Brandon Donnelly — Daily insights for city builders. Published since 2013 by Toronto-based real estate developer Brandon Donnelly. — Page 331

We have spoken before, here and here , about so-called "use-it-or-lose-it entitlements".

The catalyst behind this idea -- and it is just an idea at this stage, at least here -- is the belief that too many developers are sitting idle on zoned land. And they're allegedly doing this because they believe it will be worth more tomorrow.

Why bother building anything when you can instead just wait and make money that way?

To counteract this speculative force, some believe that one answer is to just strip land of its zoning entitlements if it's not used within a certain period of time (right now it lasts forever). I get why this is sometimes proposed, but my response to this has consistently been: it's a terrible idea.

It is a terrible idea because developers are generally always incentivized to move as quickly as possible. And it is a terrible idea because every now and then a period in the cycle will arrive where, it's not that developers don't want to build, it's that many/most can't.

And guess what? Right now is one of those times .

I am halfway through reading Read Write Own and I can confidently say that you want to read this book. If you're already a believer in this "next era of the internet" (like I am) it will make you a true believer. And if you're not a believer, maybe it will make you one. Or not. Either way, I am thoroughly enjoying it.

One chapter that will be particularly interesting to all of you is the one where Dixon makes a comparison between the internet and cities. Cities, he argues, work because of a delicate interplay between public and private interests. And the private side works because, among other things, we have the rule of law and the construct of ownership.

If I own an asset, like a piece of real estate, I'm only going to be confident to invest in it if I know that someone won't take it away from me (or dramatically change the rules on me), which is why if this prerequisite doesn't exist, you typically see a lack of investment.

The same is true on the internet. But currently, the dominant form of networks are centralized corporate networks. In city terms, you can think of these like an amusement park. Once you enter through the gates, you're in their world. You could maybe rent some space, but at the end of the day, the owner makes the rules. And if they don't like what you're doing, they can remove you.

It's a pretty stark contrast when you think of it in these terms, which is why it's hard not to feel compelled when you consider that similar dynamics are playing out on the internet right now. Cities thrive because we have rules, ownership, and the freedom to innovate on top of the foundations laid by government.

So I'm all for making the internet more like our most successful cities.

Back in 2016, the City of Toronto announced plans to run a transit-priority pilot on King Street in the downtown core. What this meant was that cars would be restricted to only certain movements and that streetcars would be given priority. This pilot was ultimately implemented in 2017 and, eventually, it was made permanent. Presumably because it was doing some good for transit flows. But just this week, new data was revealed showing that, in some cases, travel times today are worse (i.e. longer) than they were before the pilot:

CityNews has learned that eastbound travel times from Bathurst to Jarvis during the evening rush hours averaged 19 to 26 minutes before the pilot program in 2017. The latest times show it is now worse with an average of 22 to 29 minutes.

One way to look at this data would be to say, "okay, clearly this transit corridor thing isn't working. Streetcar travel times have gotten worse. So why bother?" But I think the real answer is this: King Street hasn't remained a transit corridor since the pilot. Many/most motorists continue to use it, even though some 22,000 tickets have apparently been issued since the pilot began. Here's a random photo of King Street West taken from my office window one afternoon:

So I think what this data is really saying is that we've probably done very little to actually improve transit flows on King Street since 2016, and that traffic has generally gotten worse during this time. This seems like a more accurate description to me. But of course, it doesn't need to be this way. If really want King Street to be a transit corridor, we have the power to make that happen. It just means spending some money on public realm enhancements, gates, bollards, and the like. The choice is ours.