Toronto Berczy Park Revitalization | ?m | ?s

Torontovibe said:
Why was this not a consideration? This city always seems to mess up on the small details. The waste bins should be put in an attractive shed or covered in some way. After spending all this money, you would think that the aesthetics of this park would be a priority!
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Of course the aesthetics were a priority for the Berczy project group, the designers, the Councillor and the Parks staff BUT the City (under Ford) moved parks garbage collection to Solid Waste Management and they have 'standards' and these are what they are! They want to be able to pick up bins from the street (if possible) using their standard trucks. The battle is certainly not over and it applies to many parks and public spaces. Write YOUR councillor, the mayor and ???
 
DSC said:
Of course the aesthetics were a priority for the Berczy project group, the designers, the Councillor and the Parks staff BUT the City (under Ford) moved parks garbage collection to Solid Waste Management and they have 'standards' and these are what they are! They want to be able to pick up bins from the street (if possible) using their standard trucks. The battle is certainly not over and it applies to many parks and public spaces. Write YOUR councillor, the mayor and ???
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I have already called Pam McConnell's office about it.
 
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This whole thing so uncharacteristically ambitious for Toronto and it's almost European. I hope it'll be well maintained going forward as it has the potential to help fill the vast tourist attraction void downtown.
 
Avenue said:
This whole thing so uncharacteristically ambitious for Toronto and it's almost European. I hope it'll be well maintained going forward as it has the potential to help fill the vast tourist attraction void downtown.
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Yes, maintenance is crucial and Toronto's record in keeping fountains (or for that matter, parks) in good order is not great. I suspect it's one of those budgets that is quietly shaved, over and over again, whenever council needs to show its Respect for Taxpayers. Those of us who love the good stuff, like Berczy, should be vigilant to ensure that, for example, when the fountain plumbing gets a little clogged sometime down the road, it isn't dealt with by shutting it down and leaving it to rust like the one at University and Queen that was recently resuscitated at great expense. Immediately south of that intersection, by the way, is a fountain of great historical significance—honouring Sir Adam Beck, who helped to make Toronto an industrial powerhouse with relatively cheap energy in the form of electricity generated by Niagara Falls. The Beck monument has a little fountain sluiceway as a reminder. It's decades since the sluiceway carried anything other than rainwater. When the pipes got gummed, nobody at City Hall was willing to spend a few bucks to ungum them.
 
Longview said:
Yes, maintenance is crucial and Toronto's record in keeping fountains (or for that matter, parks) in good order is not great. I suspect it's one of those budgets that is quietly shaved, over and over again, whenever council needs to show its Respect for Taxpayers. Those of us who love the good stuff, like Berczy, should be vigilant to ensure that, for example, when the fountain plumbing gets a little clogged sometime down the road, it isn't dealt with by shutting it down and leaving it to rust like the one at University and Queen that was recently resuscitated at great expense. Immediately south of that intersection, by the way, is a fountain of great historical significance—honouring Sir Adam Beck, who helped to make Toronto an industrial powerhouse with relatively cheap energy in the form of electricity generated by Niagara Falls. The Beck monument has a little fountain sluiceway as a reminder. It's decades since the sluiceway carried anything other than rainwater. When the pipes got gummed, nobody at City Hall was willing to spend a few bucks to ungum them.
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Though I know Wikipedia is not always correct, it states "From Beck's feet, it gently slopes to ground level with a central channel that allows rainwater to cascade down into a basin, symbolizing the many Ontario waterways dammed to generate electricity.". The only reference I can find to it EVER having 'real water' is a comment to a UT item from about 6 years ago, written by you!

The description of the memorial (Globe 27 June 1929) states that the stream is 'sculptured".

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Having a real stream might be a nice idea but it seems to be fantasy
 

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@DSC, here's a suggestion. Tear yourself away from your screen, get yourself over to Queen and University, and take a look at the monument in question. It was designed so that water would emerge from underneath the statue of Beck. There is no catchbasin or other means of directing rainwater in there. In other words, the water that once emerged from under the statue was pumped there, as one does with fountains.
To the point of my remarks above, and Avenue's comment, are you defending the city's record of building and maintaining fountains?
 
Here are photos of the Adam Beck memorial in 1934 and 1972. Putting aside what the original design intent might or might not have been, was there ever water in the channel other than rainwater?

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At least for Berczy Park, this thread is a visual record that, yes, it is a fountain, and there will be no doubt 90 years from now. :)
 

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Longview said:
@DSC, here's a suggestion. Tear yourself away from your screen, get yourself over to Queen and University, and take a look at the monument in question. It was designed so that water would emerge from underneath the statue of Beck. There is no catchbasin or other means of directing rainwater in there. In other words, the water that once emerged from under the statue was pumped there, as one does with fountains.
To the point of my remarks above, and Avenue's comment, are you defending the city's record of building and maintaining fountains?
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Actually I have looked at the Beck Memorial - though not for a few months - and it was NOT clear to me that it ever had running water - as I say above I am not sure but there are fairly definitive documents that say it did not. The Daily Star of September 1 1934 reported at some length on the unveiling and no mention is made of a 'water feature'. You offer no evidence to your view and, to me, a 'sculptured rushing stream" means it is sculptured not real. (If you look at the photo on previous page you can see the 'channel' quite clearly and IF it ever had water running in it where did it go to? Fountains recycle water and this channel just send the water onto the surrounding earth.

I would have been surprised if rainwater would have been 'directed' there, my assumption was (and is) that it was to collect natural rain, falling from the sky. If you have an real evidence it was once a 'fountain' I will gladly change my opinion.

I am certainly not defending the City's dreadful record about fountain maintenance, if you were here more you would know that I am a frequent complainer about the City's fountains.
 
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DSC said:
Actually I have looked at the Beck Memorial - though not for a few months - and it was NOT clear to me that it ever had running water - as I say above I am not sure but there are fairly definitive documents that say it did not. The Daily Star of September 1 1934 reported at some length on the unveiling and no mention is made of a 'water feature'. You offer no evidence to your view and, to me, a 'sculptured rushing stream" means it is sculptured not real. (If you look at the photo on previous page you can see the 'channel' quite clearly and IF it ever had water running in it where did it go to? Fountains recycle water and this channel just send the water onto the surrounding earth.

I would have been surprised if rainwater would have been 'directed' there, my assumption was (and is) that it was to collect natural rain, falling from the sky. If you have an real evidence it was once a 'fountain' I will gladly change my opinion.

I am certainly not defending the City's dreadful record about fountain maintenance, if you were here more you would know that I am a frequent complainer about the City's fountains.
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I am here quite often. Forgive me if I have not committed your complaints to memory. But thanks for returning to my original point, which was that we who care about the Berczy fountain, and others, need to raise our voices from time to time. I gather we can agree on that much.
 
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