Hampered by its design and hit by the pandemic, the downtown public space needs resuscitating.
By Alyshah Hasham • Toronto Star
Best buy, movie theater, jack astors, eaton center, way too many cars…it’s just a glorified suburban mall with billboards and street preachers
For a successful Central open area, check out Mississauga celebration square. Every time I pass there, there is an event, festival, or just people enjoying the splash pads and open space. They play major sports games on the screens, and it’s not just a useless spot for people to get harassed by the Toronto, well known weirdos that nobody does anything about.
I passed by it so many times and it never quite regiatered it was supposed to be a square…
If a public square wants to attract local people, and not just tourists who don’t know better like Times Square, then the public square needs to be welcoming to local people.
That means no giant screens trying to distract us and no car traffic to drown our voices. It means trees for shade, benches and tables where people can meet, and places for children to play. You want to add a central area for events? That’s fine as well after you have addressed the basics.
Might be a good idea to just close the entire block and intersection to all traffic except for streetcars. Make it like a uniquely Toronto version of Vancouver’s Robson Square.
That way the Southwest side of the intersection won’t be fully occupied by the people proselytizing.
We can’t even get cars out of Kensington market. We’ll never close a stretch of Yonge.
A TTC fanatic can dream…
Lots of the fun and exciting things in Kensington Market happen when it’s closed off to car traffic. Maybe they could at least afford to close Yonge on weekends?
I can’t seems to read the article but as somone who passes the square daily I’d have a few suggestions.
Make Young a pedestrian road. As sidewalks are insanely crowded and dangerous.
Restrict use of amplification systems for the event puproses only. If some dude wants to yell about how we are all going to hell that fine, but they shouldn’t get to do so with a megaphone or sound system. It doesn’t exactly create a welcoming environment.
Also maybe direct protest around it and not through it. As a local I avoid those regardless of what they are protesting.
As an easy one maybe just advertise the events there a little better. Take one of screens and pop a schedule on there. I come by and occasionally see a cool event going on but don’t have time to stop and check it out
Even better after there was a person running around with an axe nearby
https://torontomu.apparmor.com/Notifications/CAP/?id=124789&t=84891032
Not true at all, that square attracts all sort of broke people, homeless people, people with mental health issues, gangs, security guards that hang out in groups of 3 and 4 instead of 2 at time patrolling the square like they were hired to do, and above all, straight out shady peoples selling and doing drugs in plain view of cameras.
