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Speakers have big dreams for Mississauga
By: Craig MacBride
October 17, 2007 -
The night was about dreaming big for Mississauga, and the two speakers at the event did just that, proposing universities, a new downtown on the lake, gondolas connecting neighbourhoods, and more traffic congestion.
That's right, more traffic congestion.
Stephen Lewis, the former NDP leader and more recently the UN Special Envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa, was the first speaker of the Our Future Mississauga Speaker Series. He was followed by former Winnipeg mayor and urban strategist Glen Murray.
Between the two of them, they had enough ideas to keep city planners busy for decades, but that is the point of the speaking series, and of the larger project that will involve residents in planning the big projects that will help Mississauga evolve over the next 40 years.
The most interesting idea of the night came from Murray. He was the one who proposed a series of gondolas traversing the city.
"Why not sky trains? Why not gondolas?" asked Murray, addressing the few hundred people who half-filled Hammerson Hall at the Living Arts Centre tonight.
"My God, this would be fun, and you'd have a spectacular view. It would be a lot sexier than riding the bus and would knock down some of those class barriers of riding the bus."
Murray also proposed a plan to turn the old site of the Lakeview Generating Station into a new downtown.
The old smokestacks on the site, demolished last year, were taller than the Eiffel Tower, so there should be no arguments about height restrictions on new buildings there, Murray said.
"Would that not be an ideal place for a new downtown?" asked Murray. "Learn all the mistakes of Hamilton and Toronto and get it right."
The idea for more post-secondary schools in the city came from Lewis, who was shocked that Mississauga only has one university, and a branch plant university at that.
"Mississauga will have a population of one million people very soon with only one university," he said. "Halifax, which is much smaller, has four distinctive universities."
Lewis's point about Mississauga arose again during the question and answer session, when one audience member asked what could be done about such a large city not having a daily newspaper.
Murray returned to Lewis's point about the city's lack of universities.
"Mississauga has a population base to sustain more than it does," he said.
Lewis added that being in the shadow of Toronto, with its numerous large schools, and large newspapers, makes it difficult for Mississauga to create its own identity in those areas.
The advocacy of increased traffic congestion came from Murray near the end of the three-and-a-half hour event.
"I think congestion is a great thing in a downtown," said Murray in answer to a question about how to build pedestrian-friendly boulevards while still keeping traffic moving. "All great cities have terrible transportation systems in their cores."
Murray said it makes people get out of their cars and walk, or take public transportation, which, in his dream scenario, would glide above the traffic on wires.
"You build wider roads and you end up with more traffic," Murray said. "You add another eight lanes and I'll bet you dollars to donuts we'll be sitting in traffic in three years and have more pavement we can't afford to repair."
The next speakers in the Our Future Mississauga series are Roberta Bondar, Canada's first woman astronaut, on Oct. 23, Justin Trudeau, youth advocate and son of former Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, on Nov. 6, and urban design consultant Jan Gehl.
For more information, visit www.conversation21.ca.
cmacbride@mississauga.net
Source
By: Craig MacBride
October 17, 2007 -
The night was about dreaming big for Mississauga, and the two speakers at the event did just that, proposing universities, a new downtown on the lake, gondolas connecting neighbourhoods, and more traffic congestion.
That's right, more traffic congestion.
Stephen Lewis, the former NDP leader and more recently the UN Special Envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa, was the first speaker of the Our Future Mississauga Speaker Series. He was followed by former Winnipeg mayor and urban strategist Glen Murray.
Between the two of them, they had enough ideas to keep city planners busy for decades, but that is the point of the speaking series, and of the larger project that will involve residents in planning the big projects that will help Mississauga evolve over the next 40 years.
The most interesting idea of the night came from Murray. He was the one who proposed a series of gondolas traversing the city.
"Why not sky trains? Why not gondolas?" asked Murray, addressing the few hundred people who half-filled Hammerson Hall at the Living Arts Centre tonight.
"My God, this would be fun, and you'd have a spectacular view. It would be a lot sexier than riding the bus and would knock down some of those class barriers of riding the bus."
Murray also proposed a plan to turn the old site of the Lakeview Generating Station into a new downtown.
The old smokestacks on the site, demolished last year, were taller than the Eiffel Tower, so there should be no arguments about height restrictions on new buildings there, Murray said.
"Would that not be an ideal place for a new downtown?" asked Murray. "Learn all the mistakes of Hamilton and Toronto and get it right."
The idea for more post-secondary schools in the city came from Lewis, who was shocked that Mississauga only has one university, and a branch plant university at that.
"Mississauga will have a population of one million people very soon with only one university," he said. "Halifax, which is much smaller, has four distinctive universities."
Lewis's point about Mississauga arose again during the question and answer session, when one audience member asked what could be done about such a large city not having a daily newspaper.
Murray returned to Lewis's point about the city's lack of universities.
"Mississauga has a population base to sustain more than it does," he said.
Lewis added that being in the shadow of Toronto, with its numerous large schools, and large newspapers, makes it difficult for Mississauga to create its own identity in those areas.
The advocacy of increased traffic congestion came from Murray near the end of the three-and-a-half hour event.
"I think congestion is a great thing in a downtown," said Murray in answer to a question about how to build pedestrian-friendly boulevards while still keeping traffic moving. "All great cities have terrible transportation systems in their cores."
Murray said it makes people get out of their cars and walk, or take public transportation, which, in his dream scenario, would glide above the traffic on wires.
"You build wider roads and you end up with more traffic," Murray said. "You add another eight lanes and I'll bet you dollars to donuts we'll be sitting in traffic in three years and have more pavement we can't afford to repair."
The next speakers in the Our Future Mississauga series are Roberta Bondar, Canada's first woman astronaut, on Oct. 23, Justin Trudeau, youth advocate and son of former Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, on Nov. 6, and urban design consultant Jan Gehl.
For more information, visit www.conversation21.ca.
cmacbride@mississauga.net
Source
