City
Rob Ford releases transportation plan (on YouTube, no less)
Yes, Rob Ford has a plan that goes beyond just cutting taxes and stopping the "gravy train." Who knew?
The mayoral candidate released his transit plan on YouTube for some reason yesterday. Opening with awesome 80s throwback music, Ford takes eight long minutes to explain how he will improve Toronto transit without introducing new taxes or tolls.
Ford says it's time to stop the war on cars, give up on streetcars and focus on building more subways. He says he will create 12 kilometres of new subway track along Sheppard Avenue that would connect Downsview and Scarborough Town Centre, as well as connect Sheppard to the Bloor-Danforth line to create a "closed loop." The expansion will, he says, be completed before the 2015 Pan Am Games and cost $4 billion; $3.7 billion has already been committed by the provincial government for the first phase of Transit City and the rest will come from private funds.
Continuing to read off his paper and speaking at a snail's pace (a press release would work just fine next time, guys) Ford says $700 million will be put into road infrastructure to improve conditions and simplify congestion. The plan includes replacing some streetcars with buses and introducing colour-coded curb painting to indicate parking rules; red means no parking, green means park and pay and yellow means read the signs.
Ford also said $55 million will go towards new jogging and 100 km of new bike trails "where it makes sense."
Sarah Thomson wasted no time to release a statement on Ford's plan:
"Toronto cannot expand the Sheppard Line without first building a Downtown Relief Line (DRL) to accommodate the added capacity that comes with an expanded system. Anyone who has done their research on our subway system would know that the DRL is a priority before any other expansion, especially when talking about moving people to their jobs. My transit plan considers that Toronto's streets are a public asset, not simply a haven for cars and congestion."
Obviously, they ignored his on-camera charisma and still-frame cutaway skills. Go team.
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If it wasn't this it'd be hate on impersonal press releases or car-salesman-esque speeches.
I think it's a shame Ford related issues are allowed to be reported on by this author who so obviously despises Ford. Like the reality TV show articles that were left to authors who hate reality TV.
This may not be a news source (with quality articles like this) but holy conflict-of-interest batman! Personality is one thing for the site, but personal agenda is just distasteful.
These discussions and promises, regardless of who they come from, are so useless anyway - if it was that easy to do all of this, then any mayor would have. The point is the politics of transportation (and necessary funding) are much more complicated and no one person, mayor or not, can simply snap their fingers and make it happen.
Heaven help us if you vote for this man, he has no capacity to run this city nor is he a symbol we can be proud of. If you want change vote for someone with a plan and the capacity to complete it, Rossi.
why does toronto only have criminals and retards running for mayor?
His plan for Eglington is ridiculous. It’s already in its design phase and most will be underground.
Perhaps we were just distracted by. his. stop. and. go. page. reading.
Makes me a proud Torontonian today, I tell you!
Clearly he has no charisma or clue on how to lead, much less run a city if he stands behind crap like this. Shameful!
WAKE UP PEOPLE
I'm sure anyone would rather subways in their backyards over streetcars. If subways were put where you live, you might feel like me.
Rob Ford has planned this for Scarborough because he sees it as locking up his chances. The chances of him getting downtown votes are minimal. Shrewd strategising on his part.
If he gets a landslide in Scarborough and does moderately well in the rest of the city (overall), I think he's got it on lock.
I hope you slip on your bacon sweat and fall down a stair case, and at the bottom of the stair case there is hundreds of hermit crabs who bore into all of your orifices and trench like pores and simultaneously move in different directions and tear you into a bunch of less substantial chunks, but still big, fat chunks none the less, and then they decide to abandon you because the crimson grease pouring out of you smells like a kfc double down and then it starts raining and this all mixes with your vile runoff and you create this huge greasy, smelly, oil slick in the middle of the street and then the war on cars stops, because you effectively create the largest car accident in canadian history because everyone spins out and crashes into shit and then people cheer in the streets and we all ride our bikes (or take the ttc) into the sunset.
you fucking gourd. i hate your face.
His deputy mayor, if elected looks like it will come from Scarborough.
PS: Kudos on your name drop. That is actually in Scarborough. Your knowledge of Scarborough is better than 99% of posters on BlogTO not from my city.
Make Ford look bad. I want him to be elected, but taking cheap shots at his appearance only brings you down to his level.
But at least he is willing to expand the subway.
I don't like Rossi, but I think he preformed the best of all of the candidates. Although, his name drops were unwise.
Joe P's so boss.
The guy is a complete idiot and he's probably going to get elected. To echo someone's previous comment on this thread: We are seriously fucked.
Sorry for the language.
I'll just put my Internets glasses on so no one will notice.
gr1= Smitherman.
Sorry, that was mean.
gr1= new boat for psychiatrist.
He makes Mel Lastman look like the epitome of class, grace, and restraint by comparison ...
Smitherman want to be the mayor because he wants to be the mayor.
Ford is an enforcer, but not captain material.
Thomson's idea for a downtown relief line is great! I live in the 'burbs. The road toll idea is unfortunately her Achilles heel.
Rossi performed well in The Agenda debate. He needs a grand vision thing for Toronto that will latch voters. I'm just getting tired of hearing that he is the son of immigrants. So what! I'm glad he didn't talk about bike lanes. That's Rossi's Achilles heel. He would complain about bike lanes on main streets yet ignore his Becel Ride for Heart campaign of closing the DVP to cars so that bikes could take over for a morning.
Surely if you're smart enough to do that, you would recognize that this plan has no basis in the reality of engineering, funding agreements, or politics. Remember how the SRT could not have been converted to LRT in time for the Pan Ams? Well now this fool is promising to build two subway lines before the Pan Ams. I'm telling you right now, this guy is so out to lunch I'm trying to figure out if I'm dreaming or not.
Not to mention the fact he goes on about fiscal restraint and responsibility, yet he's not letting the planners do the planning. There's a reason Scarborough isn't getting subways-- the fact is they would not be cost effective.
I'm heading on a personal mission to convince as many Scarberians as possible that this Ford guy is a moron and a ticking time bomb.
His plan is short sighted, unrealistic and the worst kind of pandering. I hope the suburbs wake up and realize this.
To absolutely anyone supporting Ford - even if you look beyond the fact that he's racist, sexist, homophobic and hates the environment - do you really think someone with such a low level of intelligence is going to be able to fix the economic woes of Toronto? You think he knows how to manage a city because he scrimps on office supplies? Honestly, would you trust the man with your own personal savings?
And by the way, I used to work for a polling company. I helped design the surveys they use to determine who is the front-runner in a political race. Any poll can be designed to get EXACTLY the results you want, and anyone can pay to have one done.
Some good points being made. I did live on Eglinton and took the 32 everyday to work. That road needs some sort of underground transport.
Maybe I'm bitter because to me it seems like Scarborough always gets the short end of the stick. The RT really only needs one stop, STC, of course. I do like the subway idea. Maybe it's wishful thinking.
I think there isn't any development in the West End because Ford and Co. all drive to work. They probably don't think Etobicoke needs subways.
I think subways have the potential to lift communities up and I'm all for them, especially in my backyard.
Sarah? George? Anyone?
Ford's plan is dumb, but Transit City is dumber
over YouTube. Smart idea for a person who's
now afraid to answer pointed questions from
the media.
He's becoming more like Harper every day.
Ford isn't my choice for mayor - not by a long shot. I'd hope that people would properly evaluate the candidates and make a smart choice.
I'm leaning towards Rossi (though no one else seems to be).
These people should be made to actually use transit for a good shot of reality
I love drinking alone.
Anyone who plans on voting for this buffoon needs to give their head a severe shake. He makes Mel Lastman look almost good. He has zero charm, seems to have the IQ of an earwig, and is a proven lout (over and over again!)
To be honest, I like none of the frontrunners and would really like to request a paper shredder for my ballot on voting day. I think it's time to start looking much closer at the other candidates on the ballot list. Surely there's someone there who's capable of the job.
Oh, Robbie, you just shot yourself in the foot. Big time. I can't stop smiling.
I like Sarah Thomson's idea of having a DRL, and extending the reach of the subway further into the burbs. Give people that alternative to driving. Pay for it with highway tolls. To me, it shows that she sees Toronto as an asset, that can be leveraged to raise it's own revenue. Why always keep dinging the Toronto residents in taxes and fees (i.e. Miller style) to maintain the city, when hundreds of thousands of people come in from outside the city and use the infrastructure for free? And talk about two birds with one stone, you can bet your ass you'll see congestion improve with tolls.
I've always been in for toll roads. San Fransisco does well with them. Two bucks on the way in last time I was there (which was long ago). If you drive on it - you pay for it. That includes you 905 & 519.
Don't like it? You'll stay out or take transit. Win and win.
Mr. Ford you are asinine. During peak rush hour it would take at least 2 buses to accomodate 1 streetcar full of riders. Talk about gridlock, more vehicles on the road. I don't think so. Think about the additional costs for maintenace. Think about the additional TTC drivers required. Streetcars are not perfect, we all know this. Eliminating them is certainly not the answer.
Take a hard look at yourself and the road. All those lonely, single drivers taking up all that space. CARS create gridlock, don't you get it? It's the lazy, gluttonous 'me' mentality of people like you that continues to annoy millions of people like me who 'get it' and commute on the TTC. Our commute is delayed daily because of the few who, like yourself, don't give a damn about the majority. Do the majority of Torontonians a favour and leave your car at home and stop your suburbian whining.
Just a reminder of how things work in Toronto. Here's the pecking order on downtown streets: 1st - pedestrians, 2nd - cyclists, 3rd - public transit, dead last - cars.
This guy reminds me of a crooked Texan used car dealer, shucking his crap to the masses.
Don't buy it, it's final sale only.
I live downtown. I don’t have a car. I take the streetcar every day. I do not want to travel on a small, diesel bus that lurches around potholes and swerves in traffic. I prefer to travel on my larger and more pleasant streetcar. Yes, I’d rather have a new downtown subway if it was being offered, but since we don’t have the billions, a streetcar is the next best thing.
You never realize how frightened you are of municipal politicians until you see this guy making decisions about my subway system. I have never craved a board of boring, slightly inefficient, totally specialized bureaucrats more than after watching this.
The others are so lame and now are stealing Rob's political platform.
To all the 18 year olds on this thread who have yet to buy their first car, let me tell you that one day you will grow up, have 2 or 3 kids and realize you cannot live without a car, not even if you try to remain in your beloved Annex or the Beaches. Ford is correct about one thing: the war on cars must end. We all know he is but one man on an out of control council, but if he can just reset the agenda, perhaps this city can be righted once more.
The fact that Toronto, with a puny population of 3 million, has the kind of epic traffic that we do is a tragedy. Cities of 10 million handle their traffic better than we do. To those who believe that Toronto is the center of the universe, get a life. I am actually looking forward to winter when the bicycles go back into storage and the city returns to some semblance of sanity.
...now back to reading the funnies about Copenhagen, too!
This whole thing reminds me of Jane Pitfield. It didn't matter what she said, the left-wing booed her even when she supported her views.
Please give me an example of a city with 10 million people where everyone drives with less traffic than Toronto.... I'm serious.
Well, c'mon, "those Orientals work like dogs" -- Rob Ford.
Seems more realistic than 57 kadrillion dollars or so it seems to be costing.
They will if you make them pay a toll to use the DVP and Gardiner and make it next to impossible to park. It's worked elsewhere. There is no reason to drive a car downtown.
I lasted 54 seconds before I turned this off. There's no way I could last four years.
Hmm, one city is 2,500 years old, has some roads that pre-date the Roman Empire, was built around a major meandering river that bisects the city, and encompasses well ove 10 million people in the greater area - oh, and has a subway system that was based on coal powered locomotives. The other city is, myeh, 200+ years old (not including a French fort and a few teepees), could barely scrape together 5 million folks in its farthest reaches and has many roads that only feel like they were built by the Romans.
Seriiously, you want to use London and its challenges in the same paragraph, let alone sentence. You make me laugh.
But that is the trouble: people who think the Universe revolves around Toronto's a$$ and are quick to point out their favorite city (that fits their agenda, of course!) and point out how they are dealing with modern transportation problems. I would strike New York, London, Paris, Chicago and about 30 other cities off the list - we are not in their league. We don't have their density, their money and certainly not their historical issues.
Yep, Toronto is 'world class:' we have New York real estate prices, L.A. traffic and Beirut transit.
PSST, Rachel - Toronto is, like the 37th largest city the last time I looked. The good people of this city died of embarassment as Miller went to Copenhagen even as the global warming agenda was being villified in the press. How could Ford do worse?
Let's see, one city is 2,500 years old, has some roads that were laid down by the Romans, encompasses more than 10 million people, was built around a meandering river that bisects it and - oh, yeah, has parts of its subway system that date back to coal driven locomotives.
The other city is, charitably, 200 years old, most of which was built after 1950 (and the ascendency of the automobile), could barely scrape together 5 million people if it grabbed every surrounding city/town within 100 km, and only feels like some of its roads were laid down by Romans.
Really, the comparisons between Toronto and New York or London or Paris just crack me up - like we have their density, money or long history. But that's what cherry picking facts are all about to suit one's agenda.
It is astonishing that so many people don't grasp the fact that this city's infrastructure is now on par with some third world countries. The fact that we have traffic as bad as cities like London is scandalous! We shouldn't even be dreaming of implementing draconian measures like that city has had to: hell, it was bombed nearly into the Dark Ages just as Toronto woke up!
PSST, Rachel - the only thing 'world class' about Toronto is some people's attitude. Last time I looked, Toronto ranked somewhere around 37th in terms of size. Yes, we have New York rents, L.A. traffic, Beirut's transit and Tbilisi's roads, but that hardly makes us 'world class.'
@ Steve - well, if you had a life or a job, perhaps you would need a car to get around!
Very mature reply there. The rest of your rant makes almost as much sense.
'we have New York rents, L.A. traffic, Beirut's transit and Tbilisi's roads, but that hardly makes us 'world class.'' Well this begs the question gadfly, why on earth are you here? Are you powerless, complacent, or just thrive on complaining?
Why am I here? Because I have lived in and around Toronto for most of my life and I have watched the city slide, slowly but unerringly into a sink hole of traffic, racial strife, NIMBYism and the 'we live downtown and you shouldn't' crowd taking over.
May Jane Jacobs rot in hell.....
That makes no sense. I could see the I stay because I've lived here most of my life and I am afraid of change (powerless) but staying somewhere because you watched it slide unerringly is hardly a reason to live somewhere.
I mean is your problem with overpopulating? sorry its a great place people want to live here and they aren't going to leave your sandbox any time soon. You complain about streetcars but put all those people in individual cars and see if the traffic eases up. Describe the racial strife. Too many cultures for your liking? what is the NIMBYism you refer to? the 'don't put affordable housing anywhere near me, as it'll drive my property value down' bit? the 'asking for a homeless shelter in my jurisdiction is like asking for a public lynching'? what is the NIMBYism that upsets you?
Please give me an example of a city with 10 million people where everyone drives with less traffic than Toronto.... I'm serious
<blockquote>Jane Jacobs, OC, O.Ont (May 4, 1916 – April 25, 2006) was an American-born Canadian writer and activist with primary interest in communities and urban planning and decay. She is best known for The Death and Life of Great American Cities (1961), a powerful critique of the urban renewal policies of the 1950s in the United States. The book has been credited with reaching beyond planning issues to influence the spirit of the times.
Along with her well-known printed works, Jacobs is equally well-known for organizing grassroots efforts to block urban-renewal projects that would have destroyed local neighborhoods. She was instrumental in the eventual cancellation of the Lower Manhattan Expressway, and after moving to Canada in 1968, equally influential in canceling the Spadina Expressway and the associated network of highways under construction.
Jane Butzner was born in Scranton, Pennsylvania, the daughter of a doctor and a former teacher and nurse, who were Protestant in a Catholic town—adherents of a minority religion. After graduating from Scranton's Central High School, she took an unpaid position as the assistant to the women’s page editor at the Scranton Tribune. A year later, in the middle of the Great Depression, she left Scranton for New York City.
During her first several years in the city, Jacobs held a variety of jobs, working mainly as a stenographer and freelance writer, often writing about working districts in the city. These experiences, she later said, "… gave me more of a notion of what was going on in the city and what business was like, what work was like." Her first job was for a trade magazine, first as a secretary, then as an editor. She also sold articles to the Sunday Herald Tribune. She then became a feature writer for the Office of War Information. While working there she met an architect named Robert Hyde Jacobs whom she married in 1944. Together they had two sons and a daughter.
She studied at Columbia University's extension school (now the School of General Studies) for two years, taking courses in geology, zoology, law, political science, and economics. About the freedom to study her wide-ranging interests, she said:
“ For the first time I liked school and for the first time I made good marks. This was almost my undoing because after I had garnered, statistically, a certain number of credits I became the property of Barnard College at Columbia, and once I was the property of Barnard I had to take, it seemed, what Barnard wanted me to take, not what I wanted to learn. Fortunately my high-school marks had been so bad that Barnard decided I could not belong to it and I was therefore allowed to continue getting an education.”
On March 25, 1952, Jacobs responded to Conrad E. Snow, chairman of the Loyalty Security Board at the United States Department of State. In her foreword to her answer she said:
“The other threat to the security of our tradition, I believe, lies at home. It is the current fear of radical ideas and of people who propound them. I do not agree with the extremists of either the left or the right, but I think they should be allowed to speak and to publish, both because they themselves have, and ought to have, rights, and once their rights are gone, the rights of the rest of us are hardly safe …”
Opposing expressways and supporting neighborhoods were common themes in her life. In 1962, she was the chairperson of the "Joint Committee to Stop the Lower Manhattan Expressway", when the downtown expressway plan was killed. She was again involved in stopping the Lower Manhattan Expressway and was arrested during a demonstration on April 10, 1968. Jacobs opposed Robert Moses, who had already forced through the Cross-Bronx Expressway and other roadways against neighborhood opposition. A late 1990s Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) documentary series on New York’s history devoted a full hour of its fourteen-hours to the battle between Moses and Jacobs,although Robert Caro's highly critical biography of Moses, The Power Broker, gives only passing mention to this event, despite Jacobs's strong influence on Caro.
Canadian life
In 1968, Jacobs moved to Toronto, where she lived until her death. She decided to leave the United States in part because of her objection to the Vietnam War and worry about the fate of her two draft-age sons. She and her husband chose Toronto because it was pleasant and offered him work opportunities.
She quickly became a leading figure in her new city and helped stop the proposed Spadina Expressway. A frequent theme of her work was to ask whether we are building cities for people or for cars. She was arrested twice during demonstrations.[2] She also had considerable influence on the regeneration of the St. Lawrence neighborhood, a housing project regarded as a success. She became a Canadian citizen in 1974, and she later told writer James Howard Kunstler that dual citizenship was not possible at the time, implying that her US citizenship was lost.
In 1980, she offered an urbanistic perspective on Québec's sovereignty in her book The Question of Separatism: Quebec and the Struggle over Separation.
Jacobs was an advocate of a Province of Toronto to separate the city proper from Ontario. Jacobs said, "Cities, to thrive in the 21st century, must separate themselves politically from their surrounding areas."[citation needed]
She was selected to be an officer of the Order of Canada in 1996 for her seminal writings and thought-provoking commentaries on urban development. The Community and Urban Sociology section of the American Sociological Association awarded her its Outstanding Lifetime Contribution award in 2002.
In 1997, the City of Toronto sponsored a conference titled "Jane Jacobs: Ideas That Matter", which led to a book by the same name. At the end of the conference, the Jane Jacobs Prize was created. It includes an annual stipend of $5,000 for three years to be given to "celebrate Toronto's original, unsung heroes — by seeking out citizens who are engaged in activities that contribute to the city’s vitality".[6]
Jacobs never shied away from expressing her political support for specific candidates. She opposed the 1997 amalgamation of the cities of Metro Toronto, fearing that individual neighborhoods would have less power with the new structure. She backed an ecologist, Tooker Gomberg, who lost Toronto's 2000 mayoralty race, and was an adviser to David Miller's successful mayoral campaign in 2003, at a time when he was seen as a longshot.
She died in Toronto Western Hospital at the age of 89, on April 25, 2006, apparently of a stroke.[7] She was survived by a brother, James Butzner; two sons, James and Ned, and a daughter, Burgin Jacobs; by two grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. Upon her death her family's statement noted:
“What's important is not that she died but that she lived, and that her life's work has greatly influenced the way we think. Please remember her by reading her books and implementing her ideas."
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jane_Jacobs";>Jane Jacobs</a>
Idiots like you have <i>NOTHING</i> on Jane Jacobs, except that you're an ignorant, obdurate fool.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Light_rail_in_North_America
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Streetcars_in_North_America
Jane Jacobs drew a line in the sand that not only halted the Spadina Expressway, but stopped all forms of development - that is why the Province and Ottawa have washed their hands of this fractured backwater. She empowered the NIMBY zealots and now NOTHING can get built without lawsuits, endless (pointless) studies and acrimononious insults.
The irony is that many of the recent arrivals to Toronto agree with Ford: they left their cesspools because of the over-crowding and the concept of being jammed into a metal tube and jostled to work every day.
Fantomex, thanks for the Ry-high lecture. Spare us. The trouble with Jacobs and her 'every-neighborhood-is-special' mantra is that she assumes nobody has a life and everyone wants to live/work/die within 10 km of their birth. What is this, the 1800s? To get from point A to C, you have to go through C. Unfortunately, this rapidly deteriorates into a left/right debate. Who would willingly subject themselves to a bus ride anywhere? I am going to Montreal tomorrow morning: by car, thanks. Still cheaper and faster than either plane or train when you factor in the connections, etc.
Streetcars have their place, to be sure, but not on our jammed downtown streets that are already stretched to the limit. There isn't enough $$$ on earth to make me live anywhere near the Queen to Bloor corridor, west of Spadina. Even at 1 a.m. the streetcar line is hopelessly slow.
@ Swarley - you miss the point: WHY ARE WE COMPARING OURSELVES TO LONDON AND PARIS? They are 2-3 times our size, so yes, they should have epic traffic. What is our excuse? To suggest (with our pitifal 2.5 million) that we should be implementing tolls is a disgusting, contemptuous joke. See how fast RBC and the rest pack up and leave. We are the 2nd largest country in the world with the population of greater New York and we are suggesting tolling roads? Why? Because London does it? News flash: England is smaller than Ontario!!!
If Ford is going to turn this into a war of idealogy, then so be it. More people drive to work anyway - this is a democracy, so deal with it!
I don't know why I bother even trying to make the point. Those who believe that the sum total of 25,000 years of civilization is to be jammed into a 400 sq ft box, 100 meters in the sky, then jostled to work in a streetcar is clearly not listening to reason. As a society, we need to ask ourselves why we are striving for densities like HK, Sao Paulo and other 'megapolises.'
@Eddie: How would you know all of this, dipshit? Do you even live in Toronto?
"Jane Jacobs drew a line in the sand that not only halted the Spadina Expressway, but stopped all forms of development"
Given that Toronto has the most lived-in downtown outside of NYC, I think this statement is complete garbage.
In fact, there's every reason to suggest that killing the Spadina Expressway spurred major development. After all, cities which gutted their downtowns with expressways in the 70's never built the kind of downtown residential/commercial areas that Toronto has, mainly because no one likes living next to 3 freeways.
"She empowered the NIMBY zealots and now NOTHING can get built without lawsuits, endless (pointless) studies and acrimononious insults."
Except of course, thousands of residential and commercial buildings, and a dozen major cultural centres.
"To get from point A to C, you have to go through C.";
Come again?
"Streetcars have their place, to be sure, but not on our jammed downtown streets that are already stretched to the limit."
So your proposal is what exactly? Along the lines of Ford's? FYI - you'd need two buses to replace the capacity of one streetcar, which means two drivers, and double the space on the road. People are also less likely to take transit if it means a bus, which means more people driving, which means more traffic.
"We are the 2nd largest country in the world with the population of greater New York and we are suggesting tolling roads? Why? Because London does it? News flash: England is smaller than Ontario!!!"
And Stockholm and Sweden are smaller than Toronto and Canada, but they still have tolls.
The reason we need to do it is because we can't afford to build big ticket transit like subways (which drivers like) because it's frickin expensive. But if we build LRT than drivers throw a hissy fit for that proposal as well, because they don't seem to understand that while it takes up a lane of road space, it means more people will give up the car for transit, which means less congestion long-term.
"If Ford is going to turn this into a war of idealogy, then so be it. More people drive to work anyway - this is a democracy, so deal with it!"
I guess I just don't understand what it is you want. You hate traffic (who doesn't), but you seem to be against all kinds of public transit, except subways (but you don't want to pay for them) and seem to think that somehow it's still possible for the city to afford to complete the old expressway plan.
Or maybe I'm wrong and you actually have a plan.
"As a society, we need to ask ourselves why we are striving for densities like HK, Sao Paulo and other 'megapolises.'"
We're not - please point out to me where in the Official Plan it says this. I think the idea is - if we don't want to strangle ourselves with traffic, we need to have development centred around transit, because there is no way to expand road capacity in this city and keep up with increasing traffic.
Streetcars suck. Ask anyone who's been stuck in one for 45 minutes, or behind one in traffic!
We NEED subways. Toronto is a large city, and we need to tie it all together by reducing surface congestion.
Nick has a valid point about snowbanks making this plan pointless, and Ford even dedicates a whole colour to reading signs before parking - so why bother?
He says he wants to save us money, and this whole topic comes under his umbrella of solutions that don't cost a lot of money. With 17,500 metered parking spaces in Toronto - I'm guessing it's going to be a costly endeavor ... which ultimately has no point, as we'll still need the signs anyway. Then we have to go and paint every fire zone, wheelchair access, loading zone, and driveway curb Red - just so we know not to park in those spaces.
Now I've just gone and confused myself. Isn't this the guy that rations staples out at City Hall? Why is he pushing this extra expenditure of hundreds of thousands of dollars down our throats?
I feel like this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4DVAsmrwdtQ
And for the record: LRTs are a much different animal than streetcars like the 501. I've personally used proper LRTs in Europe and they're extremely fast and comfortable. I'd love to have them here in Toronto.
My preferences are:
1 — heavy rail subway
2 — light rail subway
3 — light rail right-of-ways
4 — streetcars
5 — bicycles
6 — buses
7 — walking
8 — cars