nfitz
Superstar
They probably should be.
But given they've been denied permission to get the money to do this kind of work, it's not surprising that they will stop projects.
Toronto Queens Quay & Water's Edge Revitalization | ?m | ?s | Waterfront Toronto
- Thread starter AlvinofDiaspar
- Start date
But given they've been denied permission to get the money to do this kind of work, it's not surprising that they will stop projects.
EnviroTO
Senior Member
What? Toronto Hydro is behind on state of good repair, has been denied more funding, and is focusing on major supply issues instead of aesthetics? Where are their priorities?
Dan416
Senior Member
Toronto Hydro should be burying the hydro poles whenever a street gets rebuilt. It should be built into the budget. You don't have to do it all in one shot.
junctionist
Senior Member
They're obstructionist when the money is available, and put up wires where the money was already spent on underground transmission infrastructure. Toronto Hydro also apparently lacks a strategy for improving aesthetics by means of burying wires systematically and hence have no strategy of funding such improvements beyond one-time handouts.
jozl
Active Member
I gave up on Toronto Hydro years ago. They couldn't care less about the appearance of our streets. I attached a scan of one of the flyers that Toronto Hydro used to include with their invoices. It's from 1989 or 1990. Notice the article titled "Street appearance will improve". It goes on to state that while converting hydro service to 13.8Kv they (Toronto Hydro) was going to bury all power lines. That was 22 years ago and while the flyers kept arriving over about a 5 year period reporting the progress of the voltage conversion by neighborhood it also slowly started revealing TH's inability to bury the power lines. First they went on to say that it was too expensive to bury them on neighborhood streets so they would only get buried on main streets. Then main streets were too expensive and it would be limited to major thoroughfares.Then, well, who knows. I live near Parliament Street and all TH did there was replace the ugly wooden poles with ugly concrete poles. The ugly wires and even uglier transformers are still there. The 13.8Kv conversion was supposed to take 25 years according to the attached article. Well, there are still lots of downtown areas with the old wiring and ugly wooden poles. Do you think these morons will be finished with their watered down project in three more years? Don't hold your breath. They have shown no regard at all for aesthetics. Just count the number of redundant utility poles all over the city. I counted something like 24 poles at the corner of Parliament and Carlton a couple years ago.
Attachments
EnviroTO
Senior Member
I know Toronto Hydro doesn't do aesthetics any favours but at the same time if they don't control their budget and the city has some control over them then can they really be blamed? I watched them put up wood telephone poles on Queens Quay about 10 years ago when on that street there had been none after the streetcar was put in. I walk down Eglinton past many old rusted out poles sit next to new ones with half the wires and signs moved between new and old. It is sad for sure but Toronto Hydro is hydro first, the city should be blamed. The city sets the agenda and they also run around with asphalt crews doing shoddy repair work all over the place.
jozl
Active Member
I agree with you Enviro. It wasn't fair to me to refer to TH as a bunch of morons. Clearly, their mandate is to deliver secure and reliable electric power to the city, which they do very well. I have long advocated appointing a "Streetscape Czar" at city hall. A body that would oversee distribution of utility poles, maintenance issues, etc. anything that affects the appearance of the city's streets. As it is, no one is in charge and the results are evident.
Tulse
Senior Member
I too would be hugely in favour of that, but alas, I fear that is considered "gravy".
Automation Gallery
Superstar
Toronto LRT transit plan stalling on Queens Quay East
Investors put money into building condos, a college campus and company headquarters along Queens Quay East, under the assumption that light rail transit would soon follow.
But the LRT project meant to connect Union Station with the burgeoning lakefront community to its east seems to have gone off the rails just a year and a half after the government gave it a stamp of approval.
Waterfront Toronto needs an additional $272 million, approximately, to get the LRT project started, said president John Campbell, and it’s looking to the city and the province for the money.
The line would initially serve the East Bayfront neighbourhood, which is planned to accommodate 6,000 residential units, 8,000 jobs and 3,000 George Brown College students.
In a week of heavy transit politicking, neighbourhood developers reminded city council that even though they’ve invested “hundreds of millions” in the area “on the promise and expectation of LRVs,” they’re still waiting.
More.....http://www.thestar.com/news/transpo...lrt-transit-plan-stalling-on-queens-quay-east
Investors put money into building condos, a college campus and company headquarters along Queens Quay East, under the assumption that light rail transit would soon follow.
But the LRT project meant to connect Union Station with the burgeoning lakefront community to its east seems to have gone off the rails just a year and a half after the government gave it a stamp of approval.
Waterfront Toronto needs an additional $272 million, approximately, to get the LRT project started, said president John Campbell, and it’s looking to the city and the province for the money.
The line would initially serve the East Bayfront neighbourhood, which is planned to accommodate 6,000 residential units, 8,000 jobs and 3,000 George Brown College students.
In a week of heavy transit politicking, neighbourhood developers reminded city council that even though they’ve invested “hundreds of millions” in the area “on the promise and expectation of LRVs,” they’re still waiting.
More.....http://www.thestar.com/news/transpo...lrt-transit-plan-stalling-on-queens-quay-east
Tulse
Senior Member
I had the vague impression that when Ford declared streetcars dead, this project and the Cherry Street streetcar line were both essentially put on ice. Is that not the case?
rbt
Senior Member
Not exactly but the city probably won't be kicking in the additional funds required to complete it.
I think once Queens Quay West is finished, the new LRVs begin service, and a few buildings have been completed in East Bayfront; that Queens Quay East will be much easier to get funded.
BMO
Senior Member
Tulse
Senior Member
But as the St. Clair situation demonstrates, it is far easier to put in an LRT when there are no businesses/residents to disrupt. Now is the ideal time to do LRT construction, when the development of the area is clearly coming, but when few people would actually be inconvenienced by construction.
rbt
Senior Member
The Pier 27 buildings aren't in East Bayfront but would be on the Queens Quay East line.
IIRC, to keep land values high they were going to build out pretty slowly.
Now that the lots west of Yonge have been sold we have stronger interest in moving east. The Toronto Star lot and LCBO warehouse would likely go pretty quickly made available. East Bayfront is the only central waterfront available after those are sold.
2 more years of strong (10,000 unit years -- half of 2011 sales) condo sales and we will start seeing some action in the east.
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Paleo
Active Member
It doesn't specify in the article but I assume that the lion share of the $272 million bill would be to expand the loop at Union Station.