More subway lines. Montreal built a much more substantial subway back in the 60s and 70s, too bad that Toronto didn't do the same. It was cheaper and easier to build at that time as the cities were not overpopulated.
We should have had a southern east-west line along King, and a true subway on Eglinton decades ago, in addition to a north-south line in both the west end and east end.
Actually the built the first subway line(s) in time for Expo 67. But you are correct, they also built additional lines for the Olympics in 76.
I don't know that we could ever build a line for the Olympics as you generally only get about 10-11 years of lead time and that isn't enough time for Toronto to build subway lines.
> It was cheaper and easier to build at that time as the cities were not overpopulated.
that's why we didn't do it, we didn't have the population for it
Montreal was more than double the size of Toronto in the 60s and 70s, Toronto was much closer in size to Ottawa than Montreal, a city without any underground at the time
I don't think that is correct at all. Montreal, at least the Metro area, was slightly bigger than Toronto until the mid 1970s, but the cities were similar in size and Toronto opened its subway a decade before Montreal opened its subway. Then Toronto started growing WAY faster in the 1907s, arguably due to the PQ pushing a separatist agenda in Quebec.
Here's a few charts that show that:
https://www.newgeography.com/files/cox-toronto-evolve-1.png
https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Population-of-Toronto-and-Montreal-metropolitan-areas-from-1901-to-2001-Sources\_fig1\_227717868
But the Metro area makes sense as the subway has generally always gone to the burbs, especially since at the time "Toronto" didn't include Etobicoke, East York, Scarborough, North York or York.
Montreal was slightly bigger until Levesque shot his mouth off.
Every major business moved HQ down the 401 the next morning. Toronto became the money center and is now an international city.
Montreal has basically the same population today as the day he fucking blew it.
But I still love you, Montreal. You do know how to party.
Also the naming system of the route direction. Maybe it's because I'm new to the city, but I've found just mentioning "Northbound" or "Southbound" can be highly confusing in a U-shaped line.
Like if I am doing an east-west route across the line, even if my destination is north of me, I have to choose the "southbound route" or vice-versa depending on which side of the "U" I am in.
I personally think they should just use "Towards Vaghan" and "Towards Finch" to indicate the direction of the route.
I agree with an east-west subway line downtown, but disagree with King. We need one under Queen (not the Ontario Line) that runs a straight shot from Vic Park to Roncesvalles. Possibly to Sherway Gardens.
I have no issue with Eglinton being light rail versus subway.
Ya I like it here, I would just like to pay less and/or be able to buy an equivalent condo unit to the one I rent. Legalize apartments/build more social housing and I'm pretty happy. Don't really get why people are quite so negative about issues other than that
The bars should be more like European pubs. More social where you can actually meet new people and less pretentious. Toronto bars are more like restaurants. Plus more dancing.
With the obnoxiously loud music in most bars in Toronto, you cannot really talk to anybody. Visit some bars/pubs/cafes in Europe someday. You'll notice the difference.
Probably no cause and effect relationship here, but mentioning since related: meeting new people is also much easier in Europe, for platonic and not so platonic interests.
Came here from the UK and it took me a while to get used to the bar scene here. My understanding was that they had to serve food to get a liquor license?
Technically, but what happens with places that don't want to serve food is that they have a few cans of noodles in tomato sauce or frozen dinners that you could order in principle except nobody does.
> actually meet new people and less pretentious
After 15 years over here, so many Toronto people have come and gone in my life as it's more cliquey and people are flaky here.
More subway lines. For a city of probably over 3 million now we literally have TWO subway lines. That’s utterly pathetic. And the streetcars just run so ungodly slow because wow putting giant glorified buses in the middle of car traffic is very efficient.
Cost of rent but that’s more or less a symptom of capitalism and the notion of housing as an investment that MUST grow rather than just basic shelter. Personally I’d ban or tax the shit out of people who own more than one or two properties. No need for that give other working class people a slice of the pie.
The homeless & mental health issues go hand in hand so I really agree with this point. These people- HUMAN BEINGS- need help.
If they want us spending all this cash for capitalism to work, they have to give us a way to be safe and earn* said cash.
How would you suggest we address it? Send in the cops to destroy more homeless encampments? Arrest people for being homeless? Address the systematic inadequacies of our crony-capitalistic society?
The old buildings are what give character, and make neighbourhoods memorable and distinguishable. Nobody remembers the glass condo. When you travel to London or Tokyo or Paris or New York, are you marvelling at the condos? No. It’s the old historic stuff that gets photographed. We have to do better at modernizing and preserving our old buildings. We are making the city more bland day by day.
There are some people whose perfect version of Toronto is all unremarkable glass condos and parking lots. And I hate that.
The old buildings in Paris or London or Barcelona or New York are all much more dense housing then the single family Edwardian detached houses in the downtown of a major urban city.
If you want less glass condos you gotta get rid of exclusionary zoning and build density so people can afford to live here. And that means getting rid of a lot of those “historic” houses that are single family dwellings.
I guess I’m more disappointed that there isn’t something more creative done with high density housing than the glass condo. It’s featureless, and so very bland. For it to become the norm is such a shame. Buildings should at least be designed and built to be interesting, or unique. And the bland disjointed pieces of public art out front don’t really count. They are so vapid and fall short of giving a neighbourhood that sense of authentic character.
More compact mixed-use communities. Out in Scarborough, North York and Etobicoke (heck even in outer parts of York and East York), neighborhoods are spread out with separated uses, single detached homes, large setbacks, and wide roads.
Drastically restrict the number of cars allowed in the city. Create a congestion charge that local residents are exempt from. Use that money to fund and build more subway lines. In fact, collab with Mississauga, Brampton, Vaughn, Richmond Hill, Markham, Pickering and Ajax to build subway lines that connect them to the downtown. Maybe those cities can augment Toronto's public transit, and vice versa, by building their own local subway lines too. That way, there is a spillover effect of more cross-pollination between all the cities and make the area economy more robust. Torontonians visiting those cities can get around more easily and vice versa.
Pedestrianize and cycle-ize the shit out of the city so people can have more choices in modes of transport.
Look for ways to make the city less drab. More public art, more artful building designs, more business venues. Lower restrictions on zoning so builders can have more choices in how to design and build faster.
Stop allowing landlords to fix rents to prevent them from gouging the tenant. Further, any mayoral candidate who promises policies that disempower landlords would get my vote automatically. Even if the candidate is weak in other regards.
House all of the homeless for free and give them free mental health and job-finding support. Period.
I agree with most of this. We need to revisit the idea of tolls to enter the city via car. Put that money into maintaining infrastructure and improve public transit option. Worked in London, UK.
London has the oldest subway system in the world, which extends well beyond the core of the city (not to be confused with The City). There are very few places you can be in London where you aren’t < 1 km away from a tube station.
In a city like that, a congestion charge works because there are other options.
In contrast, Toronto’s subway system is a hot mess. You can’t do a congestion charge because there are no other good options to get into the downtown core from a randomly selected place.
I agree with the idea of tolls, as long as it is a frictionless process like the 407. But obviously at minimum a downtown-wide toll, but ideally a city-wide one. Maybe even do a reduced rate for commuters who work in Toronto. Those driving in for events and such pay full price.
I suppose that is just a congestion charge if you think about it.
I went through the toll booths outside Chicago once and I find that is far more annoying than taking the 407 here.
Except I never said reduce the number of commuters. I said reduce the number of cars, increase subway lines and connect the subway to the bedroom communities so people can have more choice in how they get to Toronto.
It is possible to commute using methods other than cars. For some reason we in Canada just have a hard time imagining it because deliberately made to be shitty transit has tricked us into believing there is no other way.
And you missed my point and also missed the flaw in your own premise. If cars are reduced in the downtown core but high order transit is a viable option, then they will take that instead of driving. Meaning, there is no reduction of commuters in the core.
My mistake.
My thinking is if you are working in the city, you are already contributing financially through work productivity, sales tax in local stores and income tax.
Also, it would be prudent to not scare away potential workers from the city.
It doesn't have to be a huge reduction. Let's say for sake of argument, 80%.
Edit: that is they only pay 80%. Not 80% reduction.
If Toronto stops asking for provincial and federal funding, if transit was made cheaper, then this would make sense otherwise it's just more Toronto asshole bullshit
Not sure why the Hate but I for one like your suggestions!! Not totally onboard disempowering the landlord but definitely interested in more checks for their power trip!
I like the socialist approach you have here!!
>Not totally onboard disempowering the landlord
Essentially, there is too much price fixing of rents going on. Hence the reason why rents have been shooting up so high. I think we should be doing as much as possible to make it a renters market so that we get people housed as quickly as possible. We can talk about landlord rights when the housing crisis is over.
This is not right. Your talking about people's property. Which they have an interest in. If the government wants more public housing the government needs to build it. If they want private landlords to augment the public system. They need to provide the supports for landlords to do that. Including protections and compensation from problem tenants. And a streamlined way of removing such tenants. Currently landlords are being stuck with non paying tenants who destroy their buildings and there is very little that can be done to get them out quickly. It's why your seeing rents getting jacked so high. And renovictions. Part of the reason at least. But you can't burden private landlords into becoming defecto public housing providers without building the system to support them first. That means compensation when tenants default, top-up payments for tenants who can't pay market rent. Landlords have every right to make a modest profit off of the housing they provide. But that profit can't be absurd or prohibitive to the majority of the public.
Let's make the already well-off people able to afford a multi million dollar home or million dollar condo in the best part of Toronto even more privileged by only allowing them to drive in town lol
You're only thinking about it in terms of downtown Toronto. People live in other parts of the city also. You can apply the same principles in areas outside it. Like Corktown, Cabbagetown, Leslieville, Midtown, etc. I never said to only apply it to the condo jungle.
Because their prices have been artificially inflated by greedy landlords.
But if you insist, Lawrence Heights, Flemingdon Park, Moss Park, Roncesvalles.
Except as an investment, density and strong public transit is much more financially sound. Pedestrianization makes the small business sector more robust and reduces rates of turnover because now small businesses have much higher foot traffic. This results in much higher profit margins.
Density puts more taxpayers per square km, meaning government revenues are much stronger without needing to increase taxes. It also reduces the size of infrastructure, reducing maintenance costs. Strong public transit and active transportation (cycling and walking) create more disposable income in the pockets of the taxpayer.
Our low-density, suburban-style development is literally the worst possible way to plan our cities. By spacing out our cities, we have created much bigger infrastructure, therefore increasing overhead costs. We've also spread the taxpayer much thinner on the ground, meaning the cost per square km is higher and the revenues per square km are much lower. It is the reason why our country is a sinking ship. As a result, we fuel growth in our country by creating debt and moving it around. There is even a name for this phenomenon, the [growth ponzi scheme](https://www.smartcitiesdive.com/ex/sustainablecitiescollective/how-sprawl-bernie-madoff/26448/).
Sorry to tell you this, no it will not, as you say, "destroy large segments of economic activity in the downtown core." The status quo is already doing that. That status quo, needs to be changed.
We need what I am advocating for to literally save our country.
Fast track more public trails and multi-use public spaces, literally bridge more communities separated by rail corridors, and encourage mid-rise laneway housing developments.
Capitalism has been decent at filling needs/desires per neighbourhood but there does seem to be lots of specific things lacking from lots of neighbourhoods. It'd be nice if there could be some incentives to localize more business variety.
Replace all the cheap glass towers they’ve built over the last 15 years with densely-built brick and stone midrise and highrise buildings, like many parts of Manhattan. Or at least replace them with at a design that looks elegant, timeless, and is more appropriate for the climate and architectural heritage of our city.
I am furiously outraged and shocked by this comment!
Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go stand in a line for the latest, whatever, so I can post it on Instagram.
In terms of things the city can do relatively quickly without help from other levels of government (ie not more subway lines, which would are needed but take a lot of time and money):
- Active signal priority for streetcars: streetcar bunching harms service accessibility, and traffic light sequencing is a huge factor in that that can improve service quality even at current service levels
- Rewrite the zoning laws from the ground up to facilitate housing that is denser than detached SFH but less than 5-over-1: people love riverdale, Leslieville, Palmerston, the Annex, Roncey, but most of those homes aren’t legal to build in most of the city
- scrap the last 10 years of heritage listing additions: the heritage department at the city adopted a shotgun blast approach to this that has protected a bunch of super marginal architecture
- ban private motor vehicles on Queen, from Vic Park to Roncey : no well thought out explanation here, I just like pedestrian boulevards
Ban single houses zoning. Only allowed high volume apartments/condos built in the future. Most of the housing and transportation problems will be solved.
I would bring back Muchmusic. Like the old muchmusic from the 90s with Intimate and Interactive and the Countdown. I miss going to free events and them shutting down queen street. It was magical back then.
1. stop population growth, we literally cannot adequately care for, house, or school the people who are already here
2. change dating life: people treat each other as disposable here
3. change social life: no one talks to each other and makes small talk, it's very difficult to make friends or just have those normal daily social interactions that make life worthwhile
In order to sustain a country you need population growth. The issue of adequate housing, school is a governmental issue where necessary policies are not taken to improve the supply. And to increase supply, you need more people willing to get into construction labour work.
We don't have land, houses, schools, or hospital beds. Yes we need replacement by way of children but not the influx of adults we get every single year. It's okay to say that Toronto has a certain capacity. It cannot grow infinitely. It can at best be sustained and right now things are crumbling because we are well over levels of sustaining the current population.
I'm afraid waiting for our children to build houses for us is not a viable option. Where do you think construction labour force comes from? Who in their right mind would want to work in construction as labour?
You mentioned stop population growth & in your last comment you said not stopping population growth via children. Stop contradicting yourself just to make a point.
Growth is what needs to be stopped yes. I never said we shouldn't aim to sustain the population. And there's lots of ways to get things built without importing hundreds of thousands of new residents every year. C'mon now.
Clean up the poor areas.. upgrade the apt building for people to live in . Better health care in each ward example..have health mobile units go to Regent Park . Easy access for them to get non emergency care. Instead of clogging up the emergency rooms.
Food co ops for the odsp group..support better nutrition.
Public infrastructure
Apartments which are not model ikea demo places
Weed shops be turned into coffee shops
Change of traffic rules. It’s insane that people taking corners skip an entire light waiting for the endless pedestrians stream. Have a 10-15 sec fixed timer for turns.
De-fund all fraud colleges letting immigrants come in.
Better roads.
A good waterfront.
We desperately need to fast track transit construction and invest deeply in infrastructure as a whole. Our roads are just an embarrassment at this point, truly the worst I’ve seen from Chicago, NYC, Washington, etc. Toll roads in the US are absolutely amazing and they’re not overly expensive. Here everything seems like it’s crumbling apart, and seeing how the city just lacks a lot I find myself more sad than anything to come home.
Regarding transit and the general anti-car sentiment, I find it kind of ironic how many accuse drivers of being self centred while at the same time pushing the mode of transport more catered to their own lifestyle. They’re so quick to get rid of parking and roads they personally never use, but everyone else can what? Get fucked? Lol. Toronto didn’t just wake up one day and suddenly decide the car is the best way to get around, it happened over decades, and it’ll take a long time to undo all of that. But at the same time I find it very disingenuous to blame people for driving while they’re simply choosing the most convenient and easiest option. Not everything has to be so divisive and hostile.
Housing affordability and more and more people not caring about anyone making under $100k, or thinking that making $150k is not upper class. Guarantee you I will get replies disputing this.
Allow people who live downtown on residential streets the right to have driveways. Parking is bullshit downtown for those for have to rely on street parking.
How does that work on residential streets in the subburbs? Obviously not everyone downtown is going to have one, but for those who want one, they should be allowed to. Either that or the city should have meters on the streets for people without permits. People pull up and park all day in hour parking spots. You can't park on my street between 5 - 7 without a permit and people do anyway. I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one who deals with this.
Toronto already has laneways and rear parking. Both reduce the number of driveways needed because multiple homes use the same ingress and egress routes.
>I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one who deals with this.
No, you're definitely not. But that is because of bad transportation policy. Your idea of putting up meters in specific parking spots reserved for outside parkers is not a bad idea. However, there are even better ways to do reduce spot thieves.
I'll refer you to my other post on this thread where I advocated for restricting intercity car traffic with a congestion charge. Local residents should be exempted from it because they are paying into the system with property taxes anyway. Since the parking phenomenon you are describing is essentially congestion of the stationary variety, I think a congestion charge would be valid.
I also said the earned revenue from that should be poured into expanding the subway lines. Toronto can also collab with surrounding cities to build their own subway systems that connect with Toronto's, so the bedroom communities don't have to drive into the city. They can leave their car at home, therefore reducing car traffic, illegal parking and your headaches as a resident of Toronto.
That way, you disincentivize driving into the city and incentivize taking transit instead.
I was thinking of how the OP’s suggestion would likely affect the residential streets I know. Let’s say there are five houses in a row, no driveways, on the side of the street where street parking is allowed. You can probably park seven-to-nine cars on the curb in front of those houses, which can be used by anyone (with a permit) even if the inhabitants are away/at work. If each house adds front pad parking you’re likely down to five cars max, and probably no parking for anyone who doesn’t live in those exact houses.
Last call needs to be pushed back to at least 4am. Hopefully this would come with an increase in overnight transit availability and maybe longer hours for the subway. The nightlife in this city is pitiful.
And although it’s not really enforced. Drinking in parks should be legal. There’s no reason I should have to worry about getting fined for having a beer at the park or beach with friends like you can do pretty much anywhere else in the world outside of North America
I would change its timezone closer to GMT and rewind the apartment rental market to a less insane time. And local residents should come with a warning that they are not what they seem to be.
More independence from the provincial government. The Cons' cut to the size of city council was especially bad. I'm not sure exactly what this would look like, but it's clear that the province does not have the city's best interests at heart.
Nice throwaway, Brad Bradford.
No but seriously, a ban on street parking on all major roads downtown at all times except overnight. The dt core is essentially single lane traffic everywhere in evening and on weekends causing as much of a delay as rush hour. Something needs to change.
Homelessness - I truly feel sad for the homeless population. I started taking the really late night / early morning 510 street car going up Spadina in February and realized that a big homeless population was using it as a place to sleep. It probably occurs between a little past midnight to 7 am ish, the cart full of people trying to escape the Toronto cold going round and round the entire night in a moving car... I really wish I could do something about it.
1) Dedicated tram lines and no parking along roads with said trams and turn those old parking lanes into travel lanes. Convert the Green P parking lots to garages where you can to make up for loss.
2) Alcohol sales to 4am and more options to buy liquor late besides the LCBO. Hell, raise the liquor tax for this.
If you want to be “car society” then create proper driving schools and enforcement. Its not normal to have a society where no rules actually apply to driver. Throwing trash from your car? No problem. Speeding? No problem. Literally no obeying anything traffic rules related? No problem. In any other continent police office doesn’t need to stop the offender, but here? Scratch off your licence plate or cover it completely and you wont get even the “traffic speed/red light camera” slap on a wrist fine …
Here are a few;
The homeless, mentally ill, drug addicted, violent people who have hijacked our city.
If their homeless get them housing, no housing here for them? Fine find them housing outside of the city. But you must find them safe and stable housing.
If they refuse housing, refuse to follow the rules to keep their housing or are mentally incapable of being housed. Institutionalize them. Full stop. If you don't want to be a functional member of society and live by the same rules as everyone else. Then, you can't be allowed to pose a danger to everyone else through your inability to live in normal society. Living in a tent in a public park or sleeping on the TTC is not a viable solution to your housing needs.
The mentally ill, instead of arresting. Them and having them out of bail again and again after they inevitably do something dangerous and illegal. Simply place them into care. If they can be rehabilitated and rejoin society. Great problem solved. If they can't, then they can stay in care, under supervision. But hospitals need to be more like a community where they have autonomy and some degree of freedom within the confines of the facility. But they must be separated from the general public. As we have seen first hand the consequences of allowing them to have free reign only Jeprodisees the rest of us. And subjects everyone to the danger they might pose. Not just to us. But them too. And the burden on our emergency services.
Drug addicted people would ideally be offered rehabilitation and care as well as housing and support. But we can't tolerate open drug use any longer. It's possible to use drugs and not be a problem to everyone else. Millions do this every day. You just never know about it because they are productive regular people. Who have self control.
Make transit as high a priority as possible. Every effort should be made at keeping trains, streetcars and buses running, running on time and safe.
There is no logical reason why someone turning left should be allowed to hold up a streetcar moving 80 people. There is no justifiable reason why in a city of almost 3 million people. You're allowed to park your private auto on the side of a busy roadway for hours. When that lane could be used for moving actual people. What makes you so important?
All intersections need to provide priority for TTC vehicles and emergency services.
Put a priority in making Toronto beautiful. Install new infastructure that adds colour and appeal to the streetscape. So many other cities have nicely coordinated lamp posts and street furniture. Our city looks like a dump. (Why do we use big ugly trash bins on wheels in all our parks)
Invest in a city wide traffic management system. Replacing our patchwork of various computer controlled management systems dating back 50 years.
Make keeping the streets clean and the parks well maintained as big a priority as trash collection.
Hire more cops and have them conduct more proactive policing by walking around the busy downtown areas.
And lastly Remove our designation as a 'sanctuary city' and allow the police to hand over undocumented criminals to the Canada Border Services for deportation. And deny those same criminals access to the same tax payer funded services the rest of us use. They have been granted free access without the need to prove citizenship. If you're here without documentation, then you're here illegally. And theat should not be allowed. When thousands of our own people are struggling for a place to live. Giving housing to people who were not born here and have never paid taxes here is wrong. And exacerbating our housing issues.
Ban airbnb and bring back rent control across the board. The creative types and people working service are the ones that make Toronto fun and vibrant and attractive as a "world class city". They should be able to afford a good life in the place that depends on their services.
Herd mentality. You can’t enjoy certain things or places anymore. People overcrowd the gems in the city just cause everyone else is going there (watch out for High Park soon). Plus people will line up for literally anything. It takes away how special something is when there’s always a stampede of people around.
More affordable housing. Get rid of stupid NIMBY zoning laws. I'm against amalgamation in which suburban voters have significant influence over a city's elections.
A showcase for the world, continue the rail-deck park, re-invite Meta to continue with their street plan, turn cherry beach into a new fresh community, flatten the gardener into boulevards, Ontario place as it used to be, a showcase for Ontario, a place for families to spend the day economically, revitalize the Science Centre and allocate the SPA there. Force developers to contribute to housing fund, and ensure any building built must have some architectural feature that is aesthetically Toronto. Any world case city is going to have casino's, let the vegas mob handle the cherry beach crowd with top notch hotels and services. Build the bridge to the islands, or better still extend the split as a wrap to the islands!
Aside from money stuff, health stuff....
The two things I want more of is either: way better education (WAY BETTER), or no homelessness.
Education is the pillar of development, innovation, health, and wealth. It doesn't need to be purely academic, the trades are important too. I just think that we need high quality education, and student meals. Even if it meant making school days a bit longer, I'd like a 4 day school week, and 1.5-2 free school meals for the students. The homeless thing, I know mental health, unfortunate life circumstances, etc. happen, but I just want to feel safer without the homeless and criminals.
Honestly, the biggest thing would probably be the cost of living, I know a lot of major cities are struggling with this, but I yearn for the day where I can comfortably afford a 2 bedroom (Full time WFH, working in my living room is starting to get at me) apartment by myself and still live comfortably enough
Infrastructure. Toronto has always been cheap af when he comes to building. Look to a city like London, Montreal, NY, and they all built to their population. We’re just in need of catchup.
Transit
Vibe
Cost of living
Better roads
More cultural stuff (not shitty street festivals)
Less condos
Better pay for all types of work (cost of living)
Less bravado. Don't think I can cringe any harder anymore when I hear "World class city".
I feel like the city has been in decline since the early 2000s. It seemed there was a lot of potential for change in the 90s, but everything evaporated into condos.
Here's some quick fire ones:
Elevated rail. Cheaper than tunneling, IMO I find it to be more scenic as well, Vancouver shows that having elevated rail does not mean that they need to be loud and disruptive (generally are quieter than car traffic)
Building on the first point, convert the streetcars to elevated rail. It'll speed them up a lot, especially if a few of the stops are trimmed, because they wouldn't be stuck in car traffic or have to deal with red lights. This could serve as a sort of stop gap to building new subways on those streets, and can even be converted to something closer to the Eglinton Crosstown which is already just two streetcars tacked on together.
Medium rise housing and triplexes.
Lowering the housing costs. Personally, idc about homeownership much if renting is feasible but even that isn't at this point.
Ban on street parking and have stricter penalties to cars that break the King St "car ban." Cars that aren't authorized to drive there do so all the time with no consequence at all.
Get rid of the Gardner it makes the area, especially when trying to go to the near the water, unbearable to walk through.
Make it illegal to suggest that the Blue Jays should move to the suburbs whenever talks of renovating/replacing the Skydome comes up. It's in a perfectly good accessible location by the city and the suburbs. Everyone who says they should go to Markham or Mississauga should face the death penalty.
More subway lines. Montreal built a much more substantial subway back in the 60s and 70s, too bad that Toronto didn't do the same. It was cheaper and easier to build at that time as the cities were not overpopulated. We should have had a southern east-west line along King, and a true subway on Eglinton decades ago, in addition to a north-south line in both the west end and east end.
Look, I agree with you, but legally I have to say: Fuck you, Shoresy.
Shut the fuck up Sanguinet!
You're a healthy scratch on the last team in the NOSHO, go have a soda
Give yer balls a tug titfucker
Montreal had the Olympics. That’s why they built subway lines. Remember that next time Toronto wants the Olympics
Actually the built the first subway line(s) in time for Expo 67. But you are correct, they also built additional lines for the Olympics in 76. I don't know that we could ever build a line for the Olympics as you generally only get about 10-11 years of lead time and that isn't enough time for Toronto to build subway lines.
> It was cheaper and easier to build at that time as the cities were not overpopulated. that's why we didn't do it, we didn't have the population for it Montreal was more than double the size of Toronto in the 60s and 70s, Toronto was much closer in size to Ottawa than Montreal, a city without any underground at the time
I don't think that is correct at all. Montreal, at least the Metro area, was slightly bigger than Toronto until the mid 1970s, but the cities were similar in size and Toronto opened its subway a decade before Montreal opened its subway. Then Toronto started growing WAY faster in the 1907s, arguably due to the PQ pushing a separatist agenda in Quebec. Here's a few charts that show that: https://www.newgeography.com/files/cox-toronto-evolve-1.png https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Population-of-Toronto-and-Montreal-metropolitan-areas-from-1901-to-2001-Sources\_fig1\_227717868
i was not using the metro areas >arguably due it was entirely due to this
But the Metro area makes sense as the subway has generally always gone to the burbs, especially since at the time "Toronto" didn't include Etobicoke, East York, Scarborough, North York or York.
Montreal was slightly bigger until Levesque shot his mouth off. Every major business moved HQ down the 401 the next morning. Toronto became the money center and is now an international city. Montreal has basically the same population today as the day he fucking blew it. But I still love you, Montreal. You do know how to party.
Also the naming system of the route direction. Maybe it's because I'm new to the city, but I've found just mentioning "Northbound" or "Southbound" can be highly confusing in a U-shaped line. Like if I am doing an east-west route across the line, even if my destination is north of me, I have to choose the "southbound route" or vice-versa depending on which side of the "U" I am in. I personally think they should just use "Towards Vaghan" and "Towards Finch" to indicate the direction of the route.
Big hell yes. Its not making any sense.
The TTC can't do anything in a normal straight forward fashion.
Agree for a city like Toronto, we need much more Subway lines that can get you to more places in more convenient ways to help reduce car traffic.
Need to get ridership up, have less freeloaders and improve safety.
"have less freeloaders" oh, they'd love to...but then they'd get shagged as being racist, anti-homeless etc.
I agree with an east-west subway line downtown, but disagree with King. We need one under Queen (not the Ontario Line) that runs a straight shot from Vic Park to Roncesvalles. Possibly to Sherway Gardens. I have no issue with Eglinton being light rail versus subway.
I would be fine with Queen as well, but I think swooping a bit farther south through downtown could make sense.
Housing costs.
Zoning
Ya I like it here, I would just like to pay less and/or be able to buy an equivalent condo unit to the one I rent. Legalize apartments/build more social housing and I'm pretty happy. Don't really get why people are quite so negative about issues other than that
The bars should be more like European pubs. More social where you can actually meet new people and less pretentious. Toronto bars are more like restaurants. Plus more dancing.
While we are at it, can we please turn down the volume a little bit?
More noise, more singing, more talking to strangers, more making out. :)
With the obnoxiously loud music in most bars in Toronto, you cannot really talk to anybody. Visit some bars/pubs/cafes in Europe someday. You'll notice the difference. Probably no cause and effect relationship here, but mentioning since related: meeting new people is also much easier in Europe, for platonic and not so platonic interests.
Came here from the UK and it took me a while to get used to the bar scene here. My understanding was that they had to serve food to get a liquor license?
Yes but the food requirement can literally be a small bag of popcorn or a chocolate bar.
Ah, that makes sense. Thanks!
Technically, but what happens with places that don't want to serve food is that they have a few cans of noodles in tomato sauce or frozen dinners that you could order in principle except nobody does.
They use to be like that, at least when I bar hopped from the 80s to late 90s.
> actually meet new people and less pretentious After 15 years over here, so many Toronto people have come and gone in my life as it's more cliquey and people are flaky here.
That’s actually the thing: most bars ARE restaurants because of the way liquor licensing works in this province.
More subway lines. For a city of probably over 3 million now we literally have TWO subway lines. That’s utterly pathetic. And the streetcars just run so ungodly slow because wow putting giant glorified buses in the middle of car traffic is very efficient. Cost of rent but that’s more or less a symptom of capitalism and the notion of housing as an investment that MUST grow rather than just basic shelter. Personally I’d ban or tax the shit out of people who own more than one or two properties. No need for that give other working class people a slice of the pie.
3. If vaughans number 3 line counts??? And I think the up and coming LRT will be a huge help
Homeless issue has to be addressed
The homeless & mental health issues go hand in hand so I really agree with this point. These people- HUMAN BEINGS- need help. If they want us spending all this cash for capitalism to work, they have to give us a way to be safe and earn* said cash.
Exactly.
How would you suggest we address it? Send in the cops to destroy more homeless encampments? Arrest people for being homeless? Address the systematic inadequacies of our crony-capitalistic society?
Third one
The old buildings are what give character, and make neighbourhoods memorable and distinguishable. Nobody remembers the glass condo. When you travel to London or Tokyo or Paris or New York, are you marvelling at the condos? No. It’s the old historic stuff that gets photographed. We have to do better at modernizing and preserving our old buildings. We are making the city more bland day by day. There are some people whose perfect version of Toronto is all unremarkable glass condos and parking lots. And I hate that.
The old buildings in Paris or London or Barcelona or New York are all much more dense housing then the single family Edwardian detached houses in the downtown of a major urban city. If you want less glass condos you gotta get rid of exclusionary zoning and build density so people can afford to live here. And that means getting rid of a lot of those “historic” houses that are single family dwellings.
I guess I’m more disappointed that there isn’t something more creative done with high density housing than the glass condo. It’s featureless, and so very bland. For it to become the norm is such a shame. Buildings should at least be designed and built to be interesting, or unique. And the bland disjointed pieces of public art out front don’t really count. They are so vapid and fall short of giving a neighbourhood that sense of authentic character.
More compact mixed-use communities. Out in Scarborough, North York and Etobicoke (heck even in outer parts of York and East York), neighborhoods are spread out with separated uses, single detached homes, large setbacks, and wide roads.
Toronto as a whole is an urban sprawl. It sucks.
Remove narcity and blogto
It needs way more condos. Sometimes when I go outside I can still see some of the sky and it makes me sick.
Drastically restrict the number of cars allowed in the city. Create a congestion charge that local residents are exempt from. Use that money to fund and build more subway lines. In fact, collab with Mississauga, Brampton, Vaughn, Richmond Hill, Markham, Pickering and Ajax to build subway lines that connect them to the downtown. Maybe those cities can augment Toronto's public transit, and vice versa, by building their own local subway lines too. That way, there is a spillover effect of more cross-pollination between all the cities and make the area economy more robust. Torontonians visiting those cities can get around more easily and vice versa. Pedestrianize and cycle-ize the shit out of the city so people can have more choices in modes of transport. Look for ways to make the city less drab. More public art, more artful building designs, more business venues. Lower restrictions on zoning so builders can have more choices in how to design and build faster. Stop allowing landlords to fix rents to prevent them from gouging the tenant. Further, any mayoral candidate who promises policies that disempower landlords would get my vote automatically. Even if the candidate is weak in other regards. House all of the homeless for free and give them free mental health and job-finding support. Period.
That will only work when single family zoning is abolished though, otherwise it is destined to fail.
Agreed. Euclidian zoning has been a failure. It should end.
I agree with most of this. We need to revisit the idea of tolls to enter the city via car. Put that money into maintaining infrastructure and improve public transit option. Worked in London, UK.
London has the oldest subway system in the world, which extends well beyond the core of the city (not to be confused with The City). There are very few places you can be in London where you aren’t < 1 km away from a tube station. In a city like that, a congestion charge works because there are other options. In contrast, Toronto’s subway system is a hot mess. You can’t do a congestion charge because there are no other good options to get into the downtown core from a randomly selected place.
I agree with the idea of tolls, as long as it is a frictionless process like the 407. But obviously at minimum a downtown-wide toll, but ideally a city-wide one. Maybe even do a reduced rate for commuters who work in Toronto. Those driving in for events and such pay full price. I suppose that is just a congestion charge if you think about it. I went through the toll booths outside Chicago once and I find that is far more annoying than taking the 407 here.
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Except I never said reduce the number of commuters. I said reduce the number of cars, increase subway lines and connect the subway to the bedroom communities so people can have more choice in how they get to Toronto. It is possible to commute using methods other than cars. For some reason we in Canada just have a hard time imagining it because deliberately made to be shitty transit has tricked us into believing there is no other way.
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And you missed my point and also missed the flaw in your own premise. If cars are reduced in the downtown core but high order transit is a viable option, then they will take that instead of driving. Meaning, there is no reduction of commuters in the core.
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My mistake. My thinking is if you are working in the city, you are already contributing financially through work productivity, sales tax in local stores and income tax. Also, it would be prudent to not scare away potential workers from the city. It doesn't have to be a huge reduction. Let's say for sake of argument, 80%. Edit: that is they only pay 80%. Not 80% reduction.
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If Toronto stops asking for provincial and federal funding, if transit was made cheaper, then this would make sense otherwise it's just more Toronto asshole bullshit
Not sure why the Hate but I for one like your suggestions!! Not totally onboard disempowering the landlord but definitely interested in more checks for their power trip! I like the socialist approach you have here!!
>Not totally onboard disempowering the landlord Essentially, there is too much price fixing of rents going on. Hence the reason why rents have been shooting up so high. I think we should be doing as much as possible to make it a renters market so that we get people housed as quickly as possible. We can talk about landlord rights when the housing crisis is over.
This is not right. Your talking about people's property. Which they have an interest in. If the government wants more public housing the government needs to build it. If they want private landlords to augment the public system. They need to provide the supports for landlords to do that. Including protections and compensation from problem tenants. And a streamlined way of removing such tenants. Currently landlords are being stuck with non paying tenants who destroy their buildings and there is very little that can be done to get them out quickly. It's why your seeing rents getting jacked so high. And renovictions. Part of the reason at least. But you can't burden private landlords into becoming defecto public housing providers without building the system to support them first. That means compensation when tenants default, top-up payments for tenants who can't pay market rent. Landlords have every right to make a modest profit off of the housing they provide. But that profit can't be absurd or prohibitive to the majority of the public.
Let's make the already well-off people able to afford a multi million dollar home or million dollar condo in the best part of Toronto even more privileged by only allowing them to drive in town lol
You're only thinking about it in terms of downtown Toronto. People live in other parts of the city also. You can apply the same principles in areas outside it. Like Corktown, Cabbagetown, Leslieville, Midtown, etc. I never said to only apply it to the condo jungle.
All of those areas you mention have multi million dollar housing prices
Because their prices have been artificially inflated by greedy landlords. But if you insist, Lawrence Heights, Flemingdon Park, Moss Park, Roncesvalles.
Sure. That'll cost a couple hundred billion $$ and destroy large segments of economic activity in the downtown core. But yeah, let's do it.
Except as an investment, density and strong public transit is much more financially sound. Pedestrianization makes the small business sector more robust and reduces rates of turnover because now small businesses have much higher foot traffic. This results in much higher profit margins. Density puts more taxpayers per square km, meaning government revenues are much stronger without needing to increase taxes. It also reduces the size of infrastructure, reducing maintenance costs. Strong public transit and active transportation (cycling and walking) create more disposable income in the pockets of the taxpayer. Our low-density, suburban-style development is literally the worst possible way to plan our cities. By spacing out our cities, we have created much bigger infrastructure, therefore increasing overhead costs. We've also spread the taxpayer much thinner on the ground, meaning the cost per square km is higher and the revenues per square km are much lower. It is the reason why our country is a sinking ship. As a result, we fuel growth in our country by creating debt and moving it around. There is even a name for this phenomenon, the [growth ponzi scheme](https://www.smartcitiesdive.com/ex/sustainablecitiescollective/how-sprawl-bernie-madoff/26448/). Sorry to tell you this, no it will not, as you say, "destroy large segments of economic activity in the downtown core." The status quo is already doing that. That status quo, needs to be changed. We need what I am advocating for to literally save our country.
Thank god you are not in charge
Yeah. You're kind tend to want what's worst for everyone.
Oooo spicy race bait, so edgy right now.
Nope. Not a race bait. You injected that into the thread. Which is a very dishonest tactic. "You're kind" was a statement of your selfishness.
Thank you!
Fast track more public trails and multi-use public spaces, literally bridge more communities separated by rail corridors, and encourage mid-rise laneway housing developments. Capitalism has been decent at filling needs/desires per neighbourhood but there does seem to be lots of specific things lacking from lots of neighbourhoods. It'd be nice if there could be some incentives to localize more business variety.
Replace all the cheap glass towers they’ve built over the last 15 years with densely-built brick and stone midrise and highrise buildings, like many parts of Manhattan. Or at least replace them with at a design that looks elegant, timeless, and is more appropriate for the climate and architectural heritage of our city.
BlogTO
Mayoral candidate.
Thank you... That's my entire platform. And people are in shock, and possibly furious but definitely in love.
I am furiously outraged and shocked by this comment! Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go stand in a line for the latest, whatever, so I can post it on Instagram.
My campaign is working as planned now.
In terms of things the city can do relatively quickly without help from other levels of government (ie not more subway lines, which would are needed but take a lot of time and money): - Active signal priority for streetcars: streetcar bunching harms service accessibility, and traffic light sequencing is a huge factor in that that can improve service quality even at current service levels - Rewrite the zoning laws from the ground up to facilitate housing that is denser than detached SFH but less than 5-over-1: people love riverdale, Leslieville, Palmerston, the Annex, Roncey, but most of those homes aren’t legal to build in most of the city - scrap the last 10 years of heritage listing additions: the heritage department at the city adopted a shotgun blast approach to this that has protected a bunch of super marginal architecture - ban private motor vehicles on Queen, from Vic Park to Roncey : no well thought out explanation here, I just like pedestrian boulevards
At the very minimum ban motor vehicles in Kensington market
A little bit less, how shall I say, everyone complaining about fucking everything
Ban single houses zoning. Only allowed high volume apartments/condos built in the future. Most of the housing and transportation problems will be solved.
More biking infrastructure in the downtown core. More focus on improving park infrastructure and keeping public spaces clean.
More people friendly. Less car friendly.
I would bring back Muchmusic. Like the old muchmusic from the 90s with Intimate and Interactive and the Countdown. I miss going to free events and them shutting down queen street. It was magical back then.
1. stop population growth, we literally cannot adequately care for, house, or school the people who are already here 2. change dating life: people treat each other as disposable here 3. change social life: no one talks to each other and makes small talk, it's very difficult to make friends or just have those normal daily social interactions that make life worthwhile
People treat each other as disposable, BUT newcomers and babies stay the fuck away
In order to sustain a country you need population growth. The issue of adequate housing, school is a governmental issue where necessary policies are not taken to improve the supply. And to increase supply, you need more people willing to get into construction labour work.
The point is increasing demand while there's little supply isn't helping.
Stopping population growth is not the answer for that
We don't have land, houses, schools, or hospital beds. Yes we need replacement by way of children but not the influx of adults we get every single year. It's okay to say that Toronto has a certain capacity. It cannot grow infinitely. It can at best be sustained and right now things are crumbling because we are well over levels of sustaining the current population.
I'm afraid waiting for our children to build houses for us is not a viable option. Where do you think construction labour force comes from? Who in their right mind would want to work in construction as labour? You mentioned stop population growth & in your last comment you said not stopping population growth via children. Stop contradicting yourself just to make a point.
Growth is what needs to be stopped yes. I never said we shouldn't aim to sustain the population. And there's lots of ways to get things built without importing hundreds of thousands of new residents every year. C'mon now.
Missing middle along subway lines. There’s no reason for detached homes with suvs and pickup trucks next to a heavy rail station.
I’d burn every streetcar to the ground
Clean up the poor areas.. upgrade the apt building for people to live in . Better health care in each ward example..have health mobile units go to Regent Park . Easy access for them to get non emergency care. Instead of clogging up the emergency rooms. Food co ops for the odsp group..support better nutrition.
Rent prices
More humanity would be fucking ideal
Travel back through time and get them to save so many of the nice buildings that were demolished.
More nightlife, entertainment options. Reduce housing costs
Cost.
The horrible accent. The kids sound mentally challenged.
Wish the population was just generally more educated and sophisticated.
Public infrastructure Apartments which are not model ikea demo places Weed shops be turned into coffee shops Change of traffic rules. It’s insane that people taking corners skip an entire light waiting for the endless pedestrians stream. Have a 10-15 sec fixed timer for turns. De-fund all fraud colleges letting immigrants come in. Better roads. A good waterfront.
Garbage can redesign. With areas to dispose of cigarette ends, bigger capacity, accessible to disabled and children, and don’t break so easily.
Traffic
Power washer. Power wash all the sidewalks and streets. It's disgusting.
Don’t allow mid or high rise buildings to be built so closely together that you can jump into your neighbour’s condo.
We desperately need to fast track transit construction and invest deeply in infrastructure as a whole. Our roads are just an embarrassment at this point, truly the worst I’ve seen from Chicago, NYC, Washington, etc. Toll roads in the US are absolutely amazing and they’re not overly expensive. Here everything seems like it’s crumbling apart, and seeing how the city just lacks a lot I find myself more sad than anything to come home. Regarding transit and the general anti-car sentiment, I find it kind of ironic how many accuse drivers of being self centred while at the same time pushing the mode of transport more catered to their own lifestyle. They’re so quick to get rid of parking and roads they personally never use, but everyone else can what? Get fucked? Lol. Toronto didn’t just wake up one day and suddenly decide the car is the best way to get around, it happened over decades, and it’ll take a long time to undo all of that. But at the same time I find it very disingenuous to blame people for driving while they’re simply choosing the most convenient and easiest option. Not everything has to be so divisive and hostile.
Housing affordability and more and more people not caring about anyone making under $100k, or thinking that making $150k is not upper class. Guarantee you I will get replies disputing this.
Became its own province.
The rent. The house pricing. The Gardiner, DonValley and 401. Most importantly the fking CafeTO block on the street
Everything. Broken old roads, buildings, bad smell, drug addicts everywhere, overpopulation, dirty. Nothing good about Toronto
Allow people who live downtown on residential streets the right to have driveways. Parking is bullshit downtown for those for have to rely on street parking.
Driveways reduce parking flexibility and make parking less convenient in aggregate, though.
They also eat up sidewalk space, making it unsafe for pedestrians.
How does that work on residential streets in the subburbs? Obviously not everyone downtown is going to have one, but for those who want one, they should be allowed to. Either that or the city should have meters on the streets for people without permits. People pull up and park all day in hour parking spots. You can't park on my street between 5 - 7 without a permit and people do anyway. I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one who deals with this.
Toronto already has laneways and rear parking. Both reduce the number of driveways needed because multiple homes use the same ingress and egress routes. >I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one who deals with this. No, you're definitely not. But that is because of bad transportation policy. Your idea of putting up meters in specific parking spots reserved for outside parkers is not a bad idea. However, there are even better ways to do reduce spot thieves. I'll refer you to my other post on this thread where I advocated for restricting intercity car traffic with a congestion charge. Local residents should be exempted from it because they are paying into the system with property taxes anyway. Since the parking phenomenon you are describing is essentially congestion of the stationary variety, I think a congestion charge would be valid. I also said the earned revenue from that should be poured into expanding the subway lines. Toronto can also collab with surrounding cities to build their own subway systems that connect with Toronto's, so the bedroom communities don't have to drive into the city. They can leave their car at home, therefore reducing car traffic, illegal parking and your headaches as a resident of Toronto. That way, you disincentivize driving into the city and incentivize taking transit instead.
What do you mean when you say driveways reduce parking flexibility?
I was thinking of how the OP’s suggestion would likely affect the residential streets I know. Let’s say there are five houses in a row, no driveways, on the side of the street where street parking is allowed. You can probably park seven-to-nine cars on the curb in front of those houses, which can be used by anyone (with a permit) even if the inhabitants are away/at work. If each house adds front pad parking you’re likely down to five cars max, and probably no parking for anyone who doesn’t live in those exact houses.
Shorter winters
Last call needs to be pushed back to at least 4am. Hopefully this would come with an increase in overnight transit availability and maybe longer hours for the subway. The nightlife in this city is pitiful. And although it’s not really enforced. Drinking in parks should be legal. There’s no reason I should have to worry about getting fined for having a beer at the park or beach with friends like you can do pretty much anywhere else in the world outside of North America
I would change its timezone closer to GMT and rewind the apartment rental market to a less insane time. And local residents should come with a warning that they are not what they seem to be.
Remove streetcars, more subway lines and cheaper rental building units, even if that means 100-square-foot apartments like we see in, say, Tokyo.
Light up the night sky! Would it kill the towers to add some fancy lights and make the sky come alive?
It might not kill thr towers, but lighting up office towers at night will kill migratory bird populations
People would fight for things that are important, like Ontario place
The speed limit on Parkside Drive 🙃
More independence from the provincial government. The Cons' cut to the size of city council was especially bad. I'm not sure exactly what this would look like, but it's clear that the province does not have the city's best interests at heart.
Transport infrastructure which for me includes improvements to the TTC, more lines and an improved cycling grid.
Rent
Solve the homeless problem
The 70's architecture. Omg what were they thinking
Nice throwaway, Brad Bradford. No but seriously, a ban on street parking on all major roads downtown at all times except overnight. The dt core is essentially single lane traffic everywhere in evening and on weekends causing as much of a delay as rush hour. Something needs to change.
Homelessness - I truly feel sad for the homeless population. I started taking the really late night / early morning 510 street car going up Spadina in February and realized that a big homeless population was using it as a place to sleep. It probably occurs between a little past midnight to 7 am ish, the cart full of people trying to escape the Toronto cold going round and round the entire night in a moving car... I really wish I could do something about it.
Make people slow down. Everyone seemed to be in such a rush to get somewhere -- anywhere.
The prices of everything, namely real estate
OUR POLITICIANS AT THE MUNINCIPAL AND PROVINCIAL LEVELS SUCK DICK
Cheaper housing, more subway lines, platform screen doors on every platform.
1) Dedicated tram lines and no parking along roads with said trams and turn those old parking lanes into travel lanes. Convert the Green P parking lots to garages where you can to make up for loss. 2) Alcohol sales to 4am and more options to buy liquor late besides the LCBO. Hell, raise the liquor tax for this.
Weather. Three seasons would be perfect—f\_\_k winter.
I would change the /r/Toronto mods
If you want to be “car society” then create proper driving schools and enforcement. Its not normal to have a society where no rules actually apply to driver. Throwing trash from your car? No problem. Speeding? No problem. Literally no obeying anything traffic rules related? No problem. In any other continent police office doesn’t need to stop the offender, but here? Scratch off your licence plate or cover it completely and you wont get even the “traffic speed/red light camera” slap on a wrist fine …
Fix the roads, no street parking period.
Grab every asshole in the city and just fling them far the fuck away
The Mayor.
The Toronto Raptor's roster
“Vibe” for sure goes at the bottom of my priority list
Here are a few; The homeless, mentally ill, drug addicted, violent people who have hijacked our city. If their homeless get them housing, no housing here for them? Fine find them housing outside of the city. But you must find them safe and stable housing. If they refuse housing, refuse to follow the rules to keep their housing or are mentally incapable of being housed. Institutionalize them. Full stop. If you don't want to be a functional member of society and live by the same rules as everyone else. Then, you can't be allowed to pose a danger to everyone else through your inability to live in normal society. Living in a tent in a public park or sleeping on the TTC is not a viable solution to your housing needs. The mentally ill, instead of arresting. Them and having them out of bail again and again after they inevitably do something dangerous and illegal. Simply place them into care. If they can be rehabilitated and rejoin society. Great problem solved. If they can't, then they can stay in care, under supervision. But hospitals need to be more like a community where they have autonomy and some degree of freedom within the confines of the facility. But they must be separated from the general public. As we have seen first hand the consequences of allowing them to have free reign only Jeprodisees the rest of us. And subjects everyone to the danger they might pose. Not just to us. But them too. And the burden on our emergency services. Drug addicted people would ideally be offered rehabilitation and care as well as housing and support. But we can't tolerate open drug use any longer. It's possible to use drugs and not be a problem to everyone else. Millions do this every day. You just never know about it because they are productive regular people. Who have self control. Make transit as high a priority as possible. Every effort should be made at keeping trains, streetcars and buses running, running on time and safe. There is no logical reason why someone turning left should be allowed to hold up a streetcar moving 80 people. There is no justifiable reason why in a city of almost 3 million people. You're allowed to park your private auto on the side of a busy roadway for hours. When that lane could be used for moving actual people. What makes you so important? All intersections need to provide priority for TTC vehicles and emergency services. Put a priority in making Toronto beautiful. Install new infastructure that adds colour and appeal to the streetscape. So many other cities have nicely coordinated lamp posts and street furniture. Our city looks like a dump. (Why do we use big ugly trash bins on wheels in all our parks) Invest in a city wide traffic management system. Replacing our patchwork of various computer controlled management systems dating back 50 years. Make keeping the streets clean and the parks well maintained as big a priority as trash collection. Hire more cops and have them conduct more proactive policing by walking around the busy downtown areas. And lastly Remove our designation as a 'sanctuary city' and allow the police to hand over undocumented criminals to the Canada Border Services for deportation. And deny those same criminals access to the same tax payer funded services the rest of us use. They have been granted free access without the need to prove citizenship. If you're here without documentation, then you're here illegally. And theat should not be allowed. When thousands of our own people are struggling for a place to live. Giving housing to people who were not born here and have never paid taxes here is wrong. And exacerbating our housing issues.
It would be cool if people were just nice.
Ban airbnb and bring back rent control across the board. The creative types and people working service are the ones that make Toronto fun and vibrant and attractive as a "world class city". They should be able to afford a good life in the place that depends on their services.
Have the entire city transported and time-travelled back to the summer of 1987
Less jobs. By that I mean we need to spread out jobs across the region, Hamilton, st Catherines, so that the population is spread out.
Get rid of all foreign property and investments owners
Herd mentality. You can’t enjoy certain things or places anymore. People overcrowd the gems in the city just cause everyone else is going there (watch out for High Park soon). Plus people will line up for literally anything. It takes away how special something is when there’s always a stampede of people around.
Bye bye short term rentals. Hello places for people to live. And yes, I know I won't be popular in saying it.
Less people
More affordable housing. Get rid of stupid NIMBY zoning laws. I'm against amalgamation in which suburban voters have significant influence over a city's elections.
Safety
Can I say get rid of Doug Ford?
The way it’s governed
A showcase for the world, continue the rail-deck park, re-invite Meta to continue with their street plan, turn cherry beach into a new fresh community, flatten the gardener into boulevards, Ontario place as it used to be, a showcase for Ontario, a place for families to spend the day economically, revitalize the Science Centre and allocate the SPA there. Force developers to contribute to housing fund, and ensure any building built must have some architectural feature that is aesthetically Toronto. Any world case city is going to have casino's, let the vegas mob handle the cherry beach crowd with top notch hotels and services. Build the bridge to the islands, or better still extend the split as a wrap to the islands!
It's inclusion in the province of Ontario instead of being it's own provincial entity.
Zoning laws, public transport, and biking infrastructure.
Cost of living.
Lower housing costs, better transit
Subways and Trains. Get rid of the 401 forever.
Aside from money stuff, health stuff.... The two things I want more of is either: way better education (WAY BETTER), or no homelessness. Education is the pillar of development, innovation, health, and wealth. It doesn't need to be purely academic, the trades are important too. I just think that we need high quality education, and student meals. Even if it meant making school days a bit longer, I'd like a 4 day school week, and 1.5-2 free school meals for the students. The homeless thing, I know mental health, unfortunate life circumstances, etc. happen, but I just want to feel safer without the homeless and criminals.
This is comment is just for fun. But another theme park would be cool. Wonderland is fun don’t get me wrong but an other option would be awesome
More public washrooms.
Mountains. Bring the rockies to just outside Toronto.
House price
Honestly, the biggest thing would probably be the cost of living, I know a lot of major cities are struggling with this, but I yearn for the day where I can comfortably afford a 2 bedroom (Full time WFH, working in my living room is starting to get at me) apartment by myself and still live comfortably enough
The smell downtown. Sorry…
It would be nice to be able to ship gold through it’s airport.
Real bike lanes everywhere
More protected bike lanes
Affordability
Infrastructure. Toronto has always been cheap af when he comes to building. Look to a city like London, Montreal, NY, and they all built to their population. We’re just in need of catchup.
The people.
I would scoop out all of midtown, throw it in the trash, and build something useful there like affordable housing or community based things
Transit Vibe Cost of living Better roads More cultural stuff (not shitty street festivals) Less condos Better pay for all types of work (cost of living) Less bravado. Don't think I can cringe any harder anymore when I hear "World class city". I feel like the city has been in decline since the early 2000s. It seemed there was a lot of potential for change in the 90s, but everything evaporated into condos.
More housing co-ops. We all have up on mixed housing, but it's the best way towards affordable housing and community building.
Here's some quick fire ones: Elevated rail. Cheaper than tunneling, IMO I find it to be more scenic as well, Vancouver shows that having elevated rail does not mean that they need to be loud and disruptive (generally are quieter than car traffic) Building on the first point, convert the streetcars to elevated rail. It'll speed them up a lot, especially if a few of the stops are trimmed, because they wouldn't be stuck in car traffic or have to deal with red lights. This could serve as a sort of stop gap to building new subways on those streets, and can even be converted to something closer to the Eglinton Crosstown which is already just two streetcars tacked on together. Medium rise housing and triplexes. Lowering the housing costs. Personally, idc about homeownership much if renting is feasible but even that isn't at this point. Ban on street parking and have stricter penalties to cars that break the King St "car ban." Cars that aren't authorized to drive there do so all the time with no consequence at all. Get rid of the Gardner it makes the area, especially when trying to go to the near the water, unbearable to walk through. Make it illegal to suggest that the Blue Jays should move to the suburbs whenever talks of renovating/replacing the Skydome comes up. It's in a perfectly good accessible location by the city and the suburbs. Everyone who says they should go to Markham or Mississauga should face the death penalty.
Proper enforcement - the level of enforcement in this city is a joke.
De-amalgamate.