[Northern Light]

We'll start our tour at what I think is or ought to be seen to be the principle entrance to Christie Pits Park at the corner of Bloor and Christie, with a streetview pic from 2020:

The good: A clear entry point, seating, popular/well-used, a fair few healthy trees, and there is a sign w/the park name on it..........

The less good: The sign is way over on the left hand side of the image, not easily readable from the corner and not particularly close to the entrance itself.
I also find it a bit under-baked for what I imagine should be the main entry point to the one of the City's signature parks by size and program, at a prominent corner.
Finally, yes, I know I'm being a knit=picker here.........but does the pathway really have to be off-centre to the intersection? (I couldn't find a reason for that and it just irks me, LOL)

Ok.... that said, lets step into the park, all photos are mine unless noted otherwise and taken on June 4th, 2022:

Below, we are just inside the park looking west (left) from the entryway seen above at the top area of the park, running parallel to Bloor St.

In the image above we see the space well used on a beautiful June weekend.........with picnickers, families, some people tanning, some lovers sharing a blanket and some others eating on a bench. Its very hard to argue w/the popularity of this space, and for the most part, its in reasonable condition.

Lets move along to the central path in from Bloor (mid-block)

This is in fact intended as the principle entrance of the park as evidenced by landscaping, including the main planting bed for annual flowers, as seen in the image above.

Most benches had at least one person on them which speaks well of the space, even if I find the design a bit underwhelming. I would wonder however, why the planting bed still had no annuals in it as at June 4. There hasn't been a risk of frost for over 3 weeks, it seems a bit unfortunate that the crews are running so late.

For all the popularity here............I am not enthused by this set-up. My objections are these......

a) Few people imagine this this to be or treat it as the main entrance to the park. There's no traffic light mid-block and people have the option of entering back at the intersection of Christie to the east, or also just to the west; there are no internal paths to the this seating/landscape arrangement from the east or west which naturally draw people to enjoy a signature landscape feature here.

b) The space simply isn't up to scratch, asphalt is not appropriate for a signature park entrance pathway, the seating is pedestrian, as is the lighting its just.........well, I think the technical term is 'meh'. There are so many more pressing needs than sprucing this up.........but I do think it should be on the to-do list. However, we do need to ask if this is where we want the central landscape feature to be; and if so we need to make sure the park's pathways lead here.

Surrounding the circle above, there are a series of perennial planting beds:

On the upside, virtually everything is alive, and pretty healthy........on the downside, on a beautiful weekend in June, not one thing is in bloom and it reads as a very monochromatic green. These beds would benefit from improved plant selection better showcasing 4-seasons beauty.

***

We step further into the park, approaching our descent into the bowl, there is a path running parallel to Bloor just above the bowl (low area) of the Park.

For some reason, we went from asphalt crushed stone/gravel as the surface:

I'm not sold on that choice. But let's move on, descending into the bowl:

Again, hard to argue w/success, lots of people out enjoying the sun (and the shade), socializing, tanning, taking in a performance a the bottom of the hill. By and large the grass is in good condition.

As we arrive at the bottom of hill, we'll glance to our left (west) and see the Children's Playground, which is absolutely teeming w/children and parents. The play area is clearly popular, colourful, seemingly in pretty good condition, what's not to like?

The only issue I see here is simply that the playground is in the bowl area, which may pose some accessibility issues in the shoulder season when the path may have snow/ice on it; and when water may pool. That said, there aren't many better locations on offer currently.

The wading pool next to the playground was dry and as such home to pretty much no one. One City-wide issue we have in Toronto is that the City still hasn't got all the drinking fountains working yet, and we're into June. Wading pools are scheduled to start opening in the next week or two. I'm not really sure why they couldn't and shouldn't be open every weekend from the 1st of June...to at least Labour Day.

Below, another shot of the very popular playground further west:

Now we turn our gaze back eastward in the bowl looking at the area where the path descends from the corner of Christie and Bloor:

Here we see lot of people just out enjoying the space around the soccer field; while an informal pick-up soccer game is in progress on the field. Just about perfect. Just to the left/west of this image, we find the skateboard park, again very well patronized, I intentionally shot at the emptiest spot so as to avoid personal close-ups.

So far, there's very little to be seriously critical of......... the park could use a bit of elevated landscape quality, primarily on the upper level, and at entrances/exits, but nothing is in serious disrepair and every part of the park is full of people making good use of it!

Let's continue on....

At the particular moment I took this shot, none of the three baseball diamond were in active use; though before I left the park, this one would be...........but as can be seen, some people were finding a use for the diamond when teams weren't there, for exercise or tanning or just a chat....

A bit further west (almost below Crawford) we encounter the basketball court, on the south side of the path:

Once again, this space is very popular; there is a bit of wear on the grass here, but this is an easy enough fix with some minor adjustments to the size/layout of the nearby paved paths.

To the right/north of this is the park fire pit:

Quieter than most of the park, yet still finding 3 people out enjoying it on a Saturday afternoon.

This brings us to the most westerly path in from Bloor, which we are looking at from the bowl up towards Bloor. Again the space has some use, if a bit lighter than other areas of the park........I see real potential here for some enhanced perennial landscaping.

Finally, (for this post) we'll approach the pathway up to Crawford:

Here we find the only definitive failure in the park. A space that was intended to be an Allotment garden where one can grow veggies and such.........is clearly mostly or entirely abandoned.........
And no wonder; you aren't growing much in that deep shade!

More to come in the next post.

 

[evandyk]

We went to St. James this morning and it was packed with people everywhere. People enjoying the playground, the fountain, the lawns, listening to the bells. Absolutely perfect park experience.

 

[Northern Light]

Ok, so we left off climbing our way out of the Park towards Crawford.

Lets backtrack down the hill for just a moment, so we can look at what we're now walking past from down below; its the outdoor swimming complex:

Looking at the pool area itself:

And hey a cool little slide (into the pool) too.

Aside from the obvious (Its June, the pool should have water in it!) its a pretty nice complex, good size and amenities.

As we arrive at the top of the slope, at Crawford, we find the only unoccupied slope in the whole place. Its pretty shady, but also pretty steep. Perhaps a spot where some naturalization would work...

As we walk along Crawford now, we encounter one of those still privately owned sets of homes:

Next to it is a City-owned parcel, technically now part of the park, but you can't access the park through it, and it lacks any furniture or amenity, sandwiched as it is between two privately owned parcels:

Now the next private parcel:

Next to this, we get an entrance into the park area from Crawford which leads down to the pool building and the shinny pad/ice rink:

While there is a sign, it doesn't actually reference the park, or the pool, the path, which is also a road for car access to this site doesn't feel overly welcoming to pedestrians or make particularly clear that are you are welcome to come this way.

Here I will take a moment to suggest one clear utility in my mind of acquiring those remaining homes on Crawford; the pool building (not the pool, but the entrance area/admin/changerooms etc.) could be shifted to Crawford making the pool much more visible and easy to access from Crawford. The space no longer required by the existing building could be then be repurposed, perhaps for a larger pool, or perhaps something else.

Next we'll look at the pool building as it existing today:

Functional, I suppose, but seriously drab.....I have to add, if you didn't know there was a pool on the other side of that wall.........how would you know? Another reason to shift the location of this building to at least allow a clear view of the pool from the north.

Opposite the pool we have the outdoor ice rink/shinny pad:

The Utility buildings (Ice plant, and Zamboni Storage etc.) are found below the last remaining private parcel on Crawford. Man are these ugly:

If nothing else, these could be prettied up some.........but there are some more interesting choices that could be made if the remaining land were acquired on Crawford.

We'll finish up the tour w/my closing comments in the next post.

 

[Northern Light]

Finishing up the tour............before we make our way back out to Crawford.....Lets make note of the path coming in from Barton on the north side, and how it ultimately meets the park:

I see a few issues here.......I'm not keen on narrow paths that don't seem particularly inviting...........and maybe somewhat entrapping.......

There's also an obvious accessibility issue here in gaining access to the lower bowl of the park.

I'll be the first to say that sometimes you have to accept that you can't make everything accessible.........but what seems odd about this is ....

Well, here's the top part of the entrance from Barton:

They actually built a very elaborate switchback to make it accessible.......

For the record, there is no accessible option to get to the lower bowl here, you would need to go back up to Crawford and over to the trail we exited by, except that one is actually far steeper than accessible guidelines allow, or you would have to go all the way over to Christie or Bloor to find an accessible path.

Somewhat remarkable here is a signage/communication fail; lets look at this streetview of the Barton entrance:

That's right, no sign mentioning the pool, nor the rink, nor whether this path gets you to the diamond below, nor whether you can (or can't) reach the lower park this way. Ugh!

Now we'll take a brief look the baseball diamond seen in the previous post in-use for its intended purpose, along w/some people using the unmowed northern slope to just sit and read............

Now the main diamond, all quiet:

As we wind down the tour, lets look at northern entrances to the park, along w/the perimeter.

Looking down Crawford from Barton:

Nothing terrible here, but if the City did amass the remaining properties, it could shift the sidewalk just a bit to the east and separate it from the road with a tree-lined boulevard, in theory, this could also be a multi-use trail for cyclists as well.

***

Now the corner of Barton and Crawford:

This is one of those well intended thoughts that I don't think was adequately thought through; there's an attempt here to create an entrance of sorts for the park and to commemorate Garrison Creek which flows under the park in a tunnel.

But...but .......there's no path from this corner into the park! Its an entrance that doesn't enter anything. Minus points for not asking where the entrance was supposed to lead you.

Secondary issue, most people have never heard of Garrison Creek and have no concept of some of its waters still flowing under this park. If you want to commemorate that, there should probably be some sort of explainer w/pictures somewhere close by.......but there isn't.

Moving on........ you'll notice as we walk along Barton that there is a desire line/dirt path directly parallel to the sidewalk. This clearly indicates that the sidewalk is not desirable to walk along...

Whether its because its narrow/busy, beside the road and un-buffered, or just because people want to enjoy a view into the park. The opportunity exists here to re-think this and to narrow Barton, perhaps remove some or all of the parking, and create a park path/multi-use trail separated from the road by a landscaped boulevard, one that is wider than the existing sidewalk and have just one route of travel here:

There are some pretty cool views from this side of the park, perhaps there should be a viewing deck w/some seating to celebrate those:

Now we arrive at the corner of Christie and Barton, the north-east corner of the park, here, we're looking south along Christie:

Again, we find people walking to the inside of the sidewalk. The sidewalk itself directly abuts Christie (no boulevard), with parking legal up against the sidewalk.

I think a strong case can be made for removing at least some of, if not all the parking abutting the park along Christie and creating a pleasant park path instead.

The perennial bed encountered along the entrance from Christie/Barton is in a state of neglect:

That brings our tour to a close.

****

Summary and overall take:

One simply can't argue w/popularity, overall area residents clearly really enjoy this park and many of its key features. There is heavy programming, most of it is of quality and well patronized.
There are some minor maintenance and signage issues which could fixed for a rounding error in the Parks budget.
With a bit of ambition, including some property purchases, the west, north and eastern perimeter spaces of the park could be made more attractive and functional.
There is some opportunity to add a bit of panache to the Bloor frontage with better lighting, seating, paving and perhaps some minor adjustments to siting.

In the end this park is pretty good, but with some TLC and a bit of cash it could go from pretty good, to truly great.

 

[Patch]

Did not expect my Christie Pits request to be fulfilled so quickly! Thank you for the thorough review/walk through - it was a great read and virtual walk through the park on this rainy Monday!

Overall, I agree that there's really no argument in terms of how popular/successful the park is.
Most of my issues are a result of what you mentioned as an "ad-hoc evolution" of park space over time as opposed to an overall design. I find that it often results in the park spaces/pathways having a bit of a temporary/after-thought feel to them, and feeling pretty disconnected. But regardless of the overall "design" (or lack thereof), I have no doubt that it'll continue to be a popular based on the location/age/size/programming alone!

Anywho... a couple more specific thoughts on some of the areas you touched on. It's mostly me being negative... so I'll preface that Christie Pits is one of my fave parks in the City, and I just wish it would get the level of TLC and attention to detail that it deserves!

• This central "garden" area is probably one of my biggest aesthetic let-downs in the park. Also agreed that it's not a very practical entrance given it's lack of useful connections to the street and rest of the park.
• To me, it's really screaming for a water feature/fountain treatment. Something similar to the St James Park circular feature would likely work well here.
• 

• The pathways are also another gripe. Having the main east-west pathway through the park being gravel is unfortunate.
• I know the park is a bit of a jogging loop so perhaps has to do with that... but there's numerous locations where paths abruptly change into gravel or even dirt...

• There's actually a fair bit of backstory for the skatepark here. They used to use the outdoor rink in the north-west corner during the summer (yay for multi-purpose amenities! ) but there was pushback and noise complaints from neighbours.
• After quite a bit of back and forth, the City ended up paving a portion in the middle of the park for them to relocate.
• From my understanding the City actually doesn't pay for any of the skatepark maintenance/equipment, other than the cost for the installation of the asphalt pad/lights. Although it seems to function quite well as-is, it would be nice for the City to invest in a properly designed concrete skatepark here (or somewhere in the park) since the demand is obviously quite high.

• I wish there would have been a greater effort to connect the park to the building/pool/rink here. The main connection has a staircase ending in a dirt/gravel pathway (which has erosion issues).
• The building itself also has no useful connection to the park on this side. Ideally there would have been some park level winterized washrooms installed as part of the building here... (don't get me started on the state of the current washrooms...)
• Sidenote: Alex Duff is one of my fave pools in the City but it's a joke that it doesn't open until June 18 (and that's considered an early opening for the City).

• This pic shows a lot of what I think is wrong with the north side of the park:
  • Significant desire path to the right. From what I've seen, this is mostly created by joggers avoiding folks on the narrow sidewalk to the left.
  • Quite an ugly "barrier" here that runs along almost half the north side cutting off access. Not sure about the purpose here other than preventing drivers from tumbling down the hill?
  • Particularly confused about this tiny piece of barrier disconnected from the rest...
  • 
  • Sidewalk directly against Barton Ave. Barton Ave is also an official City cycling route, but you wouldn't know it other than from the tiny route signage...
  • In my ideal world Barton would have bike lanes installed along it's full extent, connecting both to Shaw/Brunswick lanes (but I'm getting into a Problematic Cycling Design thread now...).

• Agreed that the views here are quite wonderful! Almost riverdale-esque. The hill works quite well as a spot to sit too, but I wish there was at least 1 bench along this stretch to enjoy these views...

I'll end with this throwback to the 2009 strike that I spotted on google maps... a reminder that things could always be worse?

 

[Northern Light]

Did not expect my Christie Pits request to be fulfilled so quickly! Thank you for the thorough review/walk through - it was a great read and virtual walk through the park on this rainy Monday!

Overall, I agree that there's really no argument in terms of how popular/successful the park is.
Most of my issues are a result of what you mentioned as an "ad-hoc evolution" of park space over time as opposed to an overall design. I find that it often results in the park spaces/pathways having a bit of a temporary/after-thought feel to them, and feeling pretty disconnected. But regardless of the overall "design" (or lack thereof), I have no doubt that it'll continue to be a popular based on the location/age/size/programming alone!

Anywho... a couple more specific thoughts on some of the areas you touched on. It's mostly me being negative... so I'll preface that Christie Pits is one of my fave parks in the City, and I just wish it would get the level of TLC and attention to detail that it deserves!

• This central "garden" area is probably one of my biggest aesthetic let-downs in the park. Also agreed that it's not a very practical entrance given it's lack of useful connections to the street and rest of the park.
• To me, it's really screaming for a water feature/fountain treatment. Something similar to the St James Park circular feature would likely work well here.
• View attachment 405381

• The pathways are also another gripe. Having the main east-west pathway through the park being gravel is unfortunate.
• I know the park is a bit of a jogging loop so perhaps has to do with that... but there's numerous locations where paths abruptly change into gravel or even dirt...

• There's actually a fair bit of backstory for the skatepark here. They used to use the outdoor rink in the north-west corner during the summer (yay for multi-purpose amenities! ) but there was pushback and noise complaints from neighbours.
• After quite a bit of back and forth, the City ended up paving a portion in the middle of the park for them to relocate.
• From my understanding the City actually doesn't pay for any of the skatepark maintenance/equipment, other than the cost for the installation of the asphalt pad/lights. Although it seems to function quite well as-is, it would be nice for the City to invest in a properly designed concrete skatepark here (or somewhere in the park) since the demand is obviously quite high.

• I wish there would have been a greater effort to connect the park to the building/pool/rink here. The main connection has a staircase ending in a dirt/gravel pathway (which has erosion issues).
• The building itself also has no useful connection to the park on this side. Ideally there would have been some park level winterized washrooms installed as part of the building here... (don't get me started on the state of the current washrooms...)
• Sidenote: Alex Duff is one of my fave pools in the City but it's a joke that it doesn't open until June 18 (and that's considered an early opening for the City).

• This pic shows a lot of what I think is wrong with the north side of the park:
  • Significant desire path to the right. From what I've seen, this is mostly created by joggers avoiding folks on the narrow sidewalk to the left.
  • Quite an ugly "barrier" here that runs along almost half the north side cutting off access. Not sure about the purpose here other than preventing drivers from tumbling down the hill?
  • Particularly confused about this tiny piece of barrier disconnected from the rest...
  • View attachment 405416
  • Sidewalk directly against Barton Ave. Barton Ave is also an official City cycling route, but you wouldn't know it other than from the tiny route signage...
  • In my ideal world Barton would have bike lanes installed along it's full extent, connecting both to Shaw/Brunswick lanes (but I'm getting into a Problematic Cycling Design thread now...).

• Agreed that the views here are quite wonderful! Almost riverdale-esque. The hill works quite well as a spot to sit too, but I wish there was at least 1 bench along this stretch to enjoy these views...

I'll end with this throwback to the 2009 strike that I spotted on google maps... a reminder that things could always be worse?
View attachment 405417

Good commentary. Here's an image I did up which basically shows a site-map of my suggested changes, except I've repurposed the Allotment Garden as a DOLA and incorporated a couple of other pathway changes I'll explain.

The Black along the 3 perimeter sides is meant to convey a multi-use trail for cyclists and pedestrians, 3M-4M wide, buffered from the road by a landscaped boulevard.

The Lime Green signifies primary paths that are decorative/ceremonial showpieces made of interlock paving and all lead to the central landscape feature of the park.

The East-West Blue path is pedestrian only, linking the multi-use trails together; while the Red is enhanced cycle track linking together the cycling portion.

Gray is the remaining, re-aligned, and new secondary path system. By relocating the pool building, there should be room to slightly lower the grade in the centre area between the rink and the pool,

This would allow the path to descend more gradually and remove the need for stairs.

By shifting the rink Utilities building, you allow a new entrance path from the corner of Barton and Crawford which also does not require stairs, and I think could be done w/o a switchback though that may require some re-grading.

Note that in the south of the bowl area I have removed one trail/path, this provides some additional slope for tanning/sitting; and allows the central area to have more programming space.

Areas of the slope that are currently quasi-naturalized would be cleaned up (remove non-native invasive species, infill w/native trees/shrubs and edge with sun-loving native wildflowers, like Woodland Sunflower, and Butterfly Weed.)

Areas of slope that mowed would stay mowed, excepting the shady, under-used area above the current Allotment Garden.

Areas of slope that are not currently mowed but not natural either would mostly return to being mowed, but would see pockets of wild flowers on the hill to add vibrancy.

Overall picnic space should remain about the same due to trail re-alignments and some new space on the Crawford frontage.

A single viewing deck would be added just beyond the ceremonial central area with decorative railing and deck and be beautifully lit up at night.

A companion deck would be installed on the Barton frontage allowing skyline views, with 8-12 seats.

Short cuts that impair the landscape would be obstructed if necessary.

All pathways would get new lighting with a bit more elegance and new benches, on pads.

The Ceremonial Paths would all get an Allee Treatment. But instead of one species, I would use 3.

From Bloor I want to maximize the sun so we would plant Aspens (fast-growing, tall, narrow, giving a columnar effect, and yellow leaves in fall).
The East-West Portion of the path would use White Pine on both sides w/reasonable spacing to allow daylight through, and provide year-round visual interest.
The last six trees to the east and to the west (3 per side of path) would be Sugar Maple giving a vibrant warm red in the fall. These would somewhat pruned so as not to overwhelm the landscape.

The circle you see would curved seating on 4 sides, the back of the seating would be a vibrant plant display mixing both perennials and annuals in lavish colour.
The centre piece would be a fountain, surrounded by a pool at the bottom that changes the colour of the fountain water at night; and is then edged very short, but vibrant flowers and tufts of ornamental grasses, edged by a decorative railing.

***

Just a thought, LOL

Back of the envelope, about 75M give or take 10M either way, LOL

 

[Towered]

Good commentary. Here's an image I did up which basically shows a site-map of my suggested changes, except I've repurposed the Allotment Garden as a DOLA and incorporated a couple of other pathway changes I'll explain.

View attachment 405424

The Black along the 3 perimeter sides is meant to convey a multi-use trail for cyclists and pedestrians, 3M-4M wide, buffered from the road by a landscaped boulevard.

The Lime Green signifies primary paths that are decorative/ceremonial showpieces made of interlock paving and all lead to the central landscape feature of the park.

The East-West Blue path is pedestrian only, linking the multi-use trails together; while the Red is enhanced cycle track linking together the cycling portion.

Gray is the remaining, re-aligned, and new secondary path system. By relocating the pool building, there should be room to slightly lower the grade in the centre area between the rink and the pool,

This would allow the path to descend more gradually and remove the need for stairs.

By shifting the rink Utilities building, you allow a new entrance path from the corner of Barton and Crawford which also does not require stairs, and I think could be done w/o a switchback though that may require some re-grading.

Note that in the south of the bowl area I have removed one trail/path, this provides some additional slope for tanning/sitting; and allows the central area to have more programming space.

Areas of the slope that currently quasi-naturalized would be cleaned up (remove non-native invasive species, infill w/native trees/shrubs and edge with sun-loving native wildflowers, like Woodland Sunflower, and Butterfly Weed.

Areas of slope that mowed would stay mowed, excepting the shady, under-used area above the current Allotment Garden.

Areas of slope that are not currently mowed but not natural either would mostly return to being mowed, but would see pockets of wild flowers on the hill to add vibrancy.

Overall picnic space should remain about the same due to trail re-alignments and some new space on the Crawford frontage.

A single viewing deck would be added just beyond the ceremonial central area with decorative railing and deck and be beautifully lit up at night.

A companion deck would be installed on the Barton frontage allowing skyline views, with 8-12 seats.

Short cuts that impair the landscape would be obstructed if necessary.

All pathways would get new lighting with a bit more elegance and new benches, on pads.

The Ceremonial Paths would all get an Allee Treatment. But instead of one species, I would use 3.

From Bloor I want to maximize the sun so we would plant Aspens (fast-growing, tall, narrow, giving a columnar effect, and yellow leaves in fall).
The East-West Portion of the path would use White Pine on both sides w/reasonable spacing to allow daylight through, and provide year-round visual interest.
The last six trees to the east and to the west (3 per side of path) would be Sugar Maple giving a vibrant warm red in the fall. These would somewhat pruned so as not to overwhelm the landscape.

The circle you see would curved seating on 4 sides, the back of the seating would be a vibrant plant display mixing both perennials and annuals in lavish colour.
The centre piece would be a fountain, surrounded by a pool at the bottom that changes the colour of the fountain water at night; and is then edged very short, but vibrant flowers and tufts of ornamental grasses, edged by a decorative railing.

***

Just a thought, LOL

Back of the envelope, about 75M give or take 10M either way, LOL

I would add that if we acquire those remaining houses along Crawford, a full community centre should be built there offering an assortment of indoor activities as well (instead of just being a basic pool pavilion as currently), similar in scope to the one in Trinity Bellwoods.

 

[Northern Light]

I would add that if we acquire those remaining houses along Crawford, a full community centre should be built there offering an assortment of indoor activities as well (instead of just being a basic pool pavilion as currently), similar in scope to the one in Trinity Bellwoods.

That would consume an enormous amount of space.

The outstanding land isn't that deep, the only way to make that work would be to redevelop the pool itself and probably shift it to the roof of a new community centre.

Based on the current community centres the City is building on greenfield sites (no demolition required), at about 80M a piece, you'd be into the 90M range here.

****

I'd prefer build a new community centre on the south side of Bloor where the Bickford Centre/Bob Abate are sited.

By replacing the existing complex and acquiring some of the homes to the south, it would also be possible to bring Bickford Park out to Bloor creating a green link to Christie Pits.

 

[Towered]

That would consume an enormous amount of space.

The outstanding land isn't that deep, the only way to make that work would be to redevelop the pool itself and probably shift it to the roof of a new community centre.

Based on the current community centres the City is building on greenfield sites (no demolition required), at about 80M a piece, you'd be into the 90M range here.

****

I'd prefer build a new community centre on the south side of Bloor where the Bickford Centre/Bob Abate are sited.

By replacing the existing complex and acquiring some of the homes to the south, it would also be possible to bring Bickford Park out to Bloor creating a green link to Christie Pits.

That's a much better idea!

 

[christiesplits]

Great series @Northern Light. Can I make a request outside of the downtown core? Gibson Park in North York City Centre.

 

[Northern Light]

Great series @Northern Light.

Thanks!

Can I make a request outside of the downtown core? Gibson Park in North York City Centre.

View attachment 406181

You can, and I'll add it to my list. Parks that are far outside my typical walking routes though may take me awhile to get to! But I will!

 

[Sky High Arch]

Thanks!



You can, and I'll add it to my list. Parks that are far outside my typical walking routes though may take me awhile to get to! But I will!

If your doing Gibson Park can you do albert standing park at the same time as its down the street. Albert standing is getting a small chunk of land to the west and was suppose to undergo a park refresh but it was cancelled. Political reasons it seems. No rush, thanks

 

[Northern Light]

Let me put a Request List Post here so I can track'em all! LOL

Canoe Landing - Evandyk
Dufferin Grove - Towered
Jesse Ketchum - Tunafish
Harbour Square - Tunafish - Done
Godstone Park - Undead
Gibson Park - Mjl08
Albert Standing Park - Skyhigharch
Trinity Bellwoods - Smably
Osler Playground - Kmac12
June Rowlands Park - Johnny Au

 

[AlexBozikovic]

As a Christie Pits local, @Northern Light, I have to say your diagnosis is pretty much dead-on. One more issue: the park needs more seating of all kinds. A lot of it.

A public redevelopment of Bickford Centre is very unlikely. TDSB won’t let it go without cashing in on its considerable value.

 

[smably]

Let me put a Request List Post here so I can track'em all! LOL

Canoe Landing - Evandyk
Dufferin Grove - Towered
Jesse Ketchum - Tunafish
Harbour Square - Tunafish
Godstone Park - Undead
Gibson Park - Mjl08
Albert Standing Park - Skyhigharch

+Bellwoods by me, please and thank you!