Guest Blogger – More Questions on Planning

~ Guest Bloggers can submit posts to this site. The opinions of the authors are theirs alone and do not necessarily reflect the position of the City of Toronto, Civic Engagement Toronto or Toronto Civics 101. ~

Toronto Civics 101 participant Bill Gaw writes: During the Local Planning session we ran out of question time before I could raise these items with Paul or Jane. If there is space and time available perhaps they could comment through the blog spot.

Paul Bain and Jane Welsh of Toronto's City Planning Division respond to Bill’s questions below.

Question 1.

Bill asks: The Toronto Official Plan indicates that we want to reduce the need for automobile trips and increase cycling and walking as replacements. With that goal in mind, why do planners concentrate employment areas in segregated places instead of integrating them with other roles, similar to the way we integrate residential and commercial roles into mixed-use zones.

Paul answers: The Official Plan does call for reducing auto dependency. A majority of jobs in Toronto are actually in 'Mixed Use Areas' such as Downtown and the Centres that allow both commercial and residential uses. We are finding condominiums going up on the same block as office buildings downtown and in the Centres allowing people to walk to work. The Employment Districts, although they have about a third of Toronto's jobs, are different because they allow a fairly full range of industrial uses which are not a good idea to mix with residential because of truck traffic, noise, odours etc.

Guest Blogger - A View from the Crowd at T.O. 101

~ Guest Bloggers can submit posts to this site - the opinions of the authors  are theirs alone and do not necessarily reflect the postion of the City of Toronto, Civic Engagement Toronto or Toronto Civics 101. ~

The most important premier to happen in Toronto last week was also the least reported. Over a hundred Torontonians making up a representative sample of the city came together at City Hall for the first of six Toronto Civics 101 events. There may have only been one camera and the presence of only one celebrity (Mayor Miller), but no other event could claim to have as much future potential for the prosperity of Toronto.

Toronto Civics 101 is an important step in civic engagement and although it’s a new initiative, it felt like a throwback to an era before we would just crowdsource opinions online. For that reason, it felt extra special to be among the delegates for the rare opportunity to learn firsthand about our city and engage with strangers who we shared at least one commonality with: to make Toronto even better.