Zero Yonge Street
Posted by gigantichound on 30 May 2007 at 12:56 pm | Tagged as: Toronto
I can’t get all that upset about the condos slotted for the Pier 27 site at the foot of Yonge St. (link, link, link), though perhaps that’s a sign that I’ve lowered my expectations to the point where anything in that area other than windswept parking lots, mothballed party boats, random examples of ‘70s Brutalism and Captain John’s* seems like a triumph of urbanism. On a winter night, with a pitiless wind blowing across the ice from Hamilton, it brings to mind the Alden Nowlan poem that ends by referring to ‘the truth that we know but never utter/that this is a country where a man can die/from being left outside.’
What’s not clear is what’s happened to the very good idea, in the West 8 proposal, to move the ferry docks to the foot of Yonge St., funneling the passengers through an open-air market. Somebody mentioned Granville Island as a model, but I can’t find the reference now.
I assume the area marked ‘Mixed Use Redevelopment Site’ on the larger map is the privately owned parcel.
* True story – a colleague went there for lunch, just for fun, and reported back that it really is at least as bad as it’s reputed to be.
It’s kind of a good idea, except that we already have a great, lively public market just up the street at Front. The north side has sellers outside most months of the year on Saturday. Do we need another one?
The Granville Island public market, in my recollection and according to the website, is indoors. A good thing in sodden Vancouver.
Granville Island market is indeed inside.
I don’t think a big market obstructing the route to and from the ferry terminal is a great idea. Talk about a logjam.