After months of delay (and therefore more cost) to change the architectural expression and some other people don't like the new expression, do we go back again for another architectural expression.......????
Architecture is subjective and someone will always be unhappy. That being said, a lot of the stations here are quite bland.
Some are amazing, some don't convey anything, some use inappropriate materials, and some disregard the rhythm of urban streets. It's a mixed bag.
Metrolinx could have reached out to the public, saying "hey, what do you think our new stations should look like?" They only had one consultation where you got to comment on their broad design principles.
If you want timely and cost effective transit projects, ANY Public involvement is bad.
And by making transit projects more expensive, it leads fewer transit projects getting built, or the cost has to be made up someone else such as lines getting shorten, features getting cut, etc...
I am well aware of Toronto's history of having too much public consultation and unnecessary politics. Changes in façade designs don't cause years of delay unless it is used as a fake excuse.
Transit planning should be left up to the bureaucrats and when they present the plan that's it, no consulting just build it as planned. years and billions would be saved this way.
I agree that planners and engineers are usually better at creating transportation plans instead of politicians that do napkin drawings, but there needs to be some form of democracy (whether it is conventional or true public consultation) to hold them to account. There are different degrees of it, depending on the size and cost of each project, and there needs to be a balance. Public participation should be large and reflect the diversity of people, not only those that live right next to it and don't care about broader societal needs. What you are proposing is a radical approach that let Robert Moses destroy amazing communities, in favour of modernist tower-in-the-park projects ('affordable housing') and freeways ('fighting congestion'). What NIMBYs are proposing is also crazy, as they only care about what happens in their cul-de-sac.
The public would stop complaining as well because they know the plans wouldn't be changed. People in China don't complain about transit projects being built all over their cities because they know they can't stop it.
Right... let's get rid of democracy in the name of efficiency! Government doesn't serve you... why bother complaining?
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Let me clear some things up. I agreed with the councillor that some of the station designs aren't good enough. How is this a major barrier to the construction of this project? Think logically - it isn't.
It's a minor change... especially since these renderings are conceptual, as the actual designs will be created after a bidder is chosen. I can and will comment on these renderings as we are now at the very start of the design process.