The Grid has some upsetting news for all the latte-sipping, bicycle-riding, downtown pinkos who are pining for more “urbanist” policies: Markham is looking better and better. The weekly reports that Toronto suburbs are adopting policies and tackling projects that would make Jane Jacobs proud—like networks of bike lanes and improved rapid transit. Even more interesting, though, is that while these sorts of civic initiatives may seem sacrilegious to Rob Ford, they’re being undertaken by a Markham mayor who’s simultaneously slashing spending and cutting staff. Which makes us wish the politicians in the clamshell would focus more on the possibility of progress and less on service cuts and regressive policies (even with a fiscal conservative at the helm)—because, seriously, it’s kind of embarrassing when Markham is kicking your ass. Read the entire story [The Grid] »
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Apparently, Markham and other Toronto suburbs are stealing downtown’s “mojo”
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Toronto needs to go back in time to stop Markham from stealing our mojo.
January 6, 2012 at 9:48 am | by MattBut then we’ll fail, and realize that we had our mojo all along.
I wouldn’t say places like Markham are “stealing our mojo” but they’re definitely doing a better job of preparing themselves for the future than we are. We’re definitely resting on our laurels, and have been for quite some time. If we hadn’t invested in ourselves back in the 70s and even earlier, we wouldn’t even have those laurels to rest on. Let’s not blow it out of proportion, for every Markham there is a Milton, King City, Maple and many others that are still building mcmansions and car-only neighbourhoods that will probably collapse when gas starts pushing up against the $2/litre mark. Althought I’m not fearful of it becoming the Greater Markham Area instead of the GTA any time soon, it is definitely a much needed wake up call.
January 6, 2012 at 9:49 am | by Nick