Let's continue the thread on what makes Toronto great. Here are my top 10:
1)Its a walkable city core.
2)City is constantly improving slowly but surely. Yes our public realm is slummy but it is improving. Bloor looks a lot better. queens Quay and our Waterfront are a lot better now than in 2000.
3) Public transit is in the midst of huge expansion. As much as we hate the TTC delays. The reason we do is because transit is SO important in Toronto because it is so heavily used. This is something to be proud of. Improvements are coming. York subway extension, new airport train, new streetcars, new subway trains, a huge new Eglinton line, Scarborough subway (for better or worse), smart track, GO expansion and regional express rail. Name a city with so much current transit investment? Assuming it all gets built, Toronto will be a whole lot better to get around.
4)Ravines. Green spaces in the city to feel immersed in nature. Sure we don't have fancy landscaped European parks, but we have lots of green space. Lots of private large mature trees in neighbourhoods. A visitor from London was once working with me from Yonge and Sheppard tower and asked if all that green past the towers was a massive park. I said no, it is all residential houses beneath those trees.
5)Bustling yet quiet. Sure our main streets are loud, but walk a block into a neighbourhood and listen to the birds chirp and all the peace and quiet.
6)amenities galore. Downtown is chock full of amenities. Lots of grocery stores with food choices from around the world. Stores catering to any taste, culture.
7)A growing Cafe and patio culture - more people outside eating and enjoying the city life.
8)Safe and ability to walk pretty much anywhere without fear.
9)Toronto Islands. Taking a ferry to another world. It's not glamorous, but it's a huge park that you can be downtown and feel like you are in the cottage country.
10)Food culture to eat any food from anywhere in the world.
To balance, here are 10 I think should be improved in the next 10-20 years:
1)More family housing. We should focus less on building tiny condos or McMansions and force developers to build residential for all life phases including growing a family. We need larger but affordable condos, more town homes, more mid-rise buildings, more rentals. We don't need that many fancy condos with huge amenities that few use but more functional buildings with community centres and public amenities
2)Better public realm. Let's start a program to start burying utilities and plant street trees along major streets. One major street at a time. Perhaps start downtown and expand to major urbanized/commercial streets to encourage more pleasant walking experience.
3)More reliable transit. Expansion is great but if trains don't run or fail weekly that is a huge problem.
4)More parks downtown. We need a large green space downtown. With all the urban growth, Toronto downtown needs some concrete relief. Perhaps dedicate a huge block and make it a park. Perhaps bury the railways/Gardner and make a park over it.
5)City and Civic pride. A sense of pride to live and be a Torontonian. Stop comparing us to New York, London, etc. we are Toronto. We should be a me too city. We should be unique and different.
6)Follows #5, but to me pride means a cleaner city. Toronto is dirty and trash everywhere. People leave garbage in parks, on the streets and in our communities. It's sad to see. The city should do a better job cleaning up and citizens should help keep city cleaner.
7)Expand the Waterfront improvements and build the QQE LRT. It's past due. Make Queens Quay East a model transit oriented community.
8)Implement a traffic tolling system. We need to reduce the number of cars in this city. Charge a toll to use expressways or to travel during peak times. See Stockholm as a model.
9)Encourage downtown style urbanization in the suburban centres. NYCC is doing well but it's too residential. We need to make each suburban centre as a commercial and office hub. Perhaps offer low or no tax to encourage office or mix use development beyond just ground retail and condos.
10)Build an absolute landmark building for a Toronto Museum that showcases our history and the migration and waves of immigrants and how each group influenced the cities growth. Make it a dynamic museum that showcases not just the history but projects what the current trends are. Perhaps a landmark building on the waterfront.
