Toronto Bloor Street Revitalization | ?m | ?s | Bloor-Yorkville BIA | architectsAlliance

Re: Bloor Street Revitalization - tidbit update

I did not know that the City had become that coordinated. I'm glad that's the case - too often street repaving or sidewalk enhancements are made just in time to be dug up by some utility that never seems to be required to leave the project in a good condition.

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Re: Bloor Street Revitalization - tidbit update

That is something which makes me very annoyed when walking through the city. It seem that no one is responsible for cleaning up or repairing the street to the original condition after it has been ripped open. It disgusts me actually, that this continues all over the city, leaving streets and sidewalks pock-marked and tattered looking.

Is restoring the street/sidewalk not mandated by the city? Because, I kind of get the feeling that no one really gives a shit! Maybe its a lack of pride in the persons responsible- that half-baked repairs will do? Or, that they will be criticized for caring and considered an over-achiever? Or possibly, we do not expect more from our city and therefore do not care enough to get these types of things fixed or changed?

As much as I look forward to the Bloor St. project and as positive an impact it will have on the area, I am afraid that we will ultimately encounter the same problems all over again. I hope not, but St. George Street unfortunately also experienced such issues and well..it goes without explanation..

p5

p5
 
Re: Bloor Street Revitalization - tidbit update

^ St. George St. has been repaired/re-done and looks beautiful now.
 
We expect that the Bloor Street streetscape improvements will commence early 2008.
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I'm happy about the proposed improvements to Bloor Street but...2008? I think I first read about this proposed project ten years ago. Yet another summer tourist season will go by with Bloor Street still looking less than inspired.
 
ratoronto:

What do you mean by repaired and redone? Are you referring to the Brown and Storey project which was implemented to redo it- or to more recent developments?

The reason I referred to St. George was because of all the digging and cable laying that had gone on only recently- requiring them to pull up large chunks of the paving stones and then replace it all with asphalt. A typical solution when completing such procedures in Toronto..

p5
 
Just this past Fall they dug up most of St. George St. between Bloor and College and redid it. I think now it actually looks better than it did when it was first done, especially around Sid Smith where they went with what looks like a concrete road surface.
 
Bloor Street Revitalization News (Spacing)

As reported by Spacing Wire:

February 12, 2007
Boost for pedstrians in 2007 capital budget

I just came back from the capital budget open house at City Hall today, and there is good news for pedestrians in the City of Toronto’s 2007 capital budget.

First, the first stage of the Pedestrian Crossover Review recommendations, for pedestrian crossovers on major arterial roads, is fully funded ($3.63 million). That means that by the end of the year, we can expect to see crosswalks on major arterial roads made much more visible, with the most dangerous ones converted to full traffic lights.

Second, the city is going to fund the Bloor Street revitalization project to start this year ($12 million this year and the same next year), but the money will be repaid in full over the long term by the Bloor-Yorkville BIA. This arrangement solves the only problem with the original proposal, which was the disproportionate allocation of resources to this strip because of the disproportionate wealth of the BIA. Now what is possibly the busiest pedestrian strip in the city will get an attractive pedestrian makeover, and it will cost the city very little in the long term (maybe some interest charges).

Third, the very best news is that the budget for the Civic Improvement Program, which makes significant enhancements to public pedestrian spaces when opportunities arise, has been something like doubled, to $3.0 million a year. It means they will be able to take advantage of twice as many opportunities as they did in the past, and really start to make a difference to Toronto’s walking experience. This is a real boost to the pedestrian realm in Toronto.

It possibly gets better, too. In addition to the boost to the Civic Improvement Program (which is run by City Planning), the Transportation Division has pledged to implement improved standards for the pedestrian realm, such as tree planting, special paving and lighting, on 20% of their road reconstruction projects. This means the Civic Improvement Program can focus on more specialized projects. It’s also a start towards systematically using road reconstruction projects to make Toronto a real walking city. At the moment, this is just a pledge, so it’s not clear to what extent this will actually be put into practice, but at least it’s down in writing.

One pedestrian item in the capital budget that I was not able to get more detailed information about was the missing sidewalk program, since it is subsumed into a general sidewalks budget. It’s a good program, but its budget ($2.0 million) hasn’t been increased since it began.

AoD
 
Does this mean that Bloor Street Revitalization construction starts this year? Or is it just the funding that begins. Last I read new utilities go in in 2007 and the actual revitalization of the pedestrian surface starts in 2008. It would be great if this has sped this project up by a year–especially since it's already about eight years behind schedule.
 
Thanks for posting AoD. I'm at the point where I almost prefer these sorts of announcements to ones regarding new buildings. They say 'god is in the details', and the streets of Toronto have been looking fairly 'ungodly' lately!
 
So rich BIA areas get deluxe makeovers and Malvern or somewhere gets diddly-squat? That's the model for how we do things in our city now?
 
So rich BIA areas get deluxe makeovers and Malvern or somewhere gets diddly-squat? That's the model for how we do things in our city now?
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Who walks around Malvern?
 
The Bloorites can buy all the marble sidewalk they want, and the city can reimburse them for it, but they can't buy their way into heaven.
 
Actually the city is buying the marble and being reimbursed by the BIA.
 
Well we ought to buy something equally nice for Malvern then, and give them more time to repay us.
 
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