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06 Oct 08

" Montreal's many benches make people welcome," by Christopher Hume (TheStar.com)

Ever since my "corner-making"/proxemics article for FOCUS, I've been meaning to write an article about the dismal unavailability of seating in Victoria's downtown. We seem more concerned with making it impossible for homeless people to sit down or sleep on benches than making it possible for housed people to take a rest. The streets are unfriendly and cheerless in that regard, and it doesn't matter how many flower baskets the city hangs up.

MORE BENCHES, please!

www.thestar.com/510899 - Preview

thestar christopher_hume street_usage street_furniture benches montreal cities

It's not that the city is so much greener than others; the difference lies in the ease with which it can be inhabited.
What does that mean? Well, to begin with, benches – and lots of them.
Compared with Toronto, where finding a place to sit out on the streets is next to impossible, Montreal positively invites visitors to sit down and watch the passing parade. Benches are everywhere you turn.
- Toronto and Victoria sound more and more like close, like-minded and similarly afflicted, siblings. In spirit, and in fact. - on 2008-10-06
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- Simply put, benches allow us to inhabit a city. They help transform a place into a destination. They tell us we're welcome and give us a chance to be spectators as well as participants.
  Here in Toronto, it seems benches are regarded with suspicion; perhaps our attitudes are vestiges of a time when this was a city that associated sitting and relaxing with slothfulness and indolence. To sit is to loiter. Even now, there are plenty of signs reminding us that loitering is forbidden. The devil makes work for idle hands, and, in Toronto, idle feet.
- Montreal goes even further and attaches benches to utility poles throughout the downtown core. Again, the message is clear: The street isn't just a way to get from A to B, but a place to be.
  - interesting... images? - on 2008-10-06
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- And you'd think Toronto, which likes to make a big deal of its commitment to pedestrianism, would latch on to the bench. In the grand scheme of things, benches offer a cheap and easy way to demonstrate its seriousness about getting people to walk.
  But the culture of official Toronto is one of fear and loathing. From the bureaucratic point of view, benches are risky business. They attract the homeless, drunks, drug addicts, and worst of all, skateboarders. They are dirty, dangerous and, well, to be avoided.

02 Sep 08

"Benches easy on city's bottom line - and ours," by Christopher Hume (T.O. Star)

Brief article on the benefits of public benches on city sidewalks, and that T.O. has too few of them. Interestingly, this is something that has been bugging me for a while about Victoria, too. Too often, there is literally NO WHERE to sit, even on d/t streets with broad sidewalks. As soon as the street is out of the tourist district or off Government, no more benches. No benches on Fort or on Yates, two streets that are wide and generous in other respects (and the sidewalks are wide enough on Yates, although mingy on Fort). The comments on this article are useful, too.

www.thestar.com/487488 - Preview

thestar christopher_hume toronto cities amenities public_space street_appeal street_usage sidewalks

David Miller first got elected mayor all those years ago was his insistence on the public realm, everything from sidewalks and parks to subways and community centres.
Miller's argument was that we must create not just a livable city, but one we can fully inhabit. Livability, with overtones of convenience, isn't quite the same as inhabitability, a more all-encompassing term.
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- The inhabitable city is one that can accommodate large numbers of people but which also engages residents at the most personal level. It is the city designed for the individual, not the masses, a dangerous and abstract concept at the best of times.
  - I like that distinction between inhabitability for the individual, not the masses... - on 2008-09-02
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- As it turns out, of course, doing one means doing the other. Take care of the individual; take care of the community.
- In hard-working Toronto, benches – public benches – are for the homeless, the indigent, the addicted, or worse still, the skateboarders. Thus they are a problem to be avoided, provided sparingly and with much disapproval.
- Most of Toronto's outdoor seating is in cafes and restaurants, but they are private and, therefore, controlled.
  For residents to feel the city belongs to them in a meaningful way, however, they must feel comfortable within it. They must believe themselves safe and secure, not just in the city but of it.
  We must remember that streets aren't simply ways to get from A to B, but are themselves destinations.
  True, our sidewalks tend to be narrow and mean, but we love them anyway and need more ways to enjoy them. The answer, obviously, is benches, benches and more benches. Planners should demand that all buildings of a certain size and use must have benches. All public facilities should have benches, as should corners.
  - Yes, corners should have benches. - on 2008-09-02
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- Then the city should focus on trees, which once defined Toronto, and drinking fountains, which used to be ubiquitous. After that, let's look at clocks.
  In these ways, we could enhance our relationship with the city at relatively low cost. Even if Toronto doesn't change, the experience would.
- We have no benches because our municipal leaders fear the homeless will take them over.
  
  Homelessness must be solved in realistic, humane ways. But denying everyone an attractive city where its people have a place in it, shows the failure of our leadership.

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" Montreal's many benches make people welcome," by Christopher Hume (TheStar.com)

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