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Yonge Street Revitalization (Downtown Yonge BIA/City of Toronto)

Northern Light said:
We will have Love Park this coming summer; we did get the all granite sidewalks on Bloor; and we did get the much enhanced pedestrian realm on Queen's Quay.
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People love to hate it, but the Sugar Beach/Promenade/Sherbourne Common/Aitken Place row is incredibly great for a family down there with a kid. Not as great in the winter, obviously, but we still go down there somewhat regularly to skate.
 
I have to say, Northern Light, you have given me some hope. I’ve been champing at the bit for this to happen since the early 70’s. I am, though, eagerly waiting for the opening of Love Park and now that John Tory is gone maybe Claude Cormier can be convinced, or bribed, to run for mayor. Of T.O.
 
jozl said:
I have to say, Northern Light, you have given me some hope.
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Glad to hear it. Its hard to champion for making thing better unless you also believe they can be!

jozl said:
I’ve been champing at the bit for this to happen since the early 70’s.
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Was born just a bit after you began your activism on this file :O

jozl said:
I am, though, eagerly waiting for the opening of Love Park and now that John Tory is gone maybe Claude Cormier can be convinced, or bribed, to run for mayor. Of T.O.
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I'd settle for seeing him appointed head of Parks Capital Projects.....
 
This summer the major public realm changes opening downtown off the top of my head:

1. Love Park
2. Wellington St (Church to Yonge)
3. Wellington St (Spadina to Portland)
4. Adelaide St reconstruction
5. Bloor St reconstruction (Spadina to Avenue Rd)

decent for this year. Lots more in the next few years as well, including this project. David Crombie Park renoes, John St Revitalization, Kensington Market reconstruction and potential partial pedestrianization, various new parks, etc.
 
While I'm looking forward to this project, my ultimate utopic dream would be for Yonge Street to kind of be like how it was in the 70s and 80s — Music venues, culture, art spaces, arcade bars... etc. I find this project interesting but no one will want to congregate in the public realm with all of the big box/chain retail stores currently there.

There will be foot traffic anyway, but we need to bring in more uniqueness and excitement. I'm tired of the soulless retail spaces we see everywhere now. :/
 
abovegrade said:
While I'm looking forward to this project, my ultimate utopic dream would be for Yonge Street to kind of be like how it was in the 70s and 80s — Music venues, culture, art spaces, arcade bars... etc. I find this project interesting but no one will want to congregate in the public realm with all of the big box/chain retail stores currently there.

There will be foot traffic anyway, but we need to bring in more uniqueness and excitement. I'm tired of the soulless retail spaces we see everywhere now. :/
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I totally agree. For our "main street", it's just sad in terms of retail. It has absolutely no vibe or scene on the most "vibrant" part of it (Queen to Bloor). There's nothing that makes me want to stroll the strip like there used to be. Totally lame compared with some of our other great retail streets. And adding a plethora of condo towers will do nothing to fix this.
 
abovegrade said:
While I'm looking forward to this project, my ultimate utopic dream would be for Yonge Street to kind of be like how it was in the 70s and 80s — Music venues, culture, art spaces, arcade bars... etc. I find this project interesting but no one will want to congregate in the public realm with all of the big box/chain retail stores currently there.

There will be foot traffic anyway, but we need to bring in more uniqueness and excitement. I'm tired of the soulless retail spaces we see everywhere now. :/
Click to expand...

On behalf of the UT community, I deputize you as our leader in championing a new by-law restricting 'formula retail' (chains) and prohibiting new locations of such stores from opening if they currently have 3 or more locations within the City of Toronto.

Exceptions can be made for any retailer of essentials (such as grocery) where a neighbourhood lacks such a service and is supportive of the new store.

A model by-law exists in San Francisco.
 
Northern Light said:
On behalf of the UT community, I deputize you as our leader in championing a new by-law restricting 'formula retail' (chains) and prohibiting new locations of such stores from opening if they currently have 3 or more locations within the City of Toronto.

Exceptions can be made for any retailer of essentials (such as grocery) where a neighbourhood lacks such a service and is supportive of the new store.

A model by-law exists in San Francisco.
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Key word "new". A 'formula retail' or chain store could relocate.

I think that 3 within a ward would be better. May prevent Doug Ford from increasing the borders and size of wards, if it bothers his corporate friends.
 
W. K. Lis said:
Key word "new". A 'formula retail' or chain store could relocate.

I think that 3 within a ward would be better. May prevent Doug Ford from increasing the borders and size of wards, if it bothers his corporate friends.
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3 per ward? LOL, with 25 wards, you would be permitting 75 locations of the same chain within the City!

McDs has only 49 Toronto locations, so you'd be permitting another 26.

Don't think that would prove terribly useful.........
 
innsertnamehere said:
Lots more in the next few years as well, including this project.
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And of course the Portlands as well, which I think will actually knock folks' socks off. MVVA just do it right, and the scale here is immense. Throw in the extended waterfront boardwalk, the Cherry streetcar loop thing, and, at some point, the reconstruction of that stretch of Queens Quay, and we're talking literally acres of new public realm down there.
 
Northern Light said:
On behalf of the UT community, I deputize you as our leader in championing a new by-law restricting 'formula retail' (chains) and prohibiting new locations of such stores from opening if they currently have 3 or more locations within the City of Toronto.

Exceptions can be made for any retailer of essentials (such as grocery) where a neighbourhood lacks such a service and is supportive of the new store.

A model by-law exists in San Francisco.
Click to expand...
Haha. Challenge accepted. There is so much red tape and excuses from city-hall. I'll keep advocating when I can. For culture/art/joy to exist in Toronto, we need to start thinking more about this.
 
This seems like a good spot for this:

The Downtown Yonge BIA is asking for input as to what its strategic direction should be over the next few years.

They have a survey out, it asks a bit about your relationship to the area, (visitor/student/resident/employee etc.), what you think of how things are; and then where you think the BIA should focus in the years ahead.

There's a lot of multiple-choice type stuff, but also many write-in spots as well.

Probably about 10M.

Don't have to give your name, but if you do, with an email, your entered to win some stuff.

Google Forms: Sign-in

Access Google Forms with a personal Google account or Google Workspace account (for business use).
docs.google.com
 
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