Toronto Maple Leaf Square | 185.92m | 54s | Lanterra | KPMB

I agree with Hume's assessment... this area has huge potential but could end up a massive failure. What is needed is things to attract people even outside of game time... public art, greenery, shops, restaurants, cafes, street vendors, etc. Otherwise, why would anyone hang out in this concrete and glass jungle? Personally, with the track record of city-building in recent times, I don't think this will be Toronto's new vibrant neighbourhood.
 
Well, for anybody living in the Maple Leaf Square towers, CityPlace and the other residential developments along Bremner, this space will be their entrance into Union Station. Sure many further West will continue to use the skywalk, but in warmer months people like to stay outside and this square will remain bustling I think.

While Waterfront Toronto currently isn't planning on removing the Gardiner at the ACC (pitty that the most beautiful part of the building is rarely seen because it's blocked by the expressway), they are planning on making it a more pleasant walk across Lakeshore. Maple Leaf Square is a natural point where this will happen so I can envision Waterfront Toronto taking the steps to include the path from MLS to Queens Quay in their plans.
 
just a couple of floors left for glazing on the south tower....pic taken today posted by sammo at SSC....

3897975103_af3e3c5f18_b.jpg
 
drum118 said:
IMG_aug-14-09-0121.jpg


IMG_aug-14-09-0122.jpg
Click to expand...

Based on these two photos of Drum's, posted on August 14th, one can see that the Gardiner would not stop a Plus-15 style walkway of the type that connects the PATH from the ACC to MLS from being built under the Gardiner, connecting the PATH from MLS southwards to the 90 Harbour Street property, where the former Workers Comp/OPP HQs sits empty and surrounded by parking lots. (Note the PATH walkway connecting the ACC to MLS in the second shot, then continue the line to the left in the first shot to see that a new bridge from the MLS under the Gardiner would fit, no problem.)

Repurpose 90 Harbour/add on to it, then connect it up with a PATH bridge, and you have a weather-protected pedestrian access another block south and closer to the lake...

and you would have pedestrian access under the Gardiner that people wouldn't be whingeing about all the time.*

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*Wait a minute, people will still whinge as long as the Gardiner is there, no matter what improvements get made.
 
I hear what you're saying PE, but on the practical side, we'd have to get people all the way up, then all the way down again on the other side, and that's time consuming, and expensive

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(What about a slide from the CN Tower's SkyPod to the south side of the Gardiner. Riders could splash down in the Rees St. Quay even...)
 
/\ Good point re:cost effectiveness. Still, if Lakeshore is removed and the underside of the Gardiner naturalized, such a system might not even be needed.
 
If they naturalize Lake Shore, I hope they include a petting zoo. Why not? For the children. Won't anyone think of the children?!

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Whine vs Whinge?

Sorry for the off topic post but I've got to ask. I've see this spelling (Whinge, Whingeing) on urban toronto many times. However I've always spelt it whine and whining. Have I been spelling it wrong all along or is this some sort of localized urban toronto dialect that spells it with a g?
 
Woodbridge_Heights said:
Sorry for the off topic post but I've got to ask. I've see this spelling (Whinge, Whingeing) on urban toronto many times. However I've always spelt it whine and whining. Have I been spelling it wrong all along or is this some sort of localized urban toronto dialect that spells it with a g?
Click to expand...

I grew up in Toronto and always spelled it as "whine". I've never seen it spelled as "whinge" so I just did a search on dictionary.com. "Whinge" is a british and Australian informal word.


http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/whinge
whinge
  /ʰwɪndʒ, wɪndʒ/ Show Spelled Pronunciation [hwinj, winj] Show IPA

–verb (used without object), whinged, whing⋅ing. British and Australian Informal.
to complain; whine.
Origin:
bef. 1150; dial. (Scots, N England), earlier Scots quhynge, OE hwinsian (not recorded in ME); c. OHG winsōn (G winseln); deriv. of Gmc base of whine

Related forms:
whinger, noun

Regarding British words carried over to Canada. Some are carried over, some aren't. Like we don't call an elevator a lift and we don't call the washroom a loo.
 
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Close... but no cigar! Whinge and whine are two different words with similar but distinct meanings, and I don't use whine when I mean whinge. In regards to whinge being a British word, I believe Canadian English has at least a couple other words in it that came over from Britain!

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ganjavih said:
I agree with Hume's assessment... this area has huge potential but could end up a massive failure. What is needed is things to attract people even outside of game time... public art, greenery, shops, restaurants, cafes, street vendors, etc. Otherwise, why would anyone hang out in this concrete and glass jungle? Personally, with the track record of city-building in recent times, I don't think this will be Toronto's new vibrant neighbourhood.
Click to expand...
I usually go the other way with Hume, but in this case I have to agree as well - though I'm not sure it's actually possible. Yes, traffic is typically light right now, but with the added condos, retail, etc... the need for access will increase greatly and it can't really be done from Lakeshore, especially to the land currently north of Bremner along the tracks. Being on PATH and centrally located will help a great deal, but the logistics just won't allow pedestrian ONLY along Bremner.

I think a very wide sidewalk on the north side is the way to go, with some sort of civic appeal in terms of street furniture, trees, lighting, etc - perhaps even spanning over the road+walk to tie it together. Make sure anything else going in is planned around major pedestrian traffic along the 3 block stretch, accommodating vendors, buskers, etc and it could be quite lively.

Renderings of the Ice condos don't seem to indicate this is what they're thinking at this point, but wouldn't be too hard to include at this early stage.
 
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