Toronto Grange Park | ?m | ?s

[Northern Light]

Pleased see to see that they added garbage bins next to the fancy but insufficient receptacles. And they are simply wire mesh kind that work well.

I'm in utter shock that the 'augment' bins are sensible'ish. It will take years to get rid of all the Waste Management imposed ugly bins from other parks...........sigh

The park is very well used. Also of note about the benches, the metal arm in the middle makes it hard for three people to share a bench (is this an anti-sleeping thing?

Haven't spoken to the designers, but yes, that would be a common choice to make for that purpose.

 

[Edward Skira]

Splash pad status as explained by the AGO summer camp my son is attending:

The interactive water feature in Grange Park will not be operational tomorrow. The AGO and the City are working together to regulate issues with its filtration. This is not uncommon with new construction and we hope to re-open the interactive water feature in the near future.

 

[Tuscani01]

Also of note about the benches, the metal arm in the middle makes it hard for three people to share a bench (is this an anti-sleeping thing?) Not all the benches are like this. They are nice benches except for that, and the plantings around them are beautiful.

Haven't spoken to the designers, but yes, that would be a common choice to make for that purpose.

The benches have the metal arms to allow for people to push themselves to an upright position. There are different configurations to allow for a variety of users. Some of the benches even have no hand rails on the end, and an extended concrete pad to allow for a wheelchair user to sit next to a friend without a metal bar separating the two. These specifications were something that came out of meetings with the community.

 

[interchange42]

From last weekend, and this one:

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[Torontovibe]

It looked like an accident waiting to happenHas anybody seen the new drinking fountains in Grange Park? I was there today and I saw a number of people try to drink from them with unfortunate results. One child after the other was having a hard time positioning their mouths under the flow of water, with most of the water going all over their clothes. A number of adults turned on the water but on second thought, decided to take a pass. I was really thirsty, so I used my hand as a cup, to drink the water but of course, the water got all over my cloths. I was not happy! I want the drinking fountains changed immediately!

I realize the new drinking fountains are meant to be for people who have water bottles but since it's mostly people who are there to exercise (cyclists & joggers) who carry bottles around with them, it means that probably 90% of people in the park are not being accommodated. I should not have to buy a water bottle and carry it around with me to get a drink of water! In the new eastern Ontario Place Park, they included drinking fountains where you had the option of the water flowing from above to fill bottles but also the traditional drinking fountain with water rising up from a spout, so people without bottles can drink too. Why are most of our new parks getting the bottle fillers and not the regular ones? Berczy park also has the bottle filler type and I plan to get that changed.

I do not want to have to carry around a plastic bottle just to get a drink of water from a public drinking fountain!

Also, I noticed 3 or 4 young kids playing inside that water basin and if one of them had slipped, they could have fallen head first onto the pavement. It looked like an accident waiting to happen, to me.

 

[Johnny Au]

Also, I noticed 3 or 4 young kids playing inside that water basin and if one of them had slipped, they could have fallen head first onto the pavement. It looked like an accident waiting to happen, to me.

There should be more rubber padding around. The city would be hit with a hefty lawsuit if a child's skull were to crack. Note that even adults could slip and fall there and it would hurt even more according to the square-cube law!

 

[interchange42]

If there were kids playing inside that bowl (from which the water spouts out as pictured above), and they fell out and cracked their skulls, it would be a snapshot of Darwin's Law of Evolution by Natural Selection at work. You cannot pad everything with rubber, and that is clearly not a place to jump into and play.

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[NBGtect]

I wish that these new and beautiful parks had black wrought iron fences installed and only people deemed worthy of giving a sh*t about beautiful new parks, trees, plants, play equipment, and public furniture were given access. And if someone claims that smokers who flick their butts, gum chewers who spit out their gum on the pavement, dog walkers who don't clean up after their pet and/or let their pet urinate over everything, graffiti 'artists' who tag everything with a surface (that's you Forte!), and skateboarders who have to destroy anything nice...are human beings with rights to the new Park...then don't complain about it when things get destroyed. Berczy Park and Sugar Beach are littered with butts from the nearby office workers who should be ashamed...but they aren't.

It's not just a City of Toronto Parks and Recreation problem, it's all of our problem. And there is a large majority of people who do not clean up after themselves and feel it's other people's duty to clean up after them.

 

[Torontovibe]

If there were kids playing inside that bowl (from which the water spouts out as pictured above), and they fell out and cracked their skulls, it would be a snapshot of Darwin's Law of Evolution by Natural Selection at work. You cannot pad everything with rubber, and that is clearly not a place to jump into and play.

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Some of the parents were right there encouraging it.

 

[skycandy]

Thoroughly impressed! Some lovely touches (including along the main walkway northwards)...

 

[condovo]

Wow. Looks amazing.

 

[interchange42]

Some of the parents were right there encouraging it.

The parents are a part of the Darwinian equation, something that's out of the kids' control. Hopefully evolution, providence, and the stars line up in the kids' favour.

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[junctionist]

The armrests on the benches seem unfortunate. They put so much design effort apparently just so homeless people don't sleep on the benches. Even if you sit down and want an armrest for your arms, there are only armrests in the middle of the bench. Shouldn't there be armrests on both sides of the seat for the user's comfort?

Sometimes, regular folks want to lay down and kick it for a few minutes without lying on the grass. You might want to sit right next to your significant other, without an armrest in the way. Too much emphasis was put on preventing homeless people from sleeping on the benches in the design process, resulting in benches that are less useful to everyone.

 

[old boy]

Skateboarders would like them gone as well.

 

[AlvinofDiaspar]

Speaking of inappropriate use of the fountain - action shot from Gil Meslin:

https://twitter.com/g_meslin/status/891829008370982916

Normally I enjoy kids having a good time with water, but this installation clearly isn't designed for kids to climb into it. Honestly, where are the parents in this (other than being the facilitator of inappropriate behaviour)? Any bets when they will put up a sign?

AoD