hbl33
Active Member
I do agree that Mississauga does need to revamp all of the major roads (Hurontario/Burnhamthorpe/Dundas/Eglinton/Derry/Dixie) to more pedestrian-friendly routes. Yes, Mississauga is still auto-dominated city, with cookie-cutter houses surrounding SQ1/Cooksville/Streetsville/Port Credit/Clarkson, but the housing prices are still reasonable here as opposed to T-Dot. Wide roads will be beneficial for growing constructions in the short term: and later intensification and a future LRT addition in the long term. And no, I don't drive or live in a large cookie-cutter suburban home. Plus, Mississauga downtown is developing with radical designs, and BRT/LRT system should be all implemented in time for the tax here to approach to near Toronto-levels.
Nothing new or radical has ever been developed to transform the Jane Strip into Yonge-Finch-alike areas. Even at 2010, 5, 10 and more years later not much would change in T-Dot unless your new mayor is not another Miller or Lastman (probably another part of Lastman-Miller-your future mayor trilogy). Toronto is never going to come close to a New York model in such a short time. Although it is great to see the proposed Transit City plan as well as subway extensions, no start of construction is being done to this date. And it is to be completed in 15 years at estimated $17.5 billion?!!? It sure is a fast-paced construction at reasonable costs. What happened to the DRL and Queen Subway proposal? Eglinton subway? All these should have been established by now, and instead there is Sheppard subway that is not even half-done to "Scompton" Town Centre.
It is grateful to see Toronto being awarded a right to host 2015 Pan-American Games and receive some recognition as well.
But will the city be ready to prepare on time for the games?
Is transit services going to be approaching to European standards (or even adopt a bit to HK/Tokyo/Seoul standards? Not likely, for another decades)
Bike-friendly as Montreal?
Or even having an ambition of becoming green-city as Vancouver is planning to be? And I don't think I have to mention Mel Lastman's comments during the bid for 2008 Olympic games.
Sorry if I feel I am ranting too far, but don't think that I am bashing Toronto with passion; I know the city will do the job, but if you Torontonian feel that your city is planning far ahead in role model as a sustainable city, think again. Toronto is slowly starting to go into a right direction, but not at steady pace. They need to speed up and put more money and time into their own infrastructure. Meanwhile, if Mississauga is sitting in a shadow of Toronto, how is the city planning well ahead faster than T-Dot? How is it that Sauga is planning to have a LRT system on the similar timeline as Toronto? I thought Sauga will be years behind Toronto in following the suit, but in reality it isn't too far.
And speaking of "Schadenfreude", Sauga has grown with its own plan rather than at an expense of Toronto. Looking at Toronto's own history, their subway plans and downtown revitalization are all being foiled. What then-would-be Toronto is better than what Toronto is now, so far.
Is it that all Torontonians are egomaniac?
