Johnzz said:
“It’s been well used as a staging area, and part of it as a construction area for Aura,†explains Stuart. But she says it was also overlooked because it’s “hard for surveillance by both police and city park staff. That’s not an excuse but it’s part of the reason it’s in poor condition.â€.
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It's a three minute walk across the street from the offices of the Chief of Police. Is it really that difficult for them to keep a watch on public parks when they can't drive past?
 
Register123 said:
The point I was trying to make was that the city can't even afford to maintain the parks we have let alone build and maintain another, not that we have too many parks. I would love to have a park every few blocks but only if the city commits itself to maintaining them and building them to a high standard. So If they want to cut the skating rink from a park that was named in honour of one of our great skaters, what hope do you hold out for opera place?
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Agreed 100%. Look at Manhattan, south of Midtown, which probably does have close to half a million people. There are only 8 to a dozen parks there, but those parks are immaculate. Chelsea, for example, doesn't have a single park except for the High Line - but, man, what a great public space that one is.

Also, I fail to see why parks are always considered to be the only public space available for people to treat the city like a living room. Sidewalks are arguably more important in that regard, as are public squares.

I also agree with you that before we build new parks we should maintain the ones we have. Parks like Queens Park, Moss Park and Clarence Square are completely underutilized and poorly designed to serve the actual people of their neighbourhoods.
 
Register123 said:
The point I was trying to make was that the city can't even afford to maintain the parks we have let alone build and maintain another, not that we have too many parks. I would love to have a park every few blocks but only if the city commits itself to maintaining them and building them to a high standard. So If they want to cut the skating rink from a park that was named in honour of one of our great skaters, what hope do you hold out for opera place?
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Our parks are maintained well, are they world class? No. Look at all the parks that are being revitalized now, an effort is being made to bring them up to a higher standard. As for Barbara Ann Scott Park that's a design review panel recommending that. Once this goes to community consultation I'm confident that the popular skating rink/water feature will be secured.

Register123 said:
Do you really believe there will be half a million people living in that area you described in 5 - 7 years? Where did you here that from?
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Well, if the market holds let's say by 2020 and the problem will remain the same, there will be no areas left to add any parks for all these residents. One of the problems with parks in this area, if you could call it a problem, is the grass can't recover in many areas quick enough from the use that they get now.
 
dt_toronto_geek said:
As for Barbara Ann Scott Park that's a design review panel recommending that. Once this goes to community consultation I'm confident that the popular skating rink/water feature will be secured.
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Not just secured; but, perhaps, "enhanced", through my aforementioned suggestion of some commemoration of its namesake that goes beyond a simple name-of-the-park. (For all a lot of casual passerby know or care, BAS might as well be some political figure, or whomever.)
 
What is the deal with the North East corner? that part is just going to stay the way it is? yuck, its terrible. that amount of space should not be left as a sunken grey pit, considering there are so many people living beside it, and they have needs!
 
Dandy Horse said:
What is the deal with the North East corner? that part is just going to stay the way it is? yuck, its terrible. that amount of space should not be left as a sunken grey pit, considering there are so many people living beside it, and they have needs!
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The pit is actually part of College Park - you can tell because it is policed by CP Security Staff and those same staff NEVER set foot in the park portion of the quadrangle.
 
Keeping in mind that BAS Park was a classic 80s "developer deal" kind of public park...to the point where many a casual visitor is scarcely aware that it's an actual city park, rather than a quasi-public amenity belonging to College Park. And the impression is fueled by its being effectively "landlocked"...i.e. with no real street frontages to speak of; it's totally a "middle of a superblock" affair.

(Though as such, it isn't unique in Toronto at large; here and there in various suburban pockets, one can find hidden mid-block parks--sometimes, the only way you can tell they exist is when a grassy gap btw/two houses sports a parks-department rules-and-regulations sign at the end.)
 
No public art?! The concepts are good but it's a crying shame that College Park's public spaces at the north, or at least part of them, can't be included or merged into the new park design. Seems like a lot of comments came from surrounding stakeholders who don't want anything happening in there at night, or dogs, or kids.
 
^^ Yeah, a lot of the comments were no playground, kids create noise, no washroom, no stage for movies, too noisy. Someone said no kids live in the neighbourhood. (which of course, is untrue) The future & present residents, want that park all for themselves.
 
Torontovibe:

Which is why I think a nice, simple, easily accessible and visible green space with tree cover and low maintenance plantings might be the best solution - forget all the over the top programming which the budget doesn't allow - and rebuild the space in a form that will let users decide what to do with it.

AoD
 
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