Toronto MEC Queen Street (Mountain Equipment Coop) | 21.03m | 3s | Parallax | Sweeny &Co

salsa said:
The park people could learn a thing or two from the successful campaign for a park at Bay & Wellesley.

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The problem is,... this isn't Bay and Wellesley. The reality is,... this is Queen Street West.

Having a public park or public square at this site on Queen Street West is NOT the best of ideas - it'll be full of homeless people, druggies and reek of urine.

Look at Grange Park, an existing public park nearby (north end of John Street - east side of Beverley just north of Queen Street). Because Grange Park is so close to Queen Street West, it's a magnet for some of the negative elements of Queen Street West - homeless people,... drug dealer sell drugs at Grange Park, many drug adicts get high and wasted at Grange Park,... and when drug addicts need cash for their next fix,... they rob local stores, break into local houses and cars,... just walk around the smaller local streets near Grange Park and look all the smashed car windows.

BTW, Grange Park is being revitalized: http://grangeparktoronto.ca/

Ogden Jr Public School a few blocks northwest of this site also have similar issues with homeless tresspassers and druggies.
 
sunnyraytoronto said:
Having a public park or public square at this site on Queen Street West is NOT the best of ideas - it'll be full of homeless people, druggies and reek of urine.
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Everything old is new again! I remember that complaint about Dundas Square! People said that the homeless were going to use the fountains to bathe in! Ha ha ha, good times!
 
CDL.TO said:
Everything old is new again! I remember that complaint about Dundas Square! People said that the homeless were going to use the fountains to bathe in! Ha ha ha, good times!
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When was the last time you've been around Grange Park? Would you let your kids play at Ogden School yard?

Along Queen Street West there's already a couple of "parks" (private open spaces) at University Avenue,.... namely Osgoode Hall (northeast corner of Queen & University) and Campbell House (northwest corner of Queen & University). Notice, they both have tall iron fences and gates for a reason,... which they generally keep locked with security guards on site.
 
sunnyraytoronto said:
The problem is,... this isn't Bay and Wellesley. The reality is,... this is Queen Street West.

Having a public park or public square at this site on Queen Street West is NOT the best of ideas - it'll be full of homeless people, druggies and reek of urine.

Look at Grange Park, an existing public park nearby (north end of John Street - east side of Beverley just north of Queen Street). Because Grange Park is so close to Queen Street West, it's a magnet for some of the negative elements of Queen Street West - homeless people,... drug dealer sell drugs at Grange Park, many drug adicts get high and wasted at Grange Park,... and when drug addicts need cash for their next fix,... they rob local stores, break into local houses and cars,... just walk around the smaller local streets near Grange Park and look all the smashed car windows.

BTW, Grange Park is being revitalized: http://grangeparktoronto.ca/

Ogden Jr Public School a few blocks northwest of this site also have similar issues with homeless tresspassers and druggies.
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More deplorable, fact-free-fantasy from Sunnyray. Anything to support these garbage claims?

Strange that whenever I walk through the park - or anywhere in the area for that matter - I witness none of the above. In fact, on sunny days Grange Park is often packed with children and parents / caregivers who animate the space with loud and lively play. Moreover, what you've 'described' as 'drug dealing' has more in common with with fear-mongering, Reagan-era, 80's cop shows than reality.
 
Wow, that is quite an elaborate bizarro-world fantasy of Grange Park. Funny that I've never noticed this little slice of inner-city Detroit hidden behind the AGO.

But back on topic -- another reason to turn this lot into a park: re-alignment of Soho St, allowing for a better bike connection between Peter and Beverley. Even with the semi-recent intersection reconfiguration, it's a crappy connection for a busy cycling route. Probably never going to be fixed if MEC gets built here. Too bad.
 
sunnyraytoronto said:
When was the last time you've been around Grange Park? Would you let your kids play at Ogden School yard?

Along Queen Street West there's already a couple of "parks" (private open spaces) at University Avenue,.... namely Osgoode Hall (northeast corner of Queen & University) and Campbell House (northwest corner of Queen & University). Notice, they both have tall iron fences and gates for a reason,... which they generally keep locked with security guards on site.
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I find you tend to exaggerate posts, and there's where you lose people, even if there's some truth. I've been around grange park many times, I agree there are some homeless, but yes I'd let my kids play there.

Now on to the fence, at least around the old court house, you do realize what this was for ? It was actually to keep animals in, cows if I recall ? Its a historic fence ..
 
ProjectEnd said:
More deplorable, fact-free-fantasy from Sunnyray. Anything to support these garbage claims?

Strange that whenever I walk through the park - or anywhere in the area for that matter - I witness none of the above. In fact, on sunny days Grange Park is often packed with children and parents / caregivers who animate the space with loud and lively play. Moreover, what you've 'described' as 'drug dealing' has more in common with with fear-mongering, Reagan-era, 80's cop shows than reality.
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It's interesting its not the locals that are calling for a public square or public park at this site. That must speak volume about the problems the locals have with the existing public spaces at Grange Park and Ogden Elementary School.
 
sunnyraytoronto said:
When was the last time you've been around Grange Park? Would you let your kids play at Ogden School yard?

Along Queen Street West there's already a couple of "parks" (private open spaces) at University Avenue,.... namely Osgoode Hall (northeast corner of Queen & University) and Campbell House (northwest corner of Queen & University). Notice, they both have tall iron fences and gates for a reason,... which they generally keep locked with security guards on site.
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The fence at Osgoode (the pedestrian entrances, at least) are neither locked (I don't even know if they can be closed any more) nor guarded. Besides, if you want in, you can hop over the fence on the west side. You might want to acquaint yourself with facts before your next post.
 
taal said:
I find you tend to exaggerate posts, and there's where you lose people, even if there's some truth. I've been around grange park many times, I agree there are some homeless, but yes I'd let my kids play there.

Now on to the fence, at least around the old court house, you do realize what this was for ? It was actually to keep animals in, cows if I recall ? Its a historic fence ..
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Actually, that's not true. There was a novel at the turn of the last century that said that it was to keep cows out, but the cows were gone by the time the fence was built. There is a great exhibition about the fence in Osgoode Hall that features the book and a cute cow.
 
sunnyraytoronto said:
When was the last time you've been around Grange Park? Would you let your kids play at Ogden School yard?

Along Queen Street West there's already a couple of "parks" (private open spaces) at University Avenue,.... namely Osgoode Hall (northeast corner of Queen & University) and Campbell House (northwest corner of Queen & University). Notice, they both have tall iron fences and gates for a reason,... which they generally keep locked with security guards on site.
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I actually want to live in this badass post-apocalyptic city sunnyraytoronto describes.
 
sunnyraytoronto said:
It's interesting its not the locals that are calling for a public square or public park at this site. That must speak volume about the problems the locals have with the existing public spaces at Grange Park and Ogden Elementary School.
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Neither am I. I just find it interesting that you feel the need to pad your post with baseless, nonsense, Helen Lovejoy-esque hyperbole about the terrible state of affairs in this part of town.
 
ProjectEnd said:
Neither am I. I just find it interesting that you feel the need to pad your post with baseless, nonsense, Helen Lovejoy-esque hyperbole about the terrible state of affairs in this part of town.
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Seriously???

Go through all my posts,.... they tend to be on the long side. If I wanted to pad my post count I'd be posting meaningless one liners like most other posters.
 
AndreaPalladio said:
The fence at Osgoode (the pedestrian entrances, at least) are neither locked (I don't even know if they can be closed any more) nor guarded. Besides, if you want in, you can hop over the fence on the west side. You might want to acquaint yourself with facts before your next post.
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Osgoode Hall certainly isn't Fort Knox,.... easy to physically penetrate barriers. Security guards on site,... not at gates like Buckingham Palace,...

Walk along the west side fence of Osgoode Hall (eastside of University Ave north of Queen Street West) at night and you'll see numerous groups each of about 5 homeless people sleeping along at each group of park benches on the city sidewalk. It's like walking by one campsite after another,... Why are they on city benches on city sidewalk,... wouldn't they be more comfortable on the benches or nice green lawn of Osgoode Hall "park",... problem is, Osgoode Hall security guards would most certainly charge them with tresspassing.


Now if you think there should be a public square or park at this site, then petition the local councillor for it. At best, if this proposal requires zoning changes there might be a little parkette created by an alignment of the offset intersection. Anyone thinking this private lot worth tens of millions of dollars would be donated and magically become a public park is dreaming more than the Grange Park druggies,.... but then again, I'd love to be a fly on the wall when that proposal is presented to the local councillor.
 
I have already stated that MEC needs no zoning amendments to go ahead, nothing that will require community consultations.

I have also already stated that there will be a 6-metre-wide boulevard along the east side of the site bordering Soho Street. Something public will be put in place there, but we don't know what yet. Not sure if cash-in-lieu for parkland funds will be used to improve it. That you can call Joe Cressy's office about.

Anything else is a waste of people's time. MEC is going ahead with a store here and are just lining up everything they need for their permits.

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