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VIDEO: Tory Reveals Ontario Place Recommendations

Posted By: Newstalk 1010 · 7/26/2012 11:03:00 AM

What to do with Ontario Place?

NewsTalk 1010 show host John Tory who heads up a provincially appointed panel announced the recommendations at Queen's Park on Thursday morning.  

Among the list of things being recommended, a year-round urban park, the return of the Forum cultural events and concerts along the waterfront, residential developments, a mix of shops, artist studios and cafes as well as a learning facility to bring students in.

Tory says the vast majority of Ontario Place should be an open park, with people living and working in a small portion of the park.

Tory says the residences should be appropriately sized a not be a wall of highrises that would block the sight lines.
    
He says there should be easy and open access to a key portion of Toronto's waterfront.

The cash-strapped Liberal government closed most of Ontario Place earlier this year to help trim a $15-billion deficit, saying it couldn't afford to keep the park open.
    
However, it rejected the idea of building a casino on the 39-hectare waterfront site.

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  • 13
  1. DanM_2681 posted on 07/26/2012 11:44 AM
    ......boooooring.
  2. Keith M posted on 07/26/2012 12:25 PM
    No person will live on this site until there is a means to get to it. Right now it is very inaccessible especially in the wintertime. Until that is improved, which likely could only come about through public transit expansion (not necessarily exclusively but most likely), no one will want to live there.
    1. SteveB_10 posted on 07/26/2012 02:54 PM
      @Keith M Easy solution just increase Go train frequency. Maybe this costs but it kills two birds with one stone if you can create every ten minute service between Oakville and Union with a stop at Exhibition. Between the station and Ontario place a air car like at the airport with a stop in the middle of the ex.
  3. monk2012 posted on 07/26/2012 12:54 PM
    Mr. Tory must be unhappy that he could not decide to sell the whole place to developers. all the private ownership of OP will do is drive prices up and level of service and experiance down (Mr Tory knows this from his experience with Rogers). Downtown Toronto must be the ugliest place in Canada. Now we will have rows of town homes at prime location with 5 meters wide access to Lake Ontario.
    1. Bob cawse posted on 07/26/2012 05:09 PM
      @monk2012 Monk2012 is living in a fantasy world if he can make comments like that
  4. Che posted on 07/26/2012 01:07 PM
    Sorry to see Ontario Place go. Could they not just improve it? Maybe change one attraction each year or add a new one each year? That's what Wonderland does, instead of knocking down the whole thing? Tory's proposal doesn't sound very kid or family friendly and Toronto needs to be more family friendly.
  5. IreneB_8264 posted on 07/26/2012 01:20 PM
    I am disappointed and disgusted by this report. I loved the Ontario Place of the 70s. It was built to suit the provincial motto "Yours to discover". It should be revived as a discovery zone for arts, sports and culture. I love the idae of the Cinephere becoming a Planetarium. I love the idea of integrating water activities or summer and ice activiteis for winter. Sink some ships and allow for scuba diving. Make kayaking, canoing, dragon boating accessible for public use. How about a fishing pond for urabn kids to learn to fish. How about many types of sports activities, indoor and outdoor beach volleyball, etc. How about recreating Survivor challenges for regualar people to try. This would bring in tourists. Instead Mr. Tory's short-sightedness comes across yet again. Super rich people will buy up these condos he is proposing in turn the area into an elistist enclave. I fear it will turn into Ward's island or like some of the beaches in the north where beach front property owners bar people from using the lakes. A really sad day for Ontario Place in my opinion. RIP Ontario Place
  6. IreneB_8264 posted on 07/26/2012 01:24 PM
    People already "live" at Ontario Place. It's called a marina. expand the marina if you like, but not condos!!!!!!!!!
  7. SteveB_10 posted on 07/26/2012 02:51 PM
    Increase the frequency of Go trains between Oakville and Union, that solves the transit problem, no need for a $100 million dollar streetcar.

    Save the cineisphere, it is still a world class screen and theater.

    Put in more year round boat slips with sewer, water and power.

    Take Ellington dirt and expand the park waterside, thus making more land available for buildings. Or use the dirt to build a small replica area of Venice. Apartments and townhouses within the complex could be sold for millions each. Even just duplicating the retail in Marco platz would yield dozens of millions.

    Parking must all be underground and plaletized.

    Invite a handful of the top architectural firms in the world to design low rise office bldgs for there Toronto office and give them the land for free if they meet criteria. This would create a world class architectural cluster.

    All buildings on site have to meet this standard.
    http://www.businessinsider.com/zero-energy-building-singapore-bca-2012-7
  8. Paul Robinson posted on 07/26/2012 09:23 PM
    A test to see if I can decipher the too hard "Catcha"- give us a break guys -we are not all tech people.
  9. Paul Robinson posted on 07/26/2012 09:42 PM
    I have news for John Tory on NewsTalk radio. We have already got more "Urban Parks" than we need or want. Look around- the Harbourfront, disaster, the Etobocoke waterfront condo wall, and the developers latest wet dream - the Portlands give away..What galls me most is my friends said from the start when your
    appointment was announced- " The deal is already cut . He will give it away to the developers. Why? Because the cityis deparate for more tax dollars to waste. And the
    politicians are desparate for the eal estate developers dollars to run their next campaign." From my knowledge of you I argued you would instead act in the best interests of all the people.I will let the public decide (after a few years). who was right.
  10. Paul Robinson posted on 07/26/2012 10:04 PM
    Why is the Ontario Place announcement such a bitter disappointment? As a bussiness person, it contributes to cynics who believe all business people are blood suckers who care nothing about the quality of life in this city for all its citizens.
    Well let me tell you that many business people travel widely and see how even colder cities like Stockholm and Chicago have developed their waterfronts in ways that put us to shame. We have recently returned from Australia and New Zealand
    where we were astonished by the re-devoped waterfronts of Wellington, Sydney,
    Aukland, and Melbourne. Toronto is not aware that we are in a competition with those cities to attract business head office, and entrepreanurs. It is no contest!
  11. Ernie Barnett posted on 07/29/2012 12:43 PM
    Hi John,
    Our idea for Ontario Place:
    There should be a running and walking track all around the outside of the park to take all Walk-a-thons etc. To take them off the streets. Also a great place for the puplic to walk and exercise.
    As far as transportation goes how about buses?
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