Towered
Superstar
No surprise - anytime I drive by the place looks like a no-go zone based on those milling about...
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- Thread starter Northern Light
- Start date
Northern Light
Superstar
Barbara Hall Park encampment cleared.........for fundraiser for the homeless.
www.thestar.com
The city cleared a homeless camp from a downtown public park — to make way for a fundraiser to help fight homelessness
An encampment at Toronto’s Barbara Hall Park was forcibly cleared this week to make way for a Pride weekend event to raise money for programs to assist homelessness.
www.thestar.com
AlvinofDiaspar
Moderator
Barbara Hall Park encampment cleared.........for fundraiser for the homeless.
The city cleared a homeless camp from a downtown public park — to make way for a fundraiser to help fight homelessness
An encampment at Toronto’s Barbara Hall Park was forcibly cleared this week to make way for a Pride weekend event to raise money for programs to assist homelessness.
The irony. Having said that, the park should have been cleared years ago.
AoD
Towered
Superstar
Now for Dufferin Grove...
Northern Light
Superstar
They just cleaned out Dufferin Grove a few weeks ago.............and yes, all the tents came back.
Towered
Superstar
So do it again. This is a joke.
rdaner
Senior Member
How about a nice fence around these parks?!
picard102
Senior Member
It's a bit of a sensational headline.
Yes the 519 does provide support to homless LGBTQ, but that's not the purpose of Green Space's fundraising. They have many other programs, and this event provides funding for all of those initiatives.
TossYourJacket
Senior Member
As @deerparker posted in the Church-Wellesley thread, the survey for the park with the 3 preliminary designs is now available.
Barbara Hall Park Improvements
The City is collaborating with the local Church-Wellesley Village community to develop a new vision and improvement plan for Barbara Hall Park. The plan will articulate a community-driven vision for how Barbara Hall Park should evolve in the medium term and will set the direction for future park...www.toronto.ca
^Survey re Barbara Hall Park renewal
Design 1: The Ribbons
Design 2: The Commons
Design 3: The Ribbon Stage
Will post my own thoughts on all 3 once I've spent more time looking at the details but I will say just from the images above I had a viscerally negative reaction to Design 2, but maybe the details will win me back. Who knows.
TossYourJacket
Senior Member
So some more detailed thoughts: Design 2 sucks. In almost every way. I'd say it is a downgrade of the current park. It is that bad. Pure Parks and Rec trying to cut costs nonsense. It even reuses the existing pavers along Church, it's that blatant. Everything is far too angular, the AIDS and the Trans memorials are minimized (compared to the other designs). Why are we adding a concrete path where there is currently a hill on the north side of the park? Why is the circular stage area replaced with two concrete triangles that are not even the same material? Truly one of the worst park designs we have seen in ages, and it'll probably be the one that gets built because it is clearly the cheapest. I cannot express enough how much I utterly hate this design.
So this leaves us with Design 1 vs Design 3. (In the hopes we actually get something better) They're kinda similar, so how do they break down in terms of differences? Basically, IMO, design 1 is better is most ways, maybe with the exception of the dog park. Using the metal frame motif from the linear park in the neighborhood adds some nice cohesion. The red pavement wrapping around in front of the AIDS memorial is perfect. It also highlights the Trans and AIDS ribbons separately, whereas design 3 mostly combines them. I'd also say it is by far the most functional for the Greenspace festival during Pride, which is important as it is the biggest fundraiser for the 519. The plaza trees in Design 3 basically block the location of the main stage so unless they pick trees with a high canopy, the view of the stage is going to suck for anyone beyond people at the front. Not helping those very necessary fundraising efforts. Also does this park really warrant a children's space bigger than Design 1? It's got a lot of issues, I'd say start with a smaller children's space like design 1 and expand if needed in the future.
Now there are some tweaks that can improve the design, so I encourage people who care to take the survey (personally i think the one thing design 2 got right was moving the 519 garbage to be tucked into that shrubby area and not in the play park so I'm glad I was able to articulate that in the survey, because it is very granular). Ultimately I hope we get most of design 1, with some of the best elements of design 3 (the dog park in design 3 is very good!, and I can see the argument that the trans memorial treatment might also be better (id say keep the arc from 1, but add the way 3 branches off to the memorial))
TL;DR? Design 1 > Design 3 >>>>>> Design 2.
Obviously, just my opinions, you have every right to think I'm full of shit just please be nice about it if you do lol.
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picard102
Senior Member
Is the intent to no longer do programing in the park during pride and throughout the year?
Northern Light
Superstar
Why are all of the design choices here, 'bleh'; at best............
Well, the City tells you why why they look back at the last solicitation of public opinion:
So.... translated from the bureaucratese " We put our fingers in our ears and sang la la la, rather than confront issues of improper use of the park, safety concerns, and amenities that are often unused for the preceding reasons"
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Additionally, I worked hard to secure a possible future expansion of the park at its east end which isn't remotely considered here.
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Problems:
- Absent other interventions the lawn is a very problematic site use wise. i don't want to pave everything by any stretch, but an alternative strategy is needed for that space.
- The playground is typically dead. That's a function of small size and being isolated behind the building leaving it unable to attract families in any numbers.
- The DOLA is also under-utlized. Its really quite large, relative to the traffic level and due to the manner of landscaping, elevation and light, is a problem. I'm not going to advocate for its removal, but a re-think and modest down-sizing may have been on point.
None of the three designs tackle the park's challenges well.
Scrap the proposal; secure the expansion, hire professionals to lead a serious design exercise.
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picard102
Senior Member
Yeah, knowing there is a few thousand people there over a week in the summer, and events nearly every weekend until the fall, it's odd that they've chose to add more grass, especially in the places they have.