Toronto Love Park | 3m | 1s | City of Toronto | CCxA

Full Metal Junkie said:
I kinda want to start a petition to stop any more petitions from being started regarding this issue.
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I know this is in jest and good humoured, but I really feel that we need to stand up against this kind of thing. Our city and the public had a chance to input into the discussion and now one 'urban geographer' voices dissent which is published by CBC, no doubt sowing further discussion about a topic that should have already been settled. My frustration is in the bureaucracy of our otherwise great organizations, who plan and get input from experts and the public, only to get derailed by someone in the peanut gallery.

I want public discussion, I want leadership, above all, I want progress. Toronto is such a good city, but imagine how great it could be if we just got out of our own way.
 
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I am not sure why we need to make everyone happy and compromise the design of a superior future urban space with some misplaced packrat nostalgia. They can stare at other columns as necessary. Let the landscape architect do their job.

And calling it "Modern Stonehenge" is a little off-key - we don't need a reminder of the history - that reality is sitting right by the site proclaiming itself loudly through the negative impacts emanating from it.

AoD
 
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JasonParis said:
I'm with Daniel! They could fairly easily be incorporated into the park and keep (nearly) everyone happy.
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But, WHY? If anyone actually wants to look at bents, the area has lots of other bents in use and on Lake Shore East there are a dozen or so that have sat around for 2 decades after the Gardiner far-east was demolished. Bents are not exactly unique and to 'keep everyone happy" sounds like a pretty weak argument. If we always did this on UT we would have King Street as a pilot on alternate blocks or subways in unlikely places. As has been noted elsewhere here, there was lots of public consultation, a public competition which had a very good winner and the winning design is bent-less.
 
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JasonParis said:
I'm with Daniel! They could fairly easily be incorporated into the park and keep (nearly) everyone happy.
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+1. I like them! I don't like the heart pond.

AlvinofDiaspar said:
I am not sure why we need to make everyone happy and compromise the design of a superior future urban space with some misplaced packrat nostalgia. They can stare at other columns as necessary. Let the landscape architect do their job.

And calling it "Modern Stonehenge" is a little off-key - we don't need a reminder of the history - that reality is sitting right by the site proclaiming itself loudly through the negative impacts emanating from it.

AoD
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Yeah but the other bents have crap on them already and are in use. These ones already form an interesting pattern and look pretty cool, sculpture-like. Just because a landscape architect didn't design them doesn't mean they don't have value. In fact, the city could have saved a lot of money if they just kept things as is and made modest improvements without hiring this guy and holding a competition
 
I love the fact that if the City just demolished the whole ramp right away, not a single person would have ever uttered a word about these pillars. Everyone would be happy they are getting a park. No one would ever complain about a single bent being removed. But no, the City had to dangle the possibility of keeping these bents in front of the public and all of a sudden lots of people went "Let's do that instead! It's totally a valid option! This is what we wanted all along! Heritage! Yeah!!!"
 
I think they look cool and provided a great opportunity to be incorporated into a design. Still not sold on the pond, especially since there is already a pond across the street at Harbourfront.
 
Student99 said:
+1. I like them! I don't like the heart pond.
Yeah but the other bents have crap on them already and are in use. These ones already form an interesting pattern and look pretty cool, sculpture-like. Just because a landscape architect didn't design them doesn't mean they don't have value. In fact, the city could have saved a lot of money if they just kept things as is and made modest improvements without hiring this guy and holding a competition
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There is a whole series of bents on Lake Shore E that are kept as art pieces. The first time was cool - doing it again is just repetitive and unoriginal. And if the goal is about saving money, why tear the ramp down in the first place - as if the green space that was at that spot prior was really well used. Oops, if only the latter was actually true.

As to "this guy", I think I shall let the critical and popular success of Sugar Beach and Berczy Park speak for itself.

AoD
 
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DSC said:
But, WHY? If anyone actually wants to look at bents, the area has lots of other bents in use and on Lake Shore East there are a dozen or so that have sat around for 2 decades after the Gardiner far-east was demolished.
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Except there's nobody really around to really see the ones on Lake Shore.
 
Transportfan said:
Except there's nobody really around to really see the ones on Lake Shore.
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Thousands of people do drive by them every day.

It's also a busy cycling thoroughfare.

I'll grant you it's not a good pedestrian space, though it's certainly accessible to pedestrians who wish to have a good look.
 
JasonParis said:
I'm with Daniel! They could fairly easily be incorporated into the park and keep (nearly) everyone happy.
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At the risk of reopening the whole debate, my view of the bents is they are an ugly, industrial artifact. Had they been kept many visitors in the park would find their attention drawn to the noise, pollution and congestion of the expressway nearby rather than enjoy the park itself. They would harsh the mellow. As Alvin says, if you really want to see highway pillars then take 100 steps north. Good riddance... I'm glad they're gone.
 
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November 27, 2018:
The contractors seeded the park with a blueish green granular substance, which I presume is a combination of grass seed and fertilizer, but I could be wrong about that. Perhaps someone with more horticultural knowledge than I can comment on what the stuff is. They obviously won't be putting sod down at this time of year., or maybe they will, and the blue stuff is fertilizer base before sod goes down?
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