Toronto Berczy Park Revitalization | ?m | ?s

[DSC]

The Wellington sidewalk is being ripped up.

This is being done by Toronto Hydro who are laying new cable all along Wellington from Church to Yonge. They will be working on this all summer and at same time all other utilities will be moved so that in 2019 the City can come and rebuild the whole street with wider sidewalks, more trees, new streetcar track etc etc. When Berczy was done it had been hoped to plant trees on the south sidewalk by there are cables there, these are being relocated so the original Berczy plan will be implemented. (The street work includes work at junction of Front/Church/Wellington including wider sidewalks at Flatiron Bldg..

 

[harry_fine]

The city can't look after anything. It's a shame. So much potential here. I'm in the park three times a day. It's becoming disgusting.

The bottom of the fountain is full of algae. Why? Because most days the fountain doesn't work. It's been out three times in the last four days. Lights didn't come on at night when it started up in June until I embarrassed them on Twitter.

Flooding in the west end of the park making it un-usable. Garbage bins stink by 8 pm.

Animals coming loose...the cat on the fountain won't last long. Garbage from homeless and office workers is terrible. If it wasn't for the friends of Berczy Park cleaning it EVERY DAY it would be disgusting.

But somehow, whenever Mayor Tory wants to have an event or press conference, everything works well.

 

[condovo]

Unbelievable.

 

[pman]

Toronto just shouldn’t attempt to do fountains. The degree of complexity and maintenance is beyond us. We can still try to create decent public spaces without water features, however nice they may be. But like street trees, wide sidewalks, paving, and buried hydro wires, fountains just aren’t this city.

 

[old boy]

Toronto just shouldn’t attempt to do fountains. The degree of complexity and maintenance is beyond us. We can still try to create decent public spaces without water features, however nice they may be. But like street trees, wide sidewalks, paving, and buried hydro wires, fountains just aren’t this city.

Why should this be the default position ? It's not acceptable at all. On another note, I give great credit to those citizens who clean up after people who don't give a damn about our public spaces. Why let pigs be arbiters of anything, even in Hogtown.

 

[TheSix]

The city can't look after anything. It's a shame. So much potential here. I'm in the park three times a day. It's becoming disgusting.

The bottom of the fountain is full of algae. Why? Because most days the fountain doesn't work. It's been out three times in the last four days. Lights didn't come on at night when it started up in June until I embarrassed them on Twitter.

Flooding in the west end of the park making it un-usable. Garbage bins stink by 8 pm.

Animals coming loose...the cat on the fountain won't last long. Garbage from homeless and office workers is terrible. If it wasn't for the friends of Berczy Park cleaning it EVERY DAY it would be disgusting.

But somehow, whenever Mayor Tory wants to have an event or press conference, everything works well.

They are in the park this morning fixing everything, or so it seems.

 

[Northern Light]

A few items here.

Toronto just approved additional litter pick-up services in heavily used downtown parks, much needed and overdue.

Second there are steps one can take to address algae growth. The link that follows is not meant for large public works, but it absolutely can be done w/them.

Notably, using an additive to the water.

http://homeguides.sfgate.com/prevent-algae-garden-fountains-41269.html

Third, misuse of the park, on a limited basis can be unavoidable. Where it is a substantial problem (and not a design flaw, ie. no garbage bins/full bins) then one should lobby to have by-law enforcement spend a week there and make the City a bundle of cash. Ticket everyone who litters, doesn't pick up after a dog or willfully damages public property.

In terms for repairing the fountain, if the issue is unrelated to the water-works, then that may be a design issue or a by-law enforcement issue. If its related to the water-works then it may be a design issue, but there is also a long-standing problem that Parks tends to use in-house plumbers of which there are an acute shortage, so repairs may take several days to get to. That's not really acceptable.

It resulted in a public washroom in a park near me, not being open by mid-May, even though its supposed to be open May 1st.

There is also a long-standing issue of the schedule for seasonal staff; that doesn't affect what's going on now, but they generally work May 1st to Thanksgiving or Oct 31 in Parks.

In order to have Parks up to snuff for May 1, seasonal staff need to be hired by April 15 at the latest, and should really be scheduled to do pro-active maintenance until Nov 15th each year.

There is also a need not to create work through bad design. (washrooms that aren't heated at all, not only have their water shut down, but fixtures (faucets etc.) removed for winter.)

Maintaining low-level in-floor heating and insulating the pipes would be a better choice in my judgement, even if the washroom is closed. Better still, keep most of them open year round.

 

[AlvinofDiaspar]

Toronto just shouldn’t attempt to do fountains. The degree of complexity and maintenance is beyond us. We can still try to create decent public spaces without water features, however nice they may be. But like street trees, wide sidewalks, paving, and buried hydro wires, fountains just aren’t this city.

Avoidance isn't going to get you the public realm you want. Public pressure on the other hand will - and I see the constant attention and reporting a good sign for this park. Make that wheel squeak.

AoD

 

[tripwire]

What I find sad is the littering that happens in Toronto. The amount of garbage outlets available doesn't seem to matter as people will just throw stuff on the ground and move on. And that includes cigarette butts too.

 

[Ryan_T]

Somehow people don't associate cigarette butts as being litter.

Unless it's a grain of sand, it's a non-zero piece of litter.

 

[condovo]

The Park was busy and spotless tonight at about 9 PM. The cat has been looked after. One of the dogs has been removed for repairs.

 

[AlvinofDiaspar]

We need cameras in that park.

AoD

 

[Filip]

Is anyone surprised? Toronto is full of slobs. Easy to do when the city is the municipal equivalent of an international airport... 'Just visiting'...

Transients who don't care, everywhere.

 

[Northern Light]

Is anyone surprised? Toronto is full of slobs. Easy to do when the city is the municipal equivalent of an international airport... 'Just visiting'...

Transients who don't care, everywhere.

This is such an awful thing to say, and completely untrue.

What possesses you to have such an awful attitude toward your fellow citizens and your city?

Yes, there are problem people, and yes civic ambition could be higher (though it should be equally said it's rising).

But when you contemplate what is unquestionably the cleanest of the 5 largest cities in the North America; and the safest, describing the state of thing thus is a disservice to your neighbours and is no credit to you.

 

[Filip]

This is such an awful thing to say, and completely untrue.

What possesses you to have such an awful attitude toward your fellow citizens and your city?

Yes, there are problem people, and yes civic ambition could be higher (though it should be equally said it's rising).

But when you contemplate what is unquestionably the cleanest of the 5 largest cities in the North America; and the safest, describing the state of thing thus is a disservice to your neighbours and is no credit to you.

Have you looked around? I used to be a big time Toronto booster - then I opened my eyes.