[Waterloo_Guy]

While there are still some areas for improvement in the Distillery and Canary Districts, I think they are by far more successful than their western counterpart, Liberty Village.

Going by the numbers I think Liberty Village is by far the most successful. The Canary District hardly exists yet, so I don't think we can pass judgement on it either way. At the moment it's a ghost town.

 

[TheKingEast]

Going by the numbers I think Liberty Village is by far the most successful. The Canary District hardly exists yet, so I don't think we can pass judgement on it either way. At the moment it's a ghost town.

I'm not a fan of Liberty Village but it is a pretty successful, self-sufficient neighbourhood. It also has an identity. Nice shops, bars, stores, restaurants. Parks, condos, twonhomes, transit.

But, I remember when it looked like a lifeless, barren wasteland. If Canary District is done well, it could potentially surpass Liberty Village. It's just not there yet. I'll say the architecture is better.

 

[Skeezix]

Going by the numbers I think Liberty Village is by far the most successful. The Canary District hardly exists yet, so I don't think we can pass judgement on it either way. At the moment it's a ghost town.

What numbers do you mean?

By virtue of a number of amenities being installed in West Don Lands before redevelopment, as opposed to what happened in Liberty Village, West Don Lands is a much greater success in that sense, and will hopefully avoid a number of the drawbacks associated with Liberty Village. Closer proximity to downtown will also help.

But I agree that Liberty Village is a great neighbourhood. People sometimes focus too much on the problems associated with its rapid development, rather than on its attributes.

 

[Waterloo_Guy]

What numbers do you mean?

By virtue of a number of amenities being installed in West Don Lands before redevelopment, as opposed to what happened in Liberty Village, West Don Lands is a much greater success in that sense, and will hopefully avoid a number of the drawbacks associated with Liberty Village. Closer proximity to downtown will also help.

But I agree that Liberty Village is a great neighbourhood. People sometimes focus too much on the problems associated with its rapid development, rather than on its attributes.

I mainly meant that it has attracted lots of people with many more on the way. It is vibrant and close to lots of great areas.

I think Canary has a chance of being good, I'm just not seeing it yet. I'm also concerned that it wont have a high enough density of people to make it work.

 

[lead82]

Liberty Village is development gone wrong. Sure it has some nice stores and restaurants and quirky office space but Liberty Village is overbuilt. There are no real parks or much green space. That tiny neighbourhood park is a patch of lawn for dogs to do their business. The central plaza could have been a nice square but instead it's a parking lot next to the Metro. The streets are narrow and full of parked cars and endless traffic getting into and out of the neighbourhood.

Canary District is already better. It has better parks and nice urban spaces. Once it's populated it will be a great city neighbourhood, perhaps a model for the city to emulate elsewhere.

 

[Waterloo_Guy]

Liberty Village is development gone wrong. Sure it has some nice stores and restaurants and quirky office space but Liberty Village is overbuilt. There are no real parks or much green space. That tiny neighbourhood park is a patch of lawn for dogs to do their business. The central plaza could have been a nice square but instead it's a parking lot next to the Metro. The streets are narrow and full of parked cars and endless traffic getting into and out of the neighbourhood.

Canary District is already better. It has better parks and nice urban spaces. Once it's populated it will be a great city neighbourhood, perhaps a model for the city to emulate elsewhere.

Apart from the parking lot, that's exactly why I prefer Liberty Village.

 

[Waterloo_Guy]

But I respectfully disagree that height or density would harm the area: in fact, that's exactly what it needs. Right now the only thing missing in the Canary District is people. Frankly, it remains a bit of a ghost town. We need many more people to create life on the streets, in the shops, and to encourage private development to fill those remaining gaps. Density/height is the way to do this while keeping the streetscape active.

I agree completely.

 

[Jonny5]

The Distillery District is to host the "World Cup of Hockey Fan Village" September 16-25.

 

[Tulse]

The Distillery District is to host the "World Cup of Hockey Fan Village" September 16-25.

I know they are marketing it as being at the Distiller District, but I think that technically it will be in the open lots of the West Don Lands, east of Cherry St.

 

[Jonny5]

I know they are marketing it as being at the Distiller District, but I think that technically it will be in the open lots of the West Don Lands, east of Cherry St.

Wow. That far? The marketing laughably says it's "just east of the Air Canada Centre" It's like a real estate agent selling it as "steps from the ACC!"

 

[Tulse]

Well, the Distillery District itself is pretty darned far from the ACC. But if I'm right, the village will be just across the street from the Distillery District.

 

[DSC]

Here is the City info on the Mill Street work supposed to start next week.

Phase 1 Mill Street Watermain, Road and Streetscaping

Planned Start Date: September 2016

Planned End Date: June 30 2017

Location: Mill St ( Parliament St to Cherry St)

Description Of Work:

Phase 1
Upgrading existing 150mm to a 300mm watermain.

• New watermain will connect to the existing watermains on Parliament Street, Trinity Street and the watermain at the end of Mill Street that is connected to the watermain on Cherry Street.
• Replacing substandard water services.
• Road reconstruction from Parliament Street to approximately 30m east of Trinity Street and road resurfacing from 30m east of Trinity Street to Cherry Street

Phase 2 Spring 2017

Will involve streetscaping work

• Sidewalk widening on the north side of Mill Street from Parliament Street to Trinity Street
• Several curb bumpouts to delineate parking and update curb radii to improve traffic flow and apply tactile domes for crossings (curb radii changes at the northeast corner of the Mill/Parliament intersection as well as all four corners of the Mill/Trinity intersection)
• Improving curb symmetry and tree planting
• Unit paver surface upgrades in some boulevard sections and at the Mill/Trinity intersection

 

[TheKingEast]

 

[Jonny5]

World Cup of Hockey Fan Village opens tomorrow at 3pm. They have really cranked up the marketing all over downtown. The Killers will play the opening show tomorrow night.

 

[grey]

Re: Mill Street utility work, this feels like the third time in the past year that the street has been torn up in nearly the same spot with the exact same vehicles and fencing on site. One of those times was due to a condo generator failure, but still.