Get out there and vote! | Page 2 | GTAMotorcycle.com

Get out there and vote!

From a private FB group so I can't post pics. Hilarious sign edit for Terence Kernaghan in London North. Someone added speech bubbles above the sign with snarky comments (I betray you for a pension, etc). Didn't block or modify the sign in any way. I wonder if that would still be illegal. They didn't deface or remove the sign, they just added their own commentary and left the original sign untouched. That seems like a littering or sign by-law ticket instead of election tampering.
 
GreyGhost said:
With the housing built-form that we like in Ontario, alternative transport options are impossible. Public transport (or even walking/cycling as a viable option) only works for housing that is medium density or higher. Single family homes just spread people out too much to make anything other than personal vehicle viable. Something like uber or autonomous uber could replace personally owned vehicles but you are still mainly moving one person per automobile.
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Well thats the problem, we need to diversify housing when we develop new neighbourhoods. If you keep building single family homes non stop all over the place and just put a highway and a busy boulevard to get to that subdivision and neglect ANY other type of transportation method, you are setting yourself up for failure.

This highway basically sets the tone for whats to come. It's possible to do better urban planning and heck its even easier when you're doing the initial builds like this project. But all thats gonna be done there is just a highway. No plan to get anything like public transit thats easily accessed or to get more low-mid density builds (like 3-4 story apartments, triplexes, etc). It's gonna be the same thing all over again and then we're gonna wonder why traffic is getting worse.

Once we open that highway up, where do we think those cars are gonna end up? There's nowhere else to go but the OTHER exisiting highways that are CLOGGED all the time. This project portrays the insanity of our (poor) urban planning methodology which is mainly led by politics.
 
LePhillou said:
Well thats the problem, we need to diversify housing when we develop new neighbourhoods. If you keep building single family homes non stop all over the place and just put a highway and a busy boulevard to get to that subdivision and neglect ANY other type of transportation method, you are setting yourself up for failure.

This highway basically sets the tone for whats to come. It's possible to do better urban planning and heck its even easier when you're doing the initial builds like this project. But all thats gonna be done there is just a highway. No plan to get anything like public transit thats easily accessed or to get more low-mid density builds (like 3-4 story apartments, triplexes, etc). It's gonna be the same thing all over again and then we're gonna wonder why traffic is getting worse.

Once we open that highway up, where do we think those cars are gonna end up? There's nowhere else to go but the OTHER exisiting highways that are CLOGGED all the time. This project portrays the insanity of our (poor) urban planning methodology which is mainly led by politics.
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Much of the land near the highway is already planned and built-form is already set. The highway just eases access to what is going to be built. I agree with you, I think we could and should do much better but unfortunately the people making the decisions are happy with status quo.

Just to be clear, even if the highway doesnt go ahead, that area will be filled with mostly single family homes. How those people get out of that pocket is a major question mark/train wreck.
 
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GreyGhost said:
That's a reasonable position. The obvious follow up question is which of the other options that could theoretically form a government is better? Schreiner might be but he would be lucky to get personally elected, it is impossible for him to get enough candidates elected to be premier. Team corruption still hasn't purged yet so they are the worst choice. That leaves you with team hopes and dreams and unicorns farting rainbows. Yuck.
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There isn't! They are all awful. Clown show. Worst election to date. I'm a liberal, I support change and all that stuff but I can't vote for any Liberals. Del Duca was an awful choice. Ford is going to win a majority, and I can't stand the guy.
 
Max527 said:
There isn't! They are all awful. Clown show. Worst election to date. I'm a liberal, I support change and all that stuff but I can't vote for any Liberals. Del Duca was an awful choice. Ford is going to win a majority, and I can't stand the guy.
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Why do you have to ‘like’ someone to vote for them?
 
From the sounds of it, the highway was planned 30 years ago.
Considering how long people have been able to stick their hands out over it, the cost is to be expected.
Is a ring road still a good idea for Toronto? Where are the GO train stations? Are there any nearby?

Are you able to get people to move out to the sticks, and live in highrise buildings at this time, or do you have to wait for house prices/rent to double/triple?

What are we going to do in the future, to get more young people involved in changing adult diapers?
i.e. the issue with elderly residences. Calling in the armed forces, isn't something you can do every day, and juggling staff between sites to make up for shortages, will kill people during a pandemic. Speaking of which, what is the solution to a mass exodus, during a pandemic? Would a strategic stockpile of PPE help? Does Ontario need it's own?
 
This one is killing me. I can usually find something in one of the parties to vote for (I have voted for all three parties at various times and at various levels), but none are saying what I want to hear.

This PC group bungled the Covid response so badly that I swore I'd vote against them, and my dislike of Ford and some of his cabinet is less personal and more about how he represents the larger move towards simple-minded populism that's consuming conservative politics globally, to the exclusion of the pragmatic conservatism that appeals to me. Add that their platform is clearly designed to be as inoffensive as possible (which is working exactly as intended, assuming polling is accurate), and I just can't go that way.

But then the other two are tripping over each other to see who can buy the most votes with the biggest spending promises, which is not what I think we need coming out of Covid and the associated unbalanced budgets. That's not a surprise from the NDP, but the Liberals had a real opportunity to differentiate themselves from previous messes, but instead chose a charm-free guy who can't articulate any sort of pragmatic vision and to back a bunch of unrealized promises.

I may vote Green as a protest vote, as it's in danger of becoming a forgotten issue amongst all the greed and financial angst...
 
Baggsy said:
From the sounds of it, the highway was planned 30 years ago.
Considering how long people have been able to stick their hands out over it, the cost is to be expected.
Is a ring road still a good idea for Toronto? Where are the GO train stations? Are there any nearby?

Are you able to get people to move out to the sticks, and live in highrise buildings at this time, or do you have to wait for house prices/rent to double/triple?

What are we going to do in the future, to get more young people involved in changing adult diapers?
i.e. the issue with elderly residences. Calling in the armed forces, isn't something you can do every day, and juggling staff between sites to make up for shortages, will kill people during a pandemic. Speaking of which, what is the solution to a mass exodus, during a pandemic? Would a strategic stockpile of PPE help? Does Ontario need it's own?
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It doesnt have to be like that. But one of the big problems with our urban planning ..or lack thereof... is that we build high rises or single family homes.
There is what we call the "missing middle". Like those places like streetsville and port credit that have businesses at the bottom, and condos or apartments at the top.
Buildings that could be 4 or 5 stories high with maybe 8-10 units instead of it always having to be Huge or Small. Trying to build communities with walkability in mind (so you can do a trip to the grocery store 2-3 times during the week by foot or bike instead of having to do a major haul every week).
Make it so kids don't need the school bus to get to school... there are so many missed opportunities to plan communities in better ways.

From that smaller scale to the bigger scale of needing a highway to get everywhere there are improvements that keep being ignored because theyre not "popular" and they don't get votes.
 
Voted! I was undecided until the very end.

Liberals - couldn't do it...I don't think their leader is in any way better than Ford
PC - couldn't do it...not for him again. Screwed up the mandates, changed minds as soon as he saw things weren't going the way expected. Sure he recently put up some money into healthcare but to me that's too little too late. Same goes for the back and forth for childcare
NDP - first time voter for the NDP here. While I know they're pie in the sky and magical fairy dust plan is not realistic...I don't feel like I tossed my vote 100% as I would when I'd vote for the remaining parties.

This was literally the worst of the worst type of election. I hate this system. I hate the fact I have to choose the 'least worst' of a sea of terrible options.
 
LePhillou said:
It doesnt have to be like that. But one of the big problems with our urban planning ..or lack thereof... is that we build high rises or single family homes.
There is what we call the "missing middle". Like those places like streetsville and port credit that have businesses at the bottom, and condos or apartments at the top.
Buildings that could be 4 or 5 stories high with maybe 8-10 units instead of it always having to be Huge or Small. Trying to build communities with walkability in mind (so you can do a trip to the grocery store 2-3 times during the week by foot or bike instead of having to do a major haul every week).
Make it so kids don't need the school bus to get to school... there are so many missed opportunities to plan communities in better ways.

From that smaller scale to the bigger scale of needing a highway to get everywhere there are improvements that keep being ignored because theyre not "popular" and they don't get votes.
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That's rough. You're trying to put the Genie back in the bottle, returning to almost pre-war housing design.
Where can you get enough small time retailers, and commercial outfits to just meet the demand.

If you look at motorcycle shops, many are on huge plots of land. There aren't that many that you can bike, walk, ttc to anymore.
 
LePhillou said:
It doesnt have to be like that. But one of the big problems with our urban planning ..or lack thereof... is that we build high rises or single family homes.
There is what we call the "missing middle". Like those places like streetsville and port credit that have businesses at the bottom, and condos or apartments at the top.
Buildings that could be 4 or 5 stories high with maybe 8-10 units instead of it always having to be Huge or Small. Trying to build communities with walkability in mind (so you can do a trip to the grocery store 2-3 times during the week by foot or bike instead of having to do a major haul every week).
Make it so kids don't need the school bus to get to school... there are so many missed opportunities to plan communities in better ways.

From that smaller scale to the bigger scale of needing a highway to get everywhere there are improvements that keep being ignored because theyre not "popular" and they don't get votes.
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Four or five stories is a tough size. Tall enough that walkup may not be feasible and once you need elevators, costs spiral. I agree about one or two stories over commercial. A first step (and not an ideal one) could be at all big box wasteland. Easy to walk to the grocery store if it is downstairs and the footprint is large and ~square so it is easy to layout dwellings that use space well. Most wasteland also has some entertainment, fitness and restaurants within the parking lot. Not an ideal location to walk but easily doable.
 
My personal evolution as a voter are as the King of Sweden once said, "A man who has not been a liberal socialist before 25 has no heart. If he remains one after 25 he has no head.—King Oscar II of Sweden. Liberal Socialist applies to our Liberals and NDP. Sweden was briefly socialist until they almost went broke and are a unique brand of government similar to ours.
 
Voter Repression!!!

Kid forgot his ID, so I asked if I could vouch for him.
They told me I didn't need to, he could vouch for himself, they'd look up his signature or something, so I voted and waited outside.

Fifteen minutes later, I yell in, and tell him to take his card and go back to the house for his ID.

Edit: Kid went back with his ID and was allowed to vote.
 
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Baggsy said:
That's rough. You're trying to put the Genie back in the bottle, returning to almost pre-war housing design.
Where can you get enough small time retailers, and commercial outfits to just meet the demand.

If you look at motorcycle shops, many are on huge plots of land. There aren't that many that you can bike, walk, ttc to anymore.
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Well, thats the thing, we basically threw the suburban experiment from alpha test to full on production widespread all over the place without testing it. Basically this model depends on continuous growth to be sustainable. The problem is, municipalities only have so much space. And when growth slows or stops, you run out of developer money to keep up with your maintenance (or at least be able to stay out of deficit over the long run, over the repair lifecycle) We don't get things to grow organically, we master plan it and build it in pre-planned phases without always thinking about addressing some of the basic needs of the residents.

And yeah, motorcycles shops suck for getting repairs done, esp for a service where i need to leave it all day, or most of the day. I don't have an easy way to get there unless i have a car or i pay for an uber. Should it be like that? Probably not. We should "force" people to own a car (which require insurance and a lot of other costs attached to them), but places should be accessible through other means. A lot of people do NOT enjoy driving. It's a chore. Which means they won't pay as much attention or put in the effort to be as proficient as possible while driving. Making it more dangerous for everybody involved.
GreyGhost said:
Four or five stories is a tough size. Tall enough that walkup may not be feasible and once you need elevators, costs spiral. I agree about one or two stories over commercial. A first step (and not an ideal one) could be at all big box wasteland. Easy to walk to the grocery store if it is downstairs and the footprint is large and ~square so it is easy to layout dwellings that use space well. Most wasteland also has some entertainment, fitness and restaurants within the parking lot. Not an ideal location to walk but easily doable.
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Its tough for sure. But whats the better choice, smaller size, more affordable builds to have more affordable housing or we can keep doing the same thing we've been doing non-stop and have super expensive condos or single family homes and increasing car traffic ad naseum.
The big box wasteland design has too much segregation to make it easily accessible to the residents that live around it. It's often fenced out, removing all walkable shortcuts. Or there's no sidewalk to get there, and doesn't feel "safe" to walk to, etc etc etc. The other thing we deal with is that most of those are usually over 2-3km away so people won't consider the walk. It's not like i'm going to change that on a moto forum. But voting ford means taking several steps in the wrong direction.
 
Baggsy said:
If you look at motorcycle shops, many are on huge plots of land. There aren't that many that you can bike, walk, ttc to anymore.
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It's a case of suck or blow. It's virtually impossible for a small shop to compete with big box stores and online retail for anything except niche product or service.
Same with real estate developers, the caves at Humber Bay are a prime example. Sterile high rise boxes with no retail support except via the automobile. You want a modest single family home move to Timmins...
 
LePhillou said:
Well, thats the thing, we basically threw the suburban experiment from alpha test to full on production widespread all over the place without testing it. Basically this model depends on continuous growth to be sustainable. The problem is, municipalities only have so much space. And when growth slows or stops, you run out of developer money to keep up with your maintenance (or at least be able to stay out of deficit over the long run, over the repair lifecycle) We don't get things to grow organically, we master plan it and build it in pre-planned phases without always thinking about addressing some of the basic needs of the residents.

And yeah, motorcycles shops suck for getting repairs done, esp for a service where i need to leave it all day, or most of the day. I don't have an easy way to get there unless i have a car or i pay for an uber. Should it be like that? Probably not. We should "force" people to own a car (which require insurance and a lot of other costs attached to them), but places should be accessible through other means. A lot of people do NOT enjoy driving. It's a chore. Which means they won't pay as much attention or put in the effort to be as proficient as possible while driving. Making it more dangerous for everybody involved.


Its tough for sure. But whats the better choice, smaller size, more affordable builds to have more affordable housing or we can keep doing the same thing we've been doing non-stop and have super expensive condos or single family homes and increasing car traffic ad naseum.
The big box wasteland design has too much segregation to make it easily accessible to the residents that live around it. It's often fenced out, removing all walkable shortcuts. Or there's no sidewalk to get there, and doesn't feel "safe" to walk to, etc etc etc. The other thing we deal with is that most of those are usually over 2-3km away so people won't consider the walk. It's not like i'm going to change that on a moto forum. But voting ford means taking several steps in the wrong direction.
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Thing is if you go into Toronto, many of the mom and pop corner variety stores have closed. If you don't have some place close by to walk to for milk, bread, eggs etc., you're probably going to drive to a larger supermarket with a parking lot bigger than the store. When I was a kid, we could walk to a pharmacy, variety store, grocery store, butcher, shoe maker, watch maker, artist, tailor, cleaners, restaurant, laundry, doctor & dentists' offices. The mall and Maple Leaf Gardens were a street car away. Times have changed. You can't do that anymore, even in my old neighborhood.
 
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