[URBAN NOTE] Five Toronto links: Toronto Monopoly, signs, public art, Portlands, Union Station

[rfmcdonald]

• blogTO notes that there is, for a short while, a Toronto-themed version of Monopoly available for sale.


• The iconic Toronto sign in front of City Hall is set to be replaced with a more cost-effective one. The Toronto Star reports.


• I like the controversial statue of a man 25 feet tall placed in front of a new condo development on St. Clair Avenue West. The Toronto Star reports.


• The National Post reports in depth of the plans of Google's Sidewalk Labs to transform the Portlands.


• Sean Marshall looks at how the concrete barriers put up in front of Union Station disrupt, particularly, non-car traffic there.

Comments

[jsburbidge]

The thing that makes the barriers at Union look utterly cynical and pro forma is that there are none in the other corners. An auto could typically mow down twenty or thirty people by cutting across the corner by the Federal Building where pedestrians queue to get from the bus terminal to the train station, and where there are no barriers.

[armiphlage]

Bollards could be an attractive and useful solution. Amsterdam has them everywhere, and they are quite good at stopping vehicles while having little impact on pedestrian traffic.

I personally like the rising bollard systems - they automatically lower to allow transit vehicles to enter the area, and then rise to block unauthorized vehicles. This would be a good way to protect the crowds of people on GO Bus platforms.

(video of automatic bollards lowering for busses, then blocking other vehicles)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IELpd43PMvk

(video of a 30-tonne truck being stopped by a rising bollard)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GIywj53l-8E