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Warehouse District Park

David A said:
If taking a bit more time helps to do a better job on this, I am ok with it. Heck, we've waited over 30 years already to do something with these lots.

However, I really do want better than some of what has been recently discussed.
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It just would have been nice if most of this land could have been prepped and ready to go.
 
Oh I'm sure if there are any delays they'll hammer out the same old excuses: supply issues, staff shortages, inflation, high interest rates, COVID and now a possible strike/lockout by city staff.
 
IanO said:
Rome wasn't... but a single construction season, sure.
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This is not just some quick suburban lay down a bit of sod and plant a few trees park. It is a prominent downtown location meant to accommodate a variety of users and look attractive.

IMO some additional time to plan this out properly would be a good idea, if it is well thought out. Rushing it, just to accomplish something on an arbitrary timeline to please whomever will probably just result in disappointment.
 
They have been doing that for 2 years now... in China, Rome would have been built, conquered, burnt, rebuilt and had a renaissance.
 
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IanO said:
They have been doing that for 2 years now... in China Rome would have been built, conquered, burnt, rebuilt and had a renaissance.
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Well, this is the city with more than one LRT line and bridge delayed beyond a year and a past mayor (and others in municipal government) who didn't seem to believe in deadlines.

In Rome, they probably would have fed such incompetent administrators to the lions, which may have motivated better performance.
 
I know I've been getting alot of notices from Shaw regarding utilities relocation. It's most likely prep work for the VLRT-W but I also believe the Shaw fiber trunk runs N-S through the back alley towards Jasper.

If so, impacted 3rd parties have been notified of the park's impact, and are likely doing their leg-work to prepare for burying their utilities. IF, they maintain their easement. And that's also if the Trunk line actually runs through the park.

Though I could be wrong, the copper I was metal-casting probably had a lot of lead on it today.
 
Stevey_G said:
I know I've been getting alot of notices from Shaw regarding utilities relocation. It's most likely prep work for the VLRT-W but I also believe the Shaw fiber trunk runs N-S through the back alley towards Jasper.

If so, impacted 3rd parties have been notified of the park's impact, and are likely doing their leg-work to prepare for burying their utilities. IF, they maintain their easement. And that's also if the Trunk line actually runs through the park.

Though I could be wrong, the copper I was metal-casting probably had a lot of lead on it today.
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Someone could correct me if I'm wrong but I believe EPCOR has already done some utility work in anticipation of both WDP and VLW, so it would make sense that Shaw is as well. Kill two birds with one stone that way
 
The Warehouse Park was the focus of one of the winter cycling conference sessions today - it was largely panned by the presenter from the U of A urban winter planning specialist who met with different city planning officials in presenting her case.

She said the city was overly focused on safety in this park to the detriment of the design choices and the fear of encampments has led to a lack of imagination and a disregard for Edmonton as a winter city.

She argued the park has no sense of place.
She said one of the biggest misses was not having a place for food and drink which can keep people around for a lot longer per visit to the park no matter what the weather.
She asked the city why not a food vendor and was told that the city didn't want to compete with nearby restaurants. When she shared that, the room laughed.
She described the design choices, particularly the lighting and the picnic blanket design for a couple of the elements as kitschy and a lack of authenticity.
It will lack any life and colour in winter due to tree choices, minimal covered places and general lack of winter friendly elements, she said.
She fears the skating rink will be dropped (from the basketball area) and that fire pits will only come out sparingly during a few specific events.
Being designated as a community park rather than a special and unique city amenity is another mistep, she concluded.
 
^ she also said that in many ways that Edmonton's Winter City Strategy, which came out around 2012, is very good. In fact other presenters at this conference - in the US and Europe - referenced it as a leading document on the subject that impacted their city policies.

But what's in the strategy and what's implemented is not always the same. She said former councillor Ben Henderson was a leader on that file and when he left council in 2021 nobody else has really championed it and that knowledge has been lost.

The Edmonton design committee apparently gave a thumbs down to this park.
 
Unfortunately, much of what the city touches turns to crud - expensive, but still not great. The bureaucracy seems to be able to wring out anything unique, interesting and outstanding and turn it into the equivalent of public space pablum, bland and boring.
 
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