Streetcar

It appears as if the TTC is abandoning its current streetcar fleet in favour of a more sleek, modern light rail line – at least, if the www.mynewstreetcar.ca campaign is any indication.

I’m actually dismayed by this. The streetcars are something that give Toronto charm, vibrancy and character – it’s one of the few things that makes Toronto really stand out. If Toronto abandons its current streetcar fleet for something sleek and modern well, what’s really setting it apart now from the light rail in the NICs, in cities like Kuala Lumpur and the like?

For a city that razed so much of its old Victorian architecture, one would think Toronto would have learned better. When I was in New York, I was amazed by the architectural diversity, the way they had preserved those grand art deco skyscrapers from the 1930s – the attention to detail and intricacy with which the buildings were built, the gargoyles and the spire of the Chrysler building. Toronto has none of that and it’s a shame, because they don’t make them like that anymore. What we instead have are several dozen bland cookie-cutter glass skyscrapers that wouldn’t look out of place in some sunbelt-city Houston or Phoenix (and even those places now have more interesting buildings).

I used to be awed by the imposing towers in the financial district, but now after having spent time in Manhattan, I’m a little underwhelmed and disappointed. I routinely make the walk along King St. from University to Yonge and think “a few city blocks- hmm… this is it?” Not to mention the unremarkable architectural blandness of it all (and I work in one such building).

Anyhow, this scrapping of the streetcar is symptomatic of the mass global homogenization that’s taken ahold. What we ought to do are things to set our city apart if we have aspirations of turning our little nook into an alpha city with chic global appeal, not forsake whatever little that we have to make us unique for the sake of “modernity”. San Francisco has its trams; let’s preserve our streetcar.