adma
Superstar
How about a NASCAR track?
Okay, maybe a greyhound track. Greyhound racing's long overdue for hipness
Okay, maybe a greyhound track. Greyhound racing's long overdue for hipness
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Tuscani01
Senior Member
It wont get any street racers off the street... as the street is an essential part of street racing. Its the thrill of racing through live traffic that feeds street racers.
Plus, tracks are where the cops hang out to catch people who have done illegal mods to their cars. Street racers avoid them.
cruzin4u
Senior Member
^^^
Exactly.
Reminds me of when Darknights was held at the Markham Fairgrounds. Cops setup shop on the 404 ramps and charged everyone leaving the event.
Like you said, even with a race strip there will still be those people that will street race. And those people are typically teenagers who have borrowed daddy's "fast car" for a little joyride.
Exactly.
Reminds me of when Darknights was held at the Markham Fairgrounds. Cops setup shop on the 404 ramps and charged everyone leaving the event.
Like you said, even with a race strip there will still be those people that will street race. And those people are typically teenagers who have borrowed daddy's "fast car" for a little joyride.
junctionist
Senior Member
It would get some racers off the street, but it wouldn't completely solve the problem. However, it would be terrific to have access to the strip at Downsview.
Prometheus The Supremo
►Member №41+⅜◄
Member Bio
- Joined
- Apr 23, 2007
- Messages
- 4,107
- Reaction score
- 5
- Location
- a strange reality, bizarro toronto
remember that simpsons episode where they're at some nature reserve and when they look behind the bushes there's a racetrack?
borgo100
Active Member
thats the one where Mod dies
Sir Novelty Fashion
Senior Member
Attachments
Prometheus The Supremo
►Member №41+⅜◄
Member Bio
- Joined
- Apr 23, 2007
- Messages
- 4,107
- Reaction score
- 5
- Location
- a strange reality, bizarro toronto
Sir Novelty Fashion
Senior Member
Prometheus wins the thread!
Roundabout
Senior Member
Downsview Area Secondary Plan Review
http://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/mmis/2008/ny/bgrd/backgroundfile-11457.pdf
http://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/mmis/2008/ny/bgrd/backgroundfile-11457.pdf
rdaner
Senior Member
GM 3 May 2008
DOWNSVIEW: THE LONG ROAD TO URBAN PARKLAND
A new blueprint; an old debate
After 16 years, stakeholders still can't agree on how best to use the former military site
JENNIFER LEWINGTON
CITY HALL BUREAU CHIEF
May 3, 2008
There are many blueprints for Downsview Park, the national urban park promised 16 years ago by the federal government.
But the one that matters most does not exist yet.
Earlier this week, Toronto city council backed plans to draft a new blueprint, with Downsview paying the bill, to bring the former military base to life.
Unchanged, though, is the controversy that has swirled since the federal government handed over the former base in 1994 as a "unique urban recreational green space."
Some area residents want all green space for the 644-acre site, but Downsview officials say they need 20 per cent for housing and commercial use to fund the park.
"The community has been waiting over a dozen years, and is very concerned and worried about what is going to happen in their backyard," says Councillor Maria Augimeri (Ward 9, York Centre).
At council this week, there was no debate on a housekeeping measure to start work on a new blueprint. But make no mistake: A big fight looms over the balance between green space and development.
"We want to work with stakeholders to develop the magic of the park together," says Downsview chairman David Soknacki. "Here we have an opportunity to build over 300 acres of parkland in the middle of the city."
But to pay for the park, Downsview has to generate its own income. Officials expect to raise revenue from the sale or lease up to 212 acres for new homes, high-rises and retail spaces, compared with 365 acres of park.
"It is absolutely essential for Downsview to develop the infrastructure to create the park," Mr. Soknacki says.
But he stresses the design of the park, which includes the lands of the Department of National Defence and Bombardier, is not set in stone. Even a 2007 Downsview report identifying new residential areas dotted around the park is negotiable.
"They're in pen and ink; they can be drawn elsewhere, rubbed out and changed," Mr. Soknacki says. "What's fixed is the principle [that development pays for park improvement]."
Those are fighting words to residents and local councillors.
"Our stand is that it should be 100-per-cent park," says Thomas Ricci, president of the Downsview Park Community Lands Association. "If they want to talk about development, let's talk about anything other than residential, commercial and industrial."
Mr. Ricci is leery of more talk. "You are asking for consultation, but you are really asking for approval," he says of the Downsview board. "We are not going to give you approval."
Some councillors are frustrated over the park's slow evolution, but credit the former city budget chief for removing political logjams since he was named park chairman by the federal Tories last year.
Under Mr. Soknacki, the agency is no longer at war with the city, and has agreed to pay $800,000 for a new secondary plan to replace an outdated version from 1999.
"This is the document that matters," says Mr. Soknacki, with the proposed location of green space, employment, recreation and residential housing units the subject of future consultations with the city, the TTC and the public.
The need to update is clear.
Where the TTC now plans to build a stop on Sheppard Avenue West for the Spadina subway extension to York University, the 1999 plan envisioned parkland and the 2007 Downsview proposal cited several thousand housing units.
"It's a clean slate in the sense that we are willing to look at a wide range of options based on the way the world has changed," Mr. Soknacki says.
Ms. Augimeri is unmoved.
"It would be a travesty to sell publicly owned parkland," she says. Citing the 1970s federal gift of waterfront lands that led to high-rise condos, she asks, "Is this another Harbourfront? I don't trust the process the feds have put in place."
Downsview by numbers
644
The size in acres (260.6 hectares) of the Downsview Lands, including 365 acres for parkland and recreation and up to 212 acres for possible sale or lease of land for housing and commercial activity.
$100-million
The amount that Downsview Park can borrow to finance its activities.
$90-million
The estimated cost, in 2004, of developing the park.
900,000
The number of annual visitors to the part of the site that is already a park, which offers a variety of regular and one-time events.
DOWNSVIEW: THE LONG ROAD TO URBAN PARKLAND
A new blueprint; an old debate
After 16 years, stakeholders still can't agree on how best to use the former military site
JENNIFER LEWINGTON
CITY HALL BUREAU CHIEF
May 3, 2008
There are many blueprints for Downsview Park, the national urban park promised 16 years ago by the federal government.
But the one that matters most does not exist yet.
Earlier this week, Toronto city council backed plans to draft a new blueprint, with Downsview paying the bill, to bring the former military base to life.
Unchanged, though, is the controversy that has swirled since the federal government handed over the former base in 1994 as a "unique urban recreational green space."
Some area residents want all green space for the 644-acre site, but Downsview officials say they need 20 per cent for housing and commercial use to fund the park.
"The community has been waiting over a dozen years, and is very concerned and worried about what is going to happen in their backyard," says Councillor Maria Augimeri (Ward 9, York Centre).
At council this week, there was no debate on a housekeeping measure to start work on a new blueprint. But make no mistake: A big fight looms over the balance between green space and development.
"We want to work with stakeholders to develop the magic of the park together," says Downsview chairman David Soknacki. "Here we have an opportunity to build over 300 acres of parkland in the middle of the city."
But to pay for the park, Downsview has to generate its own income. Officials expect to raise revenue from the sale or lease up to 212 acres for new homes, high-rises and retail spaces, compared with 365 acres of park.
"It is absolutely essential for Downsview to develop the infrastructure to create the park," Mr. Soknacki says.
But he stresses the design of the park, which includes the lands of the Department of National Defence and Bombardier, is not set in stone. Even a 2007 Downsview report identifying new residential areas dotted around the park is negotiable.
"They're in pen and ink; they can be drawn elsewhere, rubbed out and changed," Mr. Soknacki says. "What's fixed is the principle [that development pays for park improvement]."
Those are fighting words to residents and local councillors.
"Our stand is that it should be 100-per-cent park," says Thomas Ricci, president of the Downsview Park Community Lands Association. "If they want to talk about development, let's talk about anything other than residential, commercial and industrial."
Mr. Ricci is leery of more talk. "You are asking for consultation, but you are really asking for approval," he says of the Downsview board. "We are not going to give you approval."
Some councillors are frustrated over the park's slow evolution, but credit the former city budget chief for removing political logjams since he was named park chairman by the federal Tories last year.
Under Mr. Soknacki, the agency is no longer at war with the city, and has agreed to pay $800,000 for a new secondary plan to replace an outdated version from 1999.
"This is the document that matters," says Mr. Soknacki, with the proposed location of green space, employment, recreation and residential housing units the subject of future consultations with the city, the TTC and the public.
The need to update is clear.
Where the TTC now plans to build a stop on Sheppard Avenue West for the Spadina subway extension to York University, the 1999 plan envisioned parkland and the 2007 Downsview proposal cited several thousand housing units.
"It's a clean slate in the sense that we are willing to look at a wide range of options based on the way the world has changed," Mr. Soknacki says.
Ms. Augimeri is unmoved.
"It would be a travesty to sell publicly owned parkland," she says. Citing the 1970s federal gift of waterfront lands that led to high-rise condos, she asks, "Is this another Harbourfront? I don't trust the process the feds have put in place."
Downsview by numbers
644
The size in acres (260.6 hectares) of the Downsview Lands, including 365 acres for parkland and recreation and up to 212 acres for possible sale or lease of land for housing and commercial activity.
$100-million
The amount that Downsview Park can borrow to finance its activities.
$90-million
The estimated cost, in 2004, of developing the park.
900,000
The number of annual visitors to the part of the site that is already a park, which offers a variety of regular and one-time events.
Edward
Senior Member
If nothing else the trees they planted are growing.
Archivist
Senior Member
Usually, I'm not a fan of complete cynicism, but they'll probably rip out those trees after a new revised plan for the park in 2012 has a tree garden 20 m to the side the existing foliage ...
Federal projects in Toronto are usually pretty dismal.
Federal projects in Toronto are usually pretty dismal.
H
Hydrogen
Guest
Maybe the Feds should get the NCC to do Downsview. They've done well with the purdy parts of Ottawa and Gatineau.
waterloowarrior
Senior Member
CITY PARKS
'Magic' of Downsview coming to life
But critics fear original promise of 'unique urban recreational green space' is disappearing before their eyes
JENNIFER LEWINGTON
April 13, 2009
CITY HALL BUREAU CHIEF
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/serv...OWNSVIEW13ART2255/TPStory/TPNational/Ontario/
Hidden from view behind the hoardings on Keele Street in the city's northwest, Downsview Park is coming to life.
With little fanfare, the federal agency responsible for the long-hyped "national urban park" plans to spend $17-million this year, triple the budget in 2008.
Excavation is under way on a 3.6-hectare pond for storm water runoff. To be completed by 2010, the pond will double as a venue for paddle boats and canoes in summer and skaters in winter. A Canadian-Football-League-size sports field is set to open this fall. And, with urban agriculture in vogue, the park is installing several greenhouses, along with garden plots (for a fee), this summer.
"It is the beginnings of creating the magic of the park," Downsview Park chairman David Soknacki said. "Because the park has been so overannounced, what we have decided to do is 'just do it.' "
But to many local residents, there is little joy in the transformation.
That's because of the controversy over how much private housing development will be needed at the park to pay for $100-million in improvements by 2015.
Now that construction of the Spadina subway extension is in its early phase - with a station at the northern tip of Downsview - and a city planning blueprint for the area near completion, the battle lines are hardening again.
"Don't be fooled by what you are looking at," said Michael Calabrese, executive secretary of the Downsview Lands Community Voice Association, a 350-member residents group. The organization is concerned that the original promise of a "unique urban recreational green space" is disappearing before their eyes.
"Most of [us] firmly believed Jean Chrétien when he said the land would be held in perpetuity to be used as a park for future generations," Mr. Calabrese said. In 1994, the then-prime-minister pledged to hand over the onetime military base for parkland that would rival Toronto's High Park.
"The residents of the area were under the assumption that all 572 acres were going to be used for green space," he added, insisting, "That is not the case any more."
Whether that was ever the case is a matter of dispute.
Downsview's official federal mandate is to bring the park to life with revenue from the lease or sale of some of its lands to private developers, and not by using taxpayer dollars.
"We feel very strongly that our interest is the public interest," said Mr. Soknacki, the former city budget chief. He was appointed chairman of Downsview Park in 2007 after retiring from politics. "Our goal is to maximize the amount we can put into programming green space and park."
The challenge for city planners, due to report back to residents next month, is figuring out the right mix of parkland, housing, recreational facilities and industry for the 526-hectare precinct that includes the park and Bombardier Aerospace de Havilland.
The so-called "secondary plan," replacing one approved by council in 1999, would revamp the boundaries of the park and intensify housing close to the new subway at Sheppard West. The revised plan will likely go to North York Community Council, and later to city council, this fall.
Mr. Soknacki said that 7,500 housing units on the site is "appropriate." He added that "more units will allow us to create the park faster. Less will be challenging."
That still leaves 148 hectares for green space, he said, with 121 hectares of core parkland.
But Mr. Calabrese and the city councillors whose wards envelope or abut the park remain skeptical. He argues that an influx of new residents would burden existing services and add to traffic congestion. "We fear it might become another community struggling with low-income problems."
The three local councillors have their own objections.
Councillor Michael Feldman (Ward 10, York Centre) is unhappy at the lack of green space and sports fields for his constituents on the eastern edge.
"It seems like all the good stuff, the lollipops, are going to the west side of the [Bombardier] runway, and we get nothing on the east side other than more residential," he said.
Councillor Anthony Perruzza (Ward 8, York West), whose ward includes the new transit stop, said that will bring higher-density housing than set under the 1999 plan.
Councillor Maria Augimeri (Ward 9, York Centre), with most of the park and some low-rise housing likely to come in her ward, sides with residents. "I don't support the intensification," she said. "It is just too much for the community."
Navigating the troubled waters is Mr. Soknacki, widely praised for his diplomacy. Downsview gave $10,000 to the neighbourhood hit by last year's propane explosion and put up almost $1-million for the revised secondary plan.
"We will move heaven and earth to provide a result that works for everyone," he said.
As Mr. Calabrese and his neighbours prepare for the next consultations in May, he said the mood is resolute. "We live here," he said. "That is what keeps us going - and the four-letter word is 'live.' "
'Magic' of Downsview coming to life
But critics fear original promise of 'unique urban recreational green space' is disappearing before their eyes
JENNIFER LEWINGTON
April 13, 2009
CITY HALL BUREAU CHIEF
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/serv...OWNSVIEW13ART2255/TPStory/TPNational/Ontario/
Hidden from view behind the hoardings on Keele Street in the city's northwest, Downsview Park is coming to life.
With little fanfare, the federal agency responsible for the long-hyped "national urban park" plans to spend $17-million this year, triple the budget in 2008.
Excavation is under way on a 3.6-hectare pond for storm water runoff. To be completed by 2010, the pond will double as a venue for paddle boats and canoes in summer and skaters in winter. A Canadian-Football-League-size sports field is set to open this fall. And, with urban agriculture in vogue, the park is installing several greenhouses, along with garden plots (for a fee), this summer.
"It is the beginnings of creating the magic of the park," Downsview Park chairman David Soknacki said. "Because the park has been so overannounced, what we have decided to do is 'just do it.' "
But to many local residents, there is little joy in the transformation.
That's because of the controversy over how much private housing development will be needed at the park to pay for $100-million in improvements by 2015.
Now that construction of the Spadina subway extension is in its early phase - with a station at the northern tip of Downsview - and a city planning blueprint for the area near completion, the battle lines are hardening again.
"Don't be fooled by what you are looking at," said Michael Calabrese, executive secretary of the Downsview Lands Community Voice Association, a 350-member residents group. The organization is concerned that the original promise of a "unique urban recreational green space" is disappearing before their eyes.
"Most of [us] firmly believed Jean Chrétien when he said the land would be held in perpetuity to be used as a park for future generations," Mr. Calabrese said. In 1994, the then-prime-minister pledged to hand over the onetime military base for parkland that would rival Toronto's High Park.
"The residents of the area were under the assumption that all 572 acres were going to be used for green space," he added, insisting, "That is not the case any more."
Whether that was ever the case is a matter of dispute.
Downsview's official federal mandate is to bring the park to life with revenue from the lease or sale of some of its lands to private developers, and not by using taxpayer dollars.
"We feel very strongly that our interest is the public interest," said Mr. Soknacki, the former city budget chief. He was appointed chairman of Downsview Park in 2007 after retiring from politics. "Our goal is to maximize the amount we can put into programming green space and park."
The challenge for city planners, due to report back to residents next month, is figuring out the right mix of parkland, housing, recreational facilities and industry for the 526-hectare precinct that includes the park and Bombardier Aerospace de Havilland.
The so-called "secondary plan," replacing one approved by council in 1999, would revamp the boundaries of the park and intensify housing close to the new subway at Sheppard West. The revised plan will likely go to North York Community Council, and later to city council, this fall.
Mr. Soknacki said that 7,500 housing units on the site is "appropriate." He added that "more units will allow us to create the park faster. Less will be challenging."
That still leaves 148 hectares for green space, he said, with 121 hectares of core parkland.
But Mr. Calabrese and the city councillors whose wards envelope or abut the park remain skeptical. He argues that an influx of new residents would burden existing services and add to traffic congestion. "We fear it might become another community struggling with low-income problems."
The three local councillors have their own objections.
Councillor Michael Feldman (Ward 10, York Centre) is unhappy at the lack of green space and sports fields for his constituents on the eastern edge.
"It seems like all the good stuff, the lollipops, are going to the west side of the [Bombardier] runway, and we get nothing on the east side other than more residential," he said.
Councillor Anthony Perruzza (Ward 8, York West), whose ward includes the new transit stop, said that will bring higher-density housing than set under the 1999 plan.
Councillor Maria Augimeri (Ward 9, York Centre), with most of the park and some low-rise housing likely to come in her ward, sides with residents. "I don't support the intensification," she said. "It is just too much for the community."
Navigating the troubled waters is Mr. Soknacki, widely praised for his diplomacy. Downsview gave $10,000 to the neighbourhood hit by last year's propane explosion and put up almost $1-million for the revised secondary plan.
"We will move heaven and earth to provide a result that works for everyone," he said.
As Mr. Calabrese and his neighbours prepare for the next consultations in May, he said the mood is resolute. "We live here," he said. "That is what keeps us going - and the four-letter word is 'live.' "