Daniel Gordon

Works in healthcare tech / Passionate about healthy, beautiful, sustainable, and equitable cities - with a lot more housing! / opinions my own

[Daniel Gordon @danielgordon94]

I am obsessed with Mexico City's messy urbanism, incredibly diverse architecture, and its embrace of all forms of density - which all contribute to the vibrancy and vitality of this city. Urban planners have lots of lessons to learn at all scales of development 🧵

[Daniel Gordon @danielgordon94]

For NIMBYs and cranks, no amount of consultation is ever enough. Cities need to move more quickly on positive changes and stop coddling NIMBYs and naysayers.

[Citizens of Toronto @citizensof416]

Traffic changes, that make zero sense, are being implemented without warning or instruction.

[Daniel Gordon @danielgordon94]

@LincolnRestler Truly embarrassing stuff. There should not be any room for NIMBYism in the Democratic Party.

[Daniel Gordon @danielgordon94]

@pothen @genuinelyjolley Ossington could easily be rerouted to Shaw between Queen and Dundas

[Daniel Gordon @danielgordon94]

TO's mayoral election looks like it'll be a dispiriting contest between a status quo mayor unwilling to spend political capital on bold action in housing, transit, or public realm - and a reactionary councillor willing to say whatever it takes to win. Toronto deserves better.

[Daniel Gordon @danielgordon94]

@abctoronto_ You guys are truly embarrassing.

[Daniel Gordon @danielgordon94]

@pmcondon2 This is so embarrassing for you to post. Very depressing that this is the drivel that a UBC professor believes in.

[Daniel Gordon @danielgordon94]

@observinthecity This is not a serious city example 456958

[Daniel Gordon @danielgordon94]

@ProjectEND @BradMBradford A lot of things can be true at once. Chow has been a massive disappointment on housing, most GTA municipalities are even worse, and Bradford will probably appease Toronto’s NIMBYs too. Not a great state of affairs all around.

[Daniel Gordon @danielgordon94]

@admcrlsn @ahlmanforne This guy is a huge and vocal NIMBY. Really disappointing to see you support him - people like him are not the future of progressivism.

[Daniel Gordon @danielgordon94]

@Filmantopia @PpollingNumbers LOL has this ever actually happened

[Daniel Gordon @danielgordon94]

@g_meslin Isn’t much of this progress Waterfront Toronto? The city’s record on its own standalone projects is pretty dismal.

[Daniel Gordon @danielgordon94]

@Sumskillz @donnelly_b Why should they have to blend in?

[Jennifer Keesmaat @jen_keesmaat]

I started this project in 2016 on the heels of our completion of Toronto’s Complete Streets guidelines; so it is even worse than you think. The problem is how capital projects planning works at the city - the entire approach needs to be thrown in the garbage. It doesn’t work.

In the interim, the design has been watered down.

I was flabbergasted to see the city is consulting on the project once again.

[Daniel Gordon @danielgordon94]

Line 1 absolutely crawls from Davisville to Rosedale, but the TTC doesn’t list this stretch as a slow zone. Does this mean this is the new normal speed for this part of the line and riders should not expect any improvement? @TTChelps

[Joseph Miscimarra 🇺🇸 @jmisci]

I’m not going to name the person who put these flyers up, but I’m proud of them for showing the neighborhood how crazy the 1660 LaSalle condo association NIMBYs are

[Jennifer Keesmaat @jen_keesmaat]

News flash: fewer cars is the only way to ease gridlock.

Technology won’t save us. It’s a physics problem. Too many cars, not enough space.

Until the City becomes serious about being an urban place that promotes walking, cycling, and transit as first choices for getting around, this mess will not be resolved.

It’s a shame to see the city so lost when it comes to a vision of a livable, urban future. London figured it out, Paris figured it out, Montreal is figuring it out. But Toronto is regressing, prioritizing moving cars as the key to mobility. It’s both sad and futile.

Congestion Pricing could solve this problem overnight.

[Jennifer Keesmaat @jen_keesmaat]

Toronto/Ontario 👀

Building codes/guidelines/policies - it’s a big jumble of rules that accumulate.

Easy to add new layers of rules, difficult to remove because councillors find their pet favourites. This is why the disastrous “vertical plane” guidelines stuck around for so long.

Today, 1,000’s of pages of reports are required for re-zoning. It’s a whole industry of consultants (many of whom made the rules for the city, and now have to get hired by developers to respond to the rules).

Need a complete system change.

[Jennifer Keesmaat @jen_keesmaat]

Please read and retweet the tweet below. It says it all.

Think of it this way: anything can be destructive at the wrong scale.

If you replace your residential street with a four-lane highway, you destroy your neighbourhood.

If you put a wrong-sized airport on a waterfront, you destroy it as a place for gathering, respite, and connection.

Ford’s expansion plan must be stopped. It’s another assault on the livability of our city, driven by someone settling old scores, who doesn’t care about the city as a thriving urban place.

We’re building a dense, urban, walkable city, and this airport expansion isn’t necessary. And it conflicts with that goal.

“This tiny speck of ecological paradise provides critical respite from our dense and urban concrete jungle and is vital for mental health, community, and happiness.”

[Brandon Donnelly @donnelly_b]

Toronto’s stated policy goal is to have 6 storey apartments along its major streets. It’s a shame it doesn’t make economic sense to build them.

[Daniel Gordon @danielgordon94]

@PWBaugh Well we already have a shortage regardless of population growth, so this would help us close the shortage…