Markham York University: Markham Centre Campus | 56.08m | 13s | York University | Diamond Schmitt

[canarob]

Dem curves!

 

[Midtown Urbanist]

Copying some elements from Ryerson's SLC, evidently.

 

[Luke.Wong]

Glass looks like an Apple Store.

 

[Luke.Wong]

Brampton has been pushing for a university satellite campus for years. Right now, it has to settle for a few classrooms and distance education facilities for tiny Algoma University. The old OPP Academy site (now the Flower City Community Campus) at Queen and McLaughlin is the planned site, though it's a bit too far to walk from Downtown Brampton and its GO Station and planned LRT. That might be the Peel Region site.

If Dixie Cup (Georgia-Pacific) closes, I think that might be a better location, along with the light industrial land immediately to the north; the surrounding low-density residential area could be redeveloped over time. Even better would be a downtown campus, built in the GO Transit station lands, the Old Shoe Factory building, the Dominion Skate Factory shell, and across the OBRY tracks in the light industrial (former foundary) building off of Rosedale Avenue.

Sheridan College's Brampton campus is building an improved bus loop in their site that would allow buses to directly access it from Steeles Avenue; the 511 Steeles Zum extension is planned for the fall. Not great, but definitely could be worse.

Worse like Milton's ridiculous Laurier satellite campus, to be built next to the PanAm velodrome, in the middle of nowhere, as far as you can get from Milton's GO Station and downtown core.
https://www.google.com/maps/place/M...2!3m1!1s0x882b6fa34a2371d5:0x60f4dd8775707432

Algoma University in Brampton, no?

 

[PMT]

Four general contractor firms shortlisted for construction of York University Markham Centre Campus

The evaluation team was made up of members from Procurement Services, York University Development Corporation, Campus Services and Business Operations, and Diamond and Schmitt Architects. The following four firms have been shortlisted:

1. Bird Construction Group
2. EllisDon Corporation
3. Eastern Construction Company Ltd.
4. Walsh Canada

A request for proposal will be issued to the four shortlisted GCs at the end of August; that RFP will close in October, after which York University will select the GC that will be responsible for the construction of the new York University Markham Centre Campus.

 

[Edward Skira]

Provincial funding cancelled.

Statement

Government of Ontario ensuring fiscal responsibility and accountability
October 23, 2018

Statement from the Honorable Merrilee Fullerton, Minister of Training, Colleges and Universities:

Our government committed to restore accountability and trust in Ontario's finances. This includes making difficult decisions about projects across the province. Through our government's independent commission of inquiry, we now know that Ontario faces a $15 billion deficit, about two and half times the estimate provided by the previous administration. As a result, the Ministry is no longer in the position to fund the following projects given the province's new fiscal restraints.

• Markham Campus - York University in partnership with Seneca College
• Milton Campus - Wilfred Laurier University in partnership with Conestoga College
• Brampton Campus - Ryerson University in partnership with Sheridan College

The government is committed to taking action to restore trust and accountability in the province's public finances. This measure will help make government more effective and efficient, and will ensure all spending is delivering the best value for the people of Ontario.







CONTACTS
Stephanie Rea
Minister’s Office
Stephanie.rea@ontario.ca

Tanya Blazina
Communications Branch
Tanya.blazina@ontario.ca

Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities
https://www.ontario.ca/tcu

 

[Khaloody]

This is sad. I guess we will run into the same story when Trudeau leaves and find out how much deficit we are actually in

 

[Amare]

This is sad. I guess we will run into the same story when Trudeau leaves and find out how much deficit we are actually in

Please dont tell me you're actually buying what the Conservatives are saying about the government books. It's a well known fact that there were two methods of accounting that were used, one by the previous Liberal government and one by FAO/ombudsman. Anyone with common sense would take the FAO and ombudmans's finance numbers way before trusting government finance numbers.

The Conservatives were well aware of both before they got into office, and it's a shame that the some of the general populous is buying their nonsense. Now unfortunately, many of those same people will be reaping what they sowed.

 

[2xBlue]

More details here:
https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/20...expansions-in-ontario-because-of-deficit.html

 

[p5connex]

Dug Furd was elected by the folks and the folks want their tax cut and their goddamned 'buck-a-beer',

 

[Christopher Brown]

Please dont tell me you're actually buying what the Conservatives are saying about the government books. It's a well known fact that there were two methods of accounting that were used, one by the previous Liberal government and one by FAO/ombudsman. Anyone with common sense would take the FAO and ombudmans's finance numbers way before trusting government finance numbers.

The Conservatives were well aware of both before they got into office, and it's a shame that the some of the general populous is buying their nonsense. Now unfortunately, many of those same people will be reaping what they sowed.

Whether they were aware before or after, the accumulated debt from the last government's spending spree created a fiscal mess for the Province. And in Ottawa, the same madness rules. It took Martin YEARS to begin digging us out of what was inherited and I'd respectfully suggest it's going to be déjà vu all over again here and across the Country.

 

[Filip]

Please dont tell me you're actually buying what the Conservatives are saying about the government books. It's a well known fact that there were two methods of accounting that were used, one by the previous Liberal government and one by FAO/ombudsman. Anyone with common sense would take the FAO and ombudmans's finance numbers way before trusting government finance numbers.

The Conservatives were well aware of both before they got into office, and it's a shame that the some of the general populous is buying their nonsense. Now unfortunately, many of those same people will be reaping what they sowed.

Does it matter though?

The deficit needs to be taken care of before we embark on more nice to have spending. The post secondary world is a money pit - no reason to expand campuses in other municipalities just so they can say we have a university.

 

[88drums]

Does it matter though?

The deficit needs to be taken care of before we embark on more nice to have spending. The post secondary world is a money pit - no reason to expand campuses in other municipalities just so they can say we have a university.

You say that like there aren't tangible socioeconomic community benefits to university campuses and to fostering study/employment hubs in underdeveloped suburbs.

The provincial deficit is a crisis, but, forgetting about short-term interests and election cycles for a second, it is entirely possible that the long-term economic benefits of these investments would pay for themselves and then some. We should all have seen enough knee-jerk, penny-wise-pound-foolish cancellation boondoggles in this province (Eglinton subway anyone?) to question the ultimate costs of this decision.

 

[salsa]

The post secondary world is a money pit - no reason to expand campuses in other municipalities just so they can say we have a university.

I honestly wouldn't mind if some of these frivolous satellite campuses never see the light of day. If I'm missing something then someone please let me know, because to me these satellite campuses seem to be more about giving suburban mayors something to feel good about than actual necessity. For one, York University's main campus is centrally located and has lots of undeveloped land near their newly built subway stations that should easily support all their future expansion needs for the next couple decades. I don't see much need to open up new buildings in Markham anytime soon.

At least with Ryerson there was a stronger case to be made since their downtown campus is almost fully built out, and the Brampton site was arguably the best planned campus of the three. Meanwhile the proposed Wilfrid L campus in Milton was in a greenfield location far from any transit, so I don't feel sorry for Milton at all.

Finally, I'll conclude with some cautionary points from this article:

Deborah Cowen, an associate professor of geography and urban planning at the University of Toronto, says post-secondary institutions aren’t a panacea for declining cities. “The [knowledge economy] isn’t necessarily going to get us out of these problems if we think about some of the core problems of our cities right now,” she says.

Another reason cities and towns shouldn’t rely on satellite campuses for economic revitalization: Sometimes they close. Laurentian University closed its Barrie campus in May 2017 because the school wanted full control over the programs it offered. Nipissing University closed its Muskoka campus in June 2016, citing “financial decisions.” Coates sayslow enrolment rates were a major factor in both closures. In its 2015-16 year, Laurentian Barrie had fewer than 700 students — it had hoped for 2,500 full-time students. In the same school year, Nipissing Muskoka had just 79 students; its facilities could accommodate close to 700.

Satellite campuses tend to be small: student populations average 1,000 and rarely exceed 5,000 (the University of Toronto’s Scarborough and Mississauga campuses are notable exceptions, having more than 13,000 students each). Coates argues that campuses with small student bodies aren’t sustainable over the long run. Post-secondary institutions receive funding based on how many students enrol; it’s what he calls a “bums in chairs” funding model. “Campuses with [fewer] than 3,500 students really struggle,” Coates says. Meanwhile, he argues, colleges and universities weaken themselves as institutions by scattering students over multiple locations.

https://tvo.org/article/current-aff...-satellite-campuses-to-spur-economic-recovery

 

[Amare]

Whether they were aware before or after, the accumulated debt from the last government's spending spree created a fiscal mess for the Province. And in Ottawa, the same madness rules. It took Martin YEARS to begin digging us out of what was inherited and I'd respectfully suggest it's going to be déjà vu all over again here and across the Country.

I wont argue with you that the previous government spent money unnecessarily on various things, but to use that as an excuse to start making cuts is pure BS and political-spin. Especially when they start scrapping small increases to important revenue sources (ie: beer tax) to appease 0.001% of the populous.

Does it matter though?

The deficit needs to be taken care of before we embark on more nice to have spending. The post secondary world is a money pit - no reason to expand campuses in other municipalities just so they can say we have a university.

I wouldn't describe spending on post-secondary education "a nice to have". That's unless you enjoy seeing campuses bursting at their seams like U of T St.George, and Ryerson. There are only so many people you can pack into one campus before you need to expand.

If they wont spend the money on the new campuses (something I didn't necessarily agree on with the previous government in the first place), then they need to put money into expanding existing campuses (ie: U of T Mississauga). The status quo simply cant continue.