81–90 of 108 posts
Needless to say, Sidewalk Labs has not angered "Toronto", it has angered activists who don't live in the neighborhood and never will but apparently have veto power over what goes on there.
I do live here, not an activist, and Sidewalk lab can take a long walk off my short pier. They have a lot of work to do to repair/rebuild their reputation.
> Sidewalk Labs, a sister company to Google, had acquired disused land in Toronto, Canada for this bold urban experiment "Disused land" is a bit disingenuous. Toronto real estate prices are very high right now and this is waterfront property. It's former industrial land we're hoping to revitalize. As far as I can tell, Google isn't doing us a favor here. They're just another developer trying to make a bunch of money…
A study was done and they determined the main reason Nimbys are Nimbys is because they don't like the idea of developers making money by building things near them: https://www.citylab.com/equity/2018/09/what-if-nimbys-hate-d...
I'm generally for development, but the way it's carried out in many cases tends to screw over existing residents while benefitting mostly just people-who-dont-live-there.
If Google wants to have a private company run utopian town to run experiments in, they should do like Disney did in Florida. Buy some swamp land, develop it, incorporate it privately, and have absolute control. This plan in Toronto seems to be corporate colonization of a public city, through stealth.
> Sidewalk Labs, a sister company to Google, had acquired disused land in Toronto, Canada for this bold urban experiment "Disused land" is a bit disingenuous. Toronto real estate prices are very high right now and this is waterfront property. It's former industrial land we're hoping to revitalize. As far as I can tell, Google isn't doing us a favor here. They're just another developer trying to make a bunch of money…
A study was done and they determined the main reason Nimbys are Nimbys is because they don't like the idea of developers making money by building things near them: https://www.citylab.com/equity/2018/09/what-if-nimbys-hate-d...
Interesting they were hoping to collect property taxes and other fees. If Google wants to have a private company run utopian town to run experiments in, they should do like Disney did in Florida. Buy some swamp land, develop it, incorporate it privately, and have absolute control. This plan in Toronto seems to be corporate colonization of a public city, through stealth.
It must be considered that there is nothing more difficult to carry out nor more doubtful of success nor more dangerous to handle than to initiate a new order of things; for the reformer has enemies in all those who profit by the old order, and only lukewarm defenders in all those who would profit by the new order; this lukewarmness arising partly from the incredulity of mankind who does not truly believe in anything…
There is really very little of Machiavelli's one can accept or use in the contemporary world. - Henry Kissinger
Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's the public waterfront and one of the busiest recreation trails in the city pass through it, so actually it really does matter. Google, rather Sidewalk labs, screwed up royally, but what they learned is invaluable. No idea if this particular project can be salvaged, but anyone wanting to build a smart city should study the lessons.
Will you no longer be able to pass through it recreationally after Google builds there? I was out this morning in Edmonton riding my bike through the urban blight and stopping to climb at my favorite buildering spots, on retaining walls and bridge abutments, sound barricades and shuttered buildings where no one will bother me, but I would much prefer it if that whole section of my city was actually a functional, aest…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
How is this Alphabet's fault?
It’s not, but Google/A came in with great fanfare and seemed to get more leeway than other constructions do due to their name and their sci fi promises. But it’s important for people outside of Toronto to understand that this isn’t what most people would call “downtown” either. It’s in one of the least accessible parts of the city, that for that reason has historically only been used by industry. Transit is improving…
I really wish there was a middle-way between 'let them do whatever they want' and 'let's protest and raise hysteria'. Let's look at Downtown Toronto development over the past 10 years - condominiums built on every square inch of land that could be bought? In large part owned by people who don't plan to stay there long or even owned by a third party and rented out? Ok, so that's what's been happening. What can Google…
The opposition to this is not just from the privacy perspective, there's also the issue of data ownership, and giving all this data away to Google for free. And once it's owned, both cities and citizens lose all control and oversight - you can't get yourself removed from the dataset, impose restrictions on how this personal data will be used, etc. There are some good quotes in this older Reuters story ( https://www.r…
This article has poor fact-checking. For example, the quote by the Queen's University professor is not accurate (or, charitably, outdated as of the time of publishing). >The proposal amounts to “permanent surveillance” and “massive data scraping” under the guise of fighting climate change, he said. >“They are conducting an experiment in real time, in the real world: the privatization of our cities on a large scale. T…