Crothers' Woods Master Plan

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Landscape Architect David Leinster of The Planning Partnership presented his group’s recommendations for the future management of Crothers’ Woods at a public meeting last night. The meeting was attended by about 30 people, less than half of the number that attended the initial consultation in November. I suspect the lower turnout was because the meeting wasn’t widely publicized — I only found out about it from a post on the Don Watcher blog and couldn’t find any mention on the City’s web site.


Map of Crothers’ Woods
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Pottery Road trail head
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The Flats
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Trail head behind Loblaws
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CN tracks
You have to cross these tracks to get to the Flats
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CP tracks
These mark the western edge of Crothers’ Woods.

Crothers’ Woods is an environmentally sensitive area in the Don Valley bounded roughly by Pottery Road & Bayview Avenue to the south, the CP tracks to the west, Millwood Road to the north, and the Don River to the east. Although it has no formal access points, it is a very well-used park. Identified users include hikers, dog walkers, trail runners, orienteers, school groups, and birders, but mountain bikers are the primary users of the park by far. They have created an astounding array of trails complete with ladders, teeter-totters, and other constructed elements to make the trails more interesting and challenging. Unfortunately, they’ve also created a looming ecological problem because the current trail system increases soil erosion and instability.

The primary issues that the master plan addresses are restoring the natural environment where it has been degraded by human activity and invasive species, and mitigating the further negative effects of human activity. It sets out a variety of common-sense measures to meet these goals, including native species plantings and “manual” plant control (which I took to mean “weeding”).

As for the trails, they’ll be realigned in many places and closed in the most sensitive or degraded areas. Of approximately 10 km of existing trails, 1.8 km are slated for closure. The rest will be realigned along natural contours of the land where necessary and will be managed along sustainable trail building principles as identified by the International Mountain Bicycling Association.

Also included in the plan will be new directional and wayfinding signage on the trails. This will help cyclists like me stay on the beginner trails and go in the right direction at a fork in the trail. Access to the park will be upgraded from about 10 informal access points to a half-dozen formal trail heads with information kiosks, community bulletin boards, trail maps, and other information. Two of these trail heads, at the base of Pottery Road and behind the Loblaws on Redway Road, will include parking.

Most of the above is non-controversial. The same can’t be said for the plan to close off access to the area known as “the Flats.” A Don Watcher entry provides some background detail about the Flats, including pictures. The study identified this area as among the least ecologically sensitive, so why is it being closed off? It’s all to do with the railway. The area is in a bit of a no-man’s land, requiring users to cross the CN tracks that run along the bottom of the Valley. Unfortunately, the crossing is illegal. CN has been unresponsive to the idea of installing a legal crossing in the area, so the architects of the master plan felt they had no choice but to cut the Flats off from the rest of the park.

End of story for the Flats? Well, it could have been if not for the public consultation. A couple of people at the meeting asked why it wasn’t possible to put bridges across the river, joining the Flats to the main paved Don pathways near Beechwood Drive and Don Mills Road. This would effectively do away with the troublesome railway crossing and enhance access to the Flats.

The answer from the City’s representative, Garth Armour, was that it had simply never occurred to them. He added that he’d look into the possibility, and that there might even be money in the budget for it. So the Flats may be saved after all.

I mention this incident not to condemn the City or the master planners, but to underscore the value of public input into the process. Sometimes, it takes an outsider to point out a painfully simple solution to a room full of experts. It’s not that the experts are stupid, it’s just that the process can become so focussed on one aspect of a problem (how to join the Flats to the rest of Crothers’ Woods across the railway tracks) that they can’t easily see an external solution (join the Flats to the rest of the Valley park system instead).

I’ve been in similar situations myself, where a group of like-minded professionals are concentrating on solving an intractable problem. Then someone else comes along with a dead-simple suggestion and we feel like complete idiots for not seeing the obvious. It’s the professional equivalent of ranting at technical support because your computer is broken, only to discover that you forgot turn your monitor on.

We won’t know until the final master plan is delivered to the city in a few weeks whether the bridge idea or some other idea for the Flats is considered feasible. Either way, implementation of the plan is slated for 2008.

Rink Review: City of Toronto

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We’re barely half a week into March and already it’s the last day of operation for 42 of the 49 city-run outdoor artificial ice rinks. When I was growing up, the local rink was always open through March Break, but cutbacks have put an end to that. It’s a shame that our elected representatives can no longer bring themselves to properly fund so many of the little things that make living in the city worthwhile.

A smattering of rinks will remain open for another two weeks, but getting on the subway or into the car to go skating is just not the same as walking 10 minutes to the neighbourhood rink and lacing up for a mid-afternoon workout. Most city rinks will melt away over the next couple of weeks and be transformed back into tennis courts, basketball courts, or fountains come the spring and summer. After another productive summer of serving active citizens, they’ll freeze over again in mid-December and I’ll be visiting as many of them as I can.

Changes in the port lands

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I went for a short bike ride through the port lands yesterday, the first time I’ve been down there since the autumn. Unlike most winters, there’s quite a bit of work going on. It’s also a little more challenging than usual to get into the area, as two of the three access roads are closed for bridge repairs.

Unwin Ave Bridge is closed for the seasonThe single-lane Unwin Ave bridge just west of Leslie is closed to traffic, though pedestrians and cyclists on skinny bikes can still use the narrow pedestrian walkway. The walkway is also just one lane wide, so you better hope that you don’t need to pass someone in the middle. Fortunately, it’s not usually a problem at this time of year. Or any time of year, really.

Cofferdam on the Hearn/PEC discharge channelThe decking on one section of the bridge roadway has been pulled up and piled to one side as if the reason for pulling up the deck was more to prevent passage than to make repairs. The channel that the bridge spans was recently blocked off from the lake by a cofferdam and is being drained so that it can be dredged and repaired. It used to be the discharge channel for the Hearn generating station, and will be reused as the discharge channel for the Portlands Engergy Centre. This maintenance should be complete by the end of May. Great White North dragon boats ususally launch from this channel for practices in the Outer Harbour. If all goes according to schedule, they won’t have to portage around the dry channel and the dam.

Transitional sports fields under constructionFarther west on Unwin, construction of the transitional sports fields is underway. Unlike many people who frequent the area, I actually like the idea of having sports fields on Unwin. I think the Toronto Waterfront Revitalization Corporation missed an opportunity in constructing these as artificial-turf fields. Natural grass fields would speak a lot more to the environment and sustainability, even if that would have required more site remediation than the TWRC was willing to do. This would be especially significant because these are intended to be temporary fields, lasting about 10 years before being relocated to some permanent location in the port lands. I’m betting that the “temporary” aspect gets lost somewhere between now and then. Otherwise, we’ll have an awful lot of poured concrete to dispose of in a decade.

Natural ice rink in front of St. Jamestown Sailing ClubI also stopped in at my (shuttered for the season) sailing club for to see the winter scenery and noticed that someone at the club next door had cleared out a natural rink on the harbour. Unfortunately, it looked a little melty in the sun, so I didn’t risk a review. But it definitely would have scored a 10 for ambiance.

Let's put the fun back into fascism

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Let’s put the fun back into fascism

I’ve always been fascinated by the little signs, slogans, or scrawlings that people use to protest some indignity, whether real or perceived. I found this one today stuck on a “no trespassing” sign at the Hearn generating station in the port lands. No, I don’t know what it means, or why the writer chose this particular location to make this particular political statement.

Rink Review: Harbourfront

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The rink at Harbourfront has, together with the ice pad at Nathan Phillips Square, become one of Toronto’s iconic skating spaces. Many rinks throughout the city have captured locals’ hearts, but this is one of a very few that every winter visitor to the city should set blade to. It’s difficult for me to imagine going an entire winter without gazing at that beautiful backdrop of the harbour and islands while I stumble counter-clockwise around a rink.

Harbourfront advertises two major attributes of this pad: the size and the view. Neither disappoints. As Canada’s largest outdoor artificial rink, there’s a good deal of room for the huge numbers of people that are drawn to skate here by the beautiful surroundings. But despite its size, it always seems just a little too crowded for me. There isn’t much room to learn new tricks or do anything unexpected. If you want to land graceful axels in the centre of the ice or learn to skate backwards, you’ll probably be better off at a quieter rink. The rink itself is resurfaced regularly throughout the day, making it a pleasure to skate on.

On the down side, the indoor change room, while serviceable, is noticeably dingy and unkempt. The restaurant, while serviceable, offers standard greasy-spoon burger and fries fare. Just don’t expect the on-ice ambiance to extend into the change room or restaurant and you’ll be fine.

Harbourfront is not quite the desolate wasteland that many think it is during the winter, but it is noticeably devoid of much of the life that abounds during the warmer months. The only real crowd in the neighbourhood is on the rink.

Judging by the near-complete lack of people in local restaurants when we’ve eaten there after a skate, it seems like most people drive down, skate, and drive away again. Their loss, because the winter view from Il Fornello in Queens Quay Terminal is almost equal to that from the rink itself, but without the wintry wind off the lake blowing in your face. The lack of diners seems doubly strange to me given the number of people that live in condos within a five-minute walk of Queens Quay Terminal. Don’t those people ever eat at the local establishments?

Spending an hour skating within spitting distance of the lake should be a winter ritual for Torontonians and visitors alike. Forget what you know about the inhospitableness of Harbourfront in the winter and plan to spend the day down there.

Harbourfront rink information:

  • Facility type: Outdoor artificial rink.
  • Public skating hours: Monday – Thursday 10 am – 10 pm , Friday – Sunday 10am – 11 pm.
  • Public skating cost: Free
  • Accessibility: The restaurant that overlooks the rink has an accessible indoor seating area and patio. Otherwise, the rink and facilities are not accessible.
  • Public transit: 509 Harbourfront or 510 Spadina LRT from Union Station; get off at Lower Simcoe and walk south to the rink.
  • Parking: Paid parking lots abound in the area.
  • Lockers: Yes ($1)
  • Change rooms: Yes.
  • Washrooms: Yes.
  • Skate rental: Yes.
  • On-site services: Skate sharpening, restaurant.
  • Nearby services / after-skate meal / snacks: Many restaurants line Queens Quay within a block or two of the rink. Shops and restaurants in Queens Quay Terminal next door provides a quick respite from the weather.

On a scale of 1-10:

  • Crowding:5
  • Ice surface: 7
  • Ambiance: 9
  • Cleanliness (washrooms, change rooms, etc.): 6
  • Ease of getting there: 8
  • Overall: 8

The uselessness of email

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Background: For ten years, I’ve run a mailing list of about 110 people, most of whom have been casual offline acquaintances  for a dozen years or more. Occasionally, someone’s email starts bouncing and I have to remove that person from the list.

Today, I received an email from one of the people who has been removed in the last few months, asking how to resubscribe. I sent a message to him with the requested information and received this auto-reply a few seconds later. All personally-identifying text has been changed to “YYYY”, but the message is otherwise reproduced here in its entirety:

Subject: Undelivered Mail to Mr. YYYY.

Your message was not delivered to Mr. YYYY because
the e-mail address that you have sent the message
from is not recognized as being associated with
a known correspondant of his.

IF YOU HAVE RECIEVED THIS NOTICE, YOUR MESSAGE WAS
NOT DELIVERED.

If your message is important, please telephone him as
messages from legitimate corespondents are important.

Alternately, resend it to YYYY@myprivacy.ca and follow
the instructions you recieve from the mailer.

Due to the amount of spam recieved by these accounts,
e-mail will only be accepted from addresses that have
explicitly been added to Mr. YYYY’s list of established
correspondants.

If you are an existing correspondant and have just changed
your e-mail address, please send Mr. YYYY a message from your
old account, or contact him by phone to be added to the list.

If you have been referred to Mr. YYYY by someone else, please
contact him by telephone, as thanks to spam, e-mail is not a
reliable communications method.

Thank you.

Well. So he sends me a message asking for information, but then can’t even be bothered to receive my reply? I can assure Mr. YYYY that my message wasn’t all that important to me, so I won’t be jumping through any additional hoops to deliver it. Especially since I have exchanged email with Mr. YYYY at least as far back as July 1995 and as recently as December 2006.

But the auto-response poses a larger question: is this is what the Internet has really come to? Has spam made life so miserable that it’s ruined email, the very tool that spawned it?

By rough count of my mail logs, I’ve received about 17,250 email messages in the first eight weeks this year. Of those, slightly more than half, 8750, were automatically filtered out as spam. Another 1500 were trapped in secondary spam folders, and 3500 were from various mailing lists that I’m on. That leaves about 3500 messages that made it all the way into one of my inboxes, of which only about 200 have been from legitimate personal correspondents outside of mailing lists.

So that’s a total spam volume of 8750 + 1500 + 3300 = 13,550, or 78% of all of my email, or about 240 spams every day. Yikes. But looking at it another way, automated and semi-automated filtering has handled 10,250 spams, or 75% of all of my spam, leaving me with a spam volume of 3300 messages over eight weeks. That’s fewer than 60 a day and, while still high, is a little lower than the number of daily messages on the mailing lists that I read. And I haven’t even implemented such spam-killers as greylisting.

It’s hard for me to imagine that Mr. YYYY receives much more spam than me. And it’s equally hard for me to imagine that Mr. YYYY, at least as accomplished a UNIX geek as me (and probably moreso), is unable to configure a simple scoring system like SpamAssassin to automatically filter the vast bulk of his spam. So why use the the sledgehammer of an absolute whitelist when the more delicate rubber mallet of a greylist or scoring system will do the work? Beats me. But in the end, it doesn’t hurt anyone other than Mr. YYYY.

Visiting Lower Bay – Part 2

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The good news for fans of Lower Bay piles on. News broke last week that Lower Bay will be open to the public during Doors Open this year. Not only will people who aren’t willing to brave a dash through the tunnels be able to explore the mythical station’s platform, but this could mark a small turning point in the TTC’s relationship with its fans and boosters.

This is certainly the first time in my memory that the TTC has acknowledged that any part of its infrastructure may hold some measure of interest for a lot of people. I’m not aware of any other TTC property that has been open during Doors Open. The Wychwood Car Barns don’t count because the TTC no longer owned or maintained the barns by the time that Doors Open came calling.

The TTC seems to have a bit of a phobia when it comes to interacting with the public. Last summer, photoblogger David Topping set out to take pictures of all 69 TTC stations in 69 days and was almost forced to quit by overzealous TTC employees (scroll halfway down, just past the photo of the Spadina walkway). Saner heads prevailed and he was able to complete the project, but not before getting far more grief from the TTC than necessary.

So based on the admittedly shaky assumption that the TTC is warming toward the public just a little bit, what else could they add to Doors Open? I’d like to suggest that they park a couple of their work cars in Lower Bay. I think it would be a real treat to get a close-up look at some of the subway’s more esoteric cars, the workhorses that enable the rest of the system to run.

Rather than merely idly wishing for it to happen, I’ve used the Doors Open suggestion form to pitch my idea that the Lower Bay opening include some TTC vehicles. If enough people think it’s a good idea, the TTC may eventually be convinced to do it. Even if they don’t do it this year, a multi-year campaign may convince them to do it sometime in the future. Hey, it’s only taken eight years and probably hundreds of requests to get Lower Bay included in Doors Open.

Visiting Lower Bay – Part 1

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Like any good Torontonian Rail Fan geek, I took a ride on the TTC’s temporarily re-aligned Bloor-Danforth Subway today to get a look at Lower Bay station. While I won’t say that it was like visiting Nirvana, it was an interesting experience for a couple of reasons.

The primary reason for going was, of course, to see Lower Bay. While many have been there before me, it didn’t disappoint. We were stopped in the station for about 7 minutes while traffic ahead of us cleared and so got a good look at the station. Two things struck me immediately about the platform: the ceilings seemed much higher than in other similar stations, and it seemed very bright and relatively clean. The former no doubt owes thanks to the lack of a dropped false ceiling with metal slats as has become the standard in most other stations. The height difference couldn’t have been more than a foot or so, but it seemed like the platform ceiling was towering over us as we sat on the train. It’s funny how you get so used to small changes over time that the original configuration suddenly seems so foreign.

As for its cleanliness, aside from a caged-in storage area at the eastern end of the platform which my wife called “kind of junky,” the station was remarkably well-kept for an unused space. Or maybe it’s well-kept because it’s an unused space — no giant piles of free newspapers, empty coffee cups, or the general detritus of thousands of city dwellers passing through every day.

People-watching was the other interesting aspect of the trip. I was surprised that the people sharing my subway car seemed roughly split in thirds — one third of them were quite happy to be taking a trip through Lower Bay, another third were a little annoyed by the delay, and the final third were perplexed by the announcement that the train was going south to Museum station and didn’t quite know what to do once dumped onto the platform there. This ratio was roughly maintained in the crowd waiting at Museum for north-, east-, or westbound trains.

I’ll admit that I originally thought this would be an operational disaster for the TTC. When I saw crowds of subway refugees at Broadview and Chester stations yesterday because of the signalling problems on the Bloor-Danforth subway, my worst fears were seemingly confirmed. But what I saw today restored a small portion of my faith in the TTC’s ability to do something right. Considering the potential for trouble in running a variation of the interlining service that they abandoned forty years ago as unworkable, it all went fairly smoothly.

The second-class pedestrian

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In a story last week, The Fixer touched on one of my pet peeves: pedestrian signals at intersections that don’t change with the traffic signal unless you press the button. Now I understand that many signals in the city won’t change unless a vehicle is waiting or a pedestrian presses the button. That’s not what’s at issue. The problem here is that when a vehicle is present and causes the light to change, the pedestrian signal doesn’t change to “walk” unless a pedestrian also presses the button. The reverse is not true: if the signal changes in response to a pedestrian pressing the button, both the traffic and pedestrian lights change.

So why not always switch the pedestrian signal with the main traffic signal? Toronto Transportation Services calls these “Semi-Actuated Type 2” (SA2) signals and gives this explanation in their pedestrian FAQ:

Why do some signals, which have pedestrian displays, show a “Don’t Walk” indication even when the signal is green for the side-street (minor road)?
This situation occurs when a vehicle has been detected on the side-street and no pedestrian has pushed the button. This only can occur at locations where the City’s Transportation Staff has installed a Semi-Actuated “Type 2” (SA2) intersection. With this type of operation, a pedestrian must push one of the pedestrian push buttons to receive a “Walk” signal. When a button is pushed, a pedestrian will receive a “Walk” signal with sufficient time to cross the major road. If a button is not pressed and the traffic control signals respond to a vehicle only, a green signal will be displayed along with a “Don’t Walk” indication for pedestrians. The length of this green signal could be considerably shorter than the required walk time for a pedestrian because the length of the green signal is variable, based on the vehicle demand only (as the pedestrian push button was not pressed).

We use this type of operation to maximize the efficiency of the intersection. It serves to minimize delay for the relatively heavier volume of traffic on the major road.

It is the City’s practice to always install pedestrian information signs, which describe this operation at these types of intersections.

“So what’s the big deal?” you ask? Just press the button, right? Well, it’s not always that simple. First, pedestrians don’t always arrive at an intersection in time to press the button. If you’re walking up to an intersection and don’t reach the button before the light changes, you’re stuck waiting for the next cycle. Well, most people aren’t willing to wait and will simply walk across with the green light, even though they’re facing the “don’t walk” hand.

This behaviour raises at least two safety problems. First and foremost, the immediate safety of the pedestrian is at stake. Many drivers, seeing the “don’t walk” pedestrian signal, will simply power ahead with a left or right turn, completely ignoring any pedestrians that may be crossing at the time. I’ve seen this happen many times at my local SA2-signalled intersection.

The second, more insidious, effect of these signals is that they train pedestrians to ignore pedestrian signals. Most pedestrians in Toronto know by now that if they’re looking at a “don’t walk” signal but road traffic travelling in the same direction has a green light, it’s okay to walk across and ignore the big red hand. Unfortunately, this isn’t always true: pedestrian walk signals at many three phase intersections are active for only one phase, and crossing at any other time is a genuine hazard. It can be difficult for a pedestrian to tell whether a “don’t walk” signal is “legitimate” or not.

It’s one thing to bellyache about a problem, and quite another to propose reasonable alternatives. So here are two easy solutions:

  1. Allow a pedestrian to light up the walk signal by pressing the button after the traffic light has changed to green. Yes, this will extend the cycle by a few seconds, but it will greatly enhance safety. And it will only slow the cycle if a pedestrian is actually present. I noticed on a trip there last summer that many signals in San Francisco behaved like this.
  2. Failing that, just program the SA2 signals to always flip the pedestrian signal along with the main signal and forget about the few seconds potentially saved by shortening the cycle for vehicles only. The efficiency lost will be more than offset by the elimination of confusion for both motorists and pedestrians.

Above all, Transportation Services must remember than pedestrians are traffic too. Just because we’re walking doesn’t mean that we aren’t in just as big a rush to get from A to B as someone in a car.

Rink Review: Withrow Park

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Toronto’s outdoor public rinks have suffered in recent years. Cutbacks mean that most rinks no longer have a dedicated Zamboni, instead having to share one that gets moved from rink to rink throughout the day. The result of this is that many rinks are only flooded once or twice a day, which can make the ice quality highly dependent on whether you’re skating one or twenty hours after the last ice resurfacing. Withrow falls into this category, but the rink is so little-used for most of the day that the ice is usually in good shape.

The first thing that makes the Withrow rink notable is the general absence of other skaters. I’ve been to Withrow for leisure skating a couple of times this year and have been the only person on the ice each time. The ice is a little busier evenings and on weekends, but there’s still an awful lot of room for each skater.

The second thing you’ll notice at the rink is its location in the middle of one of the east end’s busier dog parks. One end of the rink overlooks the main off-leash area that features an overwhelming array of dogs (and owners/walkers) of all descriptions who arrive, play, and leave in well-coordinated hourly shifts. It’s quite the spectacle to watch.

The standard-issue change room is nothing to write home about, and there’s a small bank of lockers near the door. The washroom is typical of other public washrooms in the Toronto park system — you may or may not get soap, paper towels, or hot water. There are no vending machines or other services inside the rink’s support building. The park clubhouse a couple of hundred metres north of the rink is usually much cleaner.

Withrow Park rink information:

  • Facility type: Outdoor artificial rink.
  • Public skating hours: Various; see page 8 of the Toronto South District skating guide (pdf).
  • Public skating cost: Free
  • Accessibility: A small step down to the ice surface and one up into the change room. Narrow doorways.
  • Public transit: 72 Pape bus (any branch) south from Pape station to Wroxeter; walk one block west to the park; or walk west on Danforth from Pape station, then south on Carlaw to the rink.
  • Parking: Local on-street, paid lots on Pape north and south of Danforth.
  • Lockers: Yes ($0.25).
  • Change rooms: Yes.
  • Washrooms: Yes.
  • Skate rental: No.
  • On-site services: None.
  • Nearby services / after-skate meal / snacks: The Riverdale Perk cafe is a block southwest of the rink at Logan and Withrow. The many restaurants and shops of the Danforth are within a 5-10 minute walk.

On a scale of 1-10:

  • Crowding: 9
  • Ice surface: 6
  • Ambiance: 7
  • Cleanliness (washrooms, change rooms, etc.): 5
  • Ease of getting there: 7
  • Overall: 7