More mayoral/city council political posturing?
https://toronto.ctvnews.ca/toronto-t...ials-1.6391571
https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/202...officials.html
More mayoral/city council political posturing?
https://toronto.ctvnews.ca/toronto-t...ials-1.6391571
https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/202...officials.html
Last edited by Mr. Inbetween; 05-10-2023 at 12:38 AM.
Mostly posturing. It's routine when the election wass on, for elected officials to give such powers to city staff. And the report itself says that the contract also stops MLSE from making significant profit from this.Originally Posted by Mr. Inbetween
The city is paying BMO Field upgrade costs - but they are minimal compared to the amount MLSE put in for the 2015/16 expansion.
There's certainly big issues with how much the World Cup costs per game (compare to Gold Cup costs per game). But that's a different issue - but a shame the media isn't drilling into that instead.
Thanks for posting that, excellent article!
I remember first travelling around Toronto when I came here from Germany. I was surprised by the huge amounts of single-family housing located very close to downtown, subway stations, and major streets. And frankly, lots of it is quite ugly -- including the house we could afford in 2002. And the "detached" houses that are so close to the next one that you can't even fix things that go wrong on those walls that are almost touching -- I thought that was nuts, and then that's what we ended up buying...
EDIT look at what happened today:
Check out this tweet at https://twitter.com/davescrivener/status/1656431851970473985
Now there's still a chance that this gets screwed up in implementation (especially if the province gets involved and somehow ensures that most of the benefits go to a couple of close buddies / lobbyists) but that is a big change.
Last edited by Auzzy; 05-10-2023 at 08:19 PM.
Shocked they passed that but then scuttlebutt is employers are putting huge pressure on the province saying they can't get staff to work in Toronto so if we don't do something, the city will hollow out soon. Province mandated triplex everywhere - city went farther because quads are more economically viable (said the realtors & builders).
I could write a whole novel on the topics adjacent to this but to say the least: what is happening right now in office real estate, residential real estate, remote work dynamics, and urban decay / city budgets / etc … is nothing short of fascinating.
Everyone is trying to tilt the public agenda in their own favour. Some parties will be fine, others will be turmed upside down. One extreme example below:
https://www.wsj.com/articles/san-fra...dings-471742ea
Lol didn’t know this was a city building thread but also love a good conversation about this stuff.
I think the areas affected first will be those with bungalows on large lots, whereas the area around BMO, or walking distance, Bellwoods Park, along Niagara east of strachan, parkdale etc should all be torn down and rebuilt with more density.
Yeh, I don't think people realise how this is going to change things in the suburbs where there are deep lots - why invest in a McMansion rebuild when you can invest in a quadplex - without parking requirements either.
I did see a headline, when I read a little bit further, that any re-development was subject to appeal by neighbourhood associations. It could still get quite obstructionist. Devil might be in the details here.
Yep I'm extremely pessimistic that any units get built as a result of this. I believe the height requirements are still strict and some other regulations that make building them difficult still exist. Toronto is a city of NIMBYs, always has been, I strongly doubt this is allowed to work as the headlines suggest
I work for a municipality. The talk amongst planners nationwide is the effort to built high density, but low-storied housing to build a sense of community among residents and make more efficient use of the existing infrastructure. They also try to centre the highest density around transit hubs to minimize the need for cars. The idea is to build communities where all the amenities (retail, medical, etc) you would need are within 15 minutes walking distance. But somehow 15-minute cities became a conspiracy thing...
The city wants that density, but the infrastructure isnt there. Then the areas with it, like bloor west, become very expensive.
I'd love to have a local pub, a family dr, a grocery store in walking distance, etc.
A shoppers drug mart with a walk in clinic and a small grocery section isnt the same, but thats what you get. And the gov't has priced pubs beyond the means of many people.
Compare that to the UK where everyone has a local.
Yep. Toronto is morally conservative city in more fun-loving clothing. Have already seen people complaining on social media, dog whistling about “rooming houses” and societal decay. As if those don’t already exist as a result of the current housing shortage and poor enforcement of rules. A huge number of TFW’s working in fast food live in rooming houses (all they can afford) .
I love the idea. I question their claim of “existing infrastructure” though, as if that implies some sort of surplus or untapped resource. Here particularly, the city seems to think anywhere near a subway stop is worthy of a 60 story tower. Not sure they understand all the other things they need to do in order to make the space liveable when residents are packed in that densely.
Totally agree. My once interesting downtown neighbourhood now feels increasingly sanitized. Formerly unique retail spaces replaced by condos with shoppers drug marts, dry cleaners, and subways restaurants underneath.
I think the city needs to really up the commercial vacancy tax and force developers to put more and better retail space under every new building. I see a lot of units that anre vacant or populated by pot shops (short term tenants basically). There should be business in these spaces and commercial rents shouldn’t be so astronomical such that most small operators are priced out.
Early 'fringe' opinion to cancel Toronto's as a WC26 host city seems to have gained momentum..
Check out this tweet at https://twitter.com/CTVTheDebate/status/1678812152054808577
Also, a recent article by Ben Spurr: Toronto Star- City Hall Bureau
https://twitter.com/TorontoStar/stat...36699847991298
That ship has sailed. It ain't getting canceled.
blame bill manning- if there was permanent upgrades done- Toronto could have hosted premier league friendly games and found other ways to generate revenue SMH
if this happens ill be so mad- how in the world toronto would lose hosting world cup would be a joke.
Wait until Canada isn't in it because FIFA dissolves our federation.
Yeah, agreed. If we backed out now, the financial penalties would exceed any benefit of the forgone spending would be my expectation. Sports is usually a bad bet for cities economically.
Half suspect the Canadian Taxpayer Federation just has an axe to grind with a left-leaning mayor. They wouldn’t even bother saying anything if it was a Ford brother holding office.
They had ample time to complain about this when Tory was in power. This is a political ploy. This organization will do anything to destroy Oliva Chow.
It's annoying how they hate and attack articles all came out before she was even mayor
Very annoying. I hope she can withstand that right wing propaganda. The “megacity” was invented to prevent the left from keeping power in Toronto. So far that Harris initiative has been very successful and there seems to be a lot of right entitlement these days.
This is getting way off topic but it's not even a right left thing. The only thing that unified the cons and the libs is the abject fear of the NDP proving they can govern. She'll be getting it from everywhere
First of all, I wouldn't be surprised if Toronto gets screwed by hosting the WC, with FIFA and the CSA being very shady organizations, other iffy deals between MLSE & the city, and many other reasons.
However, a Twitter poll and the Canadian Taxpayers Federation are both not really a sign of something gaining traction. The CTF is a pretty sketchy operation that gets quoted in the media often. There are major questions about its funding sources, the real number of Canadian supporters it has, and much more.
Hmmm......CNE building leases dying in 2027 - don't be surprised if MLSE jumps on the Food building.
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts...e-cne-toronto/
A third party rendering of FIFA WC26 Toronto (BMO Field) facilities expansion. Done as byproduct with information for enhanced site telecommunication planning? Nothing surprising. Likely all temporary, perhaps some parts permanent? Layout appears very similar to that of the past for a series of MLS Cup/NHL Outdoor Heritage/CFL Grey Cup events.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=h2__34QsvrI&feature=shared
Doing all this temporarily and us returning to our weird floating roof setup is such a missed opportunity. I can't help but feel that MLSE poured money into the team to try and build up support, bring back the waitlists, in order to justify permanently expanding the stadium by combining great performances with the world cup hype and it just all went completely flat in the end
Yeah. Some missed opportunities here for sure. I am one of the (very) few who don’t mind our tin can stadium but filling in the corners and a proper roof would go a long way…
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