News   Dec 20, 2024
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News   Dec 20, 2024
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News   Dec 20, 2024
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Rail Deck Park (?, ?, ?)

They should build a 10-story parking garage above the park to finance it.
Call the park "Under parking rail deck park".
sorry couldn't resist...

edit: after a naming competition, the selected name will be "The Railway"
 
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Yeah, but I don't think he designs parks in the first place, was my point.
Who knows, maybe he has some discarded theatre ideas we can use?

But my larger point was, I know these things aren't cheap and obviously some of the money raised for elements of Millenium Park (e.g. the BP Bridge) was raised privately.

But Rail Deck Park is (to reiterate) smaller, 3 times the cost, with no parking garage to recoup revenue and that's BEFORE you add in "masterpiece" design elements, like an amazing theatre for the TSO or a landmark sculpture and the cost of actually acquiring or expropriating the land. So I know even the existing estimate is a bit of a ballpark thing but sounds to me like we're pushing up closer to $2B once all is said and done.
 
Until the the land titles are made clear, I find the whole discussion of minutia to be fluff. There's a massive hole in this project, and it isn't physical. I'm surprised they haven't included the escalator to Mars and the passenger fees to recoup costs.
 
While I may be able to support this project, in some form, subject to financing and other details.............

I note with dismay as I read the preliminary 2018 budget this morning that the backlog for state-of-good-repair for Parks, Forestry and Recreation is set to continue climbing in the 10 year capital plan.

Parks is grossly underfunded for SOGR capital and its backlog keeps growing.

To be fair to Mayor Tory, this problem dates back at least as far as David Miller and probably earlier.

It seems to be too easy for successive administrations to defer parks and recreating maintenance.

Though in the past, they at least made a pretense that the situation would improve over the 10 year plan, no sign of that here.
 
While I may be able to support this project, in some form, subject to financing and other details.............

I note with dismay as I read the preliminary 2018 budget this morning that the backlog for state-of-good-repair for Parks, Forestry and Recreation is set to continue climbing in the 10 year capital plan.

Parks is grossly underfunded for SOGR capital and its backlog keeps growing.

To be fair to Mayor Tory, this problem dates back at least as far as David Miller and probably earlier.

It seems to be too easy for successive administrations to defer parks and recreating maintenance.

Though in the past, they at least made a pretense that the situation would improve over the 10 year plan, no sign of that here.

They really need to move to a different (perhaps conservancy) model - even if it meant taking some of the ills it will bring.

AoD
 
Great point about SOGR. One of the reasons that the backlog is so big is that parks cannot cost effectively deliver repairs/maintenance and upgrades.
A simple bench costs 3,000$. Installing a new playground costs around 200,000$. All of the tendering, consulting, staffing, high wages and union rules drive up the costs of everything. So big question is, do you blow the bank on one big new park or do you play Even-Seven and work on fixing things throughout the system.
 

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