- Chris Selley: Turning the Islands into Toronto's Central Park
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One Saturday afternoon last month, I nipped into the south end of Central Park in New York to eat a bag lunch on one of those awesomely incongruous metamorphic boulders. As I watched the endless passing throngs, I was reminded yet again of just what a heartening sociological spectacle the park is. Every class, every race of New Yorkers habituates it, pushing strollers, picnicking, throwing footballs, taking their kids to the zoo. The UN Human Settlements Program ranks New York as the ninth most unequal city on Earth, and yet in the heart of it, watched over by the upper storeys of some of the most valuable real estate in the world, all its citizens regularly partake together of the joys of a truly public space.
Returning home to Toronto's City Centre Airport, I got to thinking: Why aren't the Toronto Islands like that? There are some obvious answers: They're right at the bottom of the city, not on the way from anywhere to anywhere else. And whereas New Yorkers live with a fraction of the personal space their income would afford them in a less insanely expensive city -- and thus must supplement it in public places -- backyards in Toronto are relatively cheap and plentiful.
Sunday, August 23, 2009
I Have Been Advocating This For Years
Move the island squatters and turn the island into a National Park.......
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About Me
- Unhypentated Canadian
- I lean to the right but I still have a heart and if I have a mission it is to respond to attacks on people not available to protect themselves and to point out the hypocrisy of the left at every opportunity.MY MAJOR GOAL IS HIGHLIGHT THE HYPOCRISY AND STUPIDITY OF THE LEFTISTS ON TORONTO CITY COUNCIL. Last word: In the final analysis this blog is a relief valve for my rants/raves.
1 comment:
fucking brilliant!
....except, it isn't legal. The island residents have legal leases and own structures.
You'd be bitching next about the legal costs of removing them.
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