We're not just talking about wider sidewalks but also about buried overhead wires, more attractive street lighting, trees, pavers and a landscaped median. I prefer a complete block-by-block transformation of the public realm like St. George at U of T, Bloor in Yorkville or Queens Quay at Harbourfront. Sidewalks can be widened when the opportunity comes up, but waiting for redevelopment to implement any sort of public realm improvements isn't satisfactory--especially when some blocks are improved by the city and some are not as on Yonge Street in North York Centre.
Ok,... so who should pay for this? The city???,.... IE: taxpayers???
Seriously, who paid for theose "complete block-by-block transformation of the public realm like":
"St. George at U of T" - paid for by the University of Toronto and a private donor
"Bloor in Yorkville" - $20million funded by Bloor-Yorkville BIA
"Queens Quay at Harbourfront" - funded by WaterFrontToronto for PanAm games (city, province, federal funds) - way overbudget and late as per most taxpayer funded projects!
Where are you going to bury overhead wires,... under sidewalk.
Where are you going to install poles for more attractive street lighting,... on sidewalk.
Where are you going to put in trees,... tree planters on or embedded in sidewalk.
Where are you going to put in landscaped median,.. on sidewalk - ok, not this one,.. but in left turn centre lane.
Let's also add some more street furniture on these old 6-8 feet wide pedestrian sidewalk,... some tree planter are already 4 feet wide so we'll leave a good 2-4 feet sidewalk width for pedestian to actually walk.
So you're saying lets do all this stuff on the old narrow 6-8 feet wide sidewalk now,... at taxpayers expense, of course,... err, I mean city expense,... but once development comes in, we'll rip up these new narrow sidewalks and redo it again when they're widen, but this time at developer cost! Run that through your local councillor and city representatives and get their support! The city of Toronto is sitting on a ton of money!!!! Matching streetscape should take higher priority than the other city responsibilities like transit, traffic congestion, social housing, homelessness, public health, emergency services, etc,...
Do you actually live in North York Centre? Do you remember the water main work the city did last summer,... often had to rip up mainly the curb lane or sidewalk,... and the chaos and inconvenience that followed,... when they rip up the older 6-8 feet wide sidewalk that doesn't leave a lot of space for pedestrians in this high density area to walk around,.... often closing a curb lane as well, in an area of Toronto that already has some of the worst traffic congestion in North America,... but hey, let's do this kind of sidewalk construction twice,... first just to get all the blocks to match,... and then have developer redo it again in 5- 10 year,...
In addition, the template for North York streetscape is NOT constant,... it's always changing and being updated. In the mid-1990s just before the area went condo crazy, the city of North York consulted the local communities to come up with the streetscape template for North York Centre,... that's basically what's implemented along Yonge Street in front of Mel Lastman Square and Empress Walk,... and the tree lined centre median,... above ground cement box tree planters,... and black painted metal bench with groovy tubes that looks more appropriate from 70's style!!!,... that style of streetscape is 20 years old already!!!
Now compare that streetscape to the new fresh streetscape style that's been implemented along the pedestrian sidewalk around Tridel Hullmark Centre and soon at EmeraldPark,... with flower and tree planters embeded into the sidewalk and lower pedestrian friendly LED lighting. If the city would have implemented your idea of getting all the blocks in the area to match all at once, then new modern buildings like Tridel HullmarkCentre and EmeraldPark would be opening with streetscape from the 1990s,.... 20 year old streetscape design!
20 years from now go to Bloor in Yorkville or Queens Quay,... and look at the streetscape,... everyone will be saying "Ewww, the whole street looks so 2010-ish,... so old fashion!"
Look at the current streetscape in front to the Beacon site,... its' standard streetscape from when the post war plaza and 70s McDonalds was built,.... streetscape remains constant. When Beacon is finish, should it have modern streetscape like Tridel HullmarkCentre & EmeraldPark or the 20 year old streetscape like EmpressWalk?
BTW, new Queen Quay re-opening celebration all weekend long starting with opening ceremonies Friday at 6pm
