Toronto U of T: Landscape of Landmark Quality | ?m | 1s | U of T | MVVA

Rascacielo said:
Was there a guard at the entry points? Seems stupid to delay construction indefinitely when they can just post someone to let authorized vehicles in. It's extremely unlikely that protesters will try to sneak in with the construction vehicles.
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around 6:00 pm today: so there were 2 private security cars blocking the road to the parking garage (stationed under the old bridge). Same with a private security car blocking access to kings college road from college. Not sure if construction is on going during the day
 
Rivenbourn said:
around 6:00 pm today: so there were 2 private security cars blocking the road to the parking garage (stationed under the old bridge). Same with a private security car blocking access to kings college road from college. Not sure if construction is on going during the day
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I saw the car blocking the road leading to King's College Circle from College this afternoon. I didn't see anyone posted there, but maybe the guy was just on a break. I think the underpass is the main access for construction vehicles, and maybe there's someone posted there during working hours to let them pass. If they wanted to prevent vehicular access at all hours, it would make more sense to block the roads with jersey barriers rather than cars.
 
The remaining landscaping around the garage entrance is progressing and looking good.
Encampment is ongoing- aerial shots from their instagram show that the grass isn't doing so great. U of T has cancelled or moved online many of the alumni reunion events set for the end of May, indicating no action will be taken on the encampment in the near future, if at all.
I am concerned about the large mature oak tree in the southeast area of the circle that was moved as part of the construction for the garage. It doesn't appear to be doing so well, and aroborists do not have access due to the encampment. Will be a shame if all of the expense that went into shifting and trying to preserve this tree goes to waste. It's a critical time for that tree and it needs help. I have seen U of T do wonders on ailing trees before; there was an ancient tree behind Whitney hall at back campus fields (the massive ones) that they successfully reinvigorated a number of years ago.
 
Parkdalian said:
Do we know if U of T is going to replace the lawn? I'm sure it was damaged from the encampment.
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When I was in the area a couple of days after the encampment had been dismantled, there were obvious patches on the lawn where the tents used to be, and the lawn was fenced off. I don't know if the entire lawn needs to be replaced (the rest of the lawn didn't look too bad) or if they can just remediate the patches. Perhaps @Northern Light has a better idea?

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Rascacielo said:
When I was in the area a couple of days after the encampment had been dismantled, there were obvious patches on the lawn where the tents used to be, and the lawn was fenced off. I don't know if the entire lawn needs to be replaced (the rest of the lawn didn't look too bad) or if they can just remediate the patches. Perhaps @Northern Light has a better idea?
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I'm not a grass maintenance guy, but the options are straight forward enough.

1) Try to recover the damaged areas naturally.......bit of fertilizer, water extra as needed, keep people off it for two months.

2) Same as above, but over-seed, key here for it to look good is getting identical seed to what was used for the sod.

3) Re-sod. If you can get the exact same grass from the exact same supplier so it properly colour matches, you do a partial effort, bit of a pain getting it feathered in just perfectly (same exact grade as the existing grass, but do-able). It probably wouldn't colour match this year, but would next spring.

But if doing that, you have to keep people off the new sod, and the adjacent grass (so they can grow into each other) for a minimum 2 months. Plus, you're probably going to sprinkler it in, so you may need to close most of the lawn until the watering program is done.
 
Come on...it’s not as simple as you just saying, "Go in there and throw some seeds down, and we’re all done." You have to listen to the technical briefing. That place is absolutely just a total mess from top to bottom, to front to back, to every single patch — even the topsoil is damaged, the roots are gone. It would be a foolish decision to repair it...

...and other random like streams of consciousness from our Preem.

More seriously though, that could of been much, much worse. It may smart U of T a bit, I do believe that lawn can be restored. And for what that's worth.
 
...yeah, it's look less like the gods taking their dogs out on it to relieve themselves in the waning winter season.
 
The lawn is looking lusher after all this rain:

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A monarch is spotted among the plantings:

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But … I didn’t take a photo of it, but some skateboarders were doing tricks off the new concrete around the gazebo at Hart House, and as skateboarders do, they were marking the concrete up. Not sure if U of T cares, but it seems a shame that all that work is getting damaged before it’s fully complete.

(I think skateboarding outside of skate parks is beyond stupid - and some of the skateboarders I saw looked like they were in their late 20s. What a dumb way for adults to spend their Saturday.)
 
(To me, it's always reasonable to get testy at those who get careless about their surroundings when involved in any given recreational activity. However, I will never judge any adult ((or child for that fact)) for doing the things they enjoy...even when I don't understand it or get it.)

...that said, glad to see things are recovering here.
 
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