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University Avenue Triangle

scarberiankhatru said:
If that's the more important aspect of what you trying to convey, maybe you shouldn't have added the first part...if there's one thing this forum loves doing aside from complaining about complaining, it's harping on the lesser details.

I wonder if the triangle bit will become a place where people will want to spend more than 5 seconds in...no one spends time in the other public spaces in the medians further up University.
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Well, except for homeless who sleep there at night, the office workers who eat their lunch there and the pedestrians in the know who realize it is an absolutely delightful tree-shaded, flower-bedded alternative to the manky, sterile sidewalks of University Avenue.
 
FutureMayor said:
It is sad because I'm willing to bet that if Fairmount didn't step in, the triangle would have just sat there.

In the ideal world the city would have realized the potential of this gateway long ago and ideally would have done something about it. It took a private company's 100th anniversary to make something happen.

I'm guessing your comments there were directed towards Mississauga and Hazel McCallion directly. I don't know how focusing on that helps anyone in Toronto. Mississauga has its own problems and is dealing with it. Just the other day I heard that Council is planning to impose a $50 yearly levy on each household to help specifically fund future infrastructure costs.

Which brings me to the lesson, of course you can win. Toronto's first big step towards winning was approving the new taxes, using the new powers given to it by the Province, which no other city in Ontario has.

I didn't agree with Miller's inital strategy in getting them approved, yet in the end they were and we can move forward from there.

On that point, asking a CONSERVATIVE federal government, with NO SEATS, even within sight of Toronto for 1 cent of the GST probably was a misguided idea, however asking a LIBERAL provincial government, with almost ALL THE SEATS within Toronto, with the added bonus of an ELECTION taking place, for 1 cent of the PST probably would have been a better idea for Miller.

Louroz
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The special surcharge was pass today at council and it is 5% for infrastructure. It is expected this surcharge will raise $12.5m a year toward the $76m that is needed yearly.

This is a yearly thing now.

The $50 is base on a $500,000 home. Small business and large business property will also see this surcharge. Some home owner will pay more while others pay less. One councilor whim over this 5% since she lives in an area that has over $500,000 homes in the first place including hers. She was prepared to support the 1%.

Hazel said her house is worth $900,000 and she has no problem paying the extra cost.

Hazel is taking this plan to the Big City Mayor meeting next week and to see who will be next to join the train.

By doing this, it lets the fed off the hook.

With the feds now going to give Ontario $7.9B for infrastructure, will the provincial pass it on the local levels or give it toward the MoveOntario 2020 plan.

How would this go over with Toronto since they just pass the land transfer tax and it is a tool Toronto could use?
 
FutureMayor said:
To celebrate its 100th anniversary in 2007, Fairmont Hotels & Resorts is partnering with the City of Toronto to revitalize this small and prominent location. With its corporate headquarters located in the downtown core and the Fairmont Royal York close by, the redesigned Triangle will reflect Fairmont’s Canadian roots, its strong connection to Toronto’s railway heritage as well as its progressive environmental commitments while providing an oasis for local workers and visitors.
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Just to add to the complaining and whining...

It infuriates me that Fairmont purports to be celebrating its "100th anniversary", when this so-called company with "Canadian roots" started building hotels in Canada in the 1880s. 2007 is the 100th year anniversary of the use of the Fairmont brand in San Francisco.

Dumbasses.
 
FutureMayor said:
It sad that it takes a private company to fund the sprucing up one of Toronto's key gateways. However, the good thing is that finally something is finally happening!

Louroz
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i think the city tried to spruce it up but when the workers entered the university avenue triangle, they were thrown into another dimension never to be seen again. i think the private company has developed a forcefield to protect them from the effects which is why they can get the job done.
 
jaborandi said:
Well, except for homeless who sleep there at night, the office workers who eat their lunch there and the pedestrians in the know who realize it is an absolutely delightful tree-shaded, flower-bedded alternative to the manky, sterile sidewalks of University Avenue.
Click to expand...

If 1000 people pass by, 999 won't stop...
 
Wouldn't that be true of most parkettes (or whatever the hell this qualifies as being)?
 
Who cares if private money is going into it? I'd say that's a good thing. It's no secret the city is short on cash, so if a local business wants to step up to the plate what's the problem?
 
Futuremayor,

Even “world class†cities like New York and London depend on the private sector for help when it comes to parks, recreation and city beautification. For example, Trump paid to re-open the ice rinks in central park.
 
It's wonderful that they're fixing this up and it's a space that thousands of people pass every day. I was hoping that they'd fix up that ugly parking garage entrance in the middle of the street too.
 
Civic Space Details

Billy:

I want to be clear that I'm not arguing against private development paying for civic improvements. I believe it’s fantastic.

My beef is with City Hall for not taking on the leadership role in improving the triangle itself. From what I understand this was a Fairmount Hotel initiated project.

I strongly believe someone at the city of Toronto needs to be paying attention to the small yet MAJOR details that make a city great, instead of waiting for the private land owners to be so frustrated at the state of the neighbourhood that it needs to do something about itself.

Louroz
 
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