The first New York Low-line park?
What’s terrific about New Yorkers are their constant drive to make the city a better place. With the new success of New York’s High Line Park, citizens have band together in hopes to transform an abandoned trolley terminal on the Lower East Side. Using solar technology and fiber optics that will transfer sunlight to the underground, they hope to solve city issues of the lack of green space and empty land for public spaces. Currently, the project has gained public and city support and half-way to its $100,000 pledge support on Kickstarter.
As a citizen of Toronto, one has to wonder if we’re actually utilizing our space correctly and with it’s ongoing battle on whether or not the Gardiner expressway needs to be demolished, maybe we should be asking the question why we haven’t used any of the land beneath it.
A rendering of what Toronto could look like in 2014.
The old outdated city of Toronto logo seems to epitomize how things function in this broke and stagnate metropolitan. Led by a “I Know Best” Mayor in Rob Ford, the municipal government gives off the reputation that they are close for business. Which surprised me when I was aware that Open Data Toronto was in operation for more than 2 years. The goal of Open Toronto is to make the government open, accessible and transparent. Seems ironic doesn’t it? Allowing this information to be free and open to everyone allows better ways to improve in the city.
The best success story of this open source platform is in New York City. Spearheaded by Rachel Sterne, Chief Digital Officer of NYC, the city has promoted NYC OpenData as a creative/innovated way to make government more citizen-centric while holding officials accountable. Doing this has allowed apps, websites and online services at virtually no cost to the city. For example, The Daily Pothole, shows transparency and how much work the city is doing to repair the city’s ongoing road maintance issues.
This opportunity is great for startups and engaging the private sector, job creation while essentially at no cost to the city and more importantly, it engages the citizens. New York is currently running its 3rd annual Big Apps competition, which offers $50,000 in cash and other prizes to software developers for the best new apps using Open Data to help NYC Residents, visitors and businesses.
One can ask whether the city of Toronto has done a proper job promoting this open source initiative to its citizens and developers.
Old Toronto
![A parking gargage in Midtown Manhattan. Located at 13-17 East 54st St, design firm Pentagram designed the signage which features distinct typography and graphics. Design has no borders and everyone in Toronto knows our Green P parking deserves an upgrade.
[Pentagram]](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_leo9a1xOwH1qcoeleo1_1280.jpg)
A parking gargage in Midtown Manhattan. Located at 13-17 East 54st St, design firm Pentagram designed the signage which features distinct typography and graphics. Design has no borders and everyone in Toronto knows our Green P parking deserves an upgrade.
The greatest urban renewal project of our entire life is going to be making the suburbs walkable, liveable, denser, more family friendly, more engaged, fitter communities.
NPR: Light Rail Transforming Cities, Guiding Development
Take note, Toronto (I mean Rob Ford). Light Rail is the future, not subways and certainly not cars and buses.
In world-class cities there are bike lanes. So Cleveland and Buffalo don’t have them. But Paris, Montreal and London do…
Source: thestar.com
