King-Spadina East Park

[PinkLucy]

Why? The only thing being discussed right now is acquiring property. But feel free to contact the councillor and let him know that now is not the time to be proactive. Just don't complain if later the land either gets sold off to developers or becomes too expensive to purchase because the city failed to act sooner.

Why? Because Mouth of the Creek was supposed to have been finished before Cressy was even elected but it's sitting with nothing being done -- and yes, I'm sure there are a lot of good reasons. So great, he's proactive and gets another piece of land that sits unfinished for years. And yes, I've spoken to him about it.

 

[AlvinofDiaspar]

Why? Because Mouth of the Creek was supposed to have been finished before Cressy was even elected but it's sitting with nothing being done -- and yes, I'm sure there are a lot of good reasons. So great, he's proactive and gets another piece of land that sits unfinished for years. And yes, I've spoken to him about it.

Let's not even get Pecaut Square into the discussion - it's city property at that. Plus Alexandra Park is going to see significant new green space.

AoD

 

[muller877]

Definitely the Spadina/Richmond lot.

This statement may be unproductive, but... looks like the local condo dogs are getting a new pee pad

Here's to hoping they don't go with a design that over-programs the park into oblivion.

I certainly hope not just grass. This area needs outdoor space that allows people to congregate. Not another area littered with animal feces that you don't want to step in.

It is a small area so it actually needs a good design to allow for several uses. It is not big enough to allow for any of these uses to be a large litter box.

 

[TCW]

400 Front or 415 King + 57 Spadina... maybe all three, one can dream right?

 

[drum118]

I am wondering why this thread is in this group when it has nothing to do with transit/transportation at all.

Shouldn't this be in another group??? It can't be buildings.

 

[Edward Skira]

I am wondering why this thread is in this group when it has nothing to do with transit/transportation at all.

Shouldn't this be in another group??? It can't be buildings.

Section is called 'Transportation and Infrastructure'.

 

[MetroMan]

It has to be this on Adelaide/Spadina. It's all parking lot and crumbling low rises. It's a pretty big lot when all assembled and can include the rarely used alleyway-like Oxley St.

 

[Edward Skira]

A developer just bought that lot for a pretty penny. Does the city have 20+ million to buy it?

http://urbantoronto.ca/forum/threads/101-spadina-avenue-s.25556/

 

[AlvinofDiaspar]

A developer just bought that lot for a pretty penny. Does the city have 20+ million to buy it?

http://urbantoronto.ca/forum/threads/101-spadina-avenue-s.25556/

They have enough bucks in the fund (I think it's multi hundred million at this point) - whether council will approve without it turning into a downtown vs suburbs debate is another, plus there are ongoing challenges with maintenance post-build. See the article by John Lorinc:

http://spacing.ca/toronto/2015/04/13/parks-in-crisis-part-1-all-built-up-and-no-place-to-go/

See Part 4 as to why College Park is going to be a massacre - and you got the city to thank for it.

AoD

 

[ADRM]

At risk of not anticipating that the answer will just be "because this is Toronto city politics", what on earth is the city currently doing with the $200M+ reserve fund? Is there a dispersal strategy? An investment strategy? Is it just sitting in a city bank account earning interest? Can some of those funds not be dedicated to addressing the awful state of disrepair that fully most of our existing parks are in?

Even some recently constructed public parks are already crumbling - Cityplace/Canoe Landing, right in JC's own ward, immediately comes to mind, to say nothing of the impressive litany of otherwise neglected parks and parkettes right across the city.

To my eye, that should be a key priority alongside, rather than instead of, the acquisition of new park-dedicated land and the construction of destination public spaces (parkland and other).

To this specifically, I hope we wind up with a space larger than the footprint of that on which the LCBO currently sits, but I can't envision how that might be assembled. I wonder of Cressy would be willing to share further details off the record at his constit hours...

 

[rbt]

At risk of not anticipating that the answer will just be "because this is Toronto city politics", what on earth is the city currently doing with the $200M+ reserve fund? Is there a dispersal strategy? An investment strategy? Is it just sitting in a city bank account earning interest? Can some of those funds not be dedicated to addressing the awful state of disrepair that fully most of our existing parks are in?

More often than not government reserve funds (including pension funds, etc.) purchase debt bonds from the same government at market interest rates.

My guess would be the Toronto reserve fund is earning about a 4% to 5.5% coupon rate (yield on the original value of the long-term bonds).

 

[k10ery]

More often than not government reserve funds (including pension funds, etc.) purchase debt bonds from the same government at market interest rates.

... which of course is exactly what they should be doing

 

[MetroMan]

I know that St. Andrew's Playground (1 block west of Spadina on Adelaide) is slated to be expanded into the parking lot there but I can't see this being it. It sounds like it's brand new park, not an expansion.

Cressy does talk about the YMCA, which is going in that city owned building north of this park.

 

[MetroMan]

It really has to be Adelaide & Spadina. The Richmond & Spadina scenario includes a pretty substantial office building that would have to be demolished and that's really Queen and Spadina at that point. Anywhere south of King is too close to Clarence Square and would just be an extension of that park.

If they're being literal about King and Spadina, then another possibility is the Allied owned lot surrounding the recently restored Global Backpackers Hostel. It would be more of a parkette but the lot facing Spadina is a nice width, with access to the Quantum Cafe patio on King St.

I think Adelaide and Spadina is the only scenario that makes sense. It's a parking lot and soon to be demolished buildings, is the right size and is close enough to King Street without being too close to Clarence Square, serving the cluster of new condos surrounding it. Perhaps the rush to do this soon has to do with preventing the new owner of the Adelaide lot from advancing condo plans to the point where it would get too expensive to buy it out. Right now, it's just land, not a development proposal or sold condo units.

 

[Tuscani01]

Even some recently constructed public parks are already crumbling - Cityplace/Canoe Landing, right in JC's own ward, immediately comes to mind, to say nothing of the impressive litany of otherwise neglected parks and parkettes right across the city.

Part of that fund is actually being dedicated to Canoe Landing. The entire park is set to get a makeover to make it more usable for the community. There have been a few meetings for the improvements already. Mind you, these changes have been on the drawing board for years now. Funding for the dog park for example was available back when Adam Vaughan was still councilor.