Results from City of Toronto questionnaire on street furniture

Original document is dated 2006.04.13. Some columns from original document elided for easier reading. Spellchecked to some extent. Personal names elided. See tagged PDF and Excel variants.

1. • Like: Functionality
   • Comments on item liked: Although the current street furniture is a mish mash of styles, It is functional and is convenient for public use.
   • Don’t like: Appearance, Placement
   • Comments on item disliked: In terms of style and co-ordinated aesthetics: there is none. Also although the street furniture is in relatively the right locations for intuitive public needs, some of it is positioned poorly at corners for pedestrian and bicycle visibility to auto traffic and often there are newspaper boxes at transit stops that transit riders must navigate while boarding or getting off vehicles
   • Improve: Appearance, Placement
   • Comments on item to be improved: This is a great project and I’m looking forward to the unification in the design of the street furniture. I ask that you study the best positioning of the furniture for maximum safety for ALL street users, especially cyclists and pedestrians.
   • Add: Automated bicycle vending machines such as the Smartbike system that Adshel has provided for Rennes, France; Bergen Norway, Drammen Norway, Oslo, Norway; or the Call A Bike system provided by Deutsche Bahn’s in Germany. I’d love to see these outside of TTC stations, by Hotels, by parks and the Waterfront, and in the business and tourist core. I’d also like to see more public water fountains, and street landscaping.
   • Attended workshop? No
   • More comments: It’s fine to have advertising on any furniture on city streets. However, I’m opposed to ads on the furniture in any parks. Green space should remain a reprieve from busy city life, as much as possible.
2. • Like: Appearance
   • Comments on item liked: The appearance is uniform. I like the use of the rounded silver material used on bus shelters and info signs.
   • Don’t like: Functionality, Placement
   • Comments on item disliked: I don’t like the over-use of advertising. I don’t mind some ads, but public furniture affects the look of public space and therefore the use of ads should be minimized. The new “monster” recycling bins are an embarrassment to the city. Surely we can do MUCH better.
   • Improve: Functionality, Placement
   • Comments on item to be improved: Information or map kiosks which are currently installed all face away from the sidewalk. Obviously the ads are positioned to face out, but future installation should include public art instead of ads and face toward the pedestrians walking along a sidewalk.
   • Add: More information pillars. More benches. Some sidewalks or higher traffic pedestrian areas could also include bollards, with a similar look and feel as other street furniture, to protect against car traffic.
   • Attended workshop? No
   • More comments: Ensure that a maintenance contract is in place to ensure that furniture is look after in future. i.e. cleaning, graffiti removal, repair... Include consistent, easy to read pictograms or logos, depending on the need.
3. • Like: Appearance, Functionality
   • Comments on item liked: I like the new glass bus shelters and info pillars. Bus shelters are a clean design and feel safe. The info pillars are a unique design for Toronto and offer great information for locals and tourists.
   • Don’t like: Appearance, Functionality, Placement
   • Comments on item disliked: Publication boxes are ugly and there are too many of them. They clutter up the sidewalk. Don’t like the old bus shelters or benches I have seen. Mega garbage bins are too big and not useful.
   • Improve: Placement
   • Comments on item to be improved: I would have no newspaper boxes or publication boxes on the street at all. If not possible I would have one larger box for all newspapers. Info Pillars need to have the map more visible and I would suggest locating them in such a way that when you walk by you see the map. Suggest on the right of way, sidewalk.
   • Add: More benches, more glass bus shelters, information Pillars.
   • Attended workshop? No
4. • Like: Functionality
   • Comments on item liked: I like the old metal garbage cans with the separate holes for paper, recycling and garbage.
   • Don’t like: Appearance, Functionality, Placement
   • Comments on item disliked: no benches when you need them, everything is in disarray, hate the monster garbage cans, hate all the newspaper boxes, transit shelter are unattractive, the new silver ones are much too expensive, 20, 000$, give me a break. Too much advertising, too metallic, use some other materials please.
   • Improve: Appearance, Functionality, Placement
   • Comments on item to be improved: similar designs throughout the city, but variations in specific districts and BIA areas.
   • Add: distinctive furniture in BIA neighborhoods, street maps showing you were you are and what is around you, specific areas for postering, benches on queen street west. more bike lockup areas,
   • Attended workshop? Yes
   • More comments: excellent meeting, Toronto’s council is great when it comes to having inclusive public participation.
5. • Like: Appearance, Functionality
   • Comments on item liked: new bus shelters are quite pleasing.
   • Don’t like: Appearance, Placement
   • Comments on item disliked: mostly quite ordinary and pedestrian, often blocking the sidewalks. newspaper boxes, the mega bins, the current unsightly garbage/recycling receptacles need to be replaced.
   • Improve: Appearance, Functionality
   • Comments on item to be improved: needs to be more consistent and attractive. Barcelona and Madrid are perfect examples of visually pleasing street furniture. most street lighting is very suburban looking. overhead wires ugly.
   • Add: more postering poles, decorative metal grates to surround street trees to allow more water and air. Montréal has this figured out.
   • Attended workshop? No
   • More comments: looking forward to the streets of Toronto gaining some much needed style.
6. • Like: Functionality
   • Comments on item disliked: Some older designs are dreadful! The wood slat w/cast iron ends are nice and fit better into established older areas of the city. And, please NO ADVERTISING on any street furniture, except donor plaques (Donated by…).
   • Improve: Appearance
   • Comments on item to be improved: The monster trash bins are an insult to tax paying citizens! THEY ARE HUGE AND UGLY! See Vancouver’s trash circular bins, simple, honest, good looking, functional and GREAT, no advertising! Also note the newspaper units. GET rid of the current crap of metal boxes that are littering our streets! Public spaces should NOT be used for private commercial enterprises. If city needs more $$ double the cost for existing advertisers, they will pay.
   • Add: Postering Kiosks, like in Europe. Heavy fines for those that paste junk notices onto hydro poles & other city property, that we (the tax payers) pay to have cleaned. Fuck the PCorrectnees & rights etc.! Fine the bastards big $$ for littering public property. Chain them to posts with a scraper until everything is scrapped clean.
   • Attended workshop?
   • More comments: While we are talking about beautifying the city, can something be done to talk with Bell, Hydro, etc. about those UGLY rusted, all different size utility boxes and that litter the roadways! Just drive along Lake Shore West to the connection to the Gardner and count how many of these UGLY boxes are rusting along the roadside! We are in the 21st century, why can’t these state of the art companies and utilities come up with new & consolidated solutions instead of using these low-tech “boxes” that are designs from the W W I?
7. • Like: Appearance, Functionality, Placement
   • Comments on item liked: I like street furniture without advertising. Would you like ads on your couch or kitchen table?
   • Comments on item disliked: I don’t like furniture that sells its soul to advertising putting commodity over everything else.
   • Improve: Appearance, Functionality, Placement
   • Comments on item to be improved: I would improve street furniture by making it diverse and, creative, furniture that it beautiful not tacky.
   • Add: Furniture that not only looks nice but serves a purpose, no use cluttering up the streets with useless crap.
   • Attended workshop? No
   • More comments: Just imagine if the Ancient Egyptian society plastered banners of coke I pod advertising all over. Please don’t let Toronto became an advertising whore! European tourist would admire Canada for not turning out like the States with commercials everywhere. Allowing ads invading our public space is like dropping the soap on purpose, its gonna hurt in the long run. Peace
8. • Don’t like: Appearance, Functionality
   • Comments on item disliked: Design removed from function – e.g. stainless trash bins, uncomfortable seating in bus shelters; street benches and other objects used for advertisement etc. Excessive use of concrete and steel as opposed to warmer materials like wood, plastic, polymers etc. more suited for local climate; Widespread use of wire fences (around parks, schools, parking lots etc) as opposed to more permanent type, designed walls/barriers like cast iron or wood fences;, Lack of user-friendly street seating (same goes for subway stations – not enough benches!); Use of concrete planters for trees – plain ugly! Any type of bollards.
   • Improve: Appearance, Functionality
   • Attended workshop? Yes
9. • Like: Appearance, Functionality
   • Don’t like: Appearance
   • Comments on item disliked: Advertising. Must every public space be covered with advertising? is every public space for sale? Are public spaces still public then?
   • Improve: Appearance
   • Comments on item to be improved: Significantly reduce advertising.
   • Attended workshop? No
10. • Like: Functionality
    • Comments on item liked: I’m glad there are waste receptacles throughout the city.
    • Don’t like: Appearance, Functionality, Placement
    • Comments on item disliked: I do not think that corporate advertising on our public streets is appropriate. I do not like that some things, like the new garbage/recycling bin at Clinton and Bloor, is clearly more of a billboard than a garbage can. It is unacceptable that the street furniture isn’t publicly owned. The fact that an ad company owns our garbage cans is infuriating. They would look better (i.e. they wouldn’t have ads on them) if they were legitimately publicly owned. I’d rather spend some public money on attractive, ad-free furniture than get ugly billboards all over the streets for free. The last thing we need is another bus shelter covered in anti-feminist clothing ads. I don’t see the point of the big info pillars that advertise Toronto (like the one at Spadina & Bloor). If you can see it, you’re already here... Postering kiosks are a waste of money – we have telephone poles, parking meters, and other such places to put up posters.
    • Improve: Appearance, Functionality
    • Comments on item to be improved: It is absolutely necessary that we own our public furniture – i.e. that it won’t belong to a self-serving advertising company. It is also necessary to not allow any further advertising on our streets.
    • Attended workshop? No
    • More comments: My preferences are clear:, 1. Public ownership of public spaces. The City should own its street furniture. 2. Less of a corporate presence on our streets. There should be no third-party advertising on our public furniture. TTC shelters could carry ads about TTC services... garbage bins could provide info about new recycling initiatives... but I do not think it’s appropriate that my bus shelter tries to sell me an iPod.
11. • Comments on item liked: The bicycle racks look nice, and the old transit shelters have a certain refined dignity.
    • Don’t like: Appearance
    • Comments on item disliked: The new transit shelters, trash bins, and info poles are atrocious – not a single redeeming quality about any of them.
    • Improve: Appearance
    • Comments on item to be improved: Not looking cheap and dated is, I think, a worthy goal for street furniture.
    • Add: Pedestrian scale lamp standards. For example, on Bloor-Danforth there are highway style lamps towering above the street. Less is more.
    • Attended workshop?
12. • Like: Appearance, Functionality
    • Comments on item liked: Functional advertising that complements the cityscape is key. Thus far, much of it has been devoid of advertising. The new mega-bins for example are a safety hazard (try cycling down a street containing them, the 6-7 foot height is appalling and makes the surrounding environment look tacky)
    • Don’t like: Functionality, Placement
    • Comments on item disliked: A third arm rest found mid-bench to prevent the homeless from sleeping there also prevent more than two people from sitting on a bench at any given time and give Toronto an appearance of being cold and uncaring.
    • Improve: Appearance
    • Comments on item to be improved: Limit advertising to a smaller area, possibly limiting bright colouring that makes street-level look like a gaudy discount flyer.
    • Add: Ash trays for cigarette butts – not the monstrous mega-bins
    • Attended workshop? No
    • More comments: To single out two of the worst offenders, the new mega-bins and bus shelters. Using public electricity to light these mammoth ads while lecturing the populace to cut down on waste is hypocritical and does not go unnoticed. They are big, intrusive, and can pose issues to public safety by obstructing the surrounding view.
13. • Like: Functionality, Placement
    • Comments on item liked: Disclaimer: I live and work in the urban core, so that is the only area that I am familiar with. There are a number of garbage can units well-placed around the city. The massive garbage cans are less appealing. Perhaps if there were more space for local art work on them, they would be more appealing. The bus shelters are also handy, though again, the massive advertising is intrusive. It would be great if we could incorporate more local art into our street furniture, and interactive installations. Imagine phone booths throughout the city that also have ongoing murmur-like projects inside them. We need to incorporate art into the planning and development process more. Art here, not just as static visuals, but also as audio installation, street performances, film/video and Puppets! I think it would just be a lot more fun and dynamic.
    • Don’t like: Appearance, Functionality, Placement
    • Comments on item disliked: Public toilets, benches, transit shelters etc. should be first and foremost about functionality for the public. Public here, means all of the public. We need more public toilets that can be used by the people that are forced to use public space as their homes and people with homes alike. I mention this because the needs of these users are different. We also need way more bicycle racks- encourage bikes by providing space for them. It may even be a good idea to have some air-filling stations along the way (and while we are at it-please, some bike lanes!) As for postering kiosks, we can have some of those, but leave the posters on the walls where they belong (feel free to ban the ugly hugely corporate images of NIKE though. I was watching “Funny Face” with Audrey Hepburn the other evening. She is walking through the streets of Paris and the backdrop is none other than posters along a hoarding- that is what the set designer, director, writer saw as indicative of Paris. Toronto, is lovely for its layerings
    • Improve: Appearance, Functionality, Placement
    • Comments on item to be improved: BUT when I write appearance, I DO NOT mean a sterile-no-sign of-human-life appearance (please refer to response number one). It simply means that local works should be incorporated more into the aesthetic and functional design of the street furniture. As also stated, we need more, lots more Public Toilets. There has already been a feasibility study done on this and there is a Centre at Queen and Bathurst that lobbies on the issue for homeless. The information is out there- we need more.
    • Add: Public Toilets; Confessional Booths; Comfortable chairs; Benches that can also act as beds for people who need to sleep; Outdoor gallery exhibits- laneway exhibitions; water fountains; bike racks; more postering!
    • Attended workshop? No
    • More comments: I would like to attend a workshop. I will look out for the next one.
14. • Like: Functionality
    • Comments on item liked: As a whole, they are plentiful and meet the public’s general needs.
    • Don’t like: Appearance, Placement
    • Comments on item disliked: Current designs that prioritize advertising placement & impact over functionality. To wit: mega-bins, which give the appearance of billboards with receptacles added as an afterthought. Also, they are too often located and oriented to maximize ad exposure to street traffic (i.e. cars) rather than to meet user (i.e. pedestrian) needs.
    • Improve: Appearance, Functionality, Placement
    • Comments on item to be improved: To conserve energy, unplug or at least dim the illuminated bus shelters (the advertising wall, not the overhead lights). Advertising space should never trump usability or safety. Human-scaled designs (e.g. discrete refuse/recycling bins, not seven-foot slabs; information pillars that provide public information first and ads second).
    • Add: Public water fountains would be nice, and not just in parks and recreational spaces.
    • Attended workshop? Yes
    • More comments: I realize the City is perpetually short on cash, and new revenue sources are always welcomed. So, selling ad space may be a necessity, but please, please, please, also take considerations of functionality and aesthetics to heart. Winning a city-wide contract for coordinated street furniture would be a huge boon for any company; the City will therefore have excellent leverage in negotiating how final products will look, feel, and function. A “unique opportunity” indeed – don’t waste it.
15. • Like: Appearance, Functionality
    • Comments on item liked: We need street furniture that works for people in the city NOT whose primary function is advertising.
    • Don’t like: Appearance, Functionality
    • Comments on item disliked: There is way to much advertising on city streets. There is not enough street furniture. There should be more benches an seats in gathering areas such as the Parkdale library.
    • Improve: Functionality, Placement
    • Comments on item to be improved: MORE MORE MORE. And more furniture that is designed for people to sit and talk and enjoy public space. Designs should not be made to discourage homeless people from gathering. They are all of our streets.
    • Add: More benches, more bike racks, more planters and art spaces
    • Attended workshop? No
16. • Like: Functionality
    • Comments on item liked: I like the bike racks, but we need more of them. The benches are also pretty comfy, though often missing boards.
    • Don’t like: Appearance, Functionality
    • Comments on item disliked: I am very much opposed to the placement of Ads on street furniture. the Monster garbage bins are poorly disguised billboards. Also, the hole for recycling is too small and the garbage collection bins are often overflowing with trash., Info pillars (at City hall, Kew Beach Park and other parks) are much the same. They are supposed to provide maps, but they don’t. They do however provide highly visible third party advertising space. I would like to see the city collect at least 100% of the money raised by this advertising until the info pillars are rendered operable. (better yet, redesign the maps to be two sided with one side for local flyers)
    • Improve: Appearance, Functionality
    • Comments on item to be improved: The abolishment of advertising on street furniture. The establishment of a public committee to oversee this process which will have a dramatic impact on the future of Toronto.
    • Add: Solar powered street lights. More drinking fountains. Public message boards.
    • Attended workshop? No
    • More comments: The workshops were scheduled for very inconvenient times. How come this process isn’t being done transparently? Are you going to sell our streets to advertising at the highest bidder?
17. • Like: Appearance, Functionality
    • Comments on item liked: The new bus shelters look pretty good. I like that they’re all glass and have an attractive, smooth design. The bottom raised off the ground is also good, functionally.
    • Don’t like: Appearance, Functionality, Placement
    • Comments on item disliked: The tiny benches with huge 20 foot pillars and billboards don’t really provide a good function and are incredibly hideous. If there has to be an overhang, why is it over the ads and not over the seats?! The small Eucan (formerly OMG) garbage bins with the three compartments are good, but the placement as well as maintenance could be greatly improved. I have seen many overflowing bins, even with the front open hanging in the way of pedestrians. I see nothing positive about the large Eucan mega-bins. They are monsters. They block the sidewalks. Most of the upper half is completely useless (can I put my garbage UP inside somewhere?) I see it as a method for advertisement companies to increase their business rather than a method to improve the functionality of street waste management. Thumbs DOWN. Ad placement in many bus shelters seem to be “breaking the rules” of where and how big they are. I’ve seen translucent and opaque ads on
    • Improve: Appearance, Functionality, Placement
    • Comments on item to be improved: Less ads. Actually, no ads. Of course, this is obvious. Nobody really wants to see an advertisement in a bus shelter. I’ve never been nor seen anyone engaged in a conversation about an advertisement in/on/around a bus shelter except for perhaps how out of place and ugly it looked. Enforcement on some kind of by-law for placement of publication boxes. They seem to get chained up haphazardly everywhere around the city and often “break down” and deserted. I suppose I really care about Toronto. I’d like to see our streetscapes become beautiful places where foot/cycle and auto traffic can get along harmoniously. Not only the traffic, but actually BEING in the streets, from the street to the sidewalk to the storefront. Community. I believe that with proper coordination the city could create something inspiring to other cities. Maybe we could spend some money for the value we get from this harmony. It’s a good investment. Increase sense of community, increase sense of
    • Add: Working water fountains. Compact garbage bins with CLEAR instructions for waste and recycling. Integrate other waste management like the Eucan megas... battery disposal (are the batteries even disposed of properly? I’d like to know) Cigarette butt out receptacles... convenient ones that people will actually use. Maybe paid public toilets? I’m not sure how/if those really would work.
    • Attended workshop? No
    • More comments: Thank you for taking public comments.
18. • Like: Appearance
    • Don’t like: Functionality, Placement
    • Comments on item disliked: Many parts of street furniture (for example, the tourist maps) appear designed primarily for advertising purposes, with its supposed function an afterthought.
    • Improve: Functionality, Placement
    • Comments on item to be improved: Make functionality the primary concern, not ad space.
    • Attended workshop? Yes
19. • Like: Appearance, Functionality, Placement
    • Don’t like: Appearance
    • Improve: Placement
    • Comments on item to be improved: Existing ad-hoc placement and arrangement poses barriers for users of mobility aids.
    • Add: accessible seating, urban Braille (City of Hamilton) innovation
    • Attended workshop? No
    • Don’t like: Appearance, Functionality, Placement
    • Comments on item disliked: it is not coordinated, not uniformly the same within the City, placed sometimes not where it should, e.g. trash bins beside bus and streetcar stops.
    • Improve: Appearance, Functionality, Placement
    • Comments on item to be improved:
    • Add: More trees – not in concrete planters; add poster columns or what we call in Germany – “Litfass Saeule” for advertising concerts, exhibitions, etc.
    • Attended workshop? No
    • More comments: Add pedestrian only zones free of cars e.g. Yorkville area, St. Lawrence Market. Put all utility lines except for streetcars underground and get rid of all the different utility poles (for every utility there is a different pole). This would clean up and beautify this city instead those tree poles with contraptions which look like garbage cans hanging from those poles, some seem to have been built in 1920. In some areas one can find 5 different poles in a 5 m square, this looks horrible, like a frontier town. If it can be done for Bloor and Yonge Sts why can it not be done for the rest of the city.
20. • Comments on item liked: Currently, I don’t like much about it...
    • Don’t like: Appearance, Functionality, Placement
    • Comments on item disliked: The lack of uniformity in appearance of these items makes for ugly looking street corners around the city. The new mega-bins are placed all wrong, with obvious concern for the advertising on the bins being more important then the usage o f the bins for receiving trash, as they are in hard to reach areas, or areas where the need is not significant, but the amount of passing automobile traffic is significant.
    • Comments on item to be improved: Uniformity of appetence, ensure that placement of bins is in the best interest of public and community, instead of best interest of advertisers, and add more furniture such as benches and seating areas so that communities can gather easily in these public spaces that are available to us.
    • Add: Ashtrays I think would be an important addition, as well as more recycling bins around the areas where they could be of most use, around parks, etc.
    • Attended workshop? No
    • More comments: We have a wonderful city here, which is slowly becoming more and more like our own mini New York city – which is not a positive thing. We do not need our public spaces overtaken by 50 foot billboards trying to sell me on shampoo, perfumes or shavers – this cheapens the city, and average Torontonians know this, why does City council seem to have a hard time understanding this?
21. • Don’t like: Appearance, Functionality, Placement
    • Comments on item disliked: Not enough waste receptacles. Difficult to put waste in some. Not emptied frequently enough.
    • Improve: Appearance, Functionality, Placement
    • Comments on item to be improved: Modernize in most areas. In some areas, have street furniture in keeping with the era – especially in areas where the focus is historical
    • Add: Public self cleaning washrooms, Banking machines with visibility, updated recycling bins – green bins
    • Attended workshop? No
    • More comments: street cleaning should be reintroduced as a priority as it once was pre-amalgamation
22. • Like: Appearance, Functionality, Placement
    • Don’t like: Appearance
    • Comments on item disliked: I don’t want to see ads blinding me from every angle. We have enough visual noise on the streets.
    • Improve: Appearance
    • Comments on item to be improved: Leave the ads out. They’re ugly and clutter our beautiful city. They’ll probably end up covered with graffiti anyhow, because people resent constant advertising.
    • Attended workshop? No
23. • Like: Appearance
    • Comments on item liked: New bus shelters/old stainless steel garbage boxes
    • Don’t like: Appearance
    • Comments on item disliked: Newspaper boxes are disgusting.
    • Improve: Appearance
    • Comments on item to be improved: Follow Vancouver and Chicago re newspaper boxes. No
    • More comments: Montreal has successfully won every suit brought against that city by the newspapers. Montreal has no newspaper boxes, which is great. I can’t imagine Toronto following, but the unibox is a great step. I hope “we” the citizens are successful against “them” the newspapers.
24. • Like: Appearance, Functionality, Placement
    • Comments on item liked: Very little.
    • Don’t like: Appearance, Functionality, Placement
    • Comments on item disliked: Appearance – generally unappealing, except for new transit shelters. Functionality – poor. Mail boxes ought to face the street. Placement – sidewalks are blocked, passage is reduced for pedestrians and those with baby strollers, and snow clearance is affected.
    • Improve: Appearance, Functionality, Placement
    • Comments on item to be improved: Benches in conversational groupings, and garbage bins at a distance;
    • Add: Litter bins adjacent to fast food outlets, and bus stops; Public toilets adjacent to Green P parking garages
    • Attended workshop? No
    • More comments: . Signage at Loring/Wyle Parkette at Mt. Pleasant and St. Clair is unattractive; bad design, peeling paint. The trash can MUST be moved from beside the statuette. Paper boxes MUST not block sidewalks
25. • Like: Functionality, Placement
    • Comments on item liked: I am very happy with the city’s bicycle racks, although I would like to see more of them. The same applies for the current 3-hole garbage/recycling bins.
    • Don’t like: Appearance
    • Comments on item disliked: I am disappointed by the extent to which commercial advertising has taken over existing city property. Bus shelters and garbage bins especially have become embarrassing eyesores.
    • Improve: Appearance
    • Comments on item to be improved: I’d like to see the city take pride in the services they provide to the tax-paying public, and eliminate some of the advertising that is threatening to take over our public space. There is no reason for the needs of advertisers to eclipse the needs of the public.
    • Add: More bicycle racks and public information pillars/postering kiosks. There are very few legitimate places to display community-specific information.
    • Attended workshop? No
    • More comments: I have had to seek out information on changes to Toronto’s public space on my own. I do not feel that the city has made much of an effort to publicize actions that could be interpreted as the “privatizing” of public spaces.
26. • Like: Appearance, Functionality, Placement
    • Comments on item liked: I must admit that I do like the randomness of design of the “street furniture” of Toronto. I find it visually stimulating... almost a museum of design, ideas and history. A uniform design would be undesirable.
    • Don’t like: Appearance, Functionality, Placement
    • Comments on item disliked: There are pieces that are good and those that are bad... but all are interesting.
    • Improve: Appearance, Functionality, Placement
    • Comments on item to be improved: Improvement is of course the function of any endeavour.
    • Add: The adding of more “furniture” to the streets is useless when we can not even properly tend to that which is already there.
    • Attended workshop? No
    • More comments: I believe in the maintenance, and if this is not possible the replacement of old receptacles etc... with new, ever changing and evolving designs according to need/demand. A citywide redesign would wipe the streets of character and personality.
27. • Comments on item liked: Some BIAs have done a good job on benches etc.
    • Don’t like: Functionality, Placement
    • Comments on item disliked: Placement is the biggest problem because of the narrow sidewalks, clutter, transit shelters that are too big and designed for media display not their supposed function. The mega-bins also are too big and not good for their supposed primary function.
    • Improve: Functionality, Placement
    • Comments on item to be improved: I like a variety of designs not a uniform sameness. All street furniture should first of all be functional, scaled appropriately, and placed out of the way of people on the sidewalk. RE appearance, I would like all commercial advertising removed.
    • Add: Comfortable benches, pedestrian-scale lighting, planters
    • Attended workshop? No
    • More comments: You did not ask what should be removed. Post/ring stands should not be on the sidewalk. Bicycles on them take up far too much space. Bicycle racks near stores and public buildings are much better (on the street if necessary). Street furniture should be on the boulevard, not on the sidewalk proper. The primary function of sidewalks is to provide wide enough safe passage for people walking and that should be the main priority.
28. • Like: Functionality
    • Comments on item liked: While it should be esthetically pleasing and fit with the local and natural environment where it is placed, it should first and foremost be functional (i.e. people-friendly).
    • Comments on item disliked: I dislike billboards/advertising disguised as street furniture, such as those mega garbage bins, and those big triangular “info” sign things. Street furniture should be functional and serve the needs of the public, not promote business advertising.
    • Comments on item to be improved: Less (or even no) advertising. More involvement from local artists. Incorporate elements that are unique to Toronto... why be a generic city? Be bold enough to incorporate elements that are quirky and intriguing
    • Attended workshop? No
    • More comments: I find there are too few benches in public spaces. I would like to see also to see more bike racks (with colorful painted colors instead of the drab grey). Also, I would like to see street furniture have more functional use and less advertising. The current garbage cans are utterly useless and seem only there to advertise and not be a receptacle for garbage. Information pillars are non existent in my mind... can’t think of ever seeing one. Maybe they need to look better/be more obvious/be in more obvious locations?
29. • Like: Appearance, Functionality, Placement
    • Don’t like: Appearance
    • Comments on item disliked: Too much advertising. The megabins block the view of the street from the sidewalk, and vice versa.
    • Improve: Appearance, Functionality
    • Comments on item to be improved: I recommend lots of benches – people need to sit for a minute, repack their bag, give their child a snack, etc. Europe has a lot of benches. If the streets are well – used, it encourages people to walk and enjoy their community.
    • Attended workshop? No
    • More comments: Unfortunately I was out of town and could not attend the workshop.
30. • Like: Appearance, Functionality, Placement
    • Comments on item liked: bus shelters look nice and are useful... streetcar shelters on Spadina are also nice. bicycle rings work well.
    • Don’t like: Appearance, Functionality
    • Comments on item disliked: too much advertising is present on street furniture, giving the city a “cheap” and messy look.
    • Improve: Appearance
    • Comments on item to be improved: smaller, more compact street furniture to help maximize pedestrian space and visibility.
    • Add: more low-profile garbage and recycling bins especially in high-traffic areas of downtown.
    • Attended workshop? No
    • More comments: “information pillars” are totally useless. maps are poor, the electronics/vending is usually non-functional, and they are an obvious advertising fixture. They cheapen our city parks. I’m sure they were put in for free by an advertising company, but they don’t add anything to our city, and may in fact make it worse. Feel free to contact me: [REDACTED ADDRESS]
31. • Like: Appearance, Functionality
    • Comments on item liked: The newer glass transit shelters are functional, bright and unobtrusive and always look clean and in good condition. Benches in parks are good as they are long and comfortable to sit on for long periods of time. I often read in the park, and the benches seem to be mostly all in good condition and nice to use.
    • Don’t like: Appearance, Functionality
    • Comments on item disliked: The EUCAN stainless steel garbage cans are bulky and hard to use. The entrances for items are too small, and there seem to be different version of them with the recycling and garbage slots rearranged so it is always necessary to look at the labels before depositing items. They are poorly made and are often seen with their doors open and garbage all over the street. The new Info-to-Go map units are ugly. They contain a nice map, but it looks like a ploy to place several large advertising posters on government sites. Also, the scrolling LED signs are useless and the audio information playback feature on some of the signs has never worked for me.
    • Improve: Functionality, Placement
    • Comments on item to be improved: Garbage cans should be smaller and more numerous, even on residential streets. Even if a pole-mounted garbage can is all that can be installed in less busy areas, at least it would prevent lazy people from throwing items on the ground. There should be more good quality benches in more areas. On a nice day I often walk for blocks and blocks in the downtown looking for a place to sit and think or read. I don’t like to loiter in coffee shops and private places, but other than parks there aren’t very many comfortable places to sit.
    • Add: Postering often looks terrible and messes up otherwise nice poles and structures. I strongly believe that everyone deserves to be able to display posters in public. Perhaps there could be some boards for people to put posters up in popular places. Also, I recently started a new club in Toronto, but I’m finding it hard to get the word out. What about having some displays in strategic locations outside (not in a government building where a lot of people don’t go) in popular areas, where you can publish a list of clubs in Toronto? It could look like a bus map behind glass. People that are running community-based clubs and organizations could be allowed to post one or two lines of information which would expire in 6 months or something. This would give people access to find out what community stuff is out there. If you want more info, I’d love to discuss this with someone further, and even participate in making it happen: [REDACTED ADDRESS]
    • Attended workshop? No
    • More comments: This is really great that you’re taking feedback from the public!
32. • Like: Functionality
    • Comments on item liked: When you can find street furniture i.e. park benches they serve the purpose.
    • Don’t like: Appearance, Placement
    • Comments on item disliked: I find the street furniture varies from location to location. Yorkville’s “street furniture” is different than Parkdale’s
    • Improve: Appearance, Functionality, Placement
    • Comments on item to be improved: The expansion of the use of different products has enabled design in today’s market to produce a wide range of functional “street furniture”. I would like city council to “think outside the box” when choosing a “look” not to wimp out to the lowest bid., We live in a city that gets snow and is cold half of the year. Lets not think metal. Who will sit on a metal bench when it is –20°C
    • Add: solar street lamps
    • Attended workshop? No
    • More comments: I found that it was very short notice for any of the public meetings, there were not enough of them. None of the meetings were on a main subway and parking in the downtown core expensive. The city should able to give out “parking chits” for the Green P lots or street parking to citizens who take the time to participate after a busy working day to get involved.
33. • Comments on item liked: Only the transit shelters; most of the rest looks old and worn out; there is a big mish-mash
    • Don’t like: Appearance, Functionality, Placement
    • Comments on item disliked: There are not enough garbage cans! Often the sidewalks are too narrow to accommodate what it there
    • Improve: Appearance, Functionality, Placement
    • Comments on item to be improved:
    • Add: Information kiosks to get the postering off the hydro poles; drinking fountains; public toilets
    • Attended workshop? No
34. • Comments on item liked: I like the bike racks here a lot. I am not a big fan of the giant advertising bins. I would check off all of these boxes on benches, vendor kiosks, and bike racks, but...
    • Don’t like: Appearance, Functionality, Placement
    • Comments on item disliked: I like would like my walk down a public sidewalk free of huge, obstructive, minimally functional Clairol ads pretending to be garbage cans.
    • Improve: Appearance, Functionality, Placement
    • Comments on item to be improved: Get rid of the Mega Bins!
    • Add: Increasing public accessibility to toilets is an excellent idea.
    • Attended workshop? No
    • More comments: I would like to know more about when these workshops are and how I can be a part of them!
35. • Comments on item liked: None of the above. The functionality and placement are always secondary to the commercial interests/ads
    • Don’t like: Appearance, Functionality, Placement
    • Comments on item disliked: The functionality and placement are always secondary to the commercial interests/ads
    • Improve: Appearance, Functionality, Placement
    • Comments on item to be improved: Functionality, placement, size, whether they use electricity – all of this should be determined by the use, not the ads.
    • Add: more bike racks – ring and post are awesome. public washrooms (I know, dream on), battery collection
    • Attended workshop? No
36. • Like: Appearance, Functionality, Placement
    • Comments on item liked: Post and ring bike lock-ups are fantastic. Let’s have more of them. Easy to get from the city too, if you request. This is a great program. Benches in some parts of the city are nice... they should be nice wood or artfully decorated to enhance their surroundings. Other benches are not so nice... see below.
    • Don’t like: Appearance, Functionality, Placement
    • Comments on item disliked: I find the current silver garbage cans, and the new megabins, to be both ugly and hard to use. The current ones are such a pain... always filthy and it’s really gross to try to slip something in through that flap. They’re also not very lovely. The megabins I have huge objections to. They look terrible and ruin the sightlines of the street as well as blocking the sidewalk unnecessarily. The design with garbage receptacles on either side is terrible, and this is made worse by the fact that many are placed to make the one side rather inaccessible. They’re just not good cans at all. Can we please have street furniture designed with people’s use FIRST in mind rather than coming second to the desire to have maximum ad exposure? The infopillars are also ugly and the maps are not very helpful, and often placed AWAY from pedestrians. The one in Yorkville was snowed in whenever it was snowy, and nobody would ever think to trudge behind it to look at a map. Maps should face
    • Comments on item to be improved: I haven’t noticed a lot of public toilets in Toronto... I can only remember ones in some parks and I don’t recall them being terribly inviting. I might consider adding more and cleaner public toilets in the downtown so people don’t have to go scrambling every time they need to use a washroom. It’s worth looking at some of the models used in Europe, though I have some problems with making people pay to use them. Still, it’s worth looking into.
    • Add: I do NOT want to see the mega publication boxes. If there are to be mega publication boxes, they should have room only for ads from the publications that they hold, not for other unrelated ads. I think it’s a bit unfair to the newspapers to force them into boxes that don’t have their branding on them. It deprives them of a crucial vehicle to promote themselves. I wouldn’t force the weeklies to participate in those, only the dailies. In any case, I don’t think that there’s a really bad problem with these boxes except perhaps the proliferation of boxes for the free dailies.
    • Attended workshop? No
    • More comments: My main thing is that we should be looking at ways to have the smartest, best functioning and most aesthetically pleasing street furniture of any city, anywhere. The street furniture should do the job of furniture... it should be designed for PEOPLE to use and to make people comfortable on their streets. It should NOT be a vehicle for advertising. Advertising really cheapens the look of street furniture and inevitably means that the furniture is designed for ads first, use second. Look at the hard to use ad-supported bike posts in Ottawa, for example. Terrible design for bikes, but just fine as a way to advertise on the street. If it means that the city has to actually pay for its own public infrastructure, then I think that’s just fine. Let’s invest together in the quality of our streets, instead of always trying to get ad firms to provide stuff for free which
37. • Like: Functionality, Placement
    • Comments on item liked: Functional-wise the bike posts are the best. Worst are the new large garbage bins, they fill up too quickly and take up way too much space on the side walk. Already there are too many ads on our r streets. I don’t mind the group of newspaper boxes outside of subways, at least they’re orderly and useful.
    • Don’t like: Appearance, Functionality, Placement
    • Comments on item disliked: The info pillars are a joke, they still don’t work and they aren’t informative at all, even for a tourist. The new large garbage bins are disgusting and should be removed ASAP.
    • Improve: Appearance, Functionality
    • Comments on item to be improved: Hopefully the garbage bins will become bigger with more capacity. I would like to see less ads on all the furniture and to keep it from getting onto things like benches and bike racks.
    • Add: Lamp Posts, perhaps not on busy streets where they need to be high and functional, but on side streets... the ones along Palmerston Blvd are beautiful.
    • Attended workshop? No
    • More comments: No more ads please, this city is already suffocating in them and they do the exact opposite of “beautiful city” and barely makes a dent in the city budget. No More Ads.
38. • Like: Appearance, Functionality, Placement
    • Comments on item liked: I would prefer to see something in which design has been a prime consideration and advertising space is kept to a minimum. I am prepared to pay higher property taxes in order to keep the public space public and less-commercialized.
    • Don’t like: Appearance, Functionality, Placement
    • Comments on item disliked: The mega-bins are awful and I find Eucan’s use of the advertising space on them during the trial period duplicitous and offensive. I wonder how long those “Put garbage in me” signs would last were the contract to be picked up. People from out of town always remark to me that the old Viacom bins were nice because they clearly promote recycling (something the megabin doesn’t).
    • Improve: Appearance, Functionality, Placement
    • Comments on item to be improved: see question 1.
    • Add: I would love to see a well-designed concentrated newspaper box (a la Chicago or New York, but better designed). The proliferation of boxes on Toronto’s streets is awful.
    • Attended workshop?
    • More comments: Those info points that have city maps are terrible too. Get rid of the advertising (or put it on the inside rather than the side facing outwards).
39. • Like: Placement
    • Comments on item liked: The ring bike stands are great.
    • Don’t like: Appearance, Functionality
    • Comments on item disliked: There is no uniformity across the various types of furniture. (i.e. the bus shelters should match garbage bin)
    • Improve: Appearance, Functionality
    • Comments on item to be improved: Garbage bins should not be 6 feet high. I realize you want to advertise, but sightlines, safety are important too.
    • Attended workshop? No
40. • Like: Functionality, Placement
    • Comments on item liked: The newer transit shelters have a nice appearance, though when they’re covered in translucent ads it becomes hard to see if the bus or streetcar is coming. I also think the standard green park benches are fine and probably don’t need replacing. The bicycle rings all over the city are fine as they are, too! They’re a VERY Toronto symbol as it is, and I’d hate to see them go.
    • Don’t like: Appearance
    • Comments on item disliked: As I wrote above, transit shelters, litter/recycling bins, and information pillars are more obviously billboards than anything. Especially those information pillars, which now pollute our PARKS with advertising. Most of those info pillars seem more like clutter to men, and I can’t imagine locals OR tourists having much use for them. They all have the SAME map with no specialized information about the neighbourhood you’re in.
    • Improve: Appearance, Placement
    • Comments on item to be improved: Definitely our street furniture could stand to be improved. Garbage bins that block the road and big black transit shelters that could use a bit of a makeover, would be on the top of my list.
    • Add: In some ways, the less the better. If the sidewalks become to cluttered with furniture, they become less friendly. A few tweaks here and there on a few already existing items (like I mentioned above) and I think we’d be fine! Over-designing things like this can actually lead to the opposite effect . Not everything has to (or ought to) look the same!
    • Attended workshop? No
    • More comments: I’m glad the city has undertaken this project! I’m looking forward to see the results! Please please please try to cut down on the advertising . we don’t want to whole city to look like Dundas Square.
41. • Like: Placement
    • Don’t like: Appearance, Functionality
    • Improve: Appearance, Functionality
    • Comments on item to be improved:
    • Add: Information posts, public toilets, benches.
    • Attended workshop? No
    • Comments on item liked: This question is unclear, are you asking about the PRESENT street furniture? IF so, there is little to call street furniture.
    • Don’t like: Appearance, Functionality, Placement
    • Comments on item disliked: newspaper boxes chained to posts preventing people from pushing the crosswalk buttons, especially if they are in wheelchairs.
    • Comments on item to be improved: Because hot dog carts are licensed and are on sidewalks, they are street furniture. However, many of these carts are parked 24/7 and have taken to be an architectural form of their own. This should be addressed in terms of the three criteria (app/funct/placement)
    • Add: Poster kiosks/Magazine Stands/clocks/public washrooms/
    • Attended workshop? No
    • More comments: The INFO Go pillars, as a pilot project coordinated by ECDEV should be discontinued. As street furniture they primarily only serve as advertising on city property. The mapping function is for all intents and purposes hidden from the public, facing away from the street: Thereby, negating the wayfinding function. It is sad to see such ad creep onto city property, especially in front of City Hall.
42. • Don’t like: Appearance, Functionality, Placement
    • Comments on item disliked: None. I like the sleek design of the TTC shelters, but they’re not very functional. None of them have working lights, and recently were wrapped in ads that reduced visibility to a dangerous level., The garbage cans are very unpleasant to use. I don’t mind the size or the metallic appearance, but the flaps constantly get dirty. I don’t know why they’re needed. Those megabins are worse; they don’t have enough space for garbage, and are placed horribly, taking up far too much sidewalk space., Those new mega ad posts are terrible as well; there’s an enormous one right near Nathan Phillips Square. They’re almost grotesque in size, with no elegance.
    • Improve: Appearance, Functionality, Placement
    • Comments on item to be improved: Smaller, less obtrusive. More user-friendly. Less dangerous, more functional placement. Please use common sense.
    • Add: Tree guards, better tree planters than concrete. More benches which are friendly to all sitters; I dislike the segmented benches which, I suppose, are designed to discourage the homeless from sleeping on them. I find this a silly measure if you don’t provide places for them to go.
    • Attended workshop? No
    • More comments: Please make our city beautiful! Please don’t sell out its soul for paltry sums of money.
43. • Like: Appearance, Functionality, Placement
    • Don’t like: Appearance, Functionality
    • Comments on item disliked: Too much advertising and not enough space for public information and community announcements. Not enough bike racks and not enough shelter from rain and strong winds (at transit stops)
    • Improve: Appearance, Functionality, Placement
    • Comments on item to be improved: add more benches (especially in bus shelters), less advertising and more space for community announcements, more secure bike racks
    • Add: more bike racks, more benches, water fountains (for drinking)
    • Attended workshop? No
    • More comments: Please give special consideration to the needs of people with disabilities and residents in poor neighbourhoods.
44. • Like: Functionality
    • Comments on item liked: Any good design should place the functionality of the furniture above and beyond the aesthetics. Make it do its job properly and without extraneous fluff and it will inevitably fit into the environment. The bike post and rings are excellent examples of this.
    • Don’t like: Appearance, Placement
    • Comments on item disliked: The garbage ad-bins put up recently are such poor examples of this its despicable. They don’t hold the garbage they were billed as being able to handle, instead it spills onto our streets. Recycling in those bins? It fits less than the garbage – how is that supposed to promote the greening of the city? Move the furniture away from the corners of the street. The users of the streets (cars, bikes, pedestrians, etc) can’t see around them. Sightlines must be maintained., On narrow sidewalks (think Davis Ville & Yonge, south side) wheelchairs can’t get by the light standards and newspaper boxes and store signs. I had to help someone by pushing them down the street last year.
    • Improve: Functionality, Placement
    • Comments on item to be improved: Efficiency of design. Placing ads on these things should not be the driving reason behind the way the furniture works. If its supposed to collect garbage make it do that job well. Worry about how you pay for it later. A good design usually pays for itself in reduced maintenance costs, lack of garbage thrown out on the street, etc. Think bigger picture!
    • Add: None. I’d like to see less. Light standards should hang off buildings, street signs should be placed at eye level or “in” the sidewalks. Pedestrian crossing signals should be placed lower so cars can see them instead of blindingly racing through them. Newspaper boxes should be combined into one. Planter boxes should be placed only where the sidewalk is wide enough.
    • Attended workshop? No
45. • Like: Functionality
    • Don’t like: Appearance
    • Comments on item disliked: The new “tall” trash bins are heinous and we should be embarrassed by them. Their primary function is not, of course, waste disposal at all... they’re just gloified advertising billboards, and if the city doesn’t stop selling every square inch of space to advertisers, we’re going to end up with a completely alienating, inhuman streetscape.
    • Comments on item to be improved: I’m glad that daily newspapers and the city weeklies are available easily in publication boxes, but we’ve got waaay too many boxes littering the streets now. Our corners look so junky because of them. Do we really need boxes for rental housing magazines and for all the crappy lite-news mags like Metro, Dose, etc. A line has to be drawn somewhere, and it should have been drawn long ago...
    • Add: The city could use more phone booths. Not everyone intends to get a cellphone, and sometimes you have to walk for blocks and blocks before finding a phone anywhere...
    • Attended workshop? No
46. • Like: Appearance
    • Comments on item liked: I like the look of old metal bike poles.
    • Don’t like: Appearance, Placement
    • Comments on item disliked: There simply aren’t enough places to sit. Some bus shelters and almost all streetcar shelters have no benches. I don’t like this. I have arthritis in my legs and feet and sit whenever I can. In general, public seating benefits communities by allowing people places to gather in public. I also find there is an excess of ads on the sides of shelters. I definitely oppose the megabin project. Also, I don’t like the TV screens ads in subway tunnels.
    • Improve: Appearance, Functionality
    • Comments on item to be improved: Fewer ads, more places to sit (while waiting for transit or otherwise). The city should take advantage of its heritage and keep some of its old street furniture, like bike poles.
    • Add: More benches in waiting areas and in other public places. More public clocks. More safe public toilets.
    • Attended workshop? No
    • More comments: I’m glad the anti-postering bylaw was repealed.
47. • Like: Functionality, Placement
    • Improve: Appearance
    • Comments on item to be improved: remove street level advertising. keep things low to the ground,
    • Add: more benches
    • Attended workshop? No
48. • Like: Functionality
    • Don’t like: Appearance
    • Comments on item disliked: I don’t like stuff with ads all over it.
    • Improve: Functionality
    • Comments on item to be improved: Make is useful and Torontonians will love it.
    • Add: As much bike parking as possible.
    • Attended workshop? No
49. • Like: Placement
    • Comments on item liked: It’s nice to have benches in the wonderful parks downtown.
    • Don’t like: Appearance, Functionality
    • Comments on item disliked: The problem with benches is that they are often separated. I’m not afraid to sit down right next to my friends. A bench that should fit three or four thin people is divided to fit only two. I also don’t like those ridiculous eucan bins.
    • Improve: Appearance, Functionality
    • Comments on item to be improved: Remove the divisions in benches. And get rid of those hideously ugly eucan bins. Please do not put any more advertisements on bus shelters that block transit riders” view of the street (e.g. iPod, listerine, herbal essence). This is unsafe for women especially, if they are riding the bus or streetcar at night.
    • Add: The city could use more bike racks and benches.
    • Attended workshop? No
    • More comments: I’m begging you to get rid of those bins.
50. • Like: Placement
    • Don’t like: Appearance, Functionality
    • Improve: Functionality, Placement
    • Attended workshop? No
51. • Like: Appearance, Functionality
    • Comments on item liked: I love street furniture that is beautiful to look at, but also serves its purpose.
    • Don’t like: Appearance, Functionality
    • Comments on item disliked: I don’t like it when street furniture has ads; not only is this ugly, but because they have ads they have to be placed far away from other things that have ads (i.e.: garbage bins, bus shelters) which is completely useless as a pedestrian.
    • Improve: Appearance, Functionality
    • Comments on item to be improved: No ads!
    • Add: Ad-less benches! And lots of “em.
    • Attended workshop? No
52. • Like: Functionality
    • Comments on item liked: If forced to pick one of these categories, I suppose the street furniture does function, but it is generally sparse and not well designed.
    • Don’t like: Appearance, Placement
    • Comments on item disliked: There is no coherence in terms of design and it feels like street furniture is never there when you need it. Although I understand the benefits of advertising revenues, it often feels like the advertising overwhelms the design and function of pieces.
    • Improve: Appearance, Functionality, Placement
    • Comments on item to be improved:
    • Add: Well placed and well designed benches and bollards for people to sit on and lean against. The street furiture should encourage people to spend more time in the public realm, participating in the life of the city. Additionally lighting should be considered. Some fun pieces could be designed for areas that are busy after dark.
    • Attended workshop? No
    • More comments: The design of the new street furiture’s primary task should be to foster public life in the city and NOT to provide more advertising space.
53. • Comments on item liked: I love the post-and-ring bike racks, and the streetcar shelters are nice. Bus shelters are okay but I don’t like the billboards or the way the benches discourage the homeless. The phone booths are good. Aside from the billboards and the fact that they fall apart, the older garbage bins (OMG?) at least have clear labels for recycling. I don’t know what you mean by vendor kiosks, news stands, pedestrian railings or postering kiosks, and I don’t think I’ve seen a public toilet. What about water fountains?
    • Comments on item disliked: I really dislike that there are more and more billboards on everything. I especially hate the information pillars – they are so offensive and obviously just for advertising. Also the new huge garbage bins are terrible for appearance, functionality AND placement – seriously bad.
    • Improve: Functionality
    • Comments on item to be improved: Please do not have billboards on everything. If there must be billboards, stick to the logical places like bus shelters – no need to create more like with those ridiculous information pillars and obscene garbage cans. It’s visual clutter and it doesn’t help the city, its communities & neighbourhoods. Street furniture should be functional first, attractive second – revenue-generation should NOT be priority #1. I was recently in New York City and could not escape the feeling that the city had sold its soul. There are billboards on absolutely everything – phone booths, every single subway entrance, garbage cans, etc. You can’t escape the corporate onslaught, it’s really nauseating and sad. Please don’t let this happen to Toronto.
    • Add: Some more benches might be nice, but without ads please, and it would be nice if they would allow a homeless person to lie down (i.e. old school park benches). I don’t think postering kiosks are necessary as long as people can still use utility poles for posters. Always happy to have more post-and-ring bike racks – they’re a good design.
    • Attended workshop? No
    • More comments: I don’t see the need to have everything look the same – if communities could be involved in design, that would be great. I prefer a cleaner, un-cluttered look, but not at the expense of character. I want to reiterate that functionality, good design, should come first – we want something that’s going to last and be useful, not cheap crap that doesn’t work, falls apart and looks bad after a year on the street.
54. • Like: Appearance, Functionality, Placement
    • Comments on item liked: All are important.
    • Don’t like: Appearance, Functionality, Placement
    • Comments on item disliked: Again, all. Current furniture is misplaced, hasn’t been installed correctly, doesn’t work all the time and most look visually out of place.
    • Improve: Appearance, Functionality, Placement
    • Comments on item to be improved: Those new flat metal street signs look awfully cheap replicas of the original white and black signs. And most of them are misplaced, jutting out towards the street, where trucks can hit and bend them., Bus shelters: remove the current benches and replace with ones that don’t have those thigh scraping metal seperators... they aren’t arm rests since they are too low, but are perfect for taking off a few layers of skin on ones thighs. Maybe clean the glass roofs on them once and a while.
    • Add: Practical garbage and recycling containers. Ones that have been designed for refuse, not advertising. More solar powered units: garbage containers with compactors in them, and bus shelters. Also any new units must be made to be pedestrian and car friendly.
    • Attended workshop? No
55. • Like: Appearance, Functionality
    • Comments on item liked: Functionality is key, usefulness and container space in garbage cans is important ( a la megabins)
    • Don’t like: Appearance
    • Comments on item disliked: advertising is infringment.
    • Improve: Appearance, Functionality
    • Comments on item to be improved: less advertisment. more creative pieces, artistic and aestetic pieces.
    • Add: more pay phones, (we don’t all have cells), more street lights where some are lacking, more benches
    • Attended workshop? No
    • More comments: good luck!
56. • Comments on item liked: Nothing good exists.
    • Don’t like: Appearance, Functionality, Placement
    • Comments on item disliked: Appearance is all different. Eucan Mega Bins are not functional. The TTC Shelter’s covered in ads are also not functional. Not to mention the horrible placement of newsboxes and those ugly mega bins.
    • Improve: Appearance, Functionality, Placement
    • Comments on item to be improved: Get rid of those Mega Bins. Also get rid of the large amount of advertising. Make the appearance refelctive of the neighbourhood. I.e looks professional in the Financial District, looks charming in Kensington Market, etc. Placement has to be user friendly.
    • Add: Lots of bike racks, postering kiosks, public toilets and benches. It is important for the street furnitre to meet the needs of the people of the city.
    • Attended workshop? No
57. • Like: Appearance
    • Comments on item liked: The current bus shelter design is fairly elegant, but who authorized those butt ugly brown and beige seat/advertising units fifteen odd years ago that dot the suburban bus stops? And please, oh please do not authorize any more advertising clutter! I work in the biz, and I’m sick of it. Too much makes for a cluttered urban landscape, one in which it is difficult to distinguish anything. Choose a clear, simple, unified colour scheme and look, and keep it simple. Elegant. spare. And stick with it!
    • Comments on item disliked: Who authorized those butt ugly brown and beige seat/advertising units fifteen odd years ago that dot the suburban bus stops? I know that a commerical outfit produced and placed them, but they don’t add anything to the urban landscape., And please, oh please do not authorize any more advertising clutter! I work in the biz, and I’m sick of it. Too much makes for a cluttered urban landscape, one in which it is difficult to distinguish anything. Choose a clear, simple, unified colour scheme and look and keep it readable and simple. Elegant. spare. That way, you have a chance of seeing and distinguishing important information, like parking signs, crosswalks (there’s a biggi.e... the designs used in Alberta, specifically Calgary, are much more visible to drivers)
    • Improve: Appearance, Functionality, Placement
    • Comments on item to be improved: Less advertising. Clean lines. Adequate capacity. Rodent, racoon and squirrel proof containers (the racoons have a field day with the old, open mesh garbage bins in my local park, Lower Kingsmill Park), Think through a modular visual system, and stick with it. This will form an important part of the city’s visual identity. Get it right and you’re golden. Get it wrong, and everyone grumbles, it’s more work to maintain, and expensive to replace.
    • Add: Local notice posting areas (kind of like community bulletin boards) that would centralize notice posting. More bicycle lock up rings in the suburbs, specifically working with the shopping malls to locate bicycle parking (and better designed stands) in appropriate high traffic locations close to entrances. Community bulletin boards in the bus shelters. People are posting there anyways, taping things to the glass., Comunity bulletin boards similar to the lightpost collars being used in Ottawa. Attention to public washrooms and a clear signage system to mark their locations, similar to the one for city parking lots in high traffic areas, and year round in the parks (how may of the public washrooms are locked for large chunks of the year due to maintenance and volumne useage issues??? It’s an Issue for people like my Mom with IBS or gastric problems. An automated pissoir system like Paris’s or London’s would do a lot to make long shopping expeditions more comfortable and would also control the amount of pissing in
    • Attended workshop? No
    • More comments: Could attend due to my work hours (afternoon shift). But am very interested in future city infrastructure investments.
58. • Like: Placement
    • Comments on item liked: Placement of our street furnuture is generally OK. Appearance and funcionality tend to vary.
    • Don’t like: Appearance, Functionality
    • Comments on item disliked: The older garbage bins (with the three slots) are unpleasant to use because it’s hard to place garbage in them without having to touch the flap (which is usually quite grimy). I’ve seen garbage bins washed on a few occasions, but they should be washed more frequently. Many of the concrete tree planters on city streets are too small and should be enlarged., Media companies should be required to clean or replace dirty or broken boxes on a regular basis.
    • Improve: Appearance, Functionality
    • Comments on item to be improved: Cleanliness (all furniture) and ease of use (older garbage bins).
    • Add: There’s not much room to add more street furniture. More benches in certain retail strips would be good (i.e. Greektown, Beaches, etc), as long as they are maintained and cleaned regularly., New trees should be planted directly into the ground instead of in concrete planters, because these will eventually become too small as the tree grows. In fact, trees probably can’t grow fully with their roots trapped in these planters.
    • Attended workshop? No
    • More comments: You can have the nicest, prettiest, and most functional street furniture in the world, but if most of it is dirty and grimy, it won’t make a difference at all. Our focus should be on cleaning and maintenance and once we’ve got that under control, we can look to improving the actual street furniture.
59. • Like: Functionality, Placement
    • Comments on item liked: It is often in areas where it is needed e.g. benches at busstops, newspapers at corners; It is widespread; I especially like locally-designed or location-specific furniture purchased/maintained by local BIAs – they usually make a real effort to choose things that signify their neighbourhood and get higher quality furniture.
    • Don’t like: Appearance, Functionality, Placement
    • Comments on item disliked: The garbage bins are always dirty and full, and the new mega ones are hard to understand (one side is facing the road or too close to a building), some benches are ugly and I hate the plastic benches with ads on them. Tree planter boxes are ridiculous and falling apart – give them more space! They’re all dying!, Infotogo maps are a joke! The one in the beaches near me doesn’t even have the beaches on the map! plus, most people don’t even know there’s a map on the back cause the ads are so big and the curve of it makes it look like its only two sided...
    • Improve: Appearance, Functionality, Placement
    • Comments on item to be improved: Get high quality designs, especially ones that reflect the areas they’re in. Get garbage bins that work! And bus shelters that have TTC maps and route info on them (like some of the old shelters). More benches and bins are needed, but they need to not clutter the sidewalk. More tree and plant space in more parts of the city – get community groups to help out! Less ads – no more ugly ad pillars in parking lots and on fake tourist maps. Yay for postering pillars but only if they’re all over the city (not just a few downtown)
    • Add: Public toilets! Especially in urban downtown areas like Chinatown, Little India, Greektown, Queen St, Jarvis – they’re essential for residents and tourists (why would we push people into malls and buildings when we should promote vibrant streets?), Full bike lockers at outer TTC/go stations, cleaner phone booths!
    • Attended workshop? No
    • More comments: Please ensure that locally designed and supported furniture and styles stay and aren’t taken over by a big company. Will local BIAs and RAs have to pay the big company to put up banners and special signs? Create a partnership situation so local communities can have input, don’t let a big ad agency take over all our visual space and tell us what we can and can’t have on the street – it’s our space! Get local groups to create art for new furniture and PLEASE increase street trees and plantings!
60. • Like: Functionality, Placement
    • Comments on item liked: I like the variety...
    • Don’t like: Appearance
    • Comments on item disliked: Whats up with the bigs garbage ads????
    • Comments on item to be improved: less focus on advertising... more focus on functionality and art...no standardization please!
    • Add: more benches..art boards...maps... water fountains
    • Attended workshop? No
61. • Like: Functionality
    • Comments on item liked: excessive advertising ruins the aesthitics of not just the street furniture, but our city streets as a whole
    • Don’t like: Appearance, Placement
    • Comments on item disliked: Again, advertising has a negative effect on appearance of our streets and street furniture. Placement is sometimes detrimental to pedestrian traffic flow and blocks the fields of vision (particularly the magabins).
    • Improve: Appearance, Functionality, Placement
    • Comments on item to be improved: NO MORE ADS. please keep in mind that the primary function of benches, bus shelters, garbage bins, etc is to serve people, not sell products. Benches should be comfortable, and placement should engourage citizens to make use of public space. Bus shelters should prefereably be glass on all sides, protecting people from the elements yet enabling a clear view in all directions. transit maps and schedules should be placed in all shelters.
    • Add: more maps (not hidden by ads). more benches. more vegetation.
    • Attended workshop? No
    • More comments: Don’t sell our city to advertizers! keep public space public!
62. • Like: Appearance, Functionality, Placement
    • Don’t like: Placement
    • Comments on item disliked: Not enough of it!
    • Improve: Placement
    • Comments on item to be improved: More street furniture in more places, accompanied by garbage receptacles and lighting.
    • Add: More bicycle ties
    • Attended workshop? No
    • Comments on item liked: None of the above
    • Don’t like: Appearance, Functionality, Placement
    • Improve: Functionality, Placement
    • Comments on item to be improved:
    • Add: Public postering board
    • Attended workshop? Yes
    • More comments: The collective orientation of our street furniture such as benches, newspaper boxes, garbage cans and street lights is very important to the quality of our urban public space. It is in the public interest that our street furniture will correspond to our daily activities, the pedestrian movements and each unique neighbourhoods.
63. • Comments on item liked: There’s barely anything good to be said about it.
    • Don’t like: Appearance, Functionality, Placement
    • Comments on item disliked: It’s tacky and advertising-driven, because bureaucrats in your department cannot imagine a city without rampant advertising. (You tend to express that sentiment as “Council won’t fund us to do it any other way, ” but we never see City staff actively proposing zero-advertising options.)
    • Improve: Appearance, Functionality, Placement
    • Comments on item to be improved: No advertising at all. Improved, tested custom typography. Full accessibility for people with disabilities, which is not the same thing as making something wheelchair height.
    • Add: Benches, fountains.
    • Attended workshop? Yes
    • More comments: Because you apparently aren’t even using something as simple as IP address filtering, this online voting system is prone to ballot-stuffing by Eucan/Pattison/Viacom staff or Toronto Public Spacing Committee supporters. You’re going to ignore the results anyway unless they exactly mirror your existing plans, all of which involve advertising and a wholesale selloff to a foreign national.
64. • Comments on item liked: Our current street furniture is designed first and foremost to maximize advertising revenue, and the look, functionality and placement of the street furniture is only a secondary consideration.
    • Don’t like: Appearance, Functionality, Placement
    • Comments on item disliked: Our current street furniture is, quite plainly a joke, but I am not laughing.
    • Improve: Appearance, Functionality, Placement
    • Comments on item to be improved: I would ensure that these three considerations come before any discussion of revenue, either in terms of revenue to the city or to advertising firms., Some small suggestions:, 1) Ban (and enforce a ban on) advertising that impairs visibility or block sightlines. An example would be wraps around transit shelters which obscure the view of oncoming transit vehicles, such as the Herbal Expressions and iPod ads that were on TTC shelters last summer., 2) Ensure that the scale of street furniture is matched to its function. 7 Foot high garbage cans simply make no practical sense., 3) Remove any unecessary power consuption by street furniture – i.e. garbage cans and transit shelters do not need to be illuminated in order to function. 4) Any structure attached to street furniture that serves no other purpose than to display advertising should be removed. For example, the “information pillars” which contain 3 sides, are 15 feet tall, etc. contain 2 sides more, and at least 10 feet of
    • Add: Bicycle lockers would be excellent and prevent bikes from being vandalized.
    • Attended workshop? No
    • More comments: I commend city staff for undertaking a project aimed at improving city streets. I hope that in their reccomendations to council, they will take a balanced approach between economic interests and protecting the visual landscape of the city.
65. • Like: Functionality
    • Comments on item liked: For the most part the older street furniture is functional.
    • Don’t like: Appearance, Functionality, Placement
    • Comments on item disliked: Current furniture, like the EUCAN mega bins, info pillars, even the silver box bins, are poorly placed, not nearly functional enough. They are plastered in ads which is abhorent.
    • Improve: Appearance
    • Comments on item to be improved: Remove ads. I don’t care about the money generated – it makes the city look cheap. If I wanted the more ads in my life I’d watch more TV. Please do not make this decision for me.
    • Add: Bollards akong sidewalks where traffic is heavy. Especially on street corners., I saw something in the Star about using the underground for waste storage. great idea! It mean not having those huge waste bins which take up too much space.
    • Attended workshop? No
    • More comments: Please DO NOT approve the EUCAN bins. They represent everything that is wrong with street furniture., Please put the functionality FIRST. The user’s experience is the most important facet, not the advertising features.
66. • Like: Appearance, Functionality, Placement
    • Comments on item liked: The transit shelters have seats now, which sometimes wasn’t the case for the old ones. I like that the city decided on non-retro styling for the furniture so far. We don’t have to pretend we’re Europe. The current garbage bins are generally well-located. I’m glad there’s now a public washroom at Dundas square, though that’s probably one of the most well-serviced areas already
    • Don’t like: Appearance, Functionality, Placement
    • Comments on item disliked: Megabins block half the sidewalk since they’re placed perpendicularly to allow traffic to see ads. Can’t get to the bin on the street side. Also, those ridiculous plastic benches in North York, with ads on the back, are an eyesore. And who approved those gateway pillars on Yonge from College Southwards? This isn’t a theme park. They looks like a cast-off from the early 90s.
    • Improve: Appearance, Placement
    • Comments on item to be improved: Info pillars are useless. Where are the maps? And don’t tell me they have to be as high as the one at Spadina & Bloor. At that height, why even pretend that the little glass roof on top will do anything to shelter the tourist?
    • Add: Pedestrian scale lams, and non-ugly ones. I appreciate the ones on Yonge north of Lawrence, and Bloor west of Dufferin, which are mounted on the street lights, but the faux-natical thing is ridiculous.
    • Attended workshop? No
67. • Comments on item liked: Benches and bicycle racks look great.
    • Don’t like: Functionality
    • Comments on item disliked: The openings to current litter/recycling bins have covers on them that make it difficult to throw anything out without touching those already dirty covers (the hinges do not move easily as well). This encourages people to litter rather than put their garbage away. Nobody wants to touch those disgusting covers. Instead people litter., This is one opportunity the “Clean and Beautiful City” program should target. It is far more effective to make it easy for citizens to not litter in the first place than it is to pay other people to clean up the litter afterwards. People are lazy – make it easy for someone not to litter and they won’t litter. If using a public garbage can means you have to push against a dirty cover/hinge, people would prefer to toss their trash elsewhere. For some people, elsewhere is the ground., I’m also reminded of one example I saw in chinatown last summer. The litter bin there was a standard Eucan bin. However, vendors on the street were serving drinks in coconuts
    • Attended workshop? No
68. • Like: Functionality
    • Comments on item to be improved: remove the ads from the furniture.
    • Add: more benches., more way finding singage and maps (with out the ads)
    • Attended workshop? No
69. • Like: Functionality
    • Comments on item liked: Bike ring posts work well.
    • Don’t like: Appearance
    • Comments on item disliked: Too much advertising.
    • Improve: Appearance, Functionality, Placement
    • Comments on item to be improved:
    • Add: How about fixing up what is there. Less advertising, better functioning garbage bins (no mega bins). More ad-free public seating.
    • Attended workshop? No
70. • Like: Appearance
    • Comments on item liked: I like the new-look transit shelters; they are clean and modern-looking and might provide a guide to what other furniture items might look like.
    • Don’t like: Appearance, Functionality, Placement
    • Comments on item disliked: I very much DISLIKE the new garbage/recycling bins with their large billboards. The receptacles are too small, and they get disgustingly dirty. Also, the recycling bin is placed such that you need to walk out of your way and around to the other side. And, the ads are just too big. In a word, these things are TACKY.
    • Improve: Appearance, Functionality, Placement
    • Comments on item to be improved: Generally, I think that the city should stop trying to extract revenue from public space to such a large extent. Transit shelters with ads on them, fine. Should garbage cans function as billboards? It cheapens the look of the entire city. Come up with a pleasing design for garbage/recyclables and have placement and ease of use be the deciding factors for where they go.
    • Add: The city should find a way to amalgamate all the newspaper boxes into one cleanly designed unit and force all publications to use them and charge them a fee for their maintenance. People would be willing to pay slightly more for the convenience of having a newspaper available at every corner. The present set-up with all the different coloured boxes in various states of repair is an eyesore.
    • Attended workshop? No
71. • Comments on item liked: I love the bike posts – there should be more of them.
    • Don’t like: Appearance, Functionality, Placement
    • Comments on item disliked: Transit shelters are sometimes oddly placed – like on south side of Danforth west of Broadview at a stop that’s only used for the overnight bus. Garbage cans need to be located more conveniently and frequently and need to be garbage cans, not billboards with half-hidden little holes in the side. Information pillars are very low on information and don’t belong in public parks.
    • Improve: Appearance, Functionality, Placement
    • Comments on item to be improved: Garbage cans should look like garbage cans and shouldn’t require detailed instructions to use. Benches should be sturdy and well-maintained. Bike posts should be more plentiful and should not be encumbered by advertising. Transit shelters should be located conveniently for transit users. We need more pedestrian-friendly designs and features, and fewer distractions for drivers.
    • Add: More bike posts, more benches.
    • Attended workshop? No
    • More comments: The city should seriously consider buying and maintaining its own street furniture rather than selling it to the highest bidder. Yes, I know this will cost money. Yes, I am willing to pay higher taxes to keep the “public” in “public space.”
72. • Like: Appearance
    • Comments on item liked: There some examples of street furniture around the city that have an intricate and ergonomic design that fits nicely with the surroundings. They are both functional and appealing to the eye. They have no advertising on them and provide the public with it’s intended use.
    • Don’t like: Appearance, Functionality
    • Comments on item disliked: There’s too much advertising space. I almost feel as if advertising comes first, and providing for the public comes second. Street furnitire is for the public enjoyment, not a tool for corporations to lure the public into buying their products/services.
    • Improve: Appearance, Functionality
    • Comments on item to be improved: Good design involves making sure that the appearance is as well as
    • Add: Tourist information boards that have Maps showing where you are, and nearby local attractions. (i.e. Museums, shopping districts, buildings of significance, city landmarks, unique neighbourhoods, markets, parks, etc... )
    • Attended workshop? No
    • More comments: I think it’s great that this initiative is being pursued. The street is for the people, and street furniture compliments the street by serving the people with their needs (seating, information, bike locking, lighting, safety, shelter, etc... )
73. • Like: Functionality
    • Comments on item liked: Street furniture should be practical and utilitarian. I don’t expect them to look good, as the city and/or companies are more interested in cost than in buying a good product.
    • Don’t like: Placement
    • Comments on item disliked: I live in Kensington Market and there are very little furniture for pedstrians (despite repeated attepts to get some placed). This is one of the hubs of pedestrian traffic in the city, not to mention an area in which a lot of seniors do their shopping.
    • Comments on item to be improved: I actually don’t expect to like anything about this project. It has been said that the amount of advertising will decrease, although I am very skeptical.
    • Add: Benches. Plain and simple. If you can get local talent to diversify the style (which is impossible with one company controlling the entire contract) that would be great. The megabins are just clogging things up.
    • Attended workshop? Yes
    • More comments: Who is looking at these questions? Dan Egan seemed responsive to the public, but I can’t” say much for the other guys. Thanks!
74. • Like: Appearance
    • Comments on item liked: I like the new map/advertisment/bench pieces.
    • Don’t like: Functionality, Placement
    • Comments on item disliked: Although I like the appearance of the new furniture, I often find it’s placed in the wrong location. The map pieces specifically could function better if placed on the sidewalk with the advertisments facing the roads, and the maps actually visible to pedestrians walking by. The new garbage can boxes are hideous and not functional, the existing garbage cans with the 3 obvious places for trash and recycling should continued to be used.
    • Improve: Functionality, Placement
    • Comments on item to be improved: Read above.
    • Add: More benches.
    • Attended workshop? No
75. • Like: Functionality, Placement
    • Comments on item liked: I am a huge fan of the bike lock rings. I think they are aesthetically pleasing, nearly everywhere and highly functionaly. I also like the idea behind public garbage cans with multiple compartments for different types of waste.
    • Don’t like: Appearance, Placement
    • Comments on item disliked: The new Eucan bins are disgusting. They are far larger than any waste bin needs to be and hold less than the current Eucan bins no less! This both blocks visibility for cyclists and motorists as well as creating a nasty visual stain on our city. Furthermore, their placement is obviously geared towards pleasing advertisers and not making them easy to use. There’s a good idea here in waste bins that can reduce our environmental impact, but there is simply no need for billboards masquerading as garbage cans.
    • Improve: Appearance, Functionality, Placement
    • Comments on item to be improved: No ads. Our public spaces are supposed to be enjoyed by all Torontonians and should not be the domain of wealthy corporations. We don’t need illuminated garbage cans or privately owned and designed street furniture.
    • Add: More bike lock posts and sensible garbage cans
    • Attended workshop? No
76. • Like: Appearance, Functionality, Placement
    • Comments on item liked: All 3 are important. Along with the buildings and sidewalks, the “are” the city.
    • Don’t like: Appearance, Functionality, Placement
    • Comments on item disliked: Often cheap looking – the plastic stuff. Covered in ads – nobody wants to sit on an advertisement. The city stops being ours when that happens.
    • Improve: Appearance, Functionality, Placement
    • Comments on item to be improved: Placed where they work best as furniture, not as advertisements – some of the current horrible megabins are placed to face traffic, not help pedestrians., Design them first as furniture for citizens, not as ads.
    • Add: Good quality solid stuff. No cheap crap, no billboards pretending to be benches.
    • Attended workshop?
77. • Like: Appearance, Functionality
    • Comments on item liked: I really like the new aluminun (or steel, not sure which it is) and glass bus shelters.
    • Don’t like: Appearance, Functionality
    • Comments on item disliked: I reallly hate the pilot big garbage pan project. these huge things are an advertising eyesore (and I work in advertising!) there’s also a great place to hide behind and attack someone!, and those infoTOgo map information posts, I didn’t realize they had maps on the other side of them! this needs to be fixed. they are supposed to be tourist maps first and foremost, advertising second. why is this the other way around????
    • Improve: Appearance
    • Comments on item to be improved: I really love the idea of coordinated street furniture. organized newspaper boxes would be nice, as would be more public washrooms (but in strategic places!) and more phone booths and garbage cans!
    • Add: public washrooms in strategic places, more benches, newspaper boxes, public phones, bike racks., most importantly, the new furniture should be sleek, modern and classy – none of this big ugly advertising billboard stuff that is cheap-looking, inefficient and in some cases dangerous.
    • Attended workshop? No
    • More comments: please, please, please consider the needs of the city over advertising interests in this excersize. like I said earlier, I work in advertising, but I also firmly believe there is a time and place for it. our city’s street furniture should belong and be representative of the city, not advertising dollars. beautiful, modern and forward design is what we should be looking at first and foremost. something that will really make our city different and unique!
78. • Like: Functionality
    • Comments on item liked: It’s great to have places to sit when you’re doing a walking tour of the city, or just walking around.
    • Don’t like: Appearance
    • Comments on item disliked: The ads are usually garish and unnecessary. They don’t give the city the appearance of class.
    • Improve: Appearance, Placement
    • Comments on item to be improved: I’d ditch the ads (replacing them with art from Toronto-area artists would be a great program that probably wouldn’t cost THAT much money (how much can the ads bring in, really?)) and I suppose we could always use more benches.
    • Add: I’d like more benches with backs, and less trash cans with ads on them.
    • Attended workshop? No
    • More comments: thanks for asking for public opinions!
79. • Like: Appearance, Functionality, Placement
    • Comments on item liked: should engage with the public, encourage public use of it and also be stylish but not just designed for advertising use.
    • Don’t like: Appearance, Functionality
    • Comments on item disliked: too many advertisements, and especially the lack of functionality. When the street furniture looks more like a giant advert instead of something that will actually be used I feel it is really failing as public street furniture.
    • Comments on item to be improved: less positioning of the garbage cans as ads for cars, more furniture for people to use that is not advert-centred.
    • Add: I think some more benches and places where the public can feel free to congregate without being overcrowded with ads. I think poseting kiosks and collars would be a great idea as long as there is a ton of public input on these as it isthe public that uses these forms of art/communication.
    • Attended workshop? No
    • More comments: I understand that adverts are necesary to fund certain city projects, but when the focus of these projects is accomodating advertisements and not trying to better the city as far as citizens are concered, the city council is failing it’s constituents.
80. • Like: Appearance, Functionality, Placement
    • Comments on item liked: Works of art, as opposed to excuses for ad placement. Comfortable to sit on/Easy to use (depending on what it is), For seating: In a place I would want to sit (facing something attractive; along a path; along a shopping boulevard where I might want to stop and rest, I really like the existing bike racks- unobtrusive and convenient. More of them would be great!
    • Don’t like: Appearance
    • Comments on item disliked: If you want to put up ads, just put up ads. Street furniture masquerading as ads just makes me angry, especially when it’s so obvious and poorly done.
    • Comments on item to be improved:
    • Add: – postering kiosks/poles, – benches, standardized publication boxes (instead of the multicolour boxes), no/low-ad garbage bins (look to ottawa and montreal for this)
    • Attended workshop? No
81. • Like: Functionality
    • Comments on item liked: I suppose I like the functionality best simply because we need street furniture. However, overall I don’t find our street furniture’s funtionality that high. I like the fact that the old garbage bins have recognizable recycling sections, and it’s always nice to have benches to sit on.
    • Don’t like: Appearance, Functionality, Placement
    • Comments on item disliked: I think there are a lot of problems with our cities street furniture. One big problem is that when I think of it I don’t get a clear sense of presence. For example, when I think about placement I can’t give a gleaming report because I’m always looking for garbage cans, benches seem few and far between and public washrooms are virtually non existent. Second problem when I do get a sense of presence it’s usually in a negative way. For example the new giant garbage bins that are in areas of the city are hideous. I don’t understand why we have garbage cans that tower over pedestrians; blocking site lines and serving no purpose other than increasing the height of an ad. When it comes to functionality these garbage cans have some other major issues, half the receptacles face the road rather than pedestrian traffic and they’re hard to use. The new info pillars have a similar functionality problem, are these things made to sell things to tourists or help them our? Why do the maps generally face
    • Improve: Appearance, Functionality, Placement
    • Comments on item to be improved: I think it would be awesome if Toronto designed furniture with citizens in mind. To have more garbage cans that faced pedestrian traffic, with recycling and organic waste bins would be fantastic. To have more public washrooms would be relieving, literally.
    • Add: More public washrooms, functional garbage cans, benches.
    • Attended workshop? No
82. • Like: Placement
    • Comments on item liked: Often convieniently located.
    • Don’t like: Appearance, Functionality
    • Comments on item disliked: More functional than good looking, but some items (like the new megabins) are not very functional and actually cause more of a problem (litter from vastly overfilled containers) than they solve.
    • Improve: Functionality
    • Comments on item to be improved:
    • Add: More benches
    • Attended workshop? No
    • More comments: I think transparency (and public relations) in how the City selects its street furniture is important... the type of furniture in places like Boston, Paris, etc. makes a huge difference. Also... not a street furniture issue, but some sort of building style guidelines would help... we have many great buildings (e.g. Queen West, Yonge) that are obscured by a hodge podge of signs and awnings.
83. • Like: Functionality
    • Don’t like: Appearance
    • Comments on item disliked: What little furniture there is is ugly, un-coordinated, and old-fashioned.
    • Improve: Appearance, Functionality, Placement
    • Comments on item to be improved: Adopting a standard, city-wide contemporary motif for street items to provide a distinctive and attractive palette. Also, the single greatest threat to Toronto’s physical appearance is a very basic one, and yet is rarely discussed: UTILITY WIRES MUST BE BURIED OR OTHERWISE HIDDEN. There is no comparable city, anywhere in the developed world, that is still carrying so much of its power on absurd Edison-era wooden poles.
    • Add: More benches and fountains.
    • Attended workshop? No
84. • Like: Appearance, Functionality, Placement
    • Comments on item liked: While the number of benches is pretty paltry, and the public toilets are relatively sparse, the bus shelters aren’t always useful (some busses will zip right by if you’re in the shelter but not on the side of the road), and the bike racks aren’t uniformly located (why aren’t there bike racks at some of the Danforth Subway Stations? Bike to the station is better than drive there, despite the enormous parking lots) and the phone booths are difficult to find and haphazardly maintained, it’s still better than many cities.
    • Don’t like: Appearance, Functionality, Placement
    • Comments on item disliked: If you walk down queen street the sidewalk is narrow to begin with, but with the welter of trees, planters, garbage cans, telephone/hydro poles, parking meters, bike racks and so forth, you can’t walk in a straight line on the street-side of the sidewalk for more than three steps at a time. That’s one street and one example.
    • Improve: Functionality, Placement
    • Comments on item to be improved: First, bury as much of the hydro poles as possible, then be wary of mega bins, which are both questionable from a free speech perspective and potentially more of a blight than the current boxes (at least you can see over the one’s we have now) be careful of the mega bins for trash as well, which could mess with sightlines and lead to more litter on the street... in London, where there are very few trash cans (terrorism worries) the litter is out of control and ubiquitous. If the can’s hard to use and not identifiable as a can... the same thing could happen.
    • Add: Some more benches would be nice. and more shade... toronto is woefully lacking in shade. Unified tree beds, to allow larger trees the room to grow beyond the silly boxes, might also be nice. I’d really like to see TTC stops with automated signage that tells you when the next bus, train, streetcar, was slated to arrive, as they have in London at some locations. They may not be accurate, but if you know you have 30 minutes to wait, sometimes you make different arrangements.
    • Attended workshop?
    • More comments: I know the city is strapped for cash, but you don’t have to spend a lot of money as long as you don’t ask for something completely unique... it’s the one-off toronto-only compromise infrastructure items that eat into our budget. From streetcars to garbage cans, better long-term sourcing is required.
85. • Like: Functionality, Placement
    • Comments on item liked: I like that there IS street furniture and that it’s generally well-placed. I like the newer bus shelters, although I find most of the other street furniture unattractive.
    • Don’t like: Appearance
    • Comments on item disliked: It’s ugly. It’s uncomfortable. It doesn’t match. It doesn’t make sense.
    • Improve: Appearance, Placement
    • Comments on item to be improved: Take a page out of the 34th Street Partnership’s book, a BID in Manhattan. They have attractive street furniture with common elements to guide visitors and other people in the area. From the street lights to the planters, there is a common style. And it’s functional.
    • Add: Public bathrooms, information signage/booths with maps (especially downtown) – like those in Montreal, more garbage/recycling bins, more seating
    • Attended workshop? No
86. • Like: Placement
    • Comments on item liked: Right beside bus shelters, outside of the bus shelter.
    • Don’t like: Appearance
    • Comments on item disliked: Poorly maintained.
    • Improve: Placement
    • Comments on item to be improved: Reaplcement and/or building of Street Furniture
    • Add: Benches.
    • Attended workshop? No
87. • Like: Functionality
    • Don’t like: Appearance, Placement
    • Comments on item disliked: One frequent problem I’ve found in regards to oversized newspaper boxes is when they’re placed right at the corner of an intersection. Especially at a 4 way stop or pulling out from a residential neighbourhood, it is difficult to see approaching traffic from the boxes that block motorists’s view., The same thing goes for the monster garbage bins– you can’t see around corners and also cannot see pedestrians who sometimes attempt to jwalk from behind them., Particular bus shelters pose an inconvenience treat when the brightly lit ads are on the side closest to ongoing traffic. If transit riders are waiting in the shelter, they cannot see the bus approach. Not a safety issue, but can be rather inconvenient when the bus driver doesn’t see the riders waiting.
    • Improve: Appearance, Functionality, Placement
    • Comments on item to be improved: Any public furniture piece with ads wrapped around them is an eyesore. I often see seating for transit riders in areas where those who would use them wouldn’t likely be. On an intersection island for instance. The seats are typically plastic and uncomfortable to sit in and get hot in the summertime., There are also pieces of street furniture that are useless in regards to functionality and Placement. These are the big blocks of stacked advertisements often seen in parking lots of downtown.
    • Add: More bicycle racks / posts. Adding more of these will prevent cyclists from locking their bikes to street posts, private property, gates, or other objects typically not allowed., More garbage cans that cannot be mistaken for oversized ads. Better maintenance on public washrooms. A stretch, but more inner cit parks.
    • Attended workshop? No
88. • Like: Functionality
    • Comments on item liked: I like that it exists at all. After a long walk, or during a long wait for the bus, I like that I sit down and enjoy the scenery. I love our bike racks, the postering kiosks around the St. George campus. I also cherish the adless, wooden benches.
    • Don’t like: Appearance, Functionality, Placement
    • Comments on item disliked: Too much of the street funiture in this city seems designed first for advertising. When I look at many pieces of street furniture, the placement, size and so on seem to be created first for the ads and secondly for the citizens. The new litter and recyling boxes are examples of this—they host large, obtrusive ads and are much less useable than the old ones.
    • Improve: Appearance, Functionality, Placement
    • Comments on item to be improved: Improvements could come in the form of not just adding street furniture, but taking away some of the more hideous street furniture that Torontonians are subjected to. I am disgusted everytime I see the new litter and recyling boxes and I think Toronto would be much improved if they were removed. I would also makes the information pillars contain more information about the surrounding area and fewer ads.
    • Add: It would be great if we had more postering kiosks and bike racks.
    • Attended workshop? No
    • More comments: Thanks for creating this survey, I appreciate it immensely.
89. • Comments on item liked: I like having a place to sit while I am waiting for a friend, sit and have a cup of coffee or just enjoy being outside in the City. The City of Toronto bike lockup ring system is supurb. I can always find a place to lock up my bicycle. I also have a special place in my heart for telephone pole postering. I know this is not street furniture, but it is part of street architecture and I just thought I would mention it.
    • Don’t like: Appearance, Functionality, Placement
    • Comments on item disliked: The Coordinated Street Furniture Program is one of the few city initiatives that the people of Toronto see and interact with on a daily basis. To the people of Toronto, this program is like a barometer of how they are being served by City hall., Everyone in Toronto knows that the city is in financial trouble. If the assets of the City must be sold off/rented out to advertising companies, the City should ensure that it always comes out looking, to the public, like the winner in the deal. Currently, the city is trading away assets and still coming out poor on the other side. If advertisers want to place ads on all the bus shelters on St. Clair make them accountable for the care and maintnance of the shelters as well as the operating costs of running a St. Clair streetcar. The ad companies have money. Don’t be convinced otherwise(I was a sub-contractor to a major Toronto advertiser). If the advertising companies don’t want to pay, TTC fares will rise, taxes will rise but we will not see ads on street furniture. As it
    • Improve: Appearance, Functionality, Placement
    • Comments on item to be improved: By seperating Street Furniture from advertising the city will be free to choose the type, placement and number of street furniture projects that the City needs. Once they are given free reign, The Coordinated Street Furniture Program could develop a catalog of street furniture that it supports(perhaps with local designers). The People of Toronto can contact request that the program install a piece of Street Furniture from the catalog, where it is needed. A shop keeper can request a bike lockup ring or bench for in front of their store. A pedestrian could request a garbage can for an litter-cluttered intersection they pass everyday., There would have to be a system to choose the requests to act on. After a request is made a sponsor system could be used to vote for (or against, I suppose) the request. 25 supporters to get a new bike ring. 50 supporters to get a new garbage can. How would people find out about this sponsor system? It could notice posted on telephone poles in the
    • Add: more places for posters. more benches. fix and paint picnic tables. more picnic tables. more outdoor bbq’s.
    • Attended workshop? No
    • More comments: I did not attend any public workshops, because I never saw any notice for them. You could try to put notices about them on telephone poles, they are a great way of getting out. Better than “information pillars.”
90. • Like: Functionality
    • Comments on item liked: The new(ish) bus shelters are nice.
    • Don’t like: Appearance, Functionality, Placement
    • Comments on item disliked: The new Eucans are ugly and seem to be 90 percent advertising to 10 percent garbage collection. They’re also confusing to use and in odd places. There are also some spots in the city that seriously need garbage cans – you can walk blocks and blocks in central Toronto carrying an apple core with not a can in sight.
    • Improve: Appearance, Functionality, Placement
    • Comments on item to be improved: I think there should be a wholistic approach and there should be some site-specific options: combined bus-shelters-trashbins, for example. I think that a ban on newspaper boxes would be a bad idea, but I think some kind of site-specific management system would improve things.
    • Add: I could say “water fountains” but I have little confidence they will be properly maintained. In fact, I think maintenance is one of the biggest issues; ugly trash bins would be far more tolerable if they were emptied and cleaned regularly.
    • Attended workshop? No
91. • Like: Placement
    • Comments on item liked: i like the TTC shelters but ads are too big. litter bins are okay. recycling bins have too many ads.
    • Don’t like: Appearance, Functionality, Placement
    • Comments on item disliked: benches too few and broken, badly everywhere even in parks. a disgrace. too many adverts everywhere. bike racks too few. what public toilets? where? too few.
    • Improve: Appearance, Functionality, Placement
    • Comments on item to be improved: see above.
    • Add: more places for posters. more benches. fix and paint picnic tables. more picnic tables. more outdoor bbq’s.
    • Attended workshop? No
    • More comments: Do what I say.
92. • Like: Placement
    • Comments on item liked: Some of the older waste bins are very well located. Everywhere I expect there to be one, there is.
    • Don’t like: Appearance, Placement
    • Comments on item disliked: There are too many advertisements on public property. The new megabins are too obstructive.
    • Improve: Appearance
    • Comments on item to be improved: I would make them more beautiful by having design competitions. I would also update the bus shelters and make them warmer., I know the cold bus shelters are supposed to discourage homeless squats but waiting for the bus in the winter can be extremely uncomfortable.
    • Add: Postering collars like they have in Ottawa, More bollards and pedestrian-only areas
    • Attended workshop? Yes
    • More comments: It should be obvious by now that people want less advertising, not more. Please keep this in mind when deciding the future of Toronto’s streetscape.
93. • Like: Functionality
    • Comments on item liked: There are times when you need to sit down on planters, storefronts or people’s front lawn. If we could have an interesting place to sit, it would be great
    • Don’t like: Placement
    • Comments on item disliked: Not enough!
    • Improve: Appearance, Placement
    • Comments on item to be improved: More, Make it look better, make them colourful, put art on them, etc
    • Add: new isn’t really important, as long as the public is consulted (and listened to) on thier functionality (just in case)
    • Attended workshop? No
    • Comments on item liked: Like benches etc. Places that can become community space.
    • Don’t like: Appearance, Placement
    • Comments on item disliked: TOO MANY ADS! Bus shelters, garbage cans, and those horrible, horrible mega-bins... I understand that the city needs revenues, but we’re selling our public spaces and ruining every corner of the city with giant ads.
    • Comments on item to be improved:
    • Add: More benches, open-top garbage cans. The current garbage cans (and the mega bins) end up being disgusting because of the doors on the front... and it’s hard to throw out most things because of it.
    • Attended workshop? No
94. • Comments on item liked: One truly excellent example of street furniture is the ring-and-post bike stands. They are elegant and attractive, functional, and usually well placed (not always). It is worth noting that they are a made-in-Toronto solution, managed by the city.
    • Don’t like: Appearance, Functionality, Placement
    • Comments on item disliked: Street furniture is often cheap and poorly designed. Those metal garbage bins are a prime example.
    • Improve: Appearance, Functionality, Placement
    • Comments on item to be improved: Street furniture does not have to be uniform in concept or design. Each type of furniture should be designed primarily for functionality – to do the job it does well – and with simple but attractive design elements.
    • Add: More benches, for sure. It should be possible to walk around Toronto in the knowledge that you will find a bench somewhere reasonably quickly if you want to stop and rest. Please note that it is NOT POSSIBLE to make a good bench that has space for advertisements. Please, don’t even try. We do need waste receptacles that can take organic recyclables.
    • Attended workshop? No
    • More comments: The city should take the lead, rather than contracting the design and implementatio out to a company. Create street furniture that does the functions it is supposed to do. I don’t mind ads on bus shelters, or even garbage bins, as long as they are a secondary consideration. But the furniture needs to be designed for function first, and the design should be led by the city. Possibly there should be a design competition, as Chicago did.
95. • Like: Functionality
    • Comments on item liked: The “old” silver garbage/recycling bins are quite accessible. They’re generally available when you need to use them.
    • Don’t like: Appearance, Functionality, Placement
    • Comments on item disliked: The new type of garbage/recycling bins (that resemble the lighted ad from a bus shelter) are much uglier than the silver bins, and difficult to use (often, one side of the bin is full, and you have to leave the sidewalk to use the other half of the bin).
    • Improve: Appearance
    • Comments on item to be improved: Could we take a look at street furniture that emphasizes design and aesthetics, over advertising?
    • Add: I think we already have an adequate amount of street furniture; and would not suggest any more.
    • Attended workshop? No
96. • Like: Placement
    • Comments on item liked: It has to work and be free of advertisments
    • Don’t like: Functionality
    • Comments on item disliked: Too much street furniture is just a place to hang adverts.
    • Improve: Appearance
    • Comments on item to be improved: More in keeping with specific neighbourhoods
    • Add: Proper benches, without “homeless hoops”, Functional bus shelters, Trash bins that put capacity over ad revenue
    • Attended workshop? No
    • More comments: Please, can the megabins! They’re ugly, and a waste of space.
97. • Like: Functionality
    • Don’t like: Appearance
    • Comments on item disliked: It’s obvious that making things look good has never been a priority – and it should be.
    • Improve: Appearance, Functionality
    • Comments on item to be improved: More garbage/recycling units – and nice-looking ones! Preferably where you don’t have to touch them to get the garbage in. Bus shelters should be far more functional – a transit map at the very least. Cut back on ads. And I hate the monster bins – they’re awful. They look like billboards, not garbage cans.
    • Add: More benches – there’s nowhere to sit.
    • Attended workshop? No
    • Comments on item disliked: I don’t like street furniture to be covered in ads.
    • Comments on item to be improved: non-corporate, not covered in advertising
    • Add: benches.
    • Attended workshop? No
98. • Comments on item liked: I appreciate the post-and-ring bike racks because they are efficient, effective, and unobtrusive.
    • Don’t like: Appearance, Functionality, Placement
    • Comments on item disliked: Most items have been designed to function primarily as vehicles for ads, and their appearance, functionality, and accessibility suffer as a result. Placement is often determined by the visibility of ads to motorists, and the furniture therefore frequently obstructs the sidewalk in unfortunate ways. Lower-income areas are not allowed to benefit from certain relatively well-designed items such as the new Viacom shelters because Viacom determines where they are placed and sees no potential consumers for its advertisers” products in certain neighbourhoods.
    • Improve: Appearance, Functionality, Placement
    • Comments on item to be improved: The items should be no larger than they need to be to function well and have them placed as to be most helpful and accessible to people. There should be a variety of designs that are complementay to the contexts of various neighbourhoods. Whoever is in charge of maintenance should be held to a higher standard and be held accountable for violating terms of the contract. Further, I would like to see street furniture equipped with public areas for community notices.
    • Add: Drinking fountains would be welcomed.
    • Attended workshop? Yes
    • More comments: Bus shelters are the only items of street furniture that have been shown (in this city, anyway) to be able to accommodate advertising without their primary purposes being significantly compromised. Therefore, if the City has in fact already made up its mind to solicit proposals only from ad companies, I would insist that advertising be restricted only to bus shelters.
99. • Like: Placement
    • Don’t like: Appearance, Functionality
    • Improve: Appearance, Functionality
    • Attended workshop? No
100. • Like: Placement
     • Don’t like: Appearance, Functionality
     • Comments on item disliked: Advertising should not appear on street furniture. These pieces of street furniture are ads in themselves for the city, and oversized, tacky ad-covered furniture reflects on the city.
     • Improve: Appearance, Functionality
     • Comments on item to be improved: Design durable, attractive, unobstrusive furniture that will be used throughout the city, to avoid the mishmash of rusted cans and ad-covered behemoths.
     • Attended workshop? No
     • More comments: Street furniture should show visitors how forward-thinking and well-planned Toronto is, not how desperate we are for advertsing dollars. Robust, well-designed, attractive furniture is the way to go. If it is done right, the same design can be used for years to come.
101. • Like: Functionality
     • Don’t like: Appearance
     • Improve: Placement
     • Comments on item to be improved: More park style benches, less advertising.
     • Attended workshop? No
102. • Like: Functionality
     • Don’t like: Appearance
     • Comments on item disliked: We are assaulted by far too much advertising in the public spaces of Toronto. Street furniture is moving in the direction of even more advertising. Give us some peace!
     • Improve: Appearance
     • Comments on item to be improved: Ban advertising, or alternatively, limit the size of advertising. I have lived elsewhere where the size of ads was limited– they were just as effective without the overwhelming visual assault we have here. (Say max 5 inches by 10 inches on a bench.)
     • Add: Benches and garbage bins in more locations, provided that they are low (don’t interfere with seeing the surroundings) and peacefully blend in with the surroundings (no ads).
     • Attended workshop? No
103. • Like: Appearance
     • Comments on item liked: Not much.
     • Don’t like: Appearance, Placement
     • Comments on item disliked: Too much advertising. I don’t like how all the bus shelters and garbage cans look the same. I don’t like how the new mega-bins are placed they block the view of the city streets and are just another excuse to put corporate advertising in local neighbourhoods.
     • Comments on item to be improved: A wider variety of styles and types. Each neighbourhood should have its own distinct character.
     • Add: More benches, more street trees, more bollards.
     • Attended workshop? Yes
     • More comments: I disagree with having coordinated street furniture as a concept. Toronto is a city of neighbourhoods. The furniture is one of the defining aspects of a neighbourhood’s character. Each neighbourhood should have its own distinct style of furniture.
104. • Like: Appearance, Functionality
     • Comments on item liked: The ring-and-post bike racks are simple, distinctive, and really functional. They are exactly what they need to be and aren’t stupid-shaped to accomodate advertising.
     • Don’t like: Appearance, Functionality, Placement
     • Comments on item disliked: – more benches in public parks, more bike posts... they should even go on residental streets, the new monster garbage cans are atrocious, they are too tall and one side is always totally out of the way for putting garbage in.
     • Improve: Appearance, Functionality, Placement
     • Comments on item to be improved: – add more bike posts, – take adds off of middle-of-the-road streetcar shelters, – take wrap-adds off of bus/streetcar shelters (they make it hard to see when the bus is coming!), – more postering collars, get rid of all the USELESS ad pillars, like the moster garbage cans and the “info posts”, – More maps around the city (like downtown Philladelphia!)
     • Attended workshop? No
     • More comments: Toronto has so much potential, let’s not ruin it by splattering everythign with ads and decreasing the functionality of simple public amenities like garbage and recycling bins.
105. • Like: Placement
     • Comments on item liked: There are benches, along bloor, college, and a few othe r major streets that allow people to stop, rest, and to observe the city. I think it is vital that the city provide place for one to view it, and recognize their place in it.
     • Don’t like: Placement
     • Comments on item disliked: I recognize that for the most part city street furniture must be provided by the local business assiciations, for only in pockets of the city has the furniture been placed in a meaningfull way. Most other street funature seem to be placed only after all of the snow removal creews, the utility companies, and other municipal bodies have discouraged any useful placement. IT is street furniture, put it out in the spring, take it out in the winter, move it if you want to get access, or dig up the street.
     • Improve: Placement
     • Comments on item to be improved: I think placement is key. I also dissagree that street furniture should be a source of revenue, and contain elements of signage or branding. Street furniture offers a privaledged position on our streets, a place of one’s own, to stop and rest, and take it all in.
     • Add: benches should be ubiquitos throughout this city. Functional bicycle racks, and more of them, and heaven forbid toronto should hold a competition, or encourage it’s young designers to compete to produce the furnature, or produce a few series that will come to represent the life of the streets of toronto.
     • Attended workshop? No
     • More comments: don’t screw this one up. if toronto is such a great city, than you must all work to continue making it great, and not subscribe to any more “lowest commond denominator” solututions, prematureley pat yourselves on the back, and continue to subject the citizens of this city to the eventual selling off, and comercialization of our streets.
106. • Like: Functionality, Placement
     • Comments on item liked: Benches are functional and well placed. Most telephone booths are quite horriffic in appearance, state of repair and cleanliness – thankfully most of us have cells. Bicycle racks (posts with the loop) are functional.
     • Don’t like: Appearance, Functionality, Placement
     • Comments on item disliked: Big ugly garbage cans with advertising, often in dire need of a powerwash. 7 foot tall “new” ones are silly. little space for garbage – recycling bins are small and often overflowing. Ads themselves are public eyesores. Several in local area in ridiculous places not convenient for passers-by. Others block sidewalks. Bus shelters where most smoke lack any cigarette disposal recepticle.
     • Improve: Appearance, Functionality, Placement
     • Comments on item to be improved: Remove 7ft “new” ones. Add cigarette butt recepticles at all transit shelters – and garbage/recycling bins where not in existance currently. Replace worn wooden/ concrete benches with steel.
     • Add: Cigarette butt recepticles.
     • Attended workshop? No
     • More comments: Take down the 7” garbage bins with the ads. I’d rather you raise taxes. Truly awful. I cannot stress that enough.
107. • Like: Functionality
     • Comments on item liked: Benches, bus stops and garbage cans are there when I need them
     • Don’t like: Appearance, Placement
     • Comments on item disliked: It’s ugly, some is breaking down, the advertisements take over the whole image. We need more greenery included!
     • Improve: Appearance, Functionality, Placement
     • Comments on item to be improved: More of it, better planter boxes and better care for street trees, clearer neighbourhood signs, less advertisements
     • Attended workshop? No
108. • Like: Functionality
     • Comments on item liked: Some of it is useful: bike posts, recycling, etc. is good.
     • Don’t like: Appearance, Placement
     • Comments on item disliked: Too much advertising on surfaces. It is distracting. The new Mega Bins obstruct sight lines and are a safety hazard as they are large enough for people to hide behind; their size appears to be necessary only to carry advertising, not for their functionality, which is very poor design and not a good choice.
     • Improve: Appearance, Functionality, Placement
     • Comments on item to be improved: Remove large items like Mega Bins. Enhance functionality but do not make every piece of street furniture just an advertisement.
     • Add: Recycling that is not advertising.
     • Attended workshop? No
     • More comments: The City should and can be making better decisions about some of the street furniture in Toronto. The Mega Bins were a very poor decision, look awful, are unsafe, and do not have functionality commensurate with their size. They should be removed.
109. • Like: Functionality, Placement
     • Comments on item liked: It’s hard to “like” street furniture, but I appreciate its contribution to making Toronto livable.
     • Don’t like: Appearance
     • Comments on item disliked: Trash cans especially seem to be designed to act as billboards first, trash cans second. The new model isn’t even recognizable as a trash recepticle!
     • Improve: Appearance, Functionality, Placement
     • Comments on item to be improved: I would emphasize the “City of Toronto” identity and logo whenever possible. I think its important that the city takes credit for paying attention to the needs of its citizens on this micro-street-level.
     • Add: Trash cans in Kensington Market. On many a Sunday, I’ve wandered around there with mustardy napkins, looking for a place to dump them. Look in the front yards of the properties on Kensington Ave. in particular – they’re full of trash from weekend neighbourhood gazers.
     • Attended workshop? No
     • More comments: Thanks for the chance to give input on the Web!
110. • Like: Appearance, Functionality, Placement
     • Comments on item liked: Great art in Chinatown, Airy, light TTC shelters
     • Don’t like: Appearance, Functionality, Placement
     • Comments on item disliked:
       • Blocking too much sidewalk,
       • Advertising faces that trump functionality – e.g. too small trash sections in the bins,
       • Bad pictograms,
       • Covered in tags/lame grafitti
     • Improve: Appearance, Functionality
     • Comments on item to be improved:
       • I’d ensure that recycling bins clearly show what goes where and that the sections are big enough,
       • I’d add a compartment for used batteries (I saw this in Madrid – great idea),
       • Tag free benches / seating
     • Add: More art installations and seasonal displays
     • Attended workshop? No
     • More comments: We have pretty narrow sidewalks, people flow should be of paramount importance

Posted: 2006.11.10