April 25th, 2006
Jane Jacobs 1916-2006
By Matthew Blackett // 19 Comments
Jane Jacobs passed away overnight. She was 8 days away from turning 90 years old.
Read the Globe and Mail article, the Toronto Star piece, and CBC.ca. CBC Radio is also doing a feature on Here and Now around 5pm tonight (Spacing's Shawn Micallef will be a guest).
EDIT> A CBC Archives Clip of her from 1969.
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Some people have emailed to ask where Ms. jacobs' house is located to drop off flowers -- I believe it is 69 Albany, just north of Bloor, and east of Bathurst.
I'm saddened to hear of the loss of such a great woman. I just walked past her house now, where some people have begun to leave flowers, and then went for a walk down Spadina.
I've posted my obituary here.
The woman who built the Toronto we see today...Crombie, Gardiner, Eggleton or Miller are no where near as important in the construction of the city we know. She was the one who taught them and faught them. Rest in peace Mrs. Jacobs, I owe you my street, my neighbourhood, and my city.
This city and this world is a much worse place with no Jane Jacobs.
A true visionary and a lover of cities and the people who make them what they are. You will be missed, Mrs. Jacobs.
This is a sad day for our city, our country, and our world. Visionaries with the influence Jacob wielded don't come along often. Given her recent speculations in "Dark Age Ahead," we need her now more than ever.
I'm listening to you on the radio right now, Shawn.
This is a sad day for Toronto and all of the world. She will be missed, but she will live on through her ideas. RIP Ms. Jacobs.
I passed by 69 Albany an hour ago and saw no flowers.
· Interview with Jim Kunstler, March 2001 [Metropolis]
· Interview with Bill Steigerwald, June 2001 [Reason]
· Interview with Stewart Brand, 1998 [Whole Earth]
· Interview with Blake Harris, 2002 [New Colonist]
· Interview with Active Living Network [AL]
· Interview with Blake Harris, November 1998 [GovtTech]
· Interview with Hank Bromley, Summer 2000 [Artvoice]
· Panel Discussion: Beyond the Car [apc.org]
· Talk with Adam Gopnik, May 2004 [New Yorker]
· Interview with TONY, May 2004 [DC]
Took an Albany walkaround at around 5:15; no flowers or any other indication, either. Given her no-nonsense nature, it's just as well if flowers etc are discouraged. Allow the Annex to live on, normally, in her absence...
toronto, especially, was unbelievably lucky to have had such ready access to her insights, ideas and opinions. she was such a constant and formidable presence in the city and the media when i was a kid that, before i had ever even heard about her books, let alone read them, i literally wanted to be jane jacobs when i grew up. i hope that that's the legacy she ultimately leaves: anyone can do it. anyone can observe, and understand, and advocate. her wit, her presence, and her example will be sorely missed.
Rest in peace Ms Jacobs.
I never had the pleasure of seeing Jane Jacobs speak, but her words in print were enough to change my life. Thank You Mrs. Jacobs, for it was your work that inspired me to pursue a career in landscape architecture and urban design. Myself and the world will miss your passion, your drive, and your power to challenge the conventions.
Thank You.
A very sad day for all who care about Toronto. RIP.
i can't really express how sad i am right now.
i'd always hoped to meet her. i guess i never will.
i'll try to send a card to 69 albany.
m.
This morning I walked by the Albany home of Jane Jacobs and reflected on our shared neighbourhood, The Annex and the joy of NOT having an expressway carving its way through it.
The lack of expressway is of course due to Jane Jacobs et al. fighting and winning that battle.
Speaking with fellow Annex neighbours who were stopping by her home to drop off a letter of condolence for the family got me to thinking of how best we can leave such messages...
I then made the short walk to Dooney's Cafe on Bloor Street, spoke with Graziano, Dooney's Owner, and he enthusiastically welcomed the idea of a Jane Jacobs Book of Condolence which the public could sign during regular hours.
You can sign The Jane Jacob Book of Condolence, it is sitting on the Dooney's counter by the cash register.
If you can't make it in person to sign the book, you can leave a message online at the companion website:
Both of your online messages and the book with your signed messages will be forwared to the Jacobs' family.
Thanks,
~ HiMY! ~
here's an idea...
what about petitioning city council to name or rename a street? maybe even her street...as much as cities don't dig doing that.
then again, this is something that she would probably argue against...
but if robert moses gets an expressway named after him in NYC, i don't see why a little, perfect street wouldn't get the same honour.
m.
I think they should rename the Annex after her -- but over on the Toronto Urban Forum (www.urbantoronto.ca) there are some good suggestions by a number of members that some place along the soon-to-be-developed waterfront -- or possibly the new don river park, should be named after her. The best, i think, is a suggestion to erect a statue on Eglinton in front of Eg West station, of Jane Jacobs with her hand out, stopping the Spadina Expressway in her tracks. It would be as perfect as the Terry Fox statue in front of BC Place stadium in Vancouver.
Personally, I'd be happy if 1/2 the city was named Jane Jacobs, and the other half Pierre Elliot Trudeau.
Rest Easy Mrs. Jacobs
Comment by P
April 25, 2006 | 12:31 pm