Toronto Moving In The Wrong Direction

Writer Christopher Hume bemoans the city's organization, and blames its excessive bureaucracy for enforcing rules and regulations that are encouraging suburbanization rather than urbanization.

"What makes the situation so frustrating is that the failure goes beyond lack of political or social will - there's no shortage of either. Instead the problem lies within the very organization of the city, its bureaucracy and administration. It can be found in rules and regulations as well as attitudes and assumptions that lie so deep they can be hard to recognize and harder still to change."

"There was an excellent example several weeks ago when the city refused to change its policy against laneway housing. The argument was that lanes are unsafe because they're too narrow for fire trucks and garbage trucks. Unbeknownst to Toronto officials it seems, smaller vehicles are used throughout Europe and Asia, where as far as one knows, the rates of death by fire are no higher than ours."

"It's exactly this kind of thinking that keeps Toronto from realizing its potential, and, if not changed, will lead to its decline. It's also the approach that has kept our streets from becoming more suitable for pedestrians."