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Yonge Street Revitalization (Downtown Yonge BIA/City of Toronto)

Northern Light said:
This seems like a good spot for this:

The Downtown Yonge BIA is asking for input as to what its strategic direction should be over the next few years.

They have a survey out, it asks a bit about your relationship to the area, (visitor/student/resident/employee etc.), what you think of how things are; and then where you think the BIA should focus in the years ahead.

There's a lot of multiple-choice type stuff, but also many write-in spots as well.

Probably about 10M.

Don't have to give you name, but if you do, with an email, your entered to win some stuff.

Google Forms: Sign-in

Access Google Forms with a personal Google account or Google Workspace account (for business use).
docs.google.com
Click to expand...

Definitely not their mission statement? :rolleyes: Seriously - the problems and direction are self-evident.

AoD
 
AlvinofDiaspar said:
Definitely not their mission statement? :rolleyes: Seriously - the problems and direction are self-evident.

AoD
Click to expand...

I''m not saying what I said, as it is.............I reveal a lot, LOL

But I will say, I don't disagree w/your observation.
 
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AlvinofDiaspar said:
Considering the bang up job they did with their corner of YD? Of course, they are hardly the only ones with a presence on the BIA.

AoD
Click to expand...

I feel like we might be talking behind the backs of everyone reading, so let me share whose on the Board, is public info after all, on their website.

1678932780114.png
 
Northern Light said:
This seems like a good spot for this:

The Downtown Yonge BIA is asking for input as to what its strategic direction should be over the next few years.

They have a survey out, it asks a bit about your relationship to the area, (visitor/student/resident/employee etc.), what you think of how things are; and then where you think the BIA should focus in the years ahead.

There's a lot of multiple-choice type stuff, but also many write-in spots as well.

Probably about 10M.

Don't have to give your name, but if you do, with an email, your entered to win some stuff.

Google Forms: Sign-in

Access Google Forms with a personal Google account or Google Workspace account (for business use).
docs.google.com
Click to expand...
Thanks just filled it out!
 
Screenshot_2023-10-30_173932.jpg


www.toronto.ca

yongeTOmorrow Past Consultations

Consultation for yongeTOmorrow has engaged a broad range of residents, businesses, and stakeholders over three rounds of engagement. Rounds of Consultation Round of Consultation Content Focus Consultation Activities Consultation Summary Report Round One Identification of problems/opportunities...
www.toronto.ca www.toronto.ca
 
Allandale25 said:
View attachment 516649

www.toronto.ca

yongeTOmorrow Past Consultations

Consultation for yongeTOmorrow has engaged a broad range of residents, businesses, and stakeholders over three rounds of engagement. Rounds of Consultation Round of Consultation Content Focus Consultation Activities Consultation Summary Report Round One Identification of problems/opportunities...
www.toronto.ca www.toronto.ca
Click to expand...

I can confirm that internally, the City currently shows this project as 2025-2028.

* As always, nothing is a done deal until its tendered...........and even then......add 3 years if Sanscon wins the bid.
 
Northern Light said:
I can confirm that internally, the City currently shows this project as 2025-2028.

* As always, nothing is a done deal until its tendered...........and even then......add 3 years if Sanscon wins the bid.
Click to expand...
The upgrade of the Yonge Street streetscape is the final part of a years-log project to upgrade watermains, sewers and electrics but even so, it is really taking FAR too long.
 
Yonge Tomorrow is in jeopardy of nearly infinite delay.

At minimum its been pushed off one more year to a 2026 start, but below are the numbers, in millions, listed as capital constraints for the project (meaning, unfunded)

1705002779427.png


The 66.2M is the total constraint, the 13.2 is funding listed as constrained in 2026, so the project now shows as 2026-2029, IF the money can be found.
 
Northern Light said:
Yonge Tomorrow is in jeopardy of nearly infinite delay.

At minimum its been pushed off one more year to a 2026 start, but below are the numbers, in millions, listed as capital constraints for the project (meaning, unfunded)

View attachment 532629

The 66.2M is the total constraint, the 13.2 is funding listed as constrained in 2026, so the project now shows as 2026-2029, IF the money can be found.
Click to expand...

Bleak. This is probably the single most important urban realm project in the city right now.

I'm still completely lost as to how every other large city in the country has better finances than Toronto. Where is all the money being spent? Sprawling road maintenance? Police budget? Taking on provincial responsibilities? Overstaffing city hall?
 
goodcitywhenfinished said:
Bleak. This is probably the single most important urban realm project in the city right now.

I'm still completely lost as to how every other large city in the country has better finances than Toronto. Where is all the money being spent? Sprawling road maintenance? Police budget? Taking on provincial responsibilities? Overstaffing city hall?
Click to expand...
I just hope there isn’t too much leakage of the funds.
 
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goodcitywhenfinished said:
Bleak. This is probably the single most important urban realm project in the city right now.

I'm still completely lost as to how every other large city in the country has better finances than Toronto. Where is all the money being spent? Sprawling road maintenance? Police budget? Taking on provincial responsibilities? Overstaffing city hall?
Click to expand...

There certainly are some questionable spending decisions at times. I've harped a on few over the years. That said, for the most part, they involve millions, not tens or hundreds of millions.

With some exceptions, the program decisions that are questionable would free up some much needed money on the operations side, but hardly make a dent on the capital budget side.

On the capital side there are few overlapping issues.

1) The manner in which projects are financed and parceled (phased projects that shouldn't be, and where accretive costs are added as a result)

2) Procurement issues. There are lots of those. Too few bidders, too few good bidders, poor project oversight, no real penalty for contractors or project managers that screw up.

3) Insufficient money, because taxes were held just a bit too low, but for quite a long time. Lets just imagine (I'm picking a number here, not doing the exact math) that you fall behind 2% per year in capital spending because of insufficient revenues.
Imagine you've done that every single year since 1998. 24 years, x 2 % would cleaning equal being 48% behind where you should be; but its actually a bit worse, because when small maintenance is deferred, it often becomes much more expensive large maintenance.

4) One more thing, because of City decisions, but also provincial and federal ones, you have obligations piling up that previously didn't exist or at least not at the scale they do now; and which are being met in expensive, short-term solution ways, rather than permanent, cost-effective ones.

See the Federal government handing off lots of refugees all of a sudden to the City, without funding to house or feed them. Equally, the number of homeless shelter beds in the City 6 years ago was ~4500; today its over 9000 and set to grow to over 10,000 in coming 12 months.

The capital and operating obligations of housing an extra 6,000 people are huge.

****

For comparison, this is less of an issue in Quebec because housing cheaper, social benefits more generous and affordable housing, while also insufficient is nonetheless in greater relative supply than here. BC has a social assistance rate that is far higher as well, paying a floor of about ~$1100 a month vs Ontario's $733.

Even stingy Alberta treats its seriously disabled better. Their program is called AISH and it provides up to $1,863 per month; where ODSP is just over $1,300; all that while housing in Edmonton and Calgary is considerably cheaper than Toronto.
 
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