Urban parks

[bravado]

As a very infrequent visitor to Victoria park on my bike via the iron horse trail, it’s PACKED by my metric. It’s quite intimidating in good weather to get through the crowds and try to leave the IHT through the park.

[tomh009]

As a very infrequent visitor to Victoria park on my bike via the iron horse trail, it’s PACKED by my metric. It’s quite intimidating in good weather to get through the crowds and try to leave the IHT through the park.

Yes. I think we need separate bike routes and keep the park trails (which are few anyway) for pedestrians.

[SF22]

I've been saying it for a couple of years now, but the city needs to expand Civic Centre Park (the one between the Centre in the Square and the KPL) by getting rid of the surface parking lot on Ahrens, and half the surface parking lot on Otto. It obviously would be much smaller than Victoria Park, but it could be a sizeable park on the other side of downtown to help alleviate the strain on Victoria Park.

There would be plenty of space for things like a splash pad and a basketball court, and you could cut a bike path through to connect the Otto St MUT to Ahrens St (behind the Regional building and the library). It already has loads of gorgeous trees, a good playground, and lots of seating. Combined with the library and the CITS, it really would be a good location for people who have already been drawn to the area for other things (we regularly stop at the park to let our kid play for a while after picking out books). I really don't know why the city hasn't jumped on the opportunity.

[bravado]

Do those surface parking lots generate any revenue? If they do, then that’s a hell of an uphill battle even though it’s a great idea.

[tomh009]

I've been saying it for a couple of years now, but the city needs to expand Civic Centre Park (the one between the Centre in the Square and the KPL) by getting rid of the surface parking lot on Ahrens, and half the surface parking lot on Otto. It obviously would be much smaller than Victoria Park, but it could be a sizeable park on the other side of downtown to help alleviate the strain on Victoria Park.

It would roughly double the size of the current park, and also make the current space more usable. I can't see that the parking revenue would be that much given that the CRA office barely in use, and there is underground parking for both the region and the library. But I think someone needs to take the initiative and propose this, the city staff won't do it unless they are directed to (which is understandable).

And then PWC should donate the CRA property for affordable housing, that's a prime example of underutilized government land.

[panamaniac]

Isn't the parking lot beside the Library supposed to be reserved for some sort of cultural use?

[creative]

Those lots are always filled during CITS events.

[ac3r]

Yeah they do see a lot of use when events take place, but otherwise they are not frequented too much. It's complicated by the fact the institutions around there were built in the middle of the 20th century and those surface lots were more useful for the demands downtown at the time. They evidently still are because they fill up when events are on, so removing them entirely negates the reality that they are obviously useful. One might argue that you can remove the lots and people can easily park a couple blocks away then walk and that's true, but it's not a Star Trek utopia yet.

The park space issue illustrates a good point in regards to overall space downtown, while also showing that at this point Kitchener is long overdue for a new arts centre. Centre In The Square is a fine place, but built in 1980 as the main arts and cultural institution for the city and region which at the time was a fraction of its present size. An option may be for the present CITS building to be modernized and expanded, optimizing the space use at the same time (my implication here would be underground parking or something).

But better yet: a new primary arts centre could be constructed elsewhere downtown, although available space is an issue. If the city was not run by incompetent clowns, integrating an arts centre into the Bramm Yards plan would be a great idea but the city has already thrown in the towel and are recommending the sale of that property, despite only a couple months ago going public with a "Master Plan" information campaign, asking the public their thoughts on the best ways to utilize it as an urban business park. In typical local fashion, they basically said of of the last remaining 8 acres of city owned property in its downtown "ehhh IDK, this is too much effort, let's just sell it to some developers while we can still get a lot of money".

Irrespective of that though, the issue with parks is just one part of an overall space issue. Our downtown may have a lot of new buildings, but the actual foundation of it hasn't changed much since the 20th century. Gaining park space and removing surface parking (without necessarily reducing the actual convenient available parking) is easy enough to do...there are lots of ways we can reconfigure, tweak, optimize and expand our use of space downtown for not simply parks but all aspects of the built environment. We could easily direct our city in a good direction but the issue is we lack vision for bigger things and are simultaneously handicapped by the fact there is either a serious leadership issue, or a severe lack of both overall political and governance skill across the board. Planning for parks should be something they are already on top of, not something people should feel compelled to email them about.

[dtkvictim]

Isn't the parking lot beside the Library supposed to be reserved for some sort of cultural use?

Parking is our culture.

[panamaniac]

Isn't the parking lot beside the Library supposed to be reserved for some sort of cultural use?

Parking is our culture.

You need to get out more.  There's chamber music at the Maureen Forrester tonight.  No car required.

[SF22]

Those lots are always filled during CITS events.

I would be curious to know if the underground garage gets completely full during these events. If there are 62 open spaces in the garage, then the Ahrens surface lot can disappear with no issue. Or GRT could increase the frequency of the 4 and 20 buses (which both have stops within a block of the CITS) in the evenings to encourage people to take transit to shows and lessen the demand for parking that way.