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Parc Downsview Park

7 May 2009 photo update

I drove by this site on Keele Street yesterday, here's a few photos I took of the earth being moved around this waste of space:

dsc00203xqy.jpg


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This truly is a spectacular waste of space. Almost a decade after plans were announced and there is nothing there. There are barely any trees on the site. At least on the Keele side there is green grass. The east side close to Downsview station is a dirty and disgusting wasteland. People bought condos at Allen & Sheppard with advertising saying they'd be close to a 'park'.

This isn't even close to a park. The park may not be there for another 100 years at this rate. :(
 
lead82 said:
This isn't even close to a park. The park may not be there for another 100 years at this rate. :(
Click to expand...

I guess it depends on your definition of 'park'.

They have previously bragged about Downsview being Canada's 'First Urban Park'. That at least implies it isn't a park in the same vein as High Park.

I'm not claiming to know what the definition of an 'urban park' is though given that it is not the first park in an urban environment. Perhaps they mean the first National Park that is in an urban environment.
 
I've been waiting for someone to do a proper magazine article on "Downsview Park: Waterfront of the North."

Only along the lake have we seen so many grand announcements with so little transpiring in reality.

What's crazier - Tree City or the Olympic Village on the portlands?

That aerial shot really puts into perspective what a wasteland it is. Can anyone properly sum up what's actually going on across the entirety of the site? I typically drive by the Allen Road side and wonder what the heck the deal is with the thousands of cars (en route to dealers, I presume?) parked there.

I'd love to see a graphic showing how it's all divided between Bombardier and other private interests as well as the actual park...
 
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TJ O'Pootertoot said:
That aerial shot really puts into perspective what a wasteland it is. Can anyone properly sum up what's actually going on across the entirety of the site? I typically drive by the Allen Road side and wonder what the heck the deal is with the thousands of cars (en route to dealers, I presume?) parked there.
Click to expand...

Cars were removed from their runway storage a month or so ago. No idea where they've gone to since I doubt Chrysler was suddenly able to sell them all.

Might find more information about the park layout on their website, such as:

http://www.pdp.ca/en/corporate/faq/overview.cfm

Don't see a nice, neat map graphic though.
 
When is the CityPlace park due to be completed?
 
The Feds don't care about Toronto, so expect them to take their sweet effin' time with this.
 
lead82 said:
When is the CityPlace park due to be completed?
Click to expand...

Before 75 members with 3 posts each complain about how the more senior forum members are 'bullying' them around...

Is it really too much to ask that questions regarding projects be asked in their own thread? It seems to me that this sort of mis-posting just weighs down the site and makes more work for the moderators. Remember November 08? Want another 2+ weeks sans UT?
 
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the people who will truly enjoy this park will be the ones that visit it in 100 years or so, hopefully, at the rate this thing is going, it seems like the date can be pushed further ahead into the future.
 
I have to admit, I have more or less given up on this site. It seems to me that most of the things the Feds touch in Toronto get really completely screwed up and this is one of them.

And even if this park is gorgeous (hopefully, someday) it strikes me that it would need an awful lot of development nearby to make it useful to a lot of people. I'm not sure where this would happen (Keele?).

It's not that I don't want it to go ahead, but it's been so long that I have little hope for much on this site.
 
Agreed, Archivist. Most of it is surrounded by dreary industrial parks, so until those are transformed into dense residential neighbourhoods the park will remain woefully underused, even if it were complete. This is no High Park II.
 
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