have arrived. The difference is that downtown Toronto has a street precence with restaurants, shops, bars, clubs, historical buildings, waterfront, etc and is made for walking instead of the car.
andrewpmk
Senior Member
North York Centre is pretty walkable I would say. It is just not all that large yet because it basically extends only 1 block or so on either side of Yonge Street, east and west of which are single family houses. Scarborough/Mississauga Centre, much less so. If the Sheppard subway extension gets built I expect that North York Centre will grow a lot.
MetroMan
Senior Member
Not to get off topic, but this is definitely an election ad for McGuinty. If he plays his cards right, he can swipe Ford's pro subway sales pitch right from under Hudak's nose.
MetroMan
Senior Member
I presume this is for the Western arm of the Crosstown? Are they planning to start construction on the previously planned west Eglinton line while they study the new underground portion on the East, or will the entire project sit while they work out the new plans?
nfitz
Superstar
It's the portal east of Black Creek. The plan is to drop two of the tunnel boring machines in here and head east. Presumably they will look at the redesign that may effect the east Portal, west of Brentcliffe ... though there still needs to be a portal there somewhere, leading to the Don River bridge ... though it's hard to see how it would still be in the centre of the road.
Eug
Senior Member
Yes, but my main point was that the name just sucks.
I don't think I see how Hudak could actually claim that he's the pro-subway leader, if McGuinty is the one actually putting the money into it.
I suspect the best he'd do is say he'd keep the funding for the subway intact.
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ventrems
Guest
At a public meeting in April, TTC officials said launch site construction would begin in July 2011 (http://urbantoronto.ca/news/2011/05/eglinton-scarborough-crosstown-lrt-preparing-construction).
tkip
Active Member
What I wonder about is if Hudak comes to power is there any indication he would honor any deal that's been ironed out between Ford and McGuinty regarding a transit plan?
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ventrems
Guest
To my knowledge, Mr. Hudak has not stated his position on the Eglinton-Crosstown. Personally, I'd be surprised to see him scrap a plan supported by a fellow conservative, Mayor Rob Ford.
A review of the Ontario PC campaign platform "ChangeBook" revealed some interesting nuggets related to transit funding (full disclosure: I am not affiliated with any political party). Notable promises include giving more power to local municipalities to decide what they want to invest in and increasing municipal share of the gas tax. One concern is that "Metrolinx" shows up only once in the platform. Interestingly, it is in extremely small text on a page about reducing the number of government agencies and "the hidden billions they consume." Featured prominently was EHealth, OLG, LHINs, and Ontario Power Authority. Could Metrolinx be on the chopping block?
Other relevant quotes:
"We need change to tackle traffic congestion that only seems to get worse and worse."
"We will give all Ontario communities a share of the gas tax for the transportation projects that make the most sense for them."
"We will invest more than $35 billion to pay for new infrastructure – much of it in transit and transportation – over our first three years in office and use innovative technologies to help reduce congestion."
"We will stop the war on the car. Our transportation policy needs to be a balance between public transportation and the cars we drive."
"Fifty year grand visions with no funding and no commitment don’t move goods or people any faster. We’ll develop realistic and pragmatic plans that will make a real difference for today’s families."
"Our local governments have had their decision-making power chipped away in recent years. This is unfair, undemocratic, and does nothing to increase the value of services provided at the community level. We will enable more local and decentralized decision-making, and give municipalities more tools to provide better value for local families."
"We will increase the dedicated revenue from the provincial gas tax to transit, roads, and other infrastructure projects. No municipality will receive less funding; every municipality can count on receiving some level of investment. This will be a permanent commitment. We will respect the unique priorities of individual cities and towns, and give them the ability to choose between roads, bridges, and transit."
unimaginative2
Senior Member
Obviously this is mainly an attack on Metrolinx, though it's pretty ridiculous that they're acting like it has forced any municipalities to change their plans. Every municipality is still pretty much completely independent, which is why some places have LRT, BRT or subway. It's also why we have different branded BRT systems in York, Durham, and Brampton. Unfortunately, Hudak wants to get rid of the bare minimum of regional co-ordination that we have finally built.
I agree that he'd be comparatively unlikely to scrap Ford's current transit plan. Like Harris' decision to keep Sheppard because of Lastman's pressure, I'm sure Hudak wouldn't want to make his fellow Conservative look bad.
I agree that he'd be comparatively unlikely to scrap Ford's current transit plan. Like Harris' decision to keep Sheppard because of Lastman's pressure, I'm sure Hudak wouldn't want to make his fellow Conservative look bad.
M II A II R II K
Senior Member
They should resurrect that York Centre project to better justify it's existence and use the private sector to help fund it. The same goes for around at Don Mills which can be built up with an East York Centre as well.
It's definitely an idea. Toronto is clearly going to continue its high-rise construction boom. If you give developers specific places to go nuts, they'll do it. It's better to concentrate the really high density stuff to a few select locations, and then have the rest of the city open to mid-rise infill, etc.