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, some folks here really love shooting the messenger,... shoot all you want but that doesn't solve the problem!
You go there on sunny days,... but would you actually go to Grange Park at in the evening or at night?
Hmmm,.... who could I get to support my "garbage claim" that Grange Park is a haven for criminal activity,.... how about some of the local cops?
'Tiny parks like New Glasgow Parkette behind Chinatown and
larger “small†parks, like Grange Park behind the Ontario College of Art and Design, keep downtown cops busy with drug activity, liquor law infractions and park sleepers.'
'“It’s off the beaten path. It’s not in the middle of the road. It’s easier to hide,†Toronto police Const. Eon MacFarlane says of downtown parks he patrols on bike.'
'“I guess it’s somewhat of a breeding ground (for crime) because it is out of the way and it’s a place for undesirable activity to happen. But I don’t think any parks are void of this.â€'
'In addition to being hidden, “the lighting might be out or something, or during the summer, the shrubs might not be cut back as far as we would like,†says Staff Sgt. Frank Besenthal.
“They’ll go to the park at night and they’ll consume whatever they have, whether it’s drugs, whether it’s liquor and sometimes, you find the empty aerosol spray cans. … There’s intravenous drug use. There is also prostitution. There’s noise.â€'
'For some parks, the problems go on 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
“But it gets worse at night time because it’s under the cover of darkness,†Besenthal says.'
http://metronews.ca/news/toronto/65882/parks-often-a-criminals-playground/
Grange Park proximity to negative elements from Queen Street West, Entertainment District, OCAD, etc,... makes it a troublespot for crime. In addition the design of Grange Park makes it more problematic for regular police patrol in that it's blocked off from the north by AGO, blocked off from east by OCAD, blocked off in the south by University Settlement and appartment building, and from the west there's a line of fence along Beverley - this limit access points to Grange Park and makes it easy for criminals to keep an eye on access points for cops.
Part of the problem with Grange Park is it's current design,... now there's an opportunity to redesign the park so it's more functional and safer!
http://grangeparktoronto.ca/
Now, if there's a public space to be built at the north-west corner of Queen Street West and Soho,.... it probably won't be a crime troublespot like Grange Park in that it's along a high traffic artery like Queen Street West,... don't even get me started on Trinity Bellwood Park ;p Anyways, any public space at this location would have to be well designed to be functional and safe with good urban design streetscape principles.
BTW, 6m boulevard on Soho won't be anywhere close to enough to correct the offset intersection of Peter-Soho at Queen.
