It’s Toronto, there’s Traffic, Stupid
There were two articles in The Star today that immediately caught my eye - both involving transportation and development.
The first is the absurd one, entitled Gridlock warnings urged for condo buyers. It appears that North York Community Council voted yesterday in favour of posting signs up near new condo sites to warn potential condo buyers not to purchase there if they want to leave their homes in the rush hour. (Apparently, there’s traffic congestion in Toronto. Who knew?) It almost seems to me like this is a veiled attempt at NIMBYism, and residents of the North York Centre area think that it would be more effective at scaring away buyers with the big Traffic Monster than to actually constructively work with developers to get the best development for their neighbourhood. This motion by NYCC is utterly absurd on many levels. This is a region of 6-million people and a city of 2.5-million. There’s going to be traffic. Should we be posting these signs on every single road in the city? Yes, congestion is a bad thing, but it’s part of life, especially when you choose to drive your car to work. And that leads me to my second point. Yonge and Sheppard is not in the middle of suburbia far away from any higher order transit. There are not only one, but two subway lines converging onto this intersection, express bus services to link to Downsview (and the future Spadina extension), GO Buses down to York Mills and up to York Region, and two future LRT lines (Finch West and Sheppard East) easily accessible from the area with a short hop on the subway. The main driver of all the development in the community is the fact that it is so close to all these transit options and driving is not a necessity — not because it’s near the IKEA at Sheppard and Leslie. We should be doing all we can in encouraging more development in this area, not scaring potential residents away with unfounded fears. I really hope City Council will scrap this idea when it comes before them.
The second article is closely linked to this first one, talking about the positive impacts on land values that will result from all the transit investment that is being made in the region. The lands surrounding the Spadina Subway extension from Downsview to Vaughan Corporate Centre at Jane and Highway 7 stands to benefit the most and without a doubt will face intense redevelopment pressures once the subway is complete by 2014 2016. There is no doubt that in the coming years, transit will increasingly be the only way to get around in the region. Thus, if you’re looking to get into the real estate market, read up on MoveOntario 2020, Transit City, and the Metrolinx Regional Transportation Plan, if you really want some oomph in your investment. And then hope that stupidity doesn’t put “don’t buy here” signs on your front lawn.
