Don Valley: An Urban Park?

[Second_in_pie]

^^ Yeah, that's what I was kind of talking about. I've biked through the valley a lot of times, and it really doesn't feel like it's appreciated. Neither does it scream being a nice public place to relax or hang out for a day, or even an hour or two. It seems very, very disconnected from the rest of the city. Some might consider this a good thing, but on the other hand we could keep it's wilderness feel while making it more like a really big park, like Central Park is.

 

[egotrippin]

One issue I think is accessibility. There are very few proper access points north of the Riverdale Park bridge, and the Valley is sandwiched between two busy roads in the more southerly areas. I think there is still a largely perceived dirtiness and "danger" (lots of unsavoury types hanging around) that prevent a lot of people from viewing it as an idyllic spot to go for a run, or spend time.

I'd really like to see efforts focused towards cleaning up the water and surrounding areas to make the Valley seem more appealing. Though I enjoy it now as it is, there is definitely room for improvement.

 

[DSC]

I'd really like to see efforts focused towards cleaning up the water and surrounding areas to make the Valley seem more appealing. Though I enjoy it now as it is, there is definitely room for improvement.

You might enjoy Don Watcher's blog - which, inter alia, discusses the many efforts being made by the City and the TRCA to clean up the Don. See: http://donwatcher.blogspot.com/

 

[dt_toronto_geek]

My neighbour, our dogs and I spent the day exploring the area off Glenn Road along side and north of the Don Valley Brickworks. There's a maze of trails and mud roads down there and we saw (& passed) a considerable number of trucks moving along the mud roads, I don't know what they were moving.
It's wonderful down there, I wouldn't want to see anything happen down there beyond establishing footpaths/bicycle trails and continuing efforts to promote re-naturalizing the area.
One picture only of the new stairs to the west of the Brickworks (a crappy pic.), the other photos were of our dogs swimming and gallivanting around. I should have been more cognizant of taking some good photos while there but I was having such a good time.