Mimico waterfront: Another “wall of condos” disaster in the making?

In 1997 Doug Holyday, then mayor of Etobicoke, announced plans for a new neighbourhood: Humber Bay Shores. The former “motel strip” — a seedy area south of Lake Shore Blvd. W. and east of Park Lawn Rd. — saw its first new condo a year later.

Since then, highrises have sprouted like toadstools.

“There’s very large numbers of people in buildings that are just higgledy-piggledy scattered across that area. There’s no coherent pattern of public spaces, there’s no shopping or retail,” says Ken Greenberg, an architect and urban designer who has consulted for Waterfront Toronto.

“It’s one of the most egregious, terrible examples of lack of any kind of decent planning one can think of.”

Some may disagree. But many in Mimico — the next community over, where a massive revitalization plan known as “Mimico 20/20” is underway — look east to Humber Bay Shores as a warning.

“The multi-multi-multi-storey buildings? It scares me,” says Bob Poldon, president of the Mimico Residents Association.

…

Via The Star

Having lived in the area for several years, I truly believe that the high-rise condos on the water are the last thing Mimico needs.

Why can’t our city learn to capitalize on one of our greatest assets (the lake) and instead allows unimaginative, greedy developers permanently change the face of the city? Why are we building a shoebox of a city instead of a tourist destination?

Do you think ten years from now Toronto will take the top spot in National Geographic’s Top Trolley Rides? With a view of hideous concrete and glass – I doubt it.

Toronto doesn’t lack imagination – it lacks leadership to translate it to sound development policy.

Via Wikipedia

Amongst likely voters who have decided who they would vote for, 45.6 per cent say they would make Ford the next mayor.

Via CTV

It boggles my mind someone like Rob Ford can have so much support in the city. Why? Actually, wait, I’m not all that surprised. Granted, I’m not a huge fan of other candidates (all of them), but Ford is an illiterate clown. I am not going to dissect his platform in this post, but I do want to give you an idea of how the reported support statistics give us a skewed idea of his widespread support.

• There are 1.5 million electors in Toronto’s municipal election.
• Population of Toronto is close to 2.5 million.
• Voter turnout in the 2006 election was 39% – 585,000 in today’s population.

Assuming a similar turnout, I estimate that 46% Rob Ford votes will come from approximately 269,100 city residents (46% of 585,000). Based on that assumption, we are letting approximately 11% of Toronto residents elect Rob Ford to lead this world-class city.

Ford doesn’t seem all that popular once you break down the numbers. But obviously he struck the right chord with quite a few voters. There is no easy answer to who should lead Toronto -  selecting the right candidate isn’t easy when the choices are so limited. Unfortunately I don’t find the other candidates to be more promising so it’s a tough choice to make.

But, there is a real possibility of Rob Ford becoming a mayor. And that’s scary (to me).

Whether you support him or not, take a look at the data, do some research and take 15 minutes out of your day to make an educated vote – don’t let others do it for you. Otherwise you let the 11% minority opinion run your city for the next 4 years. I am an eligible voter and taxpayer and believe that he doesn’t represent the majority opinion in this city.

Statistics: City of Toronto, CTV
Photo: CCUE

Dale Kropf calls it Independence Day: On July 3, his five grocery stores in southwestern Ontario ceased to be Sobeys franchises.

Corporate policies prevented him from buying local products, he says, so he joined forces with four other former Sobeys franchisees and formed the independent Hometown Grocers Co-Op.

“We feel that local food, local presence is huge in our market and we wanted to take advantage of that,” Kropf says.
Canadians are increasingly subscribing to the “buy local” and “100 mile diet” philosophies due to concerns over imported food, Kropf adds. “The pressure was always mounting — the more recalls, the more bad press from China or wherever the product was coming from. I know that in our case, our private label pickles are made in Indonesia. I couldn’t believe that.”

As a franchisee for a large grocery chain, Kropf says, corporate policies stipulating that he only buy federally inspected meat prevented him from stocking local products. Most federally inspected meat in Canada comes from large corporations such as Maple Leaf, Cargill and Tyson.

Read more on CBC

Canadians who look in the mirror and see green may be environmentally colour blind, according to a new study.

Researchers compared how Canadians perceive their commitment to the environment and what they actually do about it in a study commissioned by marketing firm Cossette Communication and Summerhill, an environmental consultancy.

On average, people believed they were 20 per cent greener than their reported behaviour showed, the study found.

For example, close to 80 per cent of respondents said they use reusable drinking containers regularly, Cossette’s Nick Cowling said. “Yet if you are standing in the lineup at Starbucks or Tim Hortons or Second Cup and you look around, of course 80 per cent of people in the lineup are not doing that. They’re going to use the paper cup they’re given.”

Read the rest on CBC

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iUGLIYMVOaw

More on illegal signs in Toronto.

Anyway, here’s what the pass will look like:

Bah! Same crappy design, but with more flare and shine. Has the photographer ever heard of white balance and exposure metering? I am not even going to bother this time.

But wait! There is hope! An interesting excerpt from the article:

Later this year the TTC will outline a plan to use art on its passes. Currently, the TTC uses a combination of art and photography when designing passes. The new art will be part of the overall pass design. The TTC will be issuing a request for expressions of interest in August. TTC customers can expect to see new art on Metropasses starting in April 2010.

Adam Giambrone, have you been reading my rants about the Metropass design? Hmmm? Please don’t screw this up – there are a lot of talented designers in the city who would love an opportunity to redesign this abdomination. Give me a shout, Adam.

University of Toronto made a pretty poor design decision by fading out St. Michael’s lower extremities in the hospital logo. To me it looks like he’s taking a leak. To others it might look like something else, not so uncommon amongst sexual deviants in Toronto downtown parks. Here is my artistic rendition of what I see every time I pass by the hospital:

There is also a massive billboard adoring the wall of the hospital – in this one steamy clouds are rising as St. Michael is taking a satisfying urban leak on our great city of Toronto. “$5 if you can hit the CN Tower!”

Below is what the original statue in the lobby of St. Michael’s looks like. This photo was taken by a Flickr user jp1958. If you have the time, you can  read a brief touching story about the statue and it’s importance to the hospital on St. Michael’s website.

Now, traditionally, St. Michael is portrayed treading on Satan or a serpent, carrying a banner, scales, and sword. A good example is a painting by Guido Reni.

Why did the University of Toronto and the hospital make this poor choice? Who knows, but it makes me wonder how many sets of eyes have seen what I see. And how many hospital admins thought this was a great rendition of the logo and rubber-stamped it all the way to the billboard.

Disclaimer: I have no doubt that St. Michael’s Hospital is a fantastic teaching hospital that does a lot of great work. I would not hesitate to be treated there in case of a medical mishap. Unfortunately, it does not reflect in their logo. It does not do their symbol great justice. Instead it opens up it’s interpretation to various wondering, perverted minds, like mine.