Major Changes Coming to this Site
March 19 update: further changes have been made to the layout of city pages thanks to feedback from a few sources, most notable from Matthew Lam. The Denver page is the first to undergo this new layout with such features as larger print and specific sections that are linked by a contents list at the top of the page. Over the next few weeks, other cities will undergo this change starting with the Minneapolis and Baltimore pages.
March 15 update: the full launch of the new look is now online, though a number of individual pages still have to undergo a conversion.
March 3 update: a sneak preview is now available on the Minneapolis page. This was the first page created on this site to show LRT in other cities, so it was chosen as the first to get the updated look. That, and the need to update a few of the details!
Major changes to the look and feel of this site are underway and should begin to appear online in a week or so.My thanks to all those who sent me messages regarding suggestions, all were very constructive and have been taken into account in one form or another. Watch for the new look coming soon!
March 18th, 2012 at 9:23 pm
Cal’s comment: I received this message under this topic. I’m not sure why it is here, and the salutation citing Ford as “Mayor-Elect” is a curious point. Nonetheless, I am leaving it in its unedited form…
My letter to Ford last night: -Dear Mayor-Elect,Congratulations on your vroicty. I was not among your supporters but I wish you and the city good luck and a good term.Now that the heat of the moment is over, and before you take action on your campaign promises, please take a quiet moment to think about global trends concerning streetcars. I know the TTC has neglected this valuable resource (largest network in the English-speaking world after Melbourne, Australia) and the current lines badly need some modern technology, fare payment, traffic light management, stop relocation, etc.to improve performance. But please, do not strike down streetcars, their planning or expansion without due consideration. There is something going on in the world that cannot be ignored inside the bubble of Toronto politics.Atlanta is building a streetcar, despite being a car-loving town. Tempe, Arizona is building a streetcar despite being a small city in the Southwest. Detroit and Cincinnati are building streetcars to spur development in their scarred downtowns. Even subway-rich Washington DC and New York are now studying or adding streetcar lines. Philadelphia has brought back an abandoned streetcar line. San Francisco is building more. Houston, Minneapolis, Phoenix, Seattle and Charlotte are among cities that have added LRT lines that act as streetcars downtown. None of this was true when you first became a councillor things have changed.In the big picture, Toronto is still well ahead of the game due to its legacy system and must not now fall behind its competition. Revise policy, study what you need to study, but clearly if all these places (American cities, at that!) are adding streetcars and Light Rail Transit then there must be something of value to such infrastructure, something that goes beyond just another bus line. To slow down, postpone, or discard any streetcar work in Toronto would be grand waste indeed, the kind you were elected to stop.Please give this careful thought. The world is watching.Steve: The real question here is whether streetcars are simply misunderstood, or are one of those irrational causes that politicians seize on. If the latter, no amount of common sense, not even a fiscal argument about how streetcars are better for the city, will sway Ford and his backers. His own policy head wrote a pile of drivel in his blog earlier this year on transit. It was disavowed by the Ford team at the time, but the attitudes must remain there underneath.