Toronto Union Station Revitalization | ?m | ?s | City of Toronto | NORR

In December I reported that I had written to Mayor about the damned Jersey Barriers at Union. They forwarded it to 311 for Transportation and (after asking what was happening) I got this reply today:

"Notes on file state the following - Inspection Notes: There is no short term plan to remove the barriers for now. However the City does have a a plan to revitalize the front of Union Station and this section of Front St. No further information is available at this time."

What a useless lot! Though I really doubt they are necessary at all, I understand why barriers of some kind are there but most civilised places use large planters or heavy benches or ??? Jersey barriers are really so ugly and NOT hard to replace. Anyone want to email the Mayor, again. Mayor Tory <Mayor_Tory@toronto.ca>

There is some $$ in 2021 budget for 'improvements' but .....
 
DSC said:
In December I reported that I had written to Mayor about the damned Jersey Barriers at Union. They forwarded it to 311 for Transportation and (after asking what was happening) I got this reply today:

"Notes on file state the following - Inspection Notes: There is no short term plan to remove the barriers for now. However the City does have a a plan to revitalize the front of Union Station and this section of Front St. No further information is available at this time."

What a useless lot! Though I really doubt they are necessary at all, I understand why barriers of some kind are there but most civilised places use large planters or heavy benches or ??? Jersey barriers are really so ugly and NOT hard to replace. Anyone want to email the Mayor, again. Mayor Tory <Mayor_Tory@toronto.ca>

There is some $$ in 2021 budget for 'improvements' but .....
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Good effort @DSC

How Frustrating!
 
DSC said:
In December I reported that I had written to Mayor about the damned Jersey Barriers at Union. They forwarded it to 311 for Transportation and (after asking what was happening) I got this reply today:

"Notes on file state the following - Inspection Notes: There is no short term plan to remove the barriers for now. However the City does have a a plan to revitalize the front of Union Station and this section of Front St. No further information is available at this time."

What a useless lot! Though I really doubt they are necessary at all, I understand why barriers of some kind are there but most civilised places use large planters or heavy benches or ??? Jersey barriers are really so ugly and NOT hard to replace. Anyone want to email the Mayor, again. Mayor Tory <Mayor_Tory@toronto.ca>

There is some $$ in 2021 budget for 'improvements' but .....
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Typical Toronto bureaucracy. To get a permanent solution for something as simple as replacing jersey barriers takes years, if not decades. Meanwhile places such a London UK apply permanent changes in less than 6 months.

Toronto governmental affairs is a clown show.
 
Amare said:
Typical Toronto bureaucracy. To get a permanent solution for something as simple as replacing jersey barriers takes years, if not decades. Meanwhile places such a London UK apply permanent changes in less than 6 months.

Toronto governmental affairs is a clown show.
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Not defending Toronto ... but I always felt capital works in the UK seem glacial, even for minor projects, compared to Ontario. I drove past one project for years ... and in the end, it was only an electronic information sign beside the motorway for traffic. But somehow this involved earthworks, retaining walls ... and years.

At the same time, I can see why there is little desire to fix this, given the current pedestrian restrictions with the pandemic, and the ongoing Union Station construction.
 
nfitz said:
Not defending Toronto ... but I always felt capital works in the UK seem glacial, even for minor projects, compared to Ontario. I drove past one project for years ... and in the end, it was only an electronic information sign beside the motorway for traffic. But somehow this involved earthworks, retaining walls ... and years.

At the same time, I can see why there is little desire to fix this, given the current pedestrian restrictions with the pandemic, and the ongoing Union Station construction.
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I cant comment on all of the capital infrastructure affairs in the UK, as i'm not privy to them.

But with respect to the issue of simple barriers, it's clear which jurisdiction has its house in order on the issue. Toronto is a mess on this matter; the ongoing construction at Union has very little to do with why the city cant replace the barriers with a permanent solution. Nor does the current Covid restrictions. They've had dozens of months to come up with a simple solution, but have failed on every single level imaginable.

It's really not difficult to place a couple dozen of bollards around the station. Only Toronto would find a way of making it seem like it's an impossible endeavor.
 
Amare said:
I cant comment on all of the capital infrastructure affairs in the UK, as i'm not privy to them.

But with respect to the issue of simple barriers, it's clear which jurisdiction has its house in order on the issue. Toronto is a mess on this matter; the ongoing construction at Union has very little to do with why the city cant replace the barriers with a permanent solution. Nor does the current Covid restrictions. They've had dozens of months to come up with a simple solution, but have failed on every single level imaginable.

It's really not difficult to place a couple dozen of bollards around the station. Only Toronto would find a way of making it seem like it's an impossible endeavor.
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There's no excuse for dilly-dallying by the City on this file.

But don't over-reach.

Toronto is far from the only urban jurisdiction that moves slowly to address needs large and small.

The thing is; it's perfectly possible to accept that others make a hash of this type of thing too; and to equally hold that not one of them is excused for so doing.
 
DSC said:
There is no short term plan to remove the barriers for now.
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Well - why? What’s involved in this, and what’s so onerous that it takes multiple years to get this fixed? Mark my words: it’ll be a decade after their arrival and we’ll still be complaining about them.
 
AHK said:
Cue up Heritage Preservation Services....
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Wait til you find out this idea turns out to be prescient, when the Premier moves to put a building directly over the Union Station moat and Front Street through an MZO; the designation of the Jersey Barriers will thwart his evil plan; when it turns out the province didn't submit a fulsome heritage assessment on them to the City!
 
Northern Light said:
There's no excuse for dilly-dallying by the City on this file.

But don't over-reach.

Toronto is far from the only urban jurisdiction that moves slowly to address needs large and small.

The thing is; it's perfectly possible to accept that others make a hash of this type of thing too; and to equally hold that not one of them is excused for so doing.
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Toronto is far from the only example, but nevertheless it is one of the most prominent examples unfortunately.
 
Update from Joe Cressy's office. The City now hopes to remove the Jersey barriers and install bollards between Q3 2021 to Q3 2022 while the City are working on waterproofing at the west end of Union Station (I assume the strange areas below the Front Street sidewalk in the west Front Moat area.)
 
DSC said:
Update from Joe Cressy's office. The City now hopes to remove the Jersey barriers and install bollards between Q3 2021 to Q3 2022 while the City are working on waterproofing at the west end of Union Station (I assume the strange areas below the Front Street sidewalk in the west Front Moat area.)
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Unless it's the remaining construction zones around the station that are restricting the final end completion date, I see no reason why in the planet this should take 1 full year to do. This can easily be done within 3 months, and even that timeline is being extremely generous to account for Covid restrictions/protocols.

Nevertheless, this falls into the "i'll believe it when I see it" category.
 
Amare said:
Unless it's the remaining construction zones around the station that are restricting the final end completion date, I see no reason why in the planet this should take 1 full year to do. This can easily be done within 3 months, and even that timeline is being extremely generous to account for Covid restrictions/protocols.

Nevertheless, this falls into the "i'll believe it when I see it" category.
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It could be a case of shifting money around during a tough year. They probably want to postpone the work until the coffers are a bit fuller.

Right now the focus is preventing an economic disaster in Toronto and money which could be spent on landscaping features is probably being diverted to covid relief along with public health.
 
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