It's really so disheartening and shameful how the city like Toronto the way it manages things from big development projects to simple things like the TTC problems there's always problems with Subways. The Nathan Phillips square the disappearing fountains which was just completed couple of years has already broken down. The Fact that renovation has not even been fully completed after millions of overrun costs and long years of delays. And now here comes again. These kind of problems are only happening in the third world countries. Is Toronto really a hopeless case?
 
Talk about frustrating, just last summer the fish fountain beside the aquarium was fixed, after being broken for something like 3 or 4 years. Just a few days ago, I walked by and saw that about 12 tiles have fallen off. How can you have a fountain fixed last September (and only working 2 weeks) and this soon, the tiles start falling off again? It's so god damned frustrating! If Montreal, Chicago and Moscow can keep their fountains working and looking great, why can't we?

Who are they hiring to do the repairs? Are they skilled tradesmen or homeless guys they got off Nathan Phillips Square?
 
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Torontovibe said:
Talk about frustrating, just last summer the fish fountain beside the aquarium was fixed, after being broken for something like 3 or 4 years. Just a few days ago, I walked by and saw that about 12 tiles have fallen off. How can you have a fountain fixed last September (and only working 2 weeks) and this soon, the tiles start falling off again? It's so god damned frustrating! If Montreal, Chicago and Moscow can keep their fountains working and looking great, why can't we?

Who are they hiring to do the repairs? Are they skilled tradesmen or homeless guys they got off Nathan Phillips Square?
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I heard from the City that the repairs to get the salmon run fountain operating last year were "cosmetic' . The 'mechanism' was fixed earlier. (Of course, it was only operating from about mid-September). They are (or were) intending to redo ALL the tiles properly this spring and in time for Pan-Am Games. (It is true that they could not have started any outdoor tiling before now but now it is heating up they had better get on with it ...)
 
DSC said:
I heard from the City that the repairs to get the salmon run fountain operating last year were "cosmetic' . The 'mechanism' was fixed earlier. (Of course, it was only operating from about mid-September). They are (or were) intending to redo ALL the tiles properly this spring and in time for Pan-Am Games. (It is true that they could not have started any outdoor tiling before now but now it is heating up they had better get on with it ...)
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We haven't even gotten to the sad state of the University Avenue fountains yet - the case might still be under litigation.

AoD
 
MetroMan said:
They're not. Just some pessimistic forumers jumping to conclusions. Fountains (water fountains, dog water bowls, and water features) haven't yet been turned on in the city.
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Wow! speaking optimistic forumers who can't handle the Truth. I presume you didn't watch news yesterday on cp24 that even The Mayor, John Tory is aggravated by the Nathan revitalization fallacy.
TORONTO — When Mayor John Tory loked out the window of his city-hall office and saw fences being erected in the middle of the interminably construction-strewn Nathan Phillips Square this week, he thought, “What in heaven’s name?â€
Then a backhoe came in. Some time later, the concrete tiles had been removed and a big gaping hole exposed.
“I was going to stop and ask the man, ‘What are you doing here?’ Nicely, just say, ‘what’s going on?’ †the mayor said. The answer, he discovered, is that fountains installed by the city as part of its never-ending revitalization of its main civic square have broken down. So are you still optimistic? :D
 
Torbram said:
This website bulletin have always been accusing me of reposting pictures and banning me quite several times of something i never did. Maybe it's their own members who's hacking my account and using it against me because they never liked my forthright negative comments about the big projects in Toronto which i was just telling the truth. The never ending long delays and overruns costs of any projects in Toronto is so unacceptable! to the fact that this is a first class city so they want to say.
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I've never heard of you before, but you certainly are a cheery little ray of paranoid sunshine.
 
Torontovibe said:
Talk about frustrating, just last summer the fish fountain beside the aquarium was fixed, after being broken for something like 3 or 4 years. Just a few days ago, I walked by and saw that about 12 tiles have fallen off. How can you have a fountain fixed last September (and only working 2 weeks) and this soon, the tiles start falling off again? It's so god damned frustrating! If Montreal, Chicago and Moscow can keep their fountains working and looking great, why can't we?

Who are they hiring to do the repairs? Are they skilled tradesmen or homeless guys they got off Nathan Phillips Square?
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How do you know that the fountains in those cities are always working and looking great? Just because they were working when you happened to see them doesn't mean they're in working order 365 days a year.
 
Softee said:
How do you know that the fountains in those cities are always working and looking great? Just because they were working when you happened to see them doesn't mean they're in working order 365 days a year.
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Perhaps but we don't know. What we do know though is that you could see them in Toronto 365 days a year and NEVER see them working. You do the math!

This ineptitude would never happen in most major US cities. Construction crews work around the clock to repair or build public works with as little disturbance and as few cost overruns as possible. I couldn't say how many gridlocked roads that are seemingly interminably under repair I've travelled through here with not a worker in sight. Nobody seems to care. Good old Toronto apathy strikes again!
 
DSC said:
I heard from the City that the repairs to get the salmon run fountain operating last year were "cosmetic' . The 'mechanism' was fixed earlier. (Of course, it was only operating from about mid-September). They are (or were) intending to redo ALL the tiles properly this spring and in time for Pan-Am Games. (It is true that they could not have started any outdoor tiling before now but now it is heating up they had better get on with it ...)
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It was just last September that I saw 2 guys repairing the fountain. I'm pretty sure they were fixing the tiles back then. It only functioned for about 2 weeks before it was turned off again. I hope they do repair that fountain soon because it is probably the best one in the city. It's one of the few that's actually creative.
 
Softee said:
How do you know that the fountains in those cities are always working and looking great? Just because they were working when you happened to see them doesn't mean they're in working order 365 days a year.
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Well, I lived in Montreal for 10 years and I can speak from first hand knowledge, that the fountains were very well maintained and Montreal has a lot more of them. Montreal is a lot poorer than Toronto and its weather is much harsher but yet, they are able to keep the water flowing and the fountains looking good. Most of the public realm in Montreal is fairy well kept.

I've been to Chicago many times and they also keep their fountains well maintained. As for Moscow, I've never been there, so you got me on that one. All I'm going by there is Google Street-view and Youtube videos. I'm addicted to Street-view! It feeds my travel/urban addiction.

Anyway, my point is, we seem to do a pretty poor job of maintaining our fountains (as well as everything else) I don't know what the problem is but I know something is wrong. If other cities can properly maintain their fountains, why can't we maintain the sad, little collection we have here? It's not like we are Rome, Paris or London, with huge fountains all over the city. In fact, we hardly have any major fountains. I would think it would be a pretty easy job. I think apathy is the real problem here.
 
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