I would trade every building currently under construction for the full burial of hydro wires and a massive street tree programme.
I am not sure about every building, but a select number..That said, I was recently at a Roncesvalles Revitalization meeting and someone brought up the same point about planting hundreds of trees and burying the hydro wires- Gord Perks explained essentially that:
...the problem is first and foremost about money or lack there of. To add to this problem the utilities (Bell, Rogers, Telus, Hydro) that run underneath the sidewalks where trees would/could/should go, are unwilling to do anything, or pay for any moving of their cables etc., stating that it is the city's responsibility if they wish to make changes to the street. Furthermore, a single tree needs approximately 35 cubic metres of earth to live a healthy life and not die 2-4 years after being planted. That is a large chunk of earth and means a lot of stuff needs to be moved.
The part I find so ridiculous is that the city doesn't have an actual detailed plan when it comes to burying wires, cables, pipes etc. in the first place, leaving it almost entirely up to the utility companies to configure the placement of their respective pipes etc.- in fairness, the city does have a general plan laying out general areas, but beyond that..nothing!
Why the city doesn't mandate that utilities build and put their infrastructure into concrete access corridors which run underneath the street and not the sidewalk, and which have access panels in the sidewalk or street is beyond me. This would make for fewer headaches, allow us to plant more trees, essentially bury the wires and make repairs less costly and stop fucking up the sidewalk every few weeks. I don't see why the city has to stand for it.
p5