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

[Celeste]

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toron...-yonge-street-s-laneway-be-improved-1.2891677

 

[M.R.Victor]

I have absolutely no problem with Yonge Street becoming a sanitized outdoor mall. It actually is very much this way already, from south of College onward to Front. Toronto has an astonishing number of slightly decrepit but colorful and vibrant neighborhoods that already usurp by a wide margin any claim to "cool" that Yonge St. may have. Might as well make our main drag a squeaky clean business card for the city, rather than the second rate avenue it currently is.

 

[TheTigerMaster]

"Yonge Street’s not getting any wider," says Garner, "but the population of the city in the downtown core has tripled in the past five years. That means we have to start looking at laneways as though they were roads. They have to be serviced, they have to be well lit and safe."

Yonge is not getting any wider, but it could be fully pedestrianized.

 

[jozl]

From Yorkville Ave to the lake I'd like to see uniform, wider sidewalks (cobblestone), traffic reduced to 2 lanes (re: wider sidewalks), pedestrian friendly lighting and lamp posts, a few public plazas and public art (sculptures and fountains). Put in the infrastructure and the commercial ventures will adapt.

 

[TheTigerMaster]

From Yorkville Ave to the lake I'd like to see uniform, wider sidewalks (cobblestone), traffic reduced to 2 lanes (re: wider sidewalks), pedestrian friendly lighting and lamp posts, a few public plazas and public art (sculptures and fountains). Put in the infrastructure and the commercial ventures will adapt.

I think you'll approve of the Yonge Street Planning Framework:

Overview: http://urbantoronto.ca/picoftheday/...Report_Part I Context and World in Motion.pdf
Recommendations: http://urbantoronto.ca/picoftheday/...port_Part II Concepts and Recommendations.pdf

 

[TheTigerMaster]

I think you'll approve of the Yonge Street Planning Framework:

Overview: http://urbantoronto.ca/picoftheday/...Report_Part I Context and World in Motion.pdf
Recommendations: http://urbantoronto.ca/picoftheday/...port_Part II Concepts and Recommendations.pdf

Have these recommendations been approved?

 

[junctionist]

Yonge Street should be designed with collapsible bollards. Whether people want complete pedestrianization, seasonal pedestrianization or pedestrianization for special events like Nuit Blanche, it's just a matter of raising the bollards along the brick or stone roadway. Like Market Street, the sidewalks should be flush with the roadway.

 

[Celeste]

I think you'll approve of the Yonge Street Planning Framework:

Overview: http://urbantoronto.ca/picoftheday/...Report_Part I Context and World in Motion.pdf
Recommendations: http://urbantoronto.ca/picoftheday/...port_Part II Concepts and Recommendations.pdf

It's a good idea in theory but implementing it is another story.

 

[Celeste]

 

[Tewder]

^It truly was a 'big city' strip back in those days. There just isn't anything comparable in Toronto any more, for good or bad.

 

[JasonParis]

Signage was so much more important. I think Canadian urban retail signage stinks in general. Even going to mid-market American cities with somewhat hollowed-out downtown's, you will find retailers with much better signage.

 

[Transportfan]

Look how prominent that old office building near King looks in that pic!

 

[dt_toronto_geek]

^It truly was a 'big city' strip back in those days. There just isn't anything comparable in Toronto any more, for good or bad.

So true! Yonge St. at Dundas, facing north, same view - by day, and by night. Late 70's/early 80's.

 

[Tewder]

funny, Yonge/Dundas actually had a far more 'Times Square' vibe back then vs today, even with the addition of Dundas Square.

 

[Mississauga Slim]

funny, Yonge/Dundas actually had a far more 'Times Square' vibe back then vs today, even with the addition of Dundas Square.

True! Although, to be fair, Times Square also had a far more "Times Square" vibe back then as well.