Raise the Hammer

From the Star article:

"The main street, Calthorpe says, will be a vibrant Jane Jacobs-inspired mix of businesses and shops that draw people from within and around, at all hours."

Beware anyone who cites Jane Jacobs as a marketing slogan. She was all about an organic, distributed form of urbanism, not this "grand plan" type of scheme. Don't forget, density also means more profit per hectare of expensive land purchased, not necessarily a better quality of life.

WOW. If they can actually succeed at getting a density that is only 400 j/p per hectare lower than downtown TO I'll be impressed. Along with the walking/cycling corridors and proper urban design, this could be really great.

Kudos to them for having the vision and guts to do this.

It would really make backwards cities like Hamilton look bad if car-dependent suburbs like Markham can pull it off.

I wouldn't get too excited. My wife and I lived in Markham's "new urbanism" based Cornell development for 3 1/2 years, having been lured there by grandiose promises of cafes, shops, art galleries and services all within walking and biking distances. There were plans for "lovely patios along bustling village like main streets, parkettes on every corner and nary a car in sight". What we got were failed businesses that soon became medical offices and a desolate, car dependent suburban landscape that had zero vibrancy and was, ultimately, no different from any other cookie cutter subdivision...except of course, the garages were in the back and the houses were set right up against the road. Cornell, unfortunately, had zero substance to go with all that style.

Seems like 'City Place: Markham' to me. IMO, City Place: Concorde (Spadina/Gardiner) is a FAIL despite best intentions.

I find it hard to believe anyone who lives/works in the Thornhill/Markham area would choose to walk over drive, but I disgress. (have you seen their business district (Commerce Valley Dr)??)

Check out this neat retail development in Thornhill (Centre Mall; What happened!?): http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&sour...

Don't be fooled; this isn't inner-City Toronto! It's sprawly Thornhill (just down the street from said development).

WHY COULDN'T CENTRE MALL BE DESIGNED LIKE THIS!? Check out the condos in the background! Much nicer than the Centre Mall 'Condos'!

Comment edited by Really? on 2010-03-24 15:49:06

is it just me, or do other people get annoyed when they hear of massive plans like this in suburbia in an effort to try to develop some semblance of urbanity while here in Hamilton we could practically crash the world wide web with our Walkability Fail series. We have so much that Markham would kill for and we're busy ruining it in an effort to become more like Markham. Can we trade city councils with them? Imagine a council that actually cared about this sort of thing? Hamilton would boom.

Check out this neat retail development in Thornhill (Centre Mall; What happened!?): http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&sour...

dang, that's depressing. We could have had that on Barton or on Upper James, but instead we got this:

http://www.raisethehammer.org/article/80...

Jason, here's the problem in Hamilton: People may try and change things; but once they encounter that Iron Curtain known as City Hall/City Staff, they give up and/or become jaded.

Perfect Example: Bob Bratina

I bet once (if) Harry Stinson finishes his Stinson School Lofts, he takes his meager profits and runs for the hills! It seems as though he's become yet another jaded failed dream: "[Hamiltonians]have smug looks and they're cynical. They say they've seen these projects come and go." "The harsh reality is that prices tend to go up as you get closer to completion. ... We're selling at prices that are making me sick. It's barely covering costs but we have to get the ball rolling." source: http://thespec.com/News/Local/article/74...

Comment edited by Really? on 2010-03-24 16:34:18

I believe this is the 'Village' Skully is referring to (please correct me if I'm wrong): http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&sour...

Great concept.. one which may have worked better if located closer to a City/Town Centre (Unionville/Main St Markham) rather than in an already-sprawling region. Chances are, if they've moved to this area, it's because they like the car-centric culture. How is one small development in a land of sprawl going to change this?

Squelchers/Politicians will point to it as a Failure (since people do indeed still drive, and those shops are all Dentists/Doctors rather than Starbucks' & Walmarts) and determine it's a model which should be dropped.

Remains to be seen what comes of Binbrook’s Fairgrounds subdivision (http://www.thefairgrounds.ca), but although it it isn't transit-savvy, it does represent a departure from the standard suburban script.

http://www.dailywebtv.com/york/video/15443/Visionary-Planning

Actually, that's "Greensborough"...Cornell is further along Bur Oak Avenue and features a "Main Street" of Live/Work Towns that were to form the village proper...the idea was you'd live upstairs and have your business downstairs (more than half of them are still sitting empty)...there was also another failed "main street" along Cornell Park Avenue (called the Cornell Mews, with condos on top), that, when we first bought, had a bank, a Jumbo Video store, a cafe/bar with a lovely outdoor terrace, hair salon, variety store, etc...three years later, the Jumbo Video went bust, the bank closed down (medical office), the hair salon shut (ob-gyn office), and the cafe/bar also became a doctors office...

New Urbanism is an amazing concept, but unless people buy into it and commit to leaving their cars at home, it's nothing but empty promises (and empty storefronts)...there was a great article in the National Post lamenting the "urban village that never was" and echoes many of the same sentiments I've expressed here...I'll try and find the link to post it here...

http://tinyurl.com/y8k8dsd

Excerpt:

“The mindset was that people wanted a village feel, but what emerged was a sort of pseudo-village,” said Michael Spaziani, a Toronto architect who a decade ago helped create Cornell’s open-space master plan, adding that Cornell is so far nothing more than a “cuter form of sprawl.”

John Evans, a father of three who moved to the Markham community about 10 years ago, said he was lured here by the promise of an imaginative urban development, only to today find his expectations not entirely met.

“I was drawn here by the novelty of the idea. But the goal of a walkable community with shops and a retail centre has not been achieved. We have to drive everywhere,” Mr. Evans said, adding that none of his children walk to school.

....

John Norquist, president and CEO of the Congress for the New Urbanism, a Chicago-based urban planning organization, said that while transit and a healthy commercial enclave are the lifeblood of a New Urban community, they are also among the most difficult aspects to achieve.

“It takes years for retail to take shape,” Mr. Norquist said, adding that other New Urban communities have opted to subsidize retail shops as a way to keep an otherwise dying town centre with high turnover on life support. “Achieving mixed-use — where there’s retail, office and residential spaces in close proximity — is hard in the beginning stages,” Mr. Norquist said.

Thanks, Skully. I believe this is what you're referring to, then?: http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&sour...

I've seen a couple examples of odd 'urbanism' experiments in Markham (there's also one based around a big, ugly stucco Church I believe??). It's strange that a suburb have so many isolated village-type neighbourhoods... perhaps the Canadian version of Gated Communities?

Hey, that's better than any of our new suburbs in Hamilton. At least they have a drug store and Hasty Market to walk to in the community. I wonder why we can't build proper suburban projects like this:

http://www.orencostation.net/

http://images.google.ca/images?client=sa...

I suppose having an LRT line through the middle of the burb connecting it to Portland helps, but make no mistake, many folks who live here are commuting via car. But at least they have a pseudo Westdale to come home to on evenings and weekends.

Well, Jason, Westdale was designed as-such to accomodate Street Rail! And look how popular of a neighbourhood it is today (despite the student ghetto)!

And yet, when Light Rail is proposed, those ignorant types suggest it's a waste of money and buses are fine. Something that's unnecessary.

So if we had a City full of neighbourhood nodes (such as Westdale Village, The Delta, etc)... then wouldn't it make it more desirable? I know people like the idea/theory of neighbourhood nodes (who actually likes to drive to a store for pop?), Hamiltonians are just too lazy to change things.

I think this stems from our blue collar heritage. We're so used to whining and crying to those who represent us (historically, Labour Unions --today, Carreer Politicians), that when something that threatens our ways comes up, we cry, kick & scream until that suggestion is nixed --ie: RHVP. "Don't let management change our hours" then vs "Don't let City Staff ruin my speedy commute!" today.

Baby Boomers essentially put the City in the predicament we're in today; and we all know how open to change they are (ever talked to a Boomer about Retirement???), so good luck getting things to change aslong as they're still running the show.

I had thought Hamilton's best chance at change would be the 2014 Municipal Elections... but I'm not so sure anymore, honestly.