City says yes to RioCan, no to square

After three hours of debate and several motions, city council this afternoon voted in favour of Councillor Karen Stintz’s motion to approve RioCan’s re-development application, which includes covering over most of the Yonge Eglinton square with retail. Councillor Michael Walker moved a motion of refusal and Council Cliff Jenkins moved a motion to have the decision deferred, neither of which carried.

The Yonge Eglinton Square Coalition — a group of residents representing the four quadrants of the Yonge Eglinton intersection — wants to thank all the volunteers who attended meetings and rallies, handed out flyers, made placards, wrote letters to council and called individual councillors in an effort to protect open space and save Yonge Eglinton square. Unfortunately the majority on council didn’t share our view.

Council votes tomorrow Apr. 1 at 9:30

City council will consider RioCan’s re-development application for the Yonge Eglinton Centre including the square tomorrow at 9:30 a.m. in Council chambers, Queen and Bay.  Come out and watch the debate and vote. And show your support for the square by wearing green (but please, no hooting and hollering — against the rules

Yonge Eglinton square on sunny afternoon

Monday’s rally on video

Here’s Yonge Eglinton Square Coalition organizer Ben Daube’s speech to the crowd at Monday’s noon hour rally. And click here for  SunTV’s segment.  The SunTV poll shows that 79 per cent want city council to save the square.

And finally a video that makes the point that the square is well used on a warm spring day.

Local architect’s better idea for Yonge Eglinton square

Among the colorful placards waved on Yonge Eglinton square yesterday, local architect Andre Le Roux’s placard stood out. Instead of a simple slogan about saving the square, the architect’s placard showed a detailed drawing (below) of a better idea for the square that keeps most of the open space on the sunny south side along with access from Yonge St. AND the retail space RioCan wants. Click here for more on Andre’s better ideas for our city square.

And here is a thoughtful piece from online Toronto urban design magazine Spacing about why the square must be saved.

Andre Le Roux's placard with detailed design is on right of speaker Lydia Levin.

Tell your councillor to save your square

The best way to save the square is to tell city councillors before their March 31  meeting the you want the open space saved. Click here to contact your councillor.

View of Yonge Eglinton square

Cafe chairs are always filled on a sunny day.

Would you like a seat? YES!

One of the arguments given for covering over the Yonge Eglinton square with retail is that the space is uninviting as it is. No question about that — for many weeks this winter its main attraction was a dumpster.

Open space needs seating not dumpsters.

People need somewhere to sit to rest, to people-watch, catch some Vitamin D-loaded sunshine, eat their lunch. In cities where outdoor seating is provided, not only do people love it, businesses do too because cafe seating in particular creates a buzz that brings more people in to shop.

When New York City department of transportation discovered that Broadway had only 15 cafe seats per 1000 yards, compared to 444 seats on Copenhagen’s Stroget and 353 seats on Melbourne’s Swanston St., it decided to improve. When the NYC Plaza Program (yes, NYC is building plazas throughout the city), seating was key. And locals and tourists flocked to the well-appointed outdoor spaces.

Join the YES Coalition on Facebook

Join our group on Facebook and send to all your friends.