"If human beings didn't have a strong preference for creation, nothing would get built, ever."
- Larry Niven
Although I am a newcomer to the political scene, I always thought, or believed, or hoped, that the best campaigns were based on what the candidate in question would build in office, what he or she would create once the opportunity was available. It seems now that this is yet another wound that will kill my naivete. Yesterday fellow candidate Rocco Rossi, one of the handful of candidates whom the media seems to think has a relatively easy shot at taking the Mayor's sash in October, did just that during a speech to the Empire Club - at last providing prospective voters with more information than "he used to work for the Liberal Party."
It's a mixed bag. Some of what he's espousing, like the potential outsourcing of city services, are such lightning-rod issues that candidates won't be able to stay away from them - the 2009 garbage strike remains heavy in Torontonians' memories, and I for one would rather not have to see Christie Pits or Gzowski Park turned into an impromptu dump site yet again. What really rises my hackles, though, is that Rossi wants to slam on the brakes for transit and cycling.
On Wednesday I wrote about my misgivings with Transit City being planned in such a way that the Sheppard East LRT began being built first, and my worries that some change in the political winds might well leave it the only component of Transit City to be built. Rossi's apparent interest in putting Transit City, less Sheppard East, on hold "until it is clear the capital and operating funds are there" - a quote from the Star's article, I'm not sure to which degree it parallels what Rossi actually said - is one of the better ways I can think of to greatly increase the chances of leaving the Sheppard East LRT orphaned. It may be easier to destroy than create, but it's even easier to do nothing than destroy. Toronto has been planning a better, transit-oriented future for years now - but no one in power ever had the will to do it. Had 1985's Network 2011 plan come to pass, Toronto would not have to make do with a subway system the Sydney Morning Herald once described as "skeletal."
Say what you will about Transit City, but at least it is progress. At least it is an effort to increase the functionality and usefulness of transit in Toronto by expanding its footprint. It's not necessarily the highest priority - I, personally, would much rather see at least an eastern arm of the Downtown Relief Line built before, or in concert with, most of the Transit City lines, but unfortunately I don't have a time machine with which I can jaunt back to 2005 and reorient the city's priorities. Transit City is, for better or worse, an established issue, and building it is preferable to doing nothing at all. For Rossi to advocate putting it on hold shows, to me, no ambition and no interest in improving the city for the future - rather, it seems to me an attempt to hold on to the past.
I don't own a car. The Toronto Transit Commission is how I get around if it's not by my own two legs. I really have to wonder how much Rossi has used the system recently, if he thinks expanding and improving it is not a necessity.
Showing posts with label voteTO. Show all posts
Showing posts with label voteTO. Show all posts
Friday, January 22, 2010
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Putting "Nice to Have" Before Necessities
The only time a city will not need anything is after it's been laid to waste and ruin; and even then, it could probably use a good team of archaeologists. Since I hope that Toronto has a long, long time yet before it goes the way of Pompeii, the most important thing that the city government needs to focus on in the immediate future are the necessities - ensuring that Toronto still has the basic equipment necessary to function effectively.
I'd really like to build my campaign for Mayor on a foundation of good works for the future - increased investments in parklands and city beautification, cultural programs, environmental initiatives, and that sort - and although the terrible economy doesn't make those things impossible, it certainly makes them a lot more difficult to accomplish. In good times like the 1990s, they would have been simple. What we need to have is simpler - smoother roads, intact sewer pipes, cleaner TTC stations. What Toronto needs in 2010 and beyond is a municipal government that is willing to prioritize, or at least build its projects in a manner that puts necessities first.
I think that Transit City is an example of this - of the Toronto government putting things that are nice to have over things we need to have. Now, anyone who has read this weblog for even a little bit should know that I am one of those guys who likes streetcars. On the face of it, Transit City - eight proposed light rail corridors throughout the city of Toronto - is a good idea for the future. What I don't agree with is the manner in which it's being implemented.
Construction on Transit City officially began on December 21, 2009, with the commencement of work at Agincourt GO Station to accommodate what will eventually become the Sheppard East LRT line. My issue is - what is with this city's inordinate love of Sheppard Avenue East? Not only does it have a five-station subway that would probably lose only a fraction of its ridership if it was a two-station shuttle between Sheppard-Yonge and Don Mills, now it's going to continue on as a surface-running LRT that, incidentally, effectively prohibits any eastward extension of the subway? Is Sheppard East the fulcrum on which Toronto pivots?
I'm not saying that the Sheppard East LRT shouldn't be built, just that it shouldn't be the first to be built. I've been paying attention to transit matters long enough to know that nothing is ever assured until the trains are actually rolling on it. Take the Eglinton West subway - proposed by the Network 2011 plan in 1985, construction actually started on this line in 1994, only to be cancelled a year later by the newly-elected Progressive Conservatives under Mike Harris. Toronto is no stranger to solid things evaporating underfoot.
In my opinion, projects like this should be built in such a way that an unexpected midway cancellation would leave the completed parts as functional and worthwhile additions to the transit network of their own accord. Should some change in the political winds lead to the midway cancellation of Transit City, and leave the Sheppard East LRT as the only one of the eight lines to come to fruition, will Torontonians really think that money and effort had been well-spent? I don't think so.
The way I see it, the Eglinton Crosstown LRT should have been built first - it's the core of the proposed Transit City network, and a second east-west rail corridor would do wonders for transit in this city. I just worry that the winds will shift, and we'll be left with something that's just an outlier to the system, rather than something that builds the iterative strength of Toronto's transit network.
What we really need, though, is the Downtown Relief Line - taking pressure off the overstressed transfer point at Bloor-Yonge station and extending higher-order transit access to more areas of the city. What it may need is another name.
I'd really like to build my campaign for Mayor on a foundation of good works for the future - increased investments in parklands and city beautification, cultural programs, environmental initiatives, and that sort - and although the terrible economy doesn't make those things impossible, it certainly makes them a lot more difficult to accomplish. In good times like the 1990s, they would have been simple. What we need to have is simpler - smoother roads, intact sewer pipes, cleaner TTC stations. What Toronto needs in 2010 and beyond is a municipal government that is willing to prioritize, or at least build its projects in a manner that puts necessities first.
I think that Transit City is an example of this - of the Toronto government putting things that are nice to have over things we need to have. Now, anyone who has read this weblog for even a little bit should know that I am one of those guys who likes streetcars. On the face of it, Transit City - eight proposed light rail corridors throughout the city of Toronto - is a good idea for the future. What I don't agree with is the manner in which it's being implemented.
Construction on Transit City officially began on December 21, 2009, with the commencement of work at Agincourt GO Station to accommodate what will eventually become the Sheppard East LRT line. My issue is - what is with this city's inordinate love of Sheppard Avenue East? Not only does it have a five-station subway that would probably lose only a fraction of its ridership if it was a two-station shuttle between Sheppard-Yonge and Don Mills, now it's going to continue on as a surface-running LRT that, incidentally, effectively prohibits any eastward extension of the subway? Is Sheppard East the fulcrum on which Toronto pivots?
I'm not saying that the Sheppard East LRT shouldn't be built, just that it shouldn't be the first to be built. I've been paying attention to transit matters long enough to know that nothing is ever assured until the trains are actually rolling on it. Take the Eglinton West subway - proposed by the Network 2011 plan in 1985, construction actually started on this line in 1994, only to be cancelled a year later by the newly-elected Progressive Conservatives under Mike Harris. Toronto is no stranger to solid things evaporating underfoot.
In my opinion, projects like this should be built in such a way that an unexpected midway cancellation would leave the completed parts as functional and worthwhile additions to the transit network of their own accord. Should some change in the political winds lead to the midway cancellation of Transit City, and leave the Sheppard East LRT as the only one of the eight lines to come to fruition, will Torontonians really think that money and effort had been well-spent? I don't think so.
The way I see it, the Eglinton Crosstown LRT should have been built first - it's the core of the proposed Transit City network, and a second east-west rail corridor would do wonders for transit in this city. I just worry that the winds will shift, and we'll be left with something that's just an outlier to the system, rather than something that builds the iterative strength of Toronto's transit network.
What we really need, though, is the Downtown Relief Line - taking pressure off the overstressed transfer point at Bloor-Yonge station and extending higher-order transit access to more areas of the city. What it may need is another name.
Thursday, January 14, 2010
What I'm Standing On: A Cultured City
On October 25, Torontonians will go to the polls to elect the sixty-fourth mayor of the City of Toronto. Andrew Barton is one of many candidates running for that office. Over the course of the campaign, What I'm Standing On will reflect his platform, and provide an insight into his opinions of what course the city should chart to 2014, and beyond.
As I understand it, one of the more powerful insults in the Russian language is nekulturny - which, despite its connotations, essentially means "uncultured." It's appropriate, I think, that such a term became a pejorative. Culture is a powerful force in human existence, the product of all our art, literature, entertainment, music, architecture, and all the other wellsprings of creativity. It's one of the basic bedrocks of any group's identity.
Toronto's no slouch when it comes to culture. In 2008, it was ranked by Foreign Policy magazine as the fourth-best city in the world for cultural experiences - the second-best in North America, behind only New York. Though the Big Apple wouldn't be knocked easily from its tree, that's no reason we shouldn't strive to make Toronto an even greater center of culture in the years ahead. On the face of it, I think it's absolutely appropriate - this is the most cosmopolitan city in the world. If any city should be a cultural center, a crossroads of ideas from across the world, it should be this one.
There are plenty of directions in which Toronto could go in pursuit of the cultural ideal - one possibility is inspired by Chicago's experience. Six years ago that city opened Millennium Park, a sprawling outdoor civic center and public park, in the heart of its downtown on former railway land. I was there in October and found it one of the highlights of my visit to Chicago. It includes a Frank Gehry-designed bandshell, two outdoor art galleries, and sculptures such as Cloud Gate - something which may, in the near future, become just as recognizable a Chicago symbol as Willis (formerly Sears) Tower.
Cloud Gate, on a cloudy October day
Millennium Park was financed both by the City of Chicago and numerous private sponsors and investors, and though it ultimately cost more than triple the initial estimates, it's difficult to put a price tag on the value Chicago has drawn and will continue to draw from the park. Building culture in a city is an inherently iterative process - one cannot simply speak Broadway, say, or the British Museum into existence. Toronto would do well with a project like Millennium Park, a project with no grander reason than to help bring the city together. Moreover, it would be another tourist draw for a city that's always looking to attract tourists - and if only the city was allowed to charge hotel taxes, it would help close our current and future budget gaps.
Granted, you can't just take sand from the beach and produce a Millennium Park, either. I know that the present budget situation means that at least the next four years will have to be ones of moderation and careful spending. It may be that Toronto won't be able to do anything on this scale for a long while - but just because it's not feasible to start laying down bricks, there's no reason we shouldn't at least plan out the foundations. Building for culture is, in its own way, building for the future - and a city cannot be successful, I think, without keeping one foot in the future.
In my opinion, a city without a real cultural foundation is missing something vital. For me, Toronto has always had that sense of vitality. It's something that needs to be preserved and made stronger if we want the Toronto of 2020 or 2060 or 2110 to be a city worthy of all our aspirations.
As I understand it, one of the more powerful insults in the Russian language is nekulturny - which, despite its connotations, essentially means "uncultured." It's appropriate, I think, that such a term became a pejorative. Culture is a powerful force in human existence, the product of all our art, literature, entertainment, music, architecture, and all the other wellsprings of creativity. It's one of the basic bedrocks of any group's identity.
Toronto's no slouch when it comes to culture. In 2008, it was ranked by Foreign Policy magazine as the fourth-best city in the world for cultural experiences - the second-best in North America, behind only New York. Though the Big Apple wouldn't be knocked easily from its tree, that's no reason we shouldn't strive to make Toronto an even greater center of culture in the years ahead. On the face of it, I think it's absolutely appropriate - this is the most cosmopolitan city in the world. If any city should be a cultural center, a crossroads of ideas from across the world, it should be this one.
There are plenty of directions in which Toronto could go in pursuit of the cultural ideal - one possibility is inspired by Chicago's experience. Six years ago that city opened Millennium Park, a sprawling outdoor civic center and public park, in the heart of its downtown on former railway land. I was there in October and found it one of the highlights of my visit to Chicago. It includes a Frank Gehry-designed bandshell, two outdoor art galleries, and sculptures such as Cloud Gate - something which may, in the near future, become just as recognizable a Chicago symbol as Willis (formerly Sears) Tower.
Cloud Gate, on a cloudy October dayMillennium Park was financed both by the City of Chicago and numerous private sponsors and investors, and though it ultimately cost more than triple the initial estimates, it's difficult to put a price tag on the value Chicago has drawn and will continue to draw from the park. Building culture in a city is an inherently iterative process - one cannot simply speak Broadway, say, or the British Museum into existence. Toronto would do well with a project like Millennium Park, a project with no grander reason than to help bring the city together. Moreover, it would be another tourist draw for a city that's always looking to attract tourists - and if only the city was allowed to charge hotel taxes, it would help close our current and future budget gaps.
Granted, you can't just take sand from the beach and produce a Millennium Park, either. I know that the present budget situation means that at least the next four years will have to be ones of moderation and careful spending. It may be that Toronto won't be able to do anything on this scale for a long while - but just because it's not feasible to start laying down bricks, there's no reason we shouldn't at least plan out the foundations. Building for culture is, in its own way, building for the future - and a city cannot be successful, I think, without keeping one foot in the future.
In my opinion, a city without a real cultural foundation is missing something vital. For me, Toronto has always had that sense of vitality. It's something that needs to be preserved and made stronger if we want the Toronto of 2020 or 2060 or 2110 to be a city worthy of all our aspirations.
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
So I'm Running for Mayor of Toronto
Yesterday marked the first anniversary of Acts of Minor Treason. I'm not sure if anyone read it back in January and February, when updates were infrequent and frequently uninspired, but the people that do read and comment on what I write here helps me go on. In an earlier age, I'd have been doing most of my commentary and complaining at an empty room or inanimate object; today, at least there's the possibility that other people will hear, and care, about things I say. So thank you for that.
Yesterday was another significant day in its own right for me - because as of yesterday, I'm officially a candidate for Mayor in the 2010 Toronto municipal election. When I filed my papers I was the fifteenth candidate - if previous elections are a guide, there'll be many more before nominations close in September, particularly given the lack of an incumbent this year. That's the mark, I think, of a healthy system.
What do I believe? I believe a lot of things. I believe I'd like to see the Downtown Relief Line stressed in future transit planning, I believe I'd like to see crowdsourcing and popular involvement factored into the way the city is run, I believe the city needs more leeway in the manners in which it's allowed to raise money with which to fund municipal operations - I believe I'd like Toronto to become, in whatever ways possible, a city of the future. That's what I'd like.
Still, what I'd like and what everyone else would like is meaningless if Toronto can't afford it. That, I think, will be one of the key issues of this election. Toronto needs to find new ways of paying for its operations in order to prosper, and it's one of those questions that doesn't have easy answers. Should we go the easy route, increasing property tax rates and motivating more and more people and businesses to pull up stakes for the 905? Should we look at building a casino, like candidate Giorgio Mammoliti suggests, weighing a positive cashflow against potential social negatives? Should we go to the province and try to get some leeway in the City of Toronto Act? Cities like Chicago and Los Angeles are allowed to levy hotel taxes, for example - why shouldn't Toronto be able to do the same? These are some the questions that need to be asked.
I know that this is all pretty indistinct, but I think unveiling a full platform in January is pretty premature - ten months is a long time, and in October the city may be dealing with issues that aren't even on the radar right now. If you wonder what I think about $PRESSING_ISSUE, then ask. No matter what my full platform includes, there's no way everyone's questions would be answered by it. If you want to get an idea of how I think and where I lean, there's a year's worth of me pouring out my opinions on this weblog to give some indication.
Ultimately, though, the most pressing question of all may well be why some 27-year-old science fiction writer and weblogger no one's ever heard of would go to the trouble of throwing his hat into a ring that's already the province of ex-provincial Cabinet ministers and councillors looking to snazz up their job description.
There are a bunch of reasons - because I love my city, because I'd like to bring ideas into the public spectrum. The one I think is most important, though, is civic involvement. A democratic society can only be made healthier by people taking a direct role in the democratic process, and through that involvement gaining a greater understanding and appreciation for it. Democracy's an easy thing to take for granted. We need to look to the future.
EDIT: Contrary to what certain pages may claim, this is not the only thing I have written on the subject of my mayoral campaign. Click the "Toronto 2010" button at the bottom of this post for many more!
Yesterday was another significant day in its own right for me - because as of yesterday, I'm officially a candidate for Mayor in the 2010 Toronto municipal election. When I filed my papers I was the fifteenth candidate - if previous elections are a guide, there'll be many more before nominations close in September, particularly given the lack of an incumbent this year. That's the mark, I think, of a healthy system.
What do I believe? I believe a lot of things. I believe I'd like to see the Downtown Relief Line stressed in future transit planning, I believe I'd like to see crowdsourcing and popular involvement factored into the way the city is run, I believe the city needs more leeway in the manners in which it's allowed to raise money with which to fund municipal operations - I believe I'd like Toronto to become, in whatever ways possible, a city of the future. That's what I'd like.
Still, what I'd like and what everyone else would like is meaningless if Toronto can't afford it. That, I think, will be one of the key issues of this election. Toronto needs to find new ways of paying for its operations in order to prosper, and it's one of those questions that doesn't have easy answers. Should we go the easy route, increasing property tax rates and motivating more and more people and businesses to pull up stakes for the 905? Should we look at building a casino, like candidate Giorgio Mammoliti suggests, weighing a positive cashflow against potential social negatives? Should we go to the province and try to get some leeway in the City of Toronto Act? Cities like Chicago and Los Angeles are allowed to levy hotel taxes, for example - why shouldn't Toronto be able to do the same? These are some the questions that need to be asked.
I know that this is all pretty indistinct, but I think unveiling a full platform in January is pretty premature - ten months is a long time, and in October the city may be dealing with issues that aren't even on the radar right now. If you wonder what I think about $PRESSING_ISSUE, then ask. No matter what my full platform includes, there's no way everyone's questions would be answered by it. If you want to get an idea of how I think and where I lean, there's a year's worth of me pouring out my opinions on this weblog to give some indication.
Ultimately, though, the most pressing question of all may well be why some 27-year-old science fiction writer and weblogger no one's ever heard of would go to the trouble of throwing his hat into a ring that's already the province of ex-provincial Cabinet ministers and councillors looking to snazz up their job description.
There are a bunch of reasons - because I love my city, because I'd like to bring ideas into the public spectrum. The one I think is most important, though, is civic involvement. A democratic society can only be made healthier by people taking a direct role in the democratic process, and through that involvement gaining a greater understanding and appreciation for it. Democracy's an easy thing to take for granted. We need to look to the future.
EDIT: Contrary to what certain pages may claim, this is not the only thing I have written on the subject of my mayoral campaign. Click the "Toronto 2010" button at the bottom of this post for many more!
Saturday, December 12, 2009
PDP #144: One City Hall
Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle described Los Angeles City Hall as "phallic" in their novel Oath of Fealty, but I don't really see it - if this is a phallic building, than any building taller than it is wide is a phallic building. It's certainly dominating, though, and representative of an entirely different architectural school than both Old City Hall and New City Hall in Toronto. For nearly forty years after it was completed, it was the tallest building in the city of Los Angeles. The Cicero quote, I think, gives a touch of class, and it's one that I think more politicians should take seriously.
On that note, the dozen or so of you who read this weblog on a regular basis may be interested to know that I intend on registering to run for Mayor of Toronto in 2010. Yes, seriously. It's not as if I'm the first to talk about throwing a hat into the ring.
I, the copyright holder of this work, hereby release it into the public domain. This applies worldwide. In case this is not legally possible, I grant anyone the right to use this work for any purpose, without any conditions, unless such conditions are required by law.
On that note, the dozen or so of you who read this weblog on a regular basis may be interested to know that I intend on registering to run for Mayor of Toronto in 2010. Yes, seriously. It's not as if I'm the first to talk about throwing a hat into the ring.
I, the copyright holder of this work, hereby release it into the public domain. This applies worldwide. In case this is not legally possible, I grant anyone the right to use this work for any purpose, without any conditions, unless such conditions are required by law.
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