Perhaps it’s Karen Stintz’s idea of open rebellion. I’d like to think so, given the car-centric disposition of the folks now running City Hall (insert middle finger here).
The uptown councillor and TTC chair with mayoral aspirations has managed to steal a small piece of Orchard View off Yonge for a pedestrian zone.
I’m tempted to add the words “of sorts” to that last sentence because as a public space project, it’s not exactly ground breaking.
Still, it’s no small symbol in Rob Ford’s austerity depressed Toronto. In the parlance of consultants who’ve been hired to recommend cuts the city could be making to save money, the space would be considered a “nice to have”. So what if it’s not much to write home about.
There’s a few tables and chairs and umbrellas. And those outsized flower pots that have become ubiquitous in Toronto and should probably be banned.
And outside of the farmers market on Thursdays, there’s not much really to draw crowds to the space. It’s more rest spot than attraction.
A bank on one flank and exit/entrance to the nearby movie theatre on the other offers the potential for pedestrian spillover, I guess. But the space itself is not big enough to create the bustle one would normally equate with European-style pedestrian zones.
It’s missing a crucial piece of what make pedestrian zones work – commercial activity within its boundaries to bring foot traffic. Hot dog dude on the corner doesn’t quite cut it.
Only a small section of Orchard View is being used. And the sidewalks on that stretch haven’t been incorporated into the design of the space, which might have made it a little more attractive. The concrete benches built into the side of the aforementioned bank could make for some good seating.
But Toronto isn’t exactly a car-free heaven now is it?
Attempts to cut out pedestrian spaces throughout the city have been downright timid.
Think Gould (sloppy) and on Willcocks on the campus of U of T (which is a little better). Also, were still waiting for the wildly successful Pedestrian Sundays in Kensington to be taken city-wide, which was the plan originally.
But back to Orchard View. Had a chunk of Yonge from, say, Orchard View north a couple of blocks to Montgomery been reserved for a public space, then we’d be dancin’ in the streets. It could work.
There are detours for car traffic and TTC buses on Duplex, for example, and a little further east on Mount Pleasant. There’s the Yonge subway, too, for those trying to get north and south.
That might be too much to ask in car-first Toronto.
Indeed, the whole genesis of the Orchard View project is the taking away of the last piece of public space in the vicinity, that being the square on the northwest corner of Yonge and Eglinton. There, RioCan’s expansion plans will mean bye-bye to that square.
As a councillor with friendly ties to the development industry (some think too friendly), Stintz has been on the hot seat for her support of a number of high-rise condo developments beginning to encroach on the residential neighbourhoods in the area.
So, for Stintz, taking back a piece of concrete for her constituents and turning it into a useable pedestrian zone will go some way toward mending broken political fences.
The real test for Stintz’s modest addition to the streetscape, however, will come in October, when the project, which is just a pilot program right now, will be up for reconsideration.
What the chances are of the space sticking around beyond then is anyone’s guess.
As for paving the way to a more pedestrian-friendly future in T.O., it’s a negligible step. As a political issue that the mayor’s office may have something to say about come budget time, it’s a more interesting proposition.
