(05-03-2021, 07:31 PM)jamincan Wrote: So the region spent hundreds of millions of dollars all in the goal of enriching developers. You might actually want to read up on the history of its development, because your take is pretty offensive toward the city builders who got it off the ground and awfully dismissive of their accomplishment.
Lol. This is the usual response I get here. In fact, I was quite involved in the development! I've spent years working for the Region of Waterloo and still do so. My home office is currently covered in CAD drawings and tens of pages of tracing paper on top of them to study this thing to judge potential development. My job is to explore urban development and architecture. I promise I'm not the only one who said things like "why are we not burying this so it can move thousands of more people each day?" but alas budget prevailed and now you have a train that takes longer to turn a corner than a crawling baby would take. I guess it's a resounding success if you think 3-4 developers making a handful of condos nearby is a huge win for the fastest growing city in all of Canada...but to anyone with a brain it's a failure. Momentum, Perimeter, Auburn, Drewlo cash in and investors buy units up. Is that good in your opinion? I don't think so.
In terms of transit, I often point to the city of Nürnberg, Germany as an example of what could have be done. They are the exact same size as we are in all regards (population, physical size) yet they have 3 subway lines (!!!), 5 trams, 5 s-bahn lines, countless buses and high speed rail lines. We spent close to 1 billion dollars on an LRT that basically services nothing but potential real estate for developers to cash in on.
Anyway I don't wish to derail this thread any longer...