Now, Minnan-Wong, Mayor Rob Ford’s public works committee chair, is finally in a position to inflict damage on the city. That came clear again Wednesday when the man from Don Valley East announced he wants to take another look at the scrambles installed at three Toronto intersections several years ago.
The three-cycle stops have slowed “traffic,” which means cars, and should, says Minnan-Wong, be examined. No, he's not coming right out and saying the scrambles should be eliminated, but you can rest assured he's not initiating the process because he's so enamored of allowing pedestrians some limited rights to Toronto's streets.
According to the Minnan-Wongs of the world, streets are for cars. It's that simple. Anything else — pedestrians, bicycles or streetcars — is in the way.
The well run city in this universe is one designed, arranged and organized for cars. That has been the case for generations. Understandably, some have grown used to things as they are. Canadian drivers have developed a strong sense of entitlement, the roads belong to them.
The facts tell us otherwise. Yonge and Dundas is the busiest intersection in Canada, 53,000 people cross it daily. By comparison, 35,000 cars drive through.
This is the corner that anchors the Eaton Centre, Yonge-Dundas Square, Ryerson University and the rest of the Strip. Yonge and Dundas has been called Canada's Main Street, and for good reason. In other words, here is the very pedestrian heart of Toronto.
But drivers must now linger minutes longer; their wait times have tripled, says a city report. As unfortunate as they may be, we console ourselves with the thought that many more Torontonians benefit than don't. Then there are the tourists. In economese it's called a “net gain.”
Minnan-Wong's skepticism reveals a deep misreading of the city itself, of the idea and reality of the city, the role it plays in people's lives and how it must grow and adapt as conditions, economic, social and culture, demand.
Around the globe, cities have learned that foot traffic is good, the heavier the healthier. In New York, Times Square is largely closed to cars and opened to pedestrians with spectacular results.
If congestion is such a problem it's because there are too many cars, mostly single-occupancy. For reasons that go well beyond Toronto, it will be transit that takes us to the future, not the car.
Failure to grasp that simple truth sets the stage for civic decline, even failure. The city needs more scrambles, not fewer.
It's hardly surprising that Toronto drivers, like those everywhere, resent losing their privileged position. But the car has taken us as far as it can; drivers must learn to share the road.
Minnan-Wong should know this and do all he can to ensure Toronto ends up on the right side of history. It's a matter of being smart, not liberal or conservative. It's also a matter of doing what's best for the city, not the suburbs.
How interesting, though, that since the election put suburbanites in control of the city last fall, Toronto's in-from-the-cold-masters have focused on little beyond downtown. Before scrambles, there was the Jarvis bike lanes, Gay Pride and then, of course, the Port Lands.
But with friends like these, who needs enemies? Minnan-Wong's drive-through mentality has no place in the modern world, let alone the modern city.
Origin
Source: Toronto Star
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