The Familia said:
This city needs a grand fountain (sorry, Olympic Plaza doesn't cut it). Even Edmonton has two substantial water features with high powered jets (Legislature and City Hall). Calgary has the two baby ones in Central memorial park and a couple boring spray jets in Olympic Plaza. I don't count spray/splash parks or pads as they are rather small scaled. I hope during the Olympic Plaza redo they transform the fountain into something grand.
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Victoria Park doesn't even have a park in it (EVP and SP don't count), if the city had any sense of planning they would incorporate some kind of plaza/park feature with the new arena. You know throw in a fountain or water feature that could be used as a hockey rink in the winter, maybe a couple statues of Calgary Flames greats like Lanny and Iggy, some retail and restaurants around It and a hotel in the nearby area. You have a nearby train station for people to come in on the Red Line and another future one coming on the green line. Put a Park in Victoria Park lol, it only makes sense.


Other potential candidates in no particular order include:

-Olympic Plaza redevelopment as you said...
-Eau Claire Market redevelopment, that area has lots of potential.
-Tomkins park? idk if its been redeveloped lately I can't remember
-West Village? why not just make it into a mega park, like Central Park? As much as we all hate I admit it nothings ever going to get built there so why no bulldoze the car dealership and abandoned Greyhound station, move bow trail away from the river and make a public space? The area has potential.
-James Short Park? Needs to be renamed why not throw in a redevelopment.
-Not to mention the ungodly amount of surface parking Downtown and in the Beltline, getting rid of one or two blocks of surface parking and turning it into a park won't hurt no-one.


Are there any other areas? I can't think of any
 
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people.talking said:
Victoria Park doesn't even have a park in it (EVP and SP don't count), if the city had any sense of planning they would incorporate some kind of plaza/park feature with the new arena. You know throw in a fountain or water feature that could be used as a hockey rink in the winter, maybe a couple statues of Calgary Flames greats like Lanny and Iggy, some retail and restaurants around It and a hotel in the nearby area. You have a nearby train station for people to come in on the Red Line and another future one coming on the green line. Put a Park in Victoria Park lol, it only makes sense.


Other potential candidates in no particular order include:

-Olympic Plaza redevelopment as you said...
-Eau Claire Market redevelopment, that area has lots of potential.
-Tomkins park? idk if its been redeveloped lately I can't remember
-West Village? why not just make it into a mega park, like Central Park? As much as we all hate I admit it nothings ever going to get built there so why no bulldoze the car dealership and abandoned Greyhound station, move bow trail away from the river and make a public space? The area has potential.
-James Short Park? Needs to be renamed why not throw in a redevelopment.
-Not to mention the ungodly amount of surface parking Downtown and in the Beltline, getting rid of one or two blocks of surface parking and turning it into a park won't hurt no-one.


Are there any other areas? I can't think of any
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Not that this is totally relevant, but it would be nice if the city turned that demo'd building on 10th street into some kind of temporary park. Who knows how long it will be until someone actually builds there. Some grass and a few tables/benches would go a long way from the gravel patch which will inevitably sit there for a couple years.
 
people.talking said:
Victoria Park doesn't even have a park in it (EVP and SP don't count), if the city had any sense of planning they would incorporate some kind of plaza/park feature with the new arena. You know throw in a fountain or water feature that could be used as a hockey rink in the winter, maybe a couple statues of Calgary Flames greats like Lanny and Iggy, some retail and restaurants around It and a hotel in the nearby area. You have a nearby train station for people to come in on the Red Line and another future one coming on the green line. Put a Park in Victoria Park lol, it only makes sense.


Other potential candidates in no particular order include:

-Olympic Plaza redevelopment as you said...
-Eau Claire Market redevelopment, that area has lots of potential.
-Tomkins park? idk if its been redeveloped lately I can't remember
-West Village? why not just make it into a mega park, like Central Park? As much as we all hate I admit it nothings ever going to get built there so why no bulldoze the car dealership and abandoned Greyhound station, move bow trail away from the river and make a public space? The area has potential.
-James Short Park? Needs to be renamed why not throw in a redevelopment.
-Not to mention the ungodly amount of surface parking Downtown and in the Beltline, getting rid of one or two blocks of surface parking and turning it into a park won't hurt no-one.


Are there any other areas? I can't think of any
Click to expand...

The Master Plan for East Victoria Park, that was completed over the last several years, proposes much of what you're suggesting including a plaza adjacent to the arena, as well as a long linear (east-west) park along the rail line, and improved public space along the Elbow river.
 
There's a nice fountain in the space where the (usually dry) pond was in the centre of the park; sure would be nice for people to play in, if -- hypothetically of course -- it was a hot June day, 31 degrees and sunny.

PXL_20210614_211947799[1].jpg
PXL_20210614_212115871[1].jpg


The construction worker I talked to said it was going to open to the public next week. The secret is to call it "Century Garden" but not specify which century.
 
It's unfortunate that pretty much every tree that was planted along the sidewalk on 8th Ave looked dead last time I walked by. Anyone have any insight as to why that would happen? Contaminated soil? Trees just planted too late in the year?
 
outoftheice said:
It's unfortunate that pretty much every tree that was planted along the sidewalk on 8th Ave looked dead last time I walked by. Anyone have any insight as to why that would happen? Contaminated soil? Trees just planted too late in the year?
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When the trees are purchased from a tree lot the root ball is bound up and is watered through a drip system. When they are planted the root ball is opened up and it takes quite a bit of babying for the tree to take root. When the city waters these trees they douse the tree with water instead of watering it many times a day. This causes the water to run off quickly rather than soak into where the roots need it most. The city does this because it saves man hours. The result is a lot of the planted trees do not survive.
 
Kōsō said:
When the trees are purchased from a tree lot the root ball is bound up and is watered through a drip system. When they are planted the root ball is opened up and it takes quite a bit of babying for the tree to take root. When the city waters these trees they douse the tree with water instead of watering it many times a day. This causes the water to run off quickly rather than soak into where the roots need it most. The city does this because it saves man hours. The result is a lot of the planted trees do not survive.
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wonder how arms length the procurement is from the supplier. crooked or incompetent or both.
 
Such a shame that almost all of the green space shown in that photo will one day disappear. Hopefully more images like this one along with future images of people enjoying that area will be enough for the City of Calgary to give its head a shake and purchase the land from the developer.
 
The EV basketball court really shows you what a great contribution a court can be to a community. It provides an opportunity for physical activity for youth, adds vibrancy to an area, and seems to be rather low maintenance. Really hope the City adds more throughout downtown and the Beltline.
 
Cowtown said:
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I get why this happens, but it's frustrating - the 8th Street sidewalk that just cuts off when it hits the property line and returns to a sub-standard, crumbling narrow mess. Sure, one day years or decades from now development will tie it in again with a consistent width - but from now until then thousands of pedestrians a day will jostle at this weird artificial choke point.

The choice not to continue the sidewalk stands out all the more because we chose to grass over the rest of the site to make it more attractive in the coming years before development. Surely we could have given a busy sidewalk at least a similar level of thought even if it might one day be ripped up?

I hope my fear doesn't materialize and when they remove the construction fence they will just complete the sidewalk all the way to 7th Ave, but leaving that remnant parking area doesn't leave me very confident it's going to happen.
 
CBBarnett said:
I get why this happens, but it's frustrating - the 8th Street sidewalk that just cuts off when it hits the property line and returns to a sub-standard, crumbling narrow mess. Sure, one day years or decades from now development will tie it in again with a consistent width - but from now until then thousands of pedestrians a day will jostle at this weird artificial choke point.

The choice not to continue the sidewalk stands out all the more because we chose to grass over the rest of the site to make it more attractive in the coming years before development. Surely we could have given a busy sidewalk at least a similar level of thought even if it might one day be ripped up?

I hope my fear doesn't materialize and when they remove the construction fence they will just complete the sidewalk all the way to 7th Ave, but leaving that remnant parking area doesn't leave me very confident it's going to happen.
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Frustrating indeed. The city has the ability to bend rules, you'd think they could have figured a way to do that for this case.
 
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