In the @TorontoStar I write about Rail Deck Park. A beautiful dream but it was proposed in Toronto, an extremely cheap town that doesn't like to pay for nice things. That's more of barrier than last week's tribunal decision.
thestar.com/opinion/contri…
thestar.com/opinion/contri…
Also, maintenance! you just need to walk around Toronto & see the state of any park. Toronto Parks dept does a very bad job at taking care of the nice things we do have. Look what they've done to Ledbury Park in Alex's thread:
https://twitter.com/alexbozikovic/status/1393262839561957392?s=20
Something as simple as a lawn is hard here - between parks dept trucks driving thru (and police cruisers/SUVs - because police need to drive into parks rather than walk) the ruts and mud are all over.
The alternative - the developer plan that "won" last week - proposed 3500ish condo units over the rails (+ park). Saw lots of griping here about "more condos". A clusternimby coalition in low density 'hoods across city have contributed to making such an outlandish thing possible. 
Want to deck something? How about city-owned Allen Expressway thru Lawrence Heights? When I wrote about the revitalization last year, a resident I spoke with said "I'm sorry, if they can put trees on top of buildings, they can put trees across the Allen.” thelocal.to/where-the-spad…
(Councillor Howard Moscoe floated the idea way back in 2007 when the Lawrence Heights rebuild was in the planning stages toronto.com/news-story/740…)
One thing we barely began to talk about was what would Rail Deck's governance be? Same applies to the developer-built park, if that comes to be. Assume it won't just be a normal park - some kind of Dundas Sq private management? Not uncomplicated & without many issues.
Re 💩 maintenance of our parks: a txt from a friend just now: “Piles of garbage at Christie pits. Super gross. Are we that cheap of a city that we can’t empty bins after a hot weekend?”
Yes, yes we are. If we can’t take care of what we have, we have no business thinking big.
Yes, yes we are. If we can’t take care of what we have, we have no business thinking big.
Here’s young Alex looking more closely at the ORCA proposal. The close ups he pulled out in this thread - it’s a real escarpment.
https://twitter.com/alexbozikovic/status/1394434905313005572
Here’s GTA park & environmental corridor explorer/critic @hey_trev’s look at the park proposal, breaking down what he likes about the ORCA Project. (Have I missed anyone else? Will add to thread). metroscapes.ca/2021/05/14/rai…
More on this to come, but around 2007/8 Eb Zeidler (Ontario Place, Eaton Centre architect- proposed a linear park + housing for Lawrence Heights (same time as Moscoe pushed for decking Allen Expressway - see earlier in thread). Couldn’t get traction. It’s there waiting.....
The expressway runs through the middle of the Lawrence Heights neighborhood - cutting it in two and dumping pollution + noise. As I wrote last year, local residents would not mind some rail-deck action too. thelocal.to/where-the-spad…
Here's @JohnLorinc on what the failure of Rail Deck could mean - a correction in how Toronto does parks. spacing.ca/toronto/2021/0…
For a lot more on this, check out @JohnLorinc & @Spacing's 6 part investigative series PARKS IN CRISIS on park financing and expansion in Toronto. spacing.ca/toronto/2015/0…
• • •
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
