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2006 Summary

R

rdaner

Guest
How to summarize what has been happening in Toronto over the last 12 months? For myself, I have been away over a year so cannot say from tactile exprience what is happening around me. I leave this to others.

Here are my brief thoughts:

*Greenbelt legislation is beginning to have a beneficial impact

*TWRC has finally reached a point where five years of planning is being implemented such as the commencement of the West Donlands Neighbourhood

*Let's Buýld is coming to fruition with the opening of the Four Seasons Centre

*Mayor Miller seems to be succeeding in putting his design matters agenda at the forefront which is fostering events such as Nuýt Blanche

à feel that the city has begun to change in a very fundamental way that is very positýve and that this change is generational in nature. The Wallpaper Tribe is now running the show.
 
i feel that the city is giving more of a damn about how it looks, or at least whoever is paying the money to get them in place does. new lights downtown, san fran's pedestrian crossing meters, bloor/yonge becoming even more glitzy, new cultural institutions...this year had more accomplished than any other i've lived here.
 
Toronto's relentless condo boom continued unabated in '06.

City Centre Airport resumed regular passenger service - after many had speculated it would close.

Metropolis actually started showing signs of real progress after so many years of false starts.

"The Year of the Gun" thankfully didn't repeat itself again in '06.

If there was one really unique and memorable new event that took place in the city this past year - for me it would be Nuit Blanche. Just amazing on so many levels!
 
Three major office buildings are under construction. Who would have guessed that a year ago?
 
40 already, wow, make it 41 soon we're not doing good this year so far :(

For 2006 I must say Metropolis finally has a stucture than just a hole in the ground. Also, I think this was the year Olympic Spirit closed down (if not I can't believe its been over a year and nothing new inside).

Glad to see that stump gone at Bay-Adel tho :)
 
We are not going to solve the same problems we had last year with more of the same opinions.
 
The most notable change I think has been the start of several significant office buildings. The BA design was a big disappointment for me, but perhaps some colourful lighting at night will be an alter ego to it's ordinary daytime form. Overall it's nice to see some movement in that sector.

The Met was the big winner on the condo front for me this year. It breaks from the Aa box, yet has classy lines and comes off as very elegant. More of these box-busters would be nice.
 
No question that the one biggest development of the year would be the announcement of three major new office buildings in the downtown core. It's been a long time coming.

Toronto really jumped forward on the cultural front. The Opera House and Gardiner Museum were finished and opened for business, and major progress made on ROM, AGO, and the Conservatory of Music building. We're pretty fortunate; most cities would love to have seen even one such project come to fruition.

On a somewhat related topic, at this time of year -- looking in the crystal ball, what do you anticipate to be the major achievement of 2007? I'm hoping it might be real progress on redeveloping Union Station.
 
Let's keep this thread to 2006. I'll start a 2007 one this evening. And then next year we can give a prize to the person that most accurately predicts the future.
 
Construction beginning on three office towers was a big surprise. IMO, the best buildings to be completed in 2006 would have to be Gardiner Museum, Met (almost finished) and the Hudson. Biggest disappointments would have to be RoCP and Spire.
 
I am surprised nobody mentioned Regent Park redevelopment.

AoD
 
The Hudson is indeed great...one of those, took a long time to complete, but the wait was worth it...
 
Two more additions to the list of big events: Provincial funding for Spadina extension to Vaughan, and Quay to the City.
 
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