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Gil Meslin Profile picture
Gil Meslin
@g_meslin
Father, planner, lifelong Torontonian - I love this city, and hope our children will also have a chance to do so. Here to share my ideas, and learn from yours.
Apr 7 • 28 tweets • 9 min read
1) Somewhere in the last few months, the Ontario Science Centre’s 2022/23 annual report was released. It shows that the OSC had attendance of 670,556 in that period. 2) 2022/23 is interesting in that it was a recovery year, people resuming routines following the winding down of COVID restrictions. The closest analogue is 2019/20, which lost its final weeks to COVID closures. Attendance in that year was 766,487. So 2022/23 was only off 13%.
Apr 25, 2023 • 5 tweets • 4 min read
In 2015, for $30M, the Province rebuilt 7.5 acres of Ontario Place to create Trillium Park.

In 2023, the Province plans to spend $300M - $600M to build an underground parking lot for a private spa operator, ostensibly to realize 12 acres of public space. ImageImageImageImage This is the West Island. Approximately 14 acres. It will be entirely bulldozed and built atop by @ThermeCanada’s spa. Entirely.

It could instead be renewed to a fantastic standard for less than @fordnation would spend on the parking garage that will facilitate its destruction. Image
Apr 18, 2023 • 17 tweets • 9 min read
1) Recently, on several consecutive weekends, @ThermeCanada ran full-page colour ads in Toronto newspapers promoting their Ontario Place proposal. Let’s look at what those ads showed, and whey they did not. ImageImage 2) Conveniently, @ThermeCanada’s website provides a plan view of the West Island, which makes it possible to pinpoint the location of the views in those ads, and consider them in relation to the entirety of the proposed design. Image
Jul 1, 2022 • 8 tweets • 3 min read
Mirvish Village, viewed from the CN Tower. (always pack a telephoto lens when taking out-of-town guests to the tower) Looking east, a view of the preparatory work underway in the Port Lands for the future Villiers Island development.
Jan 23, 2022 • 9 tweets • 4 min read
1) Something that stood out to me re: opposition to 60 units of modular housing at 175 Cummer Avenue.

This is Willowdale and Cummer: Image 2) The left image outlines the site of the proposed modular housing, on the north side of the Willowdale Manor property. The right image shows the proposed plan overlaid on the aerial. ImageImage
Nov 11, 2021 • 5 tweets • 2 min read
Dear @OntarioPlanners,
You may want to reacquaint yourself with the Statement of Values and Code of Practice that you require planners to study as part of earning accreditation. Statement of Values:
To respect and integrate the needs of future generations.
Members recognize that their work has cumulative and long-term implications. When addressing short-term needs, members acknowledge the future needs of people, other species and their environments...
Oct 19, 2021 • 32 tweets • 11 min read
1) When @fordnation proposes an idea for Toronto’s waterfront, you can be he will use the phrase ‘world-class’. No surprise, it’s one of the first phrases you find at the top of the government page on the #OntarioPlace redevelopment.
 
Let’s talk about ‘world-class’. 2) I hope we can begin with the shared premise that Ontario Place should be something special. That it is uniquely endowed with legacy, location, landscape, built heritage, and public ownership. It should be a jewel on the waterfront. A calling card for Toronto.
May 10, 2021 • 41 tweets • 15 min read
1. Last Friday was the 7th of May.
That was the one-year anniversary of Sidewalk Labs confirming, in a post from CEO Dan Doctoroff, that they would no longer be pursuing the Quayside Project. 2. Others, more knowledgeable than I on the subjects, wrote and spoke at length on concerns related to process, scope, financing, data governance, and privacy. I myself wrote about the need to achieve greater public return from such a unique public asset as the Port Lands.
May 6, 2021 • 107 tweets • 56 min read
#TPBscan #34

I think this may be the interior of the block in the previous photograph. Rear fences, clotheslines, parked cars, and a wreck with no wheels.

Should be able to find something like this with old aerials, but no luck so far. Image This mystery solved by @robintweetily!

Left: the block bounded by Rhyl, Elmer, Norway, Kenilworth Avenues, the interior of which is now occupied by Beaches Lions Centennial Apartments.

Right: the north side of Norway Ave, looking west toward Elmer Ave. ImageImage
Jun 12, 2020 • 14 tweets • 4 min read
1. A process is currently underway to develop a vision and framework for 520 acres of land in Downsview, served by three subway stations and a GO station.

It’s big!
Time to play, ‘How Big Is It?’ 2. The Downsview site, atop NYC, would take you from Tribeca to Downtown Brooklyn, encompassing the entire Brooklyn Bridge.
May 5, 2020 • 33 tweets • 11 min read
1. To recap.

Paris: 650 km of fast-tracked bikeways
Milan: 35 km of streets transformed for cyclists/pedestrians
NYC: 100 miles of open streets

Toronto? After weeks of foot-dragging, you may get a short stretch of curb lane closed off in front of a busy grocery or drug store. 2. And it’s not just places like Paris, New York and Milan. Cities around the world and across Canada have been well ahead of Toronto with respect to expanding space for active transportation and outdoor activities.

Feb 18, 2020 • 5 tweets • 2 min read
To drivers: 12.2 inch multimedia video on your console.

To pedestrians: put down your phones! To drivers: drown out the noise of other cars with 14 speakers.

To pedestrians: take out your ear buds!
Nov 27, 2019 • 12 tweets • 4 min read
1. This is a short thread that will try to look at AirPods and electronic devices in the context of Toronto’s pedestrian fatalities.

Let’s look at the numbers we have available. 2. To begin, 351 pedestrians were fatally injured in collisions with cars, trucks, and transit vehicles from 2008 to 2018. All numbers are from the TPS Killed or Seriously Injured (KSI) statistics.
Jun 24, 2019 • 15 tweets • 5 min read
1. Welcome to Toronto, where apparently you should now wave a flag if you hope to cross the street safely.

At a signalized intersection.

By a school. 2. For context, this if the intersection where these flags have popped up.

The problem here is not pedestrian visibility. It is drivers who race through yellows and run red lights to make it down the road to the next red light 30 seconds sooner.

Jun 3, 2019 • 17 tweets • 6 min read
1. So can I take a land use planning slant on the @OntarioPCParty ‘quest for beer’ social media campaign? #OnPoli 2. Many of these tweets are being framed around ‘convenience’ – selling the termination of the Beer Store contract as though it will provide people with walkable amenity. Step out the door to grab a beer!
May 27, 2019 • 11 tweets • 5 min read
1. The year is 1994, Toronto has been awarded an NBA franchise, and The Star and CFRB 1010 are running a name the team contest… 2. In April, after about a month, this list of names was posted, from which ten were randomly selected for voting.
May 9, 2019 • 10 tweets • 3 min read
1. So the Ontario government will announce a higher speed limits pilot for 400-series highways.

Interestingly, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) released a study on this subject one month ago.

(Cc: @JeffYurekMPP @fordnation) 2. The United States once had a National Maximum Speed Limit (NMSL) of 55 mph, repealed by Congress in 1995. The study looked at the subsequent effects of higher limits on fatality rates over the 25-year period from 1993-2017.
Mar 8, 2019 • 27 tweets • 10 min read
1) This is @johntory, yesterday.

Can we talk about the “incredibly challenging budget year given the $80 million shortfall in land transfer tax revenue”? 2) Every year, the City Council budget deliberations begin with a presentation by the City Manager.

For the last half-decade, that presentation has included a warning related to the need for sustainable revenue sources, and over-reliance on land transfer tax revenue growth.
Jan 26, 2019 • 33 tweets • 12 min read
1. As a child of Toronto in the ‘70s and ‘80s, I have much ❤️ for Ontario Place.

With redevelopment in the works, this is a postcard nostalgia thread.

Here is a site plan to orient yourself...

Cc: @MichaelTibollo 2. Zeidler’s pods and Cinesphere.
In the spirit of great Exhibition buildings, pushing the bounds of technology and technique.
Oct 21, 2018 • 48 tweets • 13 min read
1. It’s important to be for something, and to not just litigate grievances.

I want to tell you why I support @jen_keesmaat for mayor. @jen_keesmaat 2. I should first say that I worked alongside Jen for several years - my first planning job - at Office for Urbanism and DIALOG.
Oct 16, 2018 • 26 tweets • 12 min read
1. Maps and charts!

I posted this a little while back, based on data from the City's new 25-ward census profiles.

Let's pull it apart... 2. Reminder: this is based on counts of dwelling units, not of population in dwelling units.

First, StatCan definitions of structural type: