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Trees for T.O. Streets please.

Our residential streets are fine. But it would be nice to stroll The Danforth or downtown Yonge, or Queen, and have a canopy of trees. Would be great on a hot summer day to.
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Agreed, but turn a corner off these streets onto many side streets and you'll be pleasantly surprised by the shade awaiting. Two amazing streets in my neighbourhood that are stunning examples; Dundonald St. (east of Yonge) and my favorate, Alexander St. east of Yonge. Looks great, smells great and the tall, mature trees even help dampen noise coming from just a couple of dozen feet away.

There are lots of young trees along many of the high traffic areas of Yonge, Queen etc. but they struggle.

Along with our tough elements, young trees have another urban enemy: drunken clowns who, under cover of night, hang from the thriving saplings, or pull them down completely before they even have a chance. I see it all to often.
 
What about some sort of program that seeks corporate or private funding for tree plantings and upkeep, as well as general street beautification such as flower displays and the like. It would be good PR for these groups who could display a plaque in areas funded. I've seen it in smaller towns. I would think that something truly spectacular could be contrived for a big city like Toronto.
 
Heather Reisman paid for the University Avenue plantings a couple of years back - I don't know if that has continued or not.

I'd happily volunteer for and write a cheque to an equivalent of the Central Park Conservancy if they were to take on the task of improving and maintaining the parks near me. I'd even attend their black tie fundraiser.
 
Agreed. In Burlington for example all the planters, boulevards and medians in the central downtown area are planted and maintained by local organizations and private companies. They each get a little "discreet" standardized plaque to acknowledge their contribution and apparantly it actually leads to competition for the best displays. Really seems to work well.
 
Toronto has a corporate planting program, I've seen signs by trees in some of the cloverleaf junctions to highways (DVP I think?)

By the looks the City wants companies to fund tree planting in open spaces rather than on streets.
 
Hey! Borgos! Did you ever figure out what was happening with your evergreen?

Was it some icky disease - or just young love? The two are often confused.

I'm really looking forward to this weekend - cool and a bit damp. Perfect for gardening. The raspberry canes are growing like crazy, and the gooseberry bushes are laden with ripening fruit. The redcurrant bush is also groaning under the weight of clusters of little berries. And the rhubarb, well ...
 
adma said:
Okay. First of all, the left coast tends to be extraordinarily tree-friendly (ever been to Vancouver?), and it's underlined by the fact that the "tree industry" practically *made* Oregon. It doesn't mean one can snap one's fingers and turn Toronto into urban Oregon.

Second of all, maybe this doesn't apply to the downtownest of downtown streets, but IMO Toronto *does* have a tree-friendly reputation already--thanks to the older residential areas, the ravines, etc.

Third, cities are about people. And for all those trees, I don't see an awful lot of people in those pics--there's even a bit of desolation...
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Hi, This is Wilthe3rd (taker of the photos), was googling this and decided to add my contribution.

When I lived in Portland in the 1990's Valerie Harper (ex Rhoda) came through as part of an Urban Forestry group and when she was being interviewed she just kept staring at the trees located downtown just bedazzled by them. Tree canopies 3-5 stories tall located in Portlands two urban canyons. It is spectacular.

Wanted to note that many cities in the eastern parts of North America are very very tree friendly. Many of them were cut out of huge forests. In the US the great northwest and its foresty were famous for decades for lumber and that is when the Northwest was located in Michigan......

Photos: I take most of my photos in the early early morning. And these were taken early on a Sunday morning in the middle of August and I can tell you that in August most Oregonians are at the river, ocean or mountains on weekends. Not much of a people person here when taking photos of cities (don't have the knack).
 
Here's a question for all you out there: at the moment, the City has employees who water street trees, and when budgets are cut they tend to be in the firing line. Should BIAs be asked to assume responsibility for stuff like watering, while being the point of contact for reporting cracked tree boxes etc? This way, city employees could be planting new trees and doing pruning and other maintenance while stores could use their dehumidifier water to water the trees...
 
I think that's an excellent idea. I'd also be pleased if something similar could happen for parks, along the lines of the Central Park Conservancy or the organization that pays for the plantings along the Park Avenue median in New York, so that local residents and concerned people could support maintenance and improvement of parks. I'd quite happily give money and/or time to maintain and improve St. James' Park or the Flatiron Park or the to-be-built park behind the Market.
 
Those sidewalks in Portland look rather wide and well landscaped. It would be nice if some of our major sidewalks were as interesting as these.
 
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