Everything costs a lot, and it's hard to know sometimes what is sensible spending. What is the cost of one street light relative to the cost of a pink umbrella? Fourteen thousand for an umbrella can seem excessive, as can the cost of a house for a couple of rocks, but at least Sugar Beach is a success, popular and well-used. Sherbourne Common is less well-used. I've never been there in winter, but I recommended the new ice-rink to a friend I sometimes skate with who lives around Sherbourne and King. She said it was tiny. Too tiny. Never bothered putting on her skates. And while that building is certainly interesting, it isn't used in the way it was intended.
I like skating at Ryerson, but the enjoyment there is impacted by students who use it for hockey. There are the glass walls of the Image Arts building beside it, but the hockey players there at least seem to have enough sense to keep the puck down. What are you going to do, who's going to enforce the rules? It's like anything else - cars in bike lanes, dogs running free in parks, bags on TTC seats - we'll put up another sign, but people will keep on pushing the limits and the rest of us will grumble about it under our breath.
The problem with building to clever designs and gorgeous renders is not just the expense, but that the spaces are often never utilized in the way they were intended, and are vulnerable to all kinds of misuse, as well as city neglect.
