As We Prepare to Say Goodbye to the Gardiner

At the Pee Wee Herman Picture Show last Thursday Dave Meslin pointed out the obvious. Toronto is growing, in terms of population, every day but in terms of actual square feet it's the same size. While there are more and more people moving around in Toronto the streets and sidewalks can't get any bigger. So, the time is coming when cars will have to get out of the way to make room for people.

This is aside from the arguments about peak oil, global warming, and the fact that, as an innocent bystander in Toronto, cars are far more dangerous than guns claiming an estimated 400 lives annually from air pollution and, of course, regular traffic fatalities amoung both motorists and pedestrians. By comparison there were 42 shootings in Toronto - meaning that you are more than 10x more likely to die as a result of an automobile than a gun in this city.

So there is a growing movement to reduce the number of cars going into, out of and around the city - not by making cars illegal but by simply not putting them at the top of the priority list: By, in short, designing the city for people, not cars. There will, for example, be fewer and fewer parking spaces downtown - there are no plans for more city owned parking and more and more private parking lots are being torn up for condominiums. In addition more bike lanes are going in, at the expense of driving space and dedicated street car lanes, tolls to drive into downtown and car free zones are all being discussed.

To get a better sense of this I'd recommend reading (regularly) Streets are for People, the Toronto Cyclists Union, Urban Repair Squad and, of course, Spacing.

With all of this in mind, as a Torontonian I can only assume, in reading David Menzies editorial When the Gardiner falls, so will T. O., that he is joking. His arguments, from the very beginning make no sense. He starts with

"The Gardiner Expressway is a garish, dirty, pigeon-excrement-covered concrete eyesore. And I love it."

Never mind that, all else aside, it is on Toronto's lake shore. Even from a purely financial perspective why should some of, what should be, the most expensive real estate in all of Canada be used for an expressway?

Then there is Menzies' bottom line

"Bottom line: tearing down any section of the Gardiner would be akin to dropping a nuke on the thousands of commuters (a. k. a. taxpayers) who depend on it daily. The time is now for all reasonable Torontonians to denounce such ideological madness before it's too "

Menzies seem to miss the point that Toronto does not need to design itself for commuters. We are interested in designing the city primarily for the people who actually live here. His, 'but I'm a taxpayer' line is tired and old. Everyone does not get everything they want, or get to stop everything they don't want, by screaming "I'm a taxpayer". We're all taxpayers and if, as Menzies does, you live in Richmond Hill, you don't pay taxes in Toronto. You might pay a little sales tax at times, but your property taxes go to Richmond Hill.

Commuters are more than welcome to work in Toronto, make good money and take it out to their large houses in the burbs but they don't get to decide how Toronto is designed or operated. Personally I would recommend the following 4 step program for commuters who find it difficult or inconvenient to drive into the city.

Step 1:



Step 2:



Step 3:



Step 4:

Spacing Poll: TTC An Essential Service

Now that some of the raw emotion from the latest TTC Strike has work off, Spacing is hosting a poll to see if people still believe the TTC should be an essential service (thus losing the ability to go on strike.

Personally I think this is a no brainer. The TTC should be declared an essential service because the TTC is an essential service. For a large and growing number of Torontonians the TTC is their primary mode of transportation. They rely on it to get to work, to school and to essential goods and services. I believe that it is absolutely necessary that people be assured that the service will always be running. That they feel comfortable giving up their cars and buying metro passes without worrying about what they will do when the TTC walks off the job.

Whatever you feel about the issue though go vote at

http://spacing.ca/wire/2008/05/19/poll-should-the-ttc-be-decalred-an-essential-service/.

File Under D for Duh?

According to the CBC, the US Fish and Wildlife service has stated that it needs another month to decide if global warming is a threat to Polar Bears.

Listing polar bears as threatened would require U.S. federal agencies to make sure anything they authorize would not jeopardize the bears or the sea ice where they live. That could include oil and gas exploration, commercial shipping or even releases of pollution that might affect climate.

Canada Must Put A Price Tag on Carbon Emissions

A federal report released today says that a carbon tax is the only way Canada will meet it's climate targets. Stephen Harper and Stephan Dion have both opposed carbon taxes in the past but the reports authors believe they can be made to change their minds.

The report, which comes after more than a year of research, concludes that the only way to make truly deep cuts, in keeping with the current government's plan to reduce emissions by about 65 per cent from 2006 levels by 2050, is to start charging for carbon as soon as possible.

From my perspective this would certainly have an economic impact on some, but carbon trading could become an economic opportunity to those who are committed to 'going green.' Read the full story here.

Feel the Heat, on Friday morning:

If you live in Toronto you've been feeling the heat for a few weeks now. But, if you're concerned about why, and/or concerned about it getting still hotter - CBC's new Global Warming Show "Feeling the Heat" premieres this Friday at 9:30 am.

Feeling the Heat is a new CBC Radio program, hosted by Ian Hanomansing, that inspires Canadians to get serious about the environment - and shows them how do it. Feeling the Heat will air across Canada Fridays at 9:30 a.m. on CBC Radio One, starting June 29

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There is no word yet on a podcast (though this one should definitely be on the list), and very little info on the CBC website but it's definitely worth giving the show a shot if you're near a Radio Friday morning.