THE BIG FIX

It took decades to remove fire hydrant
blocking a too narrow sidewalk.

Within fifteen years, 20,000 people will come to reside within a five minute walk of the Yonge Eglinton intersection — where a transit gateway hopefully of 'anthem proportions' might emerge — failing which, we'll simply endure the 'more of the same or less' legacy experience.

One should never forget the previous 'towers in the park' development surge before this current 'tall building' era. Back then, when the dust settled, the public realm remained unimproved. A five-fold population increase carved long-familiar ruts alongside the old legacy sidewalks, and produced scenes as shown here...

We're facing a similar challenge today, 
where, without a comprehensive beneficial planning strategy, we are likely to experience a similar diminishment in 'urban equilibrium'. 

The YE Centre's planning is not working. 
It's fractured between two distant jurisdictions — dividing it right through to the core. Likewise, the Yonge Street's intensification remains undefined in a classic Catch 22 paradox wherein Avenue Studies cannot be performed within a Secondary Plan Area, this being the purview of the Yonge Eglinton Secondary Plan, which fails to take up this responsibility — meanwhile, the pace of development marches along, challenging the archaic planning framework left in place.

The solution to these conditions requires that good planning be set in place, fit-to-the-purpose — failing which less than appropriate and beneficial outcomes sadly devolve.