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

I don't know. Does Bloor need a spruce-up? That stretch is dull and slavish, and I'm not convinced that swooshy planters are even going to appease the "let's pretend we're Chicago" crowd.

Babel: I think you've got a point, I'm just not sure how to run with it. The problem with city-wide standards here is that, if a BIA wants to effect change in their neighborhood on their own dime, shouldn't they have the freedom to do so - within, of course, a set of standards? Isn't the concept of local ownership the whole point of BIA's and neighborhood associations?

I haven't researched this, so I don't have the proverbial "friggen clue how things work" either (and thank-you Sam for your contributions). But I'm not sure that Malvern can wait. If anything, wouldn't streetscape improvements (in whatever form they'd be found up there) offer more relevance and value for money than they would being on this ridiculous stretch?
 
There are a lot of examples of urban commercial streets around the world that are well furnished and landscaped, Chicago's 'magnificant mile' was just one point of comparison. The city has certainly recognized the importance of making efforts to beautfy it's core, and it has worked quite well for Chicago. As for the Bloor project, I think the current proposal is quite reserved; for goodness sake it's just a series of stylized beds with a line or trees. It's good for Toronto imo- pleasant and without pretention.

I do share babel's belief that all areas of the city should be addressed in a broad citywide streetscaping programme. It would nice to have some common and unifying design elements throughout the city's neighbourhoods. But I don't think the lack of such a programme should be at the expense of attempting to beautify the shopping zones in the city. I believe that city's central shopping and commercial zones should be given priority. These are focal points for everyone in the city, for residents and visitors alike. Indeed I don't believe that the Bloor street project is a rich vs poor debate.
 
bloor street revitalization

Right on Bogtrotter!

As for the trees, I believe that the plan calls for the trees to be irrigated. If you look at recent projects approved by the city, one of the concessions that the city has been insisting on is landscaping with built-in irrigation. Unfortunately, it lets the city off the hook in terms of proper care for street trees, but it's sure better that nothing.
 
Re: bloor street revitalization

At least in this case there is a well-funded BIA that should be able to fund basic maintenance. The Downtown-Yonge BIA is also well funded, with its own maintenance staff.
 
Re: bloor street revitalization

ap: I might indeed move an attractive young homeless man into my home one day if the mood so took me, yes. I might call him Mellors and set him to work tidying my shrubbery, picking my berries, and helping me make jam.

Overnight, after seeing the magnificent production of Lady Macbeth at the opera house, I have been pondering the Bloor-Jerkville / Malvern dichotomy. I see it as an Uma / Oprah kinda thing, an updated Prisoner of Zenda-like tussle for attention between an aristocrat and his poor sibling. They both need one-another in some sort of way ...

The Bloor Jerkville planters ought to look more like skateboards - they're nicely angled already - rising up at one end, with marble wheels, shiny edges, and a nice prow. The trees should be placed dead centre, and consist of elaborate topiary representations of teenaged boys in baggy clothes with wild hair - Edward Scissorhands creations. Unemployed Malvernonians would be hired as security guards, to patrol the Mink Mile at night in order to stop other unemployed Malvonians from destroying the topiary. Thus brother would be turned against brother, the evil capitalists will triumph, the establishment would co-opt images of teenaged skateboarding rebellion and transform them into harmless radical-chic decorative floral decorations, and the world will continue as usual.
 
Re: bloor street revitalization

Unemployed Malvernonians would be hired as security guards, to patrol the Mink Mile at night in order to stop other unemployed Malvonians from destroying the topiary. Thus brother would be turned against brother, the evil capitalists will triumph, the establishment would co-opt images of teenaged skateboarding rebellion and transform them into harmless radical-chic decorative floral decorations, and the world will continue as usual.
Click to expand...

You just made NOW Magazine look like the National Review and it reads like certain pages out of Sentimental Education.
 
Re: bloor street revitalization

It's always easy to invoke false comparisons, Malvern vs. Bloor, Health Care vs. Opera Houses, Rural highway maintenace vs. a subway to Vaughan, etc., etc., etc. Usually people do this when they dislike a project, and the choice of a counterpart is entirely random and designed to confuse an issue.

I'll propose a different scenario: we get those Malverners, slap them into polyester, non-breathable, bright coloured coveralls, chain them by their ankles together, give them harmless but inadequate tools, wait for the hottest days of July and August, and force them to lay marble for the shoppingest elites in broad daylight. With armed guards.
 
Re: bloor street revitalization

I think that in a city like ours, where the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer and more numerous, and those in the middle are being squeezed, Jerkville / Malvern comparisons increasingly invite themselves ...
 
Re: bloor street revitalization

And I can easily respond that until remote native communities across the country have adequate housing, water, medical care, and employment opportunities that nothing whatever should be built in Toronto, cultural, health of otherwise.

I don't believe that, by the way, but my point stands.
 
Re: bloor street revitalization

It's about revitalizing the appearance of a few key commercial streets in downtown. It shouldn't be turned into a complex social issue. To me it's to the benefit of all Torontonians who venture downtown as well as the millions of visitors across the globe who come to this city.

But babel's point is well taken. I certainly don't want to live in a city with a false facade, where the downtown is a glistening playground while some lower income suburban areas are expected to just 'make-do' with crummy looking sidewalks etc. There should be a programme to address the whole city, I don't feel this is unrealistic by any means.
 
Again, Malvern has no business strips, so what exactly would a BIA do there?
 
A little lateral thinking never hurt anyone. Making connections between things that aren't normally connected, and considering possibilities that aren't normally considered, can result in sulutions to problems that weren't even recognized.
 
Yes, but attempting to enact such "lateral thinking" will only result in paralysis.
 
It is a method of solving problems - not creating them - through looking at them unconventionally and creatively and eliminating preconceived notions. Sir Novelty Fashion recognizes that I've thrown down such a gauntlet with my Uma-Oprah / Bloor Jerkville-Malvern challenge, for instance, though he hasn't come up with a solution yet. But if anyone can, he will ...
 
"Sir Novelty Fashion recognizes that I've thrown down such a gauntlet with my Uma-Oprah / Bloor Jerkville-Malvern challenge, for instance, though he hasn't come up with a solution yet. But if anyone can, he will ..."

What a load of tosh- I would have expected better.
 
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