News   Apr 24, 2024
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Future of the Hearn Generating Station

In my view, to leave only portions of this complex would be to belittle its very nature - the sheer imposing bulk and magnificent scale of the thing ought to be retained, not shaved away willy-nilly. Sure, take down the outbuildings and technical appendages - but leave the red-bricked giant as is, and retrofit its guts. Knock some giant windows in it, even - but don't decrease its incredible mass.
 
I just thought of an idea. What if the site is re-purposed to produce power? A "power" plant as they would say.
 
I just thought of an idea. What if the site is re-purposed to produce power? A "power" plant as they would say.
Though I think you are trying to be funny, they actually thought of (and rejected) that idea a couple of years ago when they built the new gas-fired plant just east of it. Apart from the fact that the building is now really just a shell (most of the metal machinery etc has been removed and sent to China as scrap), it is also leased to a private company for many more years.
 
Ya know, it's ironic how we laughed the Ford's outa town for their mono rails and ferris wheel ideas of waterfront land use, yet we repurpose our most valuable waterfront land for power plants and airports. There are plenty of armpit areas of the city to build that shite (where there are *gasp*...existing hydro corridors and air strips located next to highways and subways too!!).
 
Ya know, it's ironic how we laughed the Ford's outa town for their mono rails and ferris wheel ideas of waterfront land use, yet we repurpose our most valuable waterfront land for power plants and airports. There are plenty of armpit areas of the city to build that shite (where there are *gasp*...existing hydro corridors and air strips located next to highways and subways too!!).

Except that the Portlands hasn't been repurposed at all - it's been an industrial area for decades now: harbour infrastructure, power generation, trucking terminals, cement plants and brownfields - all mixed in along with private marinas and public trails. In that light, that they built a new power plant alongside Hearn should be no surprise - the precedent had been established generations ago. There's also been film and television support infrasctructure down there, long before the Pinewood facility went in; that too is going to remain.

Many if not most Torontonians barely know this area exists, let alone grasp how large it is or even think of going down there to check it out. To me it's a place bursting with potential; it offers fantastic sightlines and a nice stretch of coastline fronting the lake. The area could use some manicuring and sigificant infrastructure improvements, yes - but I also expect that, for many years to come yet, there will be a curious mix of industrial and rough & tumble parkland (and, inevitably, more commercial and residential).
 
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Ya know, it's ironic how we laughed the Ford's outa town for their mono rails and ferris wheel ideas of waterfront land use, yet we repurpose our most valuable waterfront land for power plants and airports. There are plenty of armpit areas of the city to build that shite (where there are *gasp*...existing hydro corridors and air strips located next to highways and subways too!!).
Though I agree that the waterfront should be improved, the new(ish) generating station uses the lines that used to go from the Herne and it is not directly on the lake and is in an area that will remain a 'wilderness' for many years. I suspect that your 'armpit areas" are somebody else's future housing or park site.
 
Except that the Portlands hasn't been repurposed at all - it's been an industrial area for decades now: harbour infrastructure, power generation, trucking terminals, cement plants and brownfields

It is exactly in this transition period for the Portlands as the former industrial zone, that care needs to be taken for long term planning. It's easy now to waste vast parts of it because it is 1000 acres off the beaten path. But the Portlands is Toronto's big ticket, and this will look like very poor judgement in hindsight. There is little vision in this city any more. There's a reason we choose people like Ford to lead.
 
Please don't say "we." I certainly didn't choose this belligerent man-child to lead my city. In what way does Ford show leadership for the Portlands? Do tell.

And in what way is building a much-needed power plant for a thriving, rapidly growing city in an "off the beaten path" setting a waste? Please tell me that also. The Portlands is a huge place. We'd best get used to its reality as a mixed-use zone, because that's the way it's been for a long time now. Besides, I suspect your personal notions of other allegedly ideal "armpit" places in the GTA for such things as power plants would be nothing if not controversial.

About the only thing I can agree with is that there is little vision in this city. But I would go one step further and suggest to you that Rob Ford has only made matters worse. He has zero vision for Toronto. As a politician, he is a one-note wonder, a unidimensional caricature of a man. He has neither the intellect nor the will to comprehensively plan for Toronto's future. Rather than bring people together, he splits them apart. The man is only interested in saving his own blotchy red skin and mindlessly repeating his own mantra of lies and hollow homilies.

The Portlands is certainly a keystone element in terms of future opportunities, but it's not the only one. Lever-Ponds is another large area that could be an intelligent mix of work, live and play. What's needed most is an over-arching plan for the entire GTA, stewarded by someone who can think in terms of twenty and thirty year chunks rather than the relative sliver of time it takes to get re-elected or to do another bump before welcoming yet another photo opportunity.
 
The problem is that the land is poisoned. You can't build on it, and only certified people are allowed to walk on it, (with exceptions for some paved public parts - but even they are not for the faint of life). Why anyone would go near that near nuclear wasteland is beyond anyone's comprehension.
 
The problem is that the land is poisoned. You can't build on it, and only certified people are allowed to walk on it, (with exceptions for some paved public parts - but even they are not for the faint of life). Why anyone would go near that near nuclear wasteland is beyond anyone's comprehension.
Nuclear? The Hearn was coal-fired.
 
Amazing news that Luminato is utilizing this structure this summer! Hopefully a taste of things to come.
 

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