Future of the Hearn Generating Station

[hawc]

hawc's also blithely proposed plowing an expressway through Keel and Dundas.

This is true. Although I think the road is wide enough that we could build the expressway between those two buildings without having to demolish the historic Sub Shop and Money Mart. And go just two blocks north on Keel from there and tell me if you still think it looks as pretty.

 

[RC8]

Easy there cowboy. Where did I say I wanted to tear down the Flatiron or St. Lawrence Market? I love those two buildings. I'm saying tear down a smokestack. And possibly an ugly old industrial box of a building beside it. (And possibly Yonge Street from Bloor to the Lake)

You love them because they've been saved by people with a lot more tact than yourself.

When the area looked like this, those like you wanted to see them gone, much like the distillery district:

I would like to see the Hearn reconfigured into something useful. The sheer size of the structure will give it a massive appeal regardless of its function. I would have loved that building in the middle of Cityplace, for example - where it could be converted to so many brilliant things.

As for destroying the Junction... are you 17? The Junction is one of the neighbourhoods with the most potential in Toronto to turn into a beautiful walkable neighbourhood that attracts visitors. I love to visit even now, it has a fantastic history. I'll make a trip as soon as Indie Alehouse opens.

P.S. Your Yonge street comment shows you up as a troll. For how long have you even lived in this city? (keyword: city)

 

[hawc]

You love them because they've been saved by people with a lot more tact than yourself.

No... I love them because the St. Lawrence Market and Flat Iron building have more aesthetic beauty and historical significance than a smoke stack.

The Junction is one of the neighbourhoods with the most potential in Toronto to turn into a beautiful walkable neighbourhood that attracts visitors.

That 'potential' is starting to wear thin after decades of just kind of sitting there decaying.

Yonge street comment shows you up as a troll.

Troll = someone who disagrees with you? How convenient and dismissive.

I'm exaggerating to make a point. I don't literally want to burn Yonge Street down, and of course there are many great buildings, but everyone knows our main street from Bloor to the lake is a total mess. Case in point:

 

[bartekci]

That 'potential' is starting to wear thin after decades of just kind of sitting there decaying.

Obvious troll is obvious. A community that has seen large independent retail and community growth in the past several years is stagnant? Right.

 

[hawc]

a

A community that has seen large independent retail and community growth in the past several years is stagnant?

Is this your large independent retail and community growth?

Two blocks north of Dundas on Keel.

I've lived in the junction for years. It's not as 'cute' as you guys zipping through it in your BMWs think.

Also please keep calling me a troll if it makes you feel more secure about yourselves. I'm happy to offer the single dissenting voice on this site. It's fun watching you guys not being able to deal with it.

TROLLLLLLL.

 

[AlvinofDiaspar]

hawc:

First of all - that stretch of Yonge will be torn down - by the way of the 501 Yonge proposal. Second, here is what's directly across the street:

Gritty, yes, but it has potential.

And please, spare us your Jesus complex. Martyrdom might not be far ahead if you take this attitude as the basis of your participation.

AoD

 

[hawc]

Spare us your Jesus complex.

Hey I'm not the one calling people that don't share the exact same opinion as me trolls and worse.

That stretch of Yonge will be torn down - by the way of the 501 Yonge proposal. Gritty, yes, but it has potential.

Point taken.

 

[AlvinofDiaspar]

Definition of troll, as per Wikipedia:

In Internet slang, a troll is someone who posts inflammatory, extraneous, or off-topic messages in an online community, such as an online discussion forum, chat room, or blog, with the primary intent of provoking readers into an emotional response, or of otherwise disrupting normal on-topic discussion.

Considering a) the thread has been inactive for over a month prior to your posting and b) your use of punctuation in thereof, I think solicitation of an emotional response is exactly what you're after. Not to mention, you have already commented on the Hearn issue in a previous thread. No offense, but as Mods we do watch and follow - and we don't treat fools kindly. Consider yourself warned.

AoD

 

[hawc]

Considering a) the thread has been inactive for over a month prior to your posting and b) your use of punctuation in thereof, I think solicitation of an emotional response is exactly what you're after. As Mods we do watch and follow - and we don't treat fools kindly. Consider yourself warned.

AoD

A) Is there a rule against posting in an inactive thread?

B) I wasn't trying to solicit an emotional response - if people want to start throwing names around that's their business.

C) Thanks for calling me a fool.

Am I allowed to have an opinion that differs from the rest? If not let me know and I'll stop posting. If so, let me know exactly how I'm suppose to express that opinion and whether I should immediately apologize to anyone that calls me a "A f*cking right wing tea bagger troll." Or will that member will also be 'warned'.

 

[AlvinofDiaspar]

No emotional intent and perfectly polite, indeed, as per http://urbantoronto.ca/forum/showth...-Cityzen-2-or-4x-14s-aA)?p=579651#post579651:

Previous post:

First, the Hearn Station is absolutely fantastic and must be preserved. Its brick is beautiful and has a massive space within. The stack is a presence all of its own - it is huge and a reminder of the past.

Your post:

Hahahah, wait what?!
Now you want to preserve a smoke stack?
You're pulling my leg right?
A smoke stack.... that's a heritage building now?
The sooner that eyesore comes down the better.
You crack me up.

You have 3 days to think about this now.

AoD

 

[RC8]

a

Is this your large independent retail and community growth?

Two blocks north of Dundas on Keel.

I've lived in the junction for years. It's not as 'cute' as you guys zipping through it in your BMWs think.

Also please keep calling me a troll if it makes you feel more secure about yourselves. I'm happy to offer the single dissenting voice on this site. It's fun watching you guys not being able to deal with it.

TROLLLLLLL.

See, you are a troll because you probably know that:

1) The Junction exists as a neighbourhood on and SOUTH of Dundas for the most part, yet you try and prove a point by showing something that is in no way representative (and you know this) of what people want to save.

2) 2 Blocks North of Keele and Dundas there's no independent retail, but there's tons and tons of high quality independent retail throughout SEVENTEEN blocks east and west of Keele and Dundas. And South there are some of the best preserved and most unique areas that the city of Toronto has to offer - including possibly its most majestic schools.

I'm not surprised you'd assume everyone drives a BMW. I bike and take the TTC to the junction, usually, as I don't own a car. If you want to live in between highways there's always Mississauga.

 

[adma]

Food for thought: if north-of-the-railway on Keele is in such terminal shape, than how come a prominent urban affairs columnist in Toronto recently bought a house there?

Oh, and back to Hearn: I hate to say this because it'll make hawc gloat from the cyber-afterlife, but if it were all about aesthetics, I'm not all that hot on Hearn's smokestack--mostly because, when push comes to shove, it's a pretty utilitarian concrete 70s thing. It's got no Giles Gilbert Scott to it--or, if we want to consider contemporaries, it doesn't have the neo-CN-Tower refinement of the thing on Elizabeth next to Sick Kids. Oddly enough, even if it's technically the most "visible" element of Hearn, it's got less "presence" than the plant itself.

However, it remains a critical, punctuating part of the ensemble--and besides, utilitarian aesthetics be darned, it'd involve an awful lot of expense to get that thing down, particularly if simple implosion is out of the question. So, there's a "green economic" argument for retention, too...

 

[nfitz]

I'm exaggerating to make a point.

Isn't that the very definition of trolling though? Fishing to make a point ... a synonym would be angling to make a point, or trolling to make a point. These are all fishing terms. Remember, that troll comes from the verb "to troll", not from the mythical creature ... which was only an in-joke ... though sometimes it seems that few are in on the very obvious joke ...

... to expand a bit on what AlvinofDiaspar said.

Edit - wow, hadn't see seen that great Wikipedia article on trolling before. I'm surprised the earliest Usenet reference to it is as recently as 1992 - my recollection is that I'd seen it before that.

Though if we are going to have off-topic meta conversations ... why is a Hearn demolition thread in the Toronto Issues forum, rather than in the Projects & Construction forum, where the Waterfront: Hearn Sports Complex can be found.

 

[AlvinofDiaspar]

adma:

Actually tearing down the Hearn (or the smokestack) is a valid argument - the issue isn't the point, but how it is presented.

AoD

 

[Red October]

Oh, and back to Hearn: I hate to say this because it'll make hawc gloat from the cyber-afterlife, but if it were all about aesthetics, I'm not all that hot on Hearn's smokestack--mostly because, when push comes to shove, it's a pretty utilitarian concrete 70s thing. It's got no Giles Gilbert Scott to it--or, if we want to consider contemporaries, it doesn't have the neo-CN-Tower refinement of the thing on Elizabeth next to Sick Kids. Oddly enough, even if it's technically the most "visible" element of Hearn, it's got less "presence" than the plant itself.

However, it remains a critical, punctuating part of the ensemble--and besides, utilitarian aesthetics be darned, it'd involve an awful lot of expense to get that thing down, particularly if simple implosion is out of the question. So, there's a "green economic" argument for retention, too...

I agree. I am 100% for keeping the Hearn and transforming it into something great for future use in WT's plan.. But I would be fine with losing the smokestack for the reasons you stated.