Toronto One Bloor East | 257.24m | 76s | Great Gulf | Hariri Pontarini

interchange42 said:
We're going to be dealing with narrow sidewalks on many streets for years, and to get them widened in many spots the only way we're going to be able to accomplish that is by taking lanes away from the street. Yonge is the perfect candidate for that.
42
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Exactly. The narrow streets are part of our unique built form. We need to embrace this and view it as an opportunity, not try to make it something different. Embracing this means adding adequate transit within the downtown core, pedestrianizing where possible and reducing lanes where not so possible etc...

Embracing the local built form is what gives our city character and makes it stand out from all the others. We need to celebrate the uniqueness here and view it as potential or opportunities and stop viewing distinctive features here as obstacles that prevent us from being more like New York or Chicago or wherever. There will never be another New York or Chicago, or only second rate imitations thereof. Better to worry about preserving and evolving our own unique city!
 
I think we've lost the middle ground in discussion. I didn't take anyone to be comparing Toronto to NYC in any strong way, or at least I wasn't. Consider different ways of comparing things like Toronto and NYC: one, Toronto should be NYC; two, Toronto should be like NYC; three, Toronto should be more like NYC; and finally, most weakly, NYC has some elements that Toronto could borrow.

The first point of comparison is trivially false, so it's toothless to argue anyone was going that far. And I'd also agree that the second point of comparison is a non-starter. The real debate lies in the last two points of comparison. I wouldn't personally agree with the third, but I definitely agree with the fourth: NYC has some things that I'd love to see in Toronto. One of them happens to be deeper canyons. Maintaining that view doesn't mean that I'm not embracing Toronto for what it is.
 
I love NYC but it's a constant zoo of people even in their parks. I love Toronto and Vancouver because they are so close to nature in our ravines and in Tommy Thompson Park and in the mountains out west. I feel bad for people living in cities that can't escape humanity without going hours and hours outside the core. As dense as our city gets, we will always have our protected ravines and green spaces along Lake Shore close by most people.

If NYC hadn't have created a master plan with Central Park in place, it would be filled with structures and a few small animated squares. People need trees to feel more human. One can't say that Toronto is lacking trees. We are a very green city. Embrace that, too.
 
Friends and family of ours have moved to NYC thinking life is better there. They have all moved back within 5 years, except one. The main reason for returning to Toronto: NYC isn't livable. Toronto is. Hence the appeal of coming back. It is a great place to live for a few years though, but very difficult to make social connections. It's a difficult city to sustain living there long-term. The desire they had brought about by earlier travels diminished the more that they lived there. Just our take. We'd rather leave it as-is and just enjoy the City as a great, fun city to travel to.

Plus their hotdog carts everywhere are identical and serve really crappy food. Hands down TO has superior street food carts and trucks!

P.S. if you left we'd miss you and your pics!
 
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From just now.
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That last pic of MafaldaBoy above of the south exposure really shows off the curves right up to the roof line. Really like the 'L-Tower' like balcony wave...
 

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bgobgo said:
That last pic of MafaldaBoy above of the south exposure really shows off the curves right up to the roof line. Really like the 'L-Tower' like balcony wave...
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Speaking of that pic, is that a 2 storey penthouse I see top left? I don't ever recall seeing any floor plans for those units, so it comes as a suprise to me.

I also don't know if we're architecturally topped off. I recall seeing renders with steel fins but they could have scrapped those plans in favour of that concrete ledge at the top... Hmm...
 
NBGtect said:
Friends and family of ours have moved to NYC thinking life is better there. They have all moved back within 5 years, except one. The main reason for returning to Toronto: NYC isn't livable. Toronto is. Hence the appeal of coming back. It is a great place to live for a few years though, but very difficult to make social connections. It's a difficult city to sustain living there long-term. The desire they had brought about by earlier travels diminished the more that they lived there. Just our take. We'd rather leave it as-is and just enjoy the City as a great, fun city to travel to.

Plus their hotdog carts everywhere are identical and serve really crappy food. Hands down TO has superior street food carts and trucks!

P.S. if you left we'd miss you and your pics!
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I totally get all of that and maybe that would be the case for me as well but I would kill to live there even for a year. I've traveled there twice for a week both times and it's not even close to enough soak it all in. I am completely infatuated with the city to the point where I think my friends are tired of hearing about it.

As for the hot dog carts, I've heard they're crap there before so I never tried them during my stays. I guess that's the one thing Toronto does right! However, the "halal guys" food carts are nothing short of incredible. Not only does the lamb gyro taste incredible, it's also insanely cheap - like $3.25 for a pita or $4.50 for a plate with rice+salad. The good news is they're opening a few restaurants in Toronto next year. I just hope the prices and quality are the same as they are in big apple.

Thanks for your kind words on my pix! :) I really need to get out shooting more now that I have that new lens. Just waiting on getting a new tripod before getting back into a regular routine. Shooting is jut another reason I would want to move to NYC. The city/buildings are unbelievably photogenic. I had a field day on my last trip!
 
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