28 tweets that clap back at King Street Pilot project whiners
#KingStreetDistaster? Hardly!?
While some restaurant owners have protested the car ban on King West by erecting profane ice sculptures, playing pick-up road hockey, and waging social media campaigns, onlookers have been keen to point out that, maybe car traffic isn’t really the main driving contributor to the neighbourhood’s economy?
After all, the King West-area is especially rich when it comes to “tourist magnets, sidewalk traffic generators, hotels/AirBnBs, local residents/jobs…” not to mention, parking.
That’s the argument laid out by Toronto resident, Gil Meslin, self-described on Twitter as an “urban planner, social scientist, analyst, [and] urbanist.” Meslin tweeted out a series maps visualizing the “phenomenal locational advantages” which the biggest complainers have been unappreciatively endowed.
See for yourself why complaints from Restaurant Row might not be warranted:
1. A #KingStreetPilot mapping thread. Restaurant Row, in context.
This is downtown Toronto, west of the Financial District. pic.twitter.com/MOFExvB3B7
— Gil Meslin (@g_meslin) February 1, 2018
2. This is King Street West, roughly between Bathurst Street and Bay Street. The western end of the Pilot area. pic.twitter.com/eKYFR0VU3F
— Gil Meslin (@g_meslin) February 1, 2018
3. This is ‘Restaurant Row’. Home to the most vocal #KingStreetPilot opponent. Ground zero for impolite ice sculptures. pic.twitter.com/YoJMAGH7zp
— Gil Meslin (@g_meslin) February 1, 2018
4. The concentric circles are the 5-minute and 10-minute walking radii centred on Restaurant Row. pic.twitter.com/LnbCiMSxG7
— Gil Meslin (@g_meslin) February 1, 2018
5. These are two major live theatre venues, the Royal Alex and the Princess of Wales. They have a combined capacity of 3,500 seats. pic.twitter.com/1ErbN63V9I
— Gil Meslin (@g_meslin) February 1, 2018
6. This is TIFF Lightbox. It offers year-round programming, and anchors the annual film festival, which includes a street closure. pic.twitter.com/BupZiRmpte
— Gil Meslin (@g_meslin) February 1, 2018
7. This is Roy Thomson Hall, home to the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, with a seating capacity of 2,630. pic.twitter.com/YKBFeQErdw
— Gil Meslin (@g_meslin) February 1, 2018
8. This is Metro Hall – 725,000 square feet of post-modern office space, housing more than 2,500 City staff. pic.twitter.com/iJAGU1DQdA
— Gil Meslin (@g_meslin) February 1, 2018
9. This is the Metro Toronto Convention Centre. It hosts dozens of conventions/trade shows each year. 2016/17 attendance was 1.5 million. pic.twitter.com/cKpw3TX6Nl
— Gil Meslin (@g_meslin) February 1, 2018
10. This is the Rogers Centre. 500m south along John Street or Blue Jays Way. The Jays alone drew 3.2 million people to the venue last year. pic.twitter.com/wSX0x2aqdP
— Gil Meslin (@g_meslin) February 1, 2018
11. A 10-minute walk east is King & Bay. The financial district. 200,000+ jobs. Business lunches. Expense accounts. pic.twitter.com/siE52DQ1jM
— Gil Meslin (@g_meslin) February 1, 2018
12. These are local hotels (locations and number of rooms). That’s 1,500 guestrooms within a 5-minute walk of Restaurant Row. pic.twitter.com/iU7J2zN3fi
— Gil Meslin (@g_meslin) February 1, 2018
13. If you go a little further, there are an additional 5,000+ hotel guestrooms within a 10-minute walk. pic.twitter.com/lSFhyE5qpC
— Gil Meslin (@g_meslin) February 1, 2018
14. These are the airbnb listings within a 5-minute walk of Restaurant Row (as of June, 2017). pic.twitter.com/6vT37N8fqd
— Gil Meslin (@g_meslin) February 1, 2018
15. This is the area bounded by Bathurst, Queen, Simcoe, and Front. As of 2016, it had a population of 17,549. It continues to grow rapidly. pic.twitter.com/NtmMZ21966
— Gil Meslin (@g_meslin) February 1, 2018
16. But what about parking?
Well, these are the Toronto Parking Authority street parking spaces in close proximity to Restaurant Row. pic.twitter.com/RBIY6sVYGD— Gil Meslin (@g_meslin) February 1, 2018
17. Worth noting that a #KingStreetPilot promotion means that those TPA street parking spots are currently offered free for two hours. pic.twitter.com/jztGYitZAb
— Gil Meslin (@g_meslin) February 1, 2018
18. These are the parking garages/underground lots within 5 minutes of Restaurant Row. 4,000+ covered parking spaces within a couple blocks. pic.twitter.com/cZwo0UUUZt
— Gil Meslin (@g_meslin) February 1, 2018
19. …and these are the locations of surface parking lots near Restaurant Row. Another few hundred spaces nearby. pic.twitter.com/pifX4YttcG
— Gil Meslin (@g_meslin) February 1, 2018
20. The point of all this is to consider the phenomenal locational advantages with which Restaurant Row is endowed…
— Gil Meslin (@g_meslin) February 1, 2018
21. An endowment that includes:
Tourist/visitor magnets.
Sidewalk traffic generators.
Hotels/airbnbs.
Local residents/jobs.
Tons of parking.— Gil Meslin (@g_meslin) February 1, 2018
22. Before scaling back improvements to the city’s busiest surface transit line, the discussion should be about leveraging those endowments.
— Gil Meslin (@g_meslin) February 1, 2018
23. King businesses: these aren’t your friends.
Their ideas are toxic.
They didn’t care about you yesterday, and they won’t tomorrow. pic.twitter.com/E4GDOFBw8p— Gil Meslin (@g_meslin) February 1, 2018
24. These are vampires, feeding on manufactured division and outrage to extend their unnaturally long political lives. pic.twitter.com/78CDwZxJxm
— Gil Meslin (@g_meslin) February 1, 2018
25. These same opportunists coined ‘St. Clair Disaster’ in 2011/2012. Ask local businesses there about lasting brand damage.
— Gil Meslin (@g_meslin) February 1, 2018
26. Don’t give potential customers the finger.
Don’t tell people ‘King is Closed’.
Once out, you can’t put that genie back in the bottle. pic.twitter.com/DY7yBdOqze— Gil Meslin (@g_meslin) February 1, 2018
27. King businesses: these ARE your friends.
Relentlessly positive.
Talking up your wares.
Bringing people out, not scaring them away. pic.twitter.com/N8Y9AjUhdi— Gil Meslin (@g_meslin) February 1, 2018
28. Tell people that King is great.
That King is easy to get to.
That King is close to everything.
That King is open.
#KingStreetPilot— Gil Meslin (@g_meslin) February 1, 2018
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