Post your ideas for a better Toronto.

[lead82]

Stop thinking like a city and start thinking together as a region with our 905 neighbours. We can't have parking taxes and other fees while the 905 areas are able to sprawl away. We need regional taxes for road/highway usage, gas taxes, parking taxes and improved transit for the entire region.

Implementing Toronto only taxes like the $60/yr fee for owning a car in the city is just plain dumb. People will register in 905 to avoid it, and it is unfair to people in Toronto who may only have 1 car per family to pay $60, while 905ers with 2-3 cars pay nothing, yet still use the same roads.

The GTA is the wealthiest region in Canada, but that money is not spent in a co-ordinated way. What we truly need is a consumption tax on the region. I think 1% would do it. A regional gas tax could be used to pay for transit projects. All current transit projects should be built, and paid for over time using a gas tax and road tolls once the transit options are up and running.

We don't have a shortage of money, we have a shortage of political will to work together as a region for the benefit of everyone who lives here.

 

[UrbanPrincess]

In Toronto, and Canada in general we need more - trains, subways, green collar jobs, money infested in the creative economy, curb suburban sprawl, change developers mind set, more peace , more vision, cycling infrastructure , bus lanes, identity, art, trees , attention to detail, small scale as well as grand projects, less red tape, grass roots involvement, do it ... See Moreyourself mentality, less theory and more action, communication between different groups, greenbelt protection, food belt, urban farms, more roundabouts , electric cars, car sharing programs, car pooling, bike rentals , affordable mixed use communities, better architecture, canadian food other then poutine ect. and last but not least - no more waiting for somebody else to do it!!!!!!!!!!!!!

hehe i think you want Toronto to transform into a Utopia....... what exactly is better architecture in your opinion?

 

[Roots_Energize]

hehe i think you want Toronto to transform into a Utopia....... what exactly is better architecture in your opinion?

haha, when i think of better architecture im not thinking of any one style, but what i would like to see in every building is this- even if im not a fan of the style i wanna be able to tell that the designer really put effort and care, was thinking about how this building is gonna give back to the street , i want the designer to have the building as a gift in mind to all torontonians, even tho i know you wont please everyone, i think it has been heading in that direction actually,
and the second thing is when i think of better architecture i think of buildings meeting the street with a warm welcome, it says you belong here as a pedestrian, not set back from the street with giant parking lots, with its back turned to the street, to me thats bad architecture, it says come here buy things then leave, go home , don't stick around kid, next please.

 

[Roots_Energize]

lol my utopian dream for a better toronto , things will never be perfect , but we have to aim very high, set the bar higher , so that outstanding city building in the future is the norm, not the exception.

 

[dt_toronto_geek]

Our condo building has big signs at all the garbage chutes that all garbage must be sent down the chute in a properly tied plastic bag. While I'm not a fan of plastic bags and try to avoid them whenever possible, I can also understand that having loose garbage coming down a chute from hundreds of units would be rather nasty. And then there's the health issues relating to the chute itself -- how do you clean that?

They should be washing the chutes a couple of times a year, at least I hope they are!

I'd like to see vertical farming given some serious thought for Canadian urban centres and smaller cities.

 

[afransen]

I really wish the idea of vertical farming would just die. It's such a comically misguided idea from both an environmental and engineering perspective, both.

 

[dt_toronto_geek]

I really wish the idea of vertical farming would just die. It's such a comically misguided idea from both an environmental and engineering perspective, both.

I'm really curious, could you expand on this?

 

[PinkLucy]

They should be washing the chutes a couple of times a year, at least I hope they are!

If hundreds of people are throwing loose garbage down 20-25 floors, I don't think washing the chutes a couple of times a year would cut it. Theoretically, with recycling and green bin collection, there shouldn't be that much garbage; however, people being people, they don't follow the rules. For example, newspapers and other recyclables regularly get shoved down the chute.

 

[Glen]

I've always thought that it would be better for buildings to alternate days for what goes down the chute. One day organic recycling, the next regular recycling, lastly non recyclables. A simple weekly schedule. Would that not work?

 

[afransen]

It is quite a bit costlier to build a 20 story building, using lots of energy intensive concrete and steel, one which requires additional light in order to grow crops (let me guess, slap some solar panels on it). All of this to avoid 50 kilometers of transportation. If building a vertical farm makes sense in a city, it makes much more sense to build a flat greenhouse just outside of town, use natural light, and transport it where it is needed. There will always be transportation, because it is absurd to think a vertical farm could do a good job of raising dozens or hundreds of kinds of food crops, in exactly the right proportion to what is demanded by whoever happens to be in the catchment area. It's pure enviro-fantasy, and not helpful.

 

[PinkLucy]

I've always thought that it would be better for buildings to alternate days for what goes down the chute. One day organic recycling, the next regular recycling, lastly non recyclables. A simple weekly schedule. Would that not work?

It probably would if people follow the schedule. Most would but there's always a couple of folks that can't seem to follow the rules. One of the joys of condo living.

 

[GraphicMatt]

It probably would if people follow the schedule. Most would but there's always a couple of folks that can't seem to follow the rules. One of the joys of condo living.

It'd probably be similar to when the city used to ask people to sort their recycling. Enough people couldn't follow the rules (or thought sorting was too much of a hassle so they didn't bother recycling at all) that it was eventually easier to just have residents stick everything into one recycling bin and sort it after pick-up.

 

[TraderinToronto]

I have a new radical idea. It's obvious that city politicians are mismanaging city resources. Compared to other cities in the US which are the same size, we just have too much bureacracy in our city politics. Does Toronto reallyneed 42 wards and 42 city councillors. Cities like Philly, Houston, Dallas, Miami, Dallas have less than half of the amount of city councillors. I know Chicago has over 40 city councillors, but we're not in the same league as Chicago. Also some services like Waste Removal should be deemed essential service. Like the 905 counterpart, it's time toprivatize waste collection.

 

[GraphicMatt]

I have a new radical idea. It's obvious that city politicians are mismanaging city resources. Compared to other cities in the US which are the same size, we just have too much bureacracy in our city politics. Does Toronto reallyneed 42 wards and 42 city councillors. Cities like Philly, Houston, Dallas, Miami, Dallas have less than half of the amount of city councillors. I know Chicago has over 40 city councillors, but we're not in the same league as Chicago. Also some services like Waste Removal should be deemed essential service. Like the 905 counterpart, it's time toprivatize waste collection.

- I don't think you know what 'essential service' means but, yeah, I think garbage pick-up is likely to be contracted out by whoever happens to become the next mayor. Even the most ardent union supporter is likely cool with that happening.

- Toronto absolutely has too many councillors. Either we need to reduce the number or give the mayor way more power. Getting 42 people to agree on any one thing is impossible.

- Toronto is in exactly the same league as Chicago.

 

[dt_toronto_geek]

It is quite a bit costlier to build a 20 story building, using lots of energy intensive concrete and steel, one which requires additional light in order to grow crops (let me guess, slap some solar panels on it). All of this to avoid 50 kilometers of transportation. If building a vertical farm makes sense in a city, it makes much more sense to build a flat greenhouse just outside of town, use natural light, and transport it where it is needed. There will always be transportation, because it is absurd to think a vertical farm could do a good job of raising dozens or hundreds of kinds of food crops, in exactly the right proportion to what is demanded by whoever happens to be in the catchment area. It's pure enviro-fantasy, and not helpful.

I don't think our sun is strong enough in this climate from late fall to spring to grow many crops so artificial light would be required so why not employ solar panels to help supply energy to the building? For half of the year we import produce from thousands of miles away to our supermarkets, not 50 miles. I don't know much about carbon footprints but it seems to me that buidling vertical farms are considerably more sustainable as opposed to shipping food from great distances.