What's the biggest change you would make to your city?

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by Bluenote

As for French, you going to foot the Bill, I am tired of high taxes paying for Biligual signs. If we did that then they should be in German, Various Asian, and most of all NATIVE, since that is the biggest population here. St V was distinct as being the English 1/4 and St B and St N were the French 1/4. Each area of the city should be unique as we are a very multicultural city.

I do not have an opinion on bilingual signs in Winnipeg but the idea that is costs a lot is false. You just replace the old English only signs with bilingual ones when they wear out.

[vid]

Replace signs?! I don't want to pay for that! If motorists want to find their way around they can buy a map.

Originally Posted by Wharn

I agree with Vid, a stiff fine ought to be imposed if you're ever caught. Which you won't be, because cops prefer to prey on motorists.

Not in Thunder Bay! A few cyclists have been charged recently for riding on the sidewalk. I've gotten used to riding in traffic enough that I am even making left hand turns from one busy four lane road to another. Left hand turns move slowly enough that you can keep up if you're in the right gear, then just merge right to the outer lane again.

All of our cycling accidents are because cyclists are going through crosswalks too fast and turning vehicles can't see them. We haven't actually had a bike accident yet where the cyclist was riding in traffic. But if I had a nickel for every time a car passed too close to me, I'd have, like, 45 of them or something.

[Andrewjm3D]

Originally Posted by MolsonExport

He looks like a satisfied KFC customer. Wait a minute....

Here he was 6 weeks away from finishing his publicized diet where he ended up failing by about 45lbs. I wonder why.

• Video Link

[Andrewjm3D]

What I would like to see is the DRL for the Toronto subway system. The LRT's will be great for the burbs but the downtown needs help with the crazy congestion we have. I'd also like to see tolls in place like in London for anybody who opts to drive over public transit into the core.

[SignalHillHiker]

Originally Posted by FrAnKs

Quebec city :

- Stop allowing clapboard for exterior cladding on houses... ( Cheaper doesn't exist )

...For the rest I can manage it

Aww, I LOVE clapboard! Of course, you have to in order to live in St. John's, hahaha. Excluding modern buildings and the stone buildings along Water and parts of Duckworth streets, most of St. John's is clapboard (or vinyl made to resemble it).

The only exterior finishing on a house that I think looks bad is stucco. I first encountered that out west and I assumed it was fire-retardant foam. I thought, OK, once that cures they'll wrap it up with a moisture barrier and then put on the siding. It was only when I realized every house in the neighbourhood had it that I asked a friend what was going on... he's probably still laughing at me.

[SignalHillHiker]

Also, a new one for St. John's:

Once I made Water/Duckworth one-way streets, and introduced diagonal parking, I'd also widen the sidewalks on both sides of both streets.

I noticed walking around downtown yesterday that I was getting a LITTLE frustrated by the crowds. You were walking shoulder-to-shoulder with people, lots of whom were slow-moving tourists. Downtown needs more pedestrian room.

[roccerfeller]

Originally Posted by SignalHillHiker

Also, a new one for St. John's:

Once I made Water/Duckworth one-way streets, and introduced diagonal parking, I'd also widen the sidewalks on both sides of both streets.

I noticed walking around downtown yesterday that I was getting a LITTLE frustrated by the crowds. You were walking shoulder-to-shoulder with people, lots of whom were slow-moving tourists. Downtown needs more pedestrian room.

Interesting. One of my best friends from Montreal is going to be moving to St Johns next year...I might be one of those slow movers when I come to visit him haha

How could that be fixed? Is there enough room or should some streets be denied to motorists for pedestrian only zones

[SignalHillHiker]

Originally Posted by roccerfeller

Interesting. One of my best friends from Montreal is going to be moving to St Johns next year...I might be one of those slow movers when I come to visit him haha

How could that be fixed? Is there enough room or should some streets be denied to motorists for pedestrian only zones

That'd be lovely but I doubt people would go for it because parking is at such a premium. If they put up a few attractive parking garages, you might be able to make a few blocks of Water Street pedestrian only.

George Street is already (mostly) pedestrian. And there are some narrow lanes downtown that are stairs so, obviously, pedestrian only. But that's about it.

[SignalHillHiker]

I asked my family and friends in St. John's this question and the most common response I got was one I hadn't thought of. It's something I always sort of tolerated as the price of living in a beautiful, old city but - after walking around yesterday to take these pictures - I'm starting to agree with my family and friends.

Their most common response: remove all metal and wooden poles downtown and place utility wiring underground.

Here are a few pictures of how it generally is. I went around and tried to choose a few scenes that are typical. There are some areas where the poles/wires are less intrusive, and many areas where they look like MUCH more of a mess:

[MolsonExport]

^the place looks awesome all the same. The only province I have yet to visit.

[LeftCoaster]

Originally Posted by Andrewjm3D

What I would like to see is the DRL for the Toronto subway system. The LRT's will be great for the burbs but the downtown needs help with the crazy congestion we have. I'd also like to see tolls in place like in London for anybody who opts to drive over public transit into the core.

I fully agree with the DRL, single most important change needed in Toronto IMO.

I'm a little wary of congestion pricing in the core though, it could very likely push firms out of the core. The office market is already hyper-competitive as it is, placing a big deterrent like that could really send a lot of firms over the edge and out to mississauga/vaughan/markham etc...

[yaletown_fella]

Are there any feasible plans to bury Toronto's hydro lines? The wooden poles and wires definitely give the city a frontier town vibe.

[Innsertnamehere]

Originally Posted by yaletown_fella

Are there any feasible plans to bury Toronto's hydro lines? The wooden poles and wires definitely give the city a frontier town vibe.

Not really, but a couple of streets with then above ground have plans to have them buried when the street gets redone.. John street is planning a "revitalization", which will include burying the lines and new sidewalks. St. Clair had it's cables buried when the streetcar ROW was installed as well.

[halifaxboyns]

What would I change for Halifax? Wow - so much to think about.

1. Get rid of the Tuft's Cove generating station in favour of something more inland and less prominant;
2. Develop Transit Oriented Development Plans in preparation for a multi-modal type transportation system of ferries, streetcars, lrt, and regional rail;
3. Develop a high speed ferry system that would service Bedford, Purcell's Cove and Shannon Park (with plans to extend if needed);
4. Require new subdivisions to have buried power lines and more street trees (like DMJackson's comment);
5. Build the 3rd harbour link as a tunnel (despite cost) and use it as a means to develop an LRT along the Portland Street corridor (and provide zoning opportunities along the corridor for the auto oriented businesses to redevelop into mixed use developments with varied densities and redevelop Penhorn Mall);
6. Build the LRT as a tunnel through downtown with the downtown portion eventually being shared between two lines (providing enhanced service);
7. Build a series of streetcar lines (2 for the peninsula and 2 for Dartmouth). One would use Agricola and then go through downtown looping back past the farmers market. The second would go from Halifax Shopping Centre along Windsor and then share the DT line until Morris - then head up to the IWK and universities. The Dartmouth lines would loop from Wallace Heights/Shannon Park to the Bridge terminal and then through DT Dartmouth and along Pleasant to Woodside. The second line would go from the Bridge Terminal through Highfield Park and Burnside and to Dartmouth Common;
8. Use the Regional Centre Plan to enact density bonusing that would include affordable/low income housing, contributions to transportation, local parks, recreation services. I would use the streetcar lines to redevelop North Dartmouth, Highfield Park, Shannon Park, Wallace Heights and the Agricola/Windsor corridors;
9. Shannon Park would become a mixed use development containing HRM's new stadium (at least 30,000 seats), a boardwalk along the water edge and some nice mixed use style buildings along the waterfront. The boardwalk would extend over the park that would be the existing Tufts Cove Power Plant;
10. Build a regional rail system that would go from the existing train station (which would be named Central Station) to Truro, Windsor and Tantallon along existing or defunct rail lines using modern rail cars;
11. Build a regional LRT system consisting of three lines (red, green and blue). At full build out, the red line would go from the 4 pad arena near the RIM building, to Mill Cove, along the Bedford Highway until Robie Street, then into the downtown core through the 3rd harbour tunnel to Penhorn and along Portland Street to Cole Harbour. The Green line would run from Sackville/Bedford, to Burnside to the Bridge Terminal. The Blue line would run from Clayton Park to Mumford, then up Quinpool to the QE2 Hospital, through dt to the Bridge terminal. Then to Mic Mac Mall, Dartmouth Crossing and extend to new subdivisions NW of Dartmouth Crossing;
12. I would replace the MacDonald Bridge in a way that it could have the LRT run on a lower deck, but be raised higher for Port traffic to Ceries;
13. Move Halterm to Dartmouth and redevelop the existing Halterm lands into a mixed use community;
14. Build the NW Arm Crossing as a tunnel and then extend the Almon Streetcar to the mainland to create new transit oriented communities;
15. Extend the NW Arm Tunnel Road to NW Arm Drive finally completing the loop road around the Mainland, Peninsula and Dartmouth;
16. Set minimum densities for new suburban development that increase every 5 years, with a minimum percentage of high density (also increasing every 5 years);
17. Denote the forum lands and the commercial area along Kempt Road as a new mixed use community with a height maximum up to 50 stories (the new tall tower area);
18. Expand bike lanes and system;
19. Expand the airport by lengthening the runway and seeking out more international traffic;
20. Have the population at around 550,000 and growing...fast;
21. Encourage rejuvination and replacement of older housing stock on the peninsula and in Dartmouth (grows the tax base);
22. Build a new metro centre.

[Marty_Mcfly]

Changes to St. John's eh? I can think of so many.

a. City council needs a COMPLETE overhaul (more or less). There are people who are only on council to run their own agendas.

b. I also would change Water and Duckworth streets to one way each. I probably wouldn't change parking to angle parking, but with two lanes of flowing traffic in the same direction along each street, traffic jams in the downtown area during peak traffic hours would be less of an issue. After doing this, I would more or less eliminate Harbour Drive, except for in key areas to access the docks. Turning Harbour Drive in to green space and a park would be amazing. Right in the heart of downtown, right on the harbour. Tourists and locals would completely enjoy such a thing.

c. Restrict future development beyond 6 storeys on water street between scotia building and fortis. For the obvious heritage reasons. HOWEVER, anyone owning a heritage property must make sure the properties are in the best of shape. The only thing worse than destroying a run down heritage property for new development is leaving a run down heritage property run down. We don't need rat shacks on our busiest street, but there are plenty.

d. Allow the only other highrise building on the east end of water street to be built adjacent to Fortis and TD. The view in the area has been destroyed anyway, allowing an ~10 storey building there wouldn't bother me.

e. Continue building up west downtown for high rise buildings (in the area west of the current 351 all the way over to the proposed deacon investments office). The infrastructure can handle the added traffic, so we shouldn't restrict development over in that area if it's the ideal place for such a thing.

f. AMALGAMATE EVERYTHING. From Pouch Cove to Holyrood. Can one really distinguish municipal boundaries when driving from Torbay to Holyrood? The only thing that changes is the color of the street signs. As a relatively small metropolitan area we should all be working together for the best of the entire area, and not against each other. St. John's and Mount Pearl should not be competing to draw business to each city, they should be working together. The quicker we all become one (whether you call it the St. John's Regional Municipality, Avalon, or anything like that)

[SignalHillHiker]

Marty for Mayor!

We shared a few in common, and of those we didn't, I LOVE your B. Awesome idea.

[flar]

Originally Posted by Marty_Mcfly

f. AMALGAMATE EVERYTHING. From Pouch Cove to Holyrood. Can one really distinguish municipal boundaries when driving from Torbay to Holyrood? The only thing that changes is the color of the street signs. As a relatively small metropolitan area we should all be working together for the best of the entire area, and not against each other. St. John's and Mount Pearl should not be competing to draw business to each city, they should be working together. The quicker we all become one (whether you call it the St. John's Regional Municipality, Avalon, or anything like that)

Careful with that one. The last two cities I've lived in (Ottawa and Hamilton) have serious clashes between suburban/rural and urban interests.

[CtrlAltDel]

For Calgary, in winter, I would like this:


By me.

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[SignalHillHiker]

^ Awesome job. And great photo of Calgary!

[halifaxboyns]

Originally Posted by CtrlAltDel

For Calgary, in winter, I would like this:

Perfect - I live near the bow. I could use a vacation.