John Street is a perfect place to see Jane Jacobs’ ideas about successful city areas in practice – short blocks, a mixture of uses, high density, and many types and ages of buildings interspersed with one another.
City plans are underway to renovate John Street. The street runs south from Grange Park behind the Art Gallery of Ontario, to Front Street and the SkyDome.
The traffic lanes don’t need to take up as much room as they do now. There could be wider sidewalks, with additional trees, benches, works of art, bicycle racks, and dramatic lighting. All of this would make John Street a great place for walking with many interesting destinations.
Three-quarters of the money required to do this is already in place. The Business Improvement Associations are enthusiastic.