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Neighborhood News
Harbourfront, Toronto, Ontario
November, 2007
Spotlight on pedestrians
City planners have just finished the details of York Street's transformation into the York Street Pedestrian Promenade. This item has now been deferred three times at Community Council. We are hoping it will finally be on the agenda November 27 at City Hall. YQNA is poised to bring in residents to show support, and we will have several speakers in favour of the changes, especially removal of the dangerous islands for pedestrians at Lake Shore Boulevard. The turn lane at the bottom of the circular ramp at York and Harbour St. is an especially dangerous crossing. Our City Planner Al Rezoski proposes wide zebra-striped pedestrian crossing at all points on York Street, along with better lighting, improved traffic signals, trees and greenery.
If you want to see the plans, go to www.yqna.ca and look in Reports/Documents. The ratio of pedestrians to cars in our area is now 3 to 1 (not including Gardiner and Lake Shore), and the pedestrian numbers are bound to grow as more condo towers go up. In the downtown area, 40% of residents walk to work. That is one reason for the changes that are happening on the Waterfront.
Residents have a voice
Some readers may wonder why Community Council appears to be more relevant to us than City Council. Community Council does the ground work for City Council, which gives the final approvals. All downtown issues go to Toronto and East York Community Council. It consists of 12 downtown city councillors, including our Waterfront representatives Adam Vaughan and Pam McConnell. This is a forum where the details are hashed out and where YQNA has a voice after conferring with planners and councillors. These meetings are open to the public, and you might be interested in sitting in on Nov. 27 to see the outcome of York Street's future. We will post notices in the buildings.
New Qeens Quay buildings
Both Yonge and Jarvis streets will end at the bay with a new building.
Members of YQNA have been invited to view and assess these buildings. We began with the proposed "Symphony Place" at the foot of Jarvis by architect Jack Diamond and built by TEDCO. It'll be an office building of modest height, with an atrium in the middle and a large public space to the west (next to Redpath.)
We felt from the outset that this project could look good in Don Mills or probably many places in the city, except in this spectacular location on the water. Our concerns were repeated by the City's Advisory Committee on Planning and Design, which comments on all new, important buildings downtown. The prominent architects on this Committee asked for improvements and some were made, but the building is still not the fabulous statement we had hoped for on a revitalized Waterfront.
The next building to be presented in May will be built across from the Star building. We hope to see an innovative building that interacts with its unique environment.
On the slow burner …
PorterThe wheels often turn slowly when it comes to change. Here are issues that YQNA is watching:
"The Environmental Assessment - the term for creating new plans and studying their effects - for Queens Quay will be done by 2010, according to WaterfronToronto. Traffic will be a key issue in shaping the pedestrian-friendly new Waterfront."
" The little waterfall in the York Street Parkette has not been restored despite numerous requests from residents. A functioning waterfall creates an ice-free niche for swans and ducks during winter, so we are still pushing for it."
" We talked with the city planner in charge of approving new signs in our area. He didn't know about the giant 'talking' screens that developers want next to the Air Canada Centre and had not received an application yet. YQNA sent him drawings and an article from the Star, so he is now alerted to this issue. We have asked to study the final plans, so we can respond to Community Council.
" James Russell on YQNA's Planning and Development Committee scoured the Internet and found a feasibility study by Entra Consultants for a bus station at Harbour Street and York Street. We have requested information from GTTA, which is studying the site around the old Workmen's Compensation building for moving the Dundas Street bus station to our neighbourhood. We have concerns about added pollution and the already congested streets along the Waterfront."
" YQNA is meeting Nov. 12 with city councillor Adam Vaughan to discuss unresolved problems. One is moving buses off Queens Quay to the York Street parking lot at Bremner Blv. It has 15 dedicated bus parking spots.
The trouble is that there is no sign or parking costs listed - and no entrance is large enough for buses to enter the lot!"
Everybody is welcome to the upcoming YQNA meeting. It will be held in the Water's Edge room at the Radisson Admiral Hotel on Tuesday, November 13 at 7 p.m. We are open to hear your ideas and issues.
Ulla Colgrass
Chair, YQNA
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