Yonge and Bay Must be One Way!

It's clear that the NDP dominated Toronto City Council has no respect for business and the automobile. The automobile is the transportation of the devil himself. Instead, they'd like to see everyone riding a wobbly, unlicensed, unchecked two-wheeler. Of course, the mayor rides around in a chauffeured limo - wow, that must use twice as much gas as an ordinary car. It's probably left idling in the cold months, which represent 2/3rds of the year.

I'm not sure if it has been already studied, but I propose that Bay be made one-way south, from Dundas to Front St., and Yonge be made one-way north, from Front St. to Dundas. The northern end of the loop would have to be studied, but basically we'd have 4 lanes in each direction, with easy turning. Many of the east-west streets between the two streets are already one way. Simple signs on each street could indicate turning points, say to hit 800 Bay or 555 Yonge, so those who complained that they "whizzed by" their intended destination could easily get back.

In Hamilton, where one can get from one end of the city to the other in one set of traffic light sequences, they have parking on both sides of the street in many places and traffic STILL moves! They also have HUGE street signs so even the blindest driver can see the upcoming cross street. I say BRAVO to these intelligent planners.

I realize I am probably "whistling dixie" by asking our flower pot councillors to actually consider a common-sense solution, but won't someone please speak for the masses in city hall (I would if I had time, instead, I do web pages and try and earn a living). Why do they only listen to the screaming mini-minorities and build bike lanes that no-one uses? They've already ruined Gerrard St., and turned it into a gridlocked nightmare (hope YOUR kid isn't in one of the ambulances going to Sick Kids while it struggles down Gerrard - hope he takes the helicopter!) City councillors have already converted Sherbourne St. into a bike lane, at the protest of 99% of the residents, businesses, and associations - including the TTC! (see Stop the Sherbourne Bike Lanes).

Recently, it has been written that the City of Toronto is losing businesses at an alarming rate to 905-land. 905-land is getting a new, ultramodern ETR 407 to service its burgeoning business. Toronto is turning its streets into gardens (to discourage taxis from lining up on Cumberland to service Toronto's only 5 star hotel), they plopped huge planters on the street. Now, the taxis park beside the planters, making the entrance to Cumberland even more dangerous. Toronto wants everyone to ride their bikes, in a city that has two seasons, winter and the rest of the year.

Somebody do something! Somebody say something! Let's restore some sanity to the streets and get business going again! You want help? I'll tell you what to say, and tell you who to say it to: copy and paste these words into an e-mail:

Wake up city council: the public is listening and watching you. We want to make the City of Toronto work again - for business and the people who work at these businesses, not for a radical minority who want to turn the streets into bike paths and the sidewalks into gardens. To help get those business people to and from work, we'd like to see:

1. Yonge and Bay made one-way, to have a decent traffic flow, instead of 7-7 gridlock
2. Gerrard St. bike lanes eliminated, and the Sherbourne St. bike lanes eliminated
3. Parking meters on the new one way streets, and cheaper public parking, so people aren't as tempted to park on the streets
4. Large street signs so people can see where they're going, with street numbers on them
5. A program to encourage businesses to come back to Toronto
6. A plan to speed up construction on our main arteries, like the Gardiner and DVP, so people aren't afraid to come downtown. Why not take the million dollars that you've spent and plan to spend on bike lanes, and donate it to Metro, so they can finish the Gardiner early? Why not work with Metro, instead of fighting them?