[Gresto]

Originally Posted by isaidso

It's not about demanding gllitz and glamour. It's about expecting a minimum standard and Yonge Street falls massively short. Is it really too much to ask that our main artery be free of ramshackle buildings, a chaotic mess of cheap gaudiness, have sidewalks made of a decent material, and that 75% of the space isn't paved over with asphalt?

Yonge Street is possibly the worst main street of any global city of consequence. For many locals it's all they've ever known so are blind to how bad it really is. Go to Sydney, Istanbul, Buenos Aires, Paris, Singapore, Stockholm, Tokyo and look at their streets. Then come back and argue this is anywhere close to good enough. Yonge Street is an embarrassment and has been for 80 years.

It never ceases to amaze me how many Torontonians have blinders on when it comes to these things (public realm, quality, design). Expecting Yonge to be glitzy and glamorous isn't on people's radar. What they want is a street that doesn't make them want to vomit. Yonge is, Front to Dundas excluded, an astoundingly ugly street.

It at least used to have some character when all those neon signs were extant. But yes, for the main street of a major city, it is a bad joke. Other than fairly copious pedestrian traffic, it doesn't feel noteworthy in the least. The sidewalks are too narrow, and people just park their vehicles in the right lane to hop into stores or carry out deliveries, with impunity. I read that improvements to Yonge won't be completed (or started?) until 2030.