Goodbye, Gardiner?

On Friday the Toronto Star led with a report that Mayor David Miller has finally gotten behind a plan to start tearing down the god awful Gardiner expressway along the Toronto waterfront. While the proposed plan doesn’t remove the entire expressway, it is a promising start.

The proposed plan (which is light on details) suggests tearing down the 2.5 kms of the Gardiner, from the Don Valley Parkway to Jarvis street. The stretch is highlighted below (click for larger image).

This is why, this is why I’m dork

 

I’m probably the worst dork ever.  I’m not dorky enough to know all the Simpson’s or Star Trek episodes, but I’m enough of a dork to make women slightly uneasy in my presence.  Frankly, I like it.

My mid-level dorkiness explains why I was giddy as a schoolgirl when I found this.

More good municipal planning news from Minnesota

Last week I highlighted a nice affordable housing complex in Minnesota that went green here.  Now there is more good news from Minneapolis, according to the New York Times.

15 years ago the Phillips neighbourhood was similar to many inner-city urban areas: abandoned, derelict buildings abounded, drug traffic was rampant, and residents were fleeing. 

Now, through the work of the Hope Community, the area is in the middle of a major revitalization project.  The group has acquired homes in the area with the help of the city, rehabilitated 10 houses, and developed a 126 affordable housing units, a playground and a community centre.  Plans are in the works for two more projects, one a mixed-use building with 49 rental units and 6,000 sq feet of commercial space.

It appears that the Hope Community has taken a “whole-community” approach to their re-development in an effort to prepare for gentrification as it pushes up from the downtown core.  By creating a mix of affordable housing and mixed use properties Hope Community seeks to develop an area that can be revitalized without forcing out existing residents.

It IS easy being green

Two U.S. municipalities offer some great examples of the relatively small and affordable steps that can be taken to both find cost savings and significantly reduce environmental impacts.

As reported in Governing Magazine, Viking Terrace Apartments, a 60-unit affordable housing complex in Worthington, MN, has made a number green improvements that have reduced environmental impacts and lowered costs for both owners and tenants.  Improvements have include low-flow plumbing fixtures, carpets made from recycled materials, and geo-thermal heating and cooling systems.  To top it off, Viking residents have had their electricity bills cut by 1/3 and water bills drop, as well.

Meanwhile, on the west coast, Richland, WA has realized $150,000 in cost savings since replacing traditional incandesant traffic lights with LED lights in 2002.  City engineers also state that the LED traffic lights are cheaper and easier to maintain as they need less frequent replacement.  Check out the news report here (warning, local news!).

So, there you have it.  Two examples of some easy steps developers and municipalities can take.  If you have a minute, ask your Mayor why you don’t have LED lights yet or your apartment manager about getting low-flow toilets.  Hell, send them a link to this post!

10 Things Wrong With Sprawl (In case you forgot)

Here’s a great article by James McElfish Jr. with the Environmental Law Institute (thanks to Christopher Leo for the link).

I’ve been known to rant incoherently about what is wrong with sprawl.  I thought this might be a little more beneficial since it is logical, well-written and concise, all things I’m usually not!

For some of you this may be the usual arguments you’ve heard before, but I think reminding us all what the basic pitfalls of urban sprawl are is worthwhile. And maybe it can help remind some people that you don’t really need a 3,000 sq ft, 2.5 bath, 5 bedroom house to be happy.

For a quick run-down, here are the big 10:

1. Sprawl development contributes to a loss of support for public facilities and public amenities.
2. Sprawl undermines effective maintenance of existing infrastructure.
3. Sprawl increases societal costs for transportation.
4. Sprawl consumes more resources than other development patterns.
5. Sprawl separates urban poor people from jobs.
6. Sprawl imposes a tax on time.
7. Sprawl degrades water and air quality.
8. Sprawl results in the permanent alteration or destruction of habitats.
9. Sprawl creates difficulty in maintaining community.
10. Sprawl offers the promise of choice while delivering more of the same.