July 2nd, 2005 - Parks Canada recently confirmed that it is considering building a major exhibition "discovery centre" to showcase the nation's national parks and historic sites at the base of the Leslie Street Split, also known as Tommy Thompson Park. While on paper this sounds like a great tourism boost, park advocates (and I will include myself in that group) aruge that the proposed development will destroy the natural wildlife corridor that has developed over the past 50 years. Yet another case of "development vs. nature" on Toronto's waterfront.
Background
The Leslie Street Split was created from material excavated to build Toronto's new office towers in the 1950s. The Split was originally planned to be the outer harbour for Toronto, but the increased in shipping never happened. Since then, the Split has been largely untouched and eventually became known as Tommy Thompson Park (after a hard-fought fight between the city and a citizen group called "Friends of the Split").
An Accidental Wildnerness
Meadows, forests, wetlands and mud flats have since been developed on the Split land. The Split is home to hundreds of different species of birds, butterflies, and mammals. It is also a designated Important Bird Area by Birdlife International. Rabbits, groundhogs, raccoons, and insects of all kinds also make the Split their home, despite being separated from the rest of the City's natural heritage system (due to the contaminated brownfield lands that make up much of the Portlands).
The entire Split could be said to be an accidental wilderness - while the land was man-made (as in done by landfilling), the wildlife that developed on the land was purely accidental. As a result, Tommy Thompson Park has more an "organic or wildnerness look", as compared to a typical neigbhourhood park.
Parks Canada Discovery Centre
The Discovery Centre will no doubt disrupt the "accidental wildlife" that has moved into the Split. The proposed building will include a large parking facility, access roads, water and other services that will pave over meadows, forest, and wetlands. The goal of the Discovery Centre is not only to showcase Canada's natural heritage, but according to Parks Canada, also provide "educational opportunities for visitors to learn about migrating birds and wetland habitat restoration work."
The Pros and Cons
Pros
- the project will bring about change to one of the most neglected areas of Toronto. The Portlands-Waterfront Area needs much development and the Discovery Centre could act as one of the projects that could bring about change. With our failed Olympic bid(s), the incentive for the federal and provincial government to pour money into the area has almost completely disappeared. The project will be part of the new Waterfront Park being planned by the Toronto Waterfront Revitalization Corp.
- the Discovery Centre will bring in $ to the Toronto economy.
- the Centre will serve an educational purpose - what a great place to learn about ecological succession eh ?
Cons
- parks are not just manicured lawn; TT Park represents one type of park (a natural or "organic" park) and it deserves the same recognition as the more famous man-made parks (i.e. High Park, Sunnybrook, etc).
- "we need to be in fairly close proximity to wildlife to learn about them" - sure you do, but by placing a big building, with a sea of parking, and a network of roads that would connect the Centre to the City, you will no doubt be paving over and intruding the very same wildlife that you have came to the Split to study. It is like the woman who complained about seeing deer when she decided to buy a house near a forest so she could be close to nature (that's another story).
- Nature vs. development - why can't we just keep what little urban wilderness we have left in peace ? The new Centre will cut off the Split, disrupt wildlife corridors, and generate pollution (water/trash/noise/light). By developing the Split, Parks Canada (who should know better than anyone !) will actually be destroying the very same unique natural habitat that attracted the Centre at the first place.
Can the Split be saved ?
There is no doubt that pressure for development on the Split will continue to rise. What's important for councillors is to remember that NOT every park looks like a playground. Natural ecological parks, such as the Split, are just as important to the aesthetics and natural functions of the city. Look at High Park - the City has been trying to restore the ecological functions of the park, after years of paving and building. While the Discovery Centre is a great idea, it does not necessairly have to be on the Split - why not build it on the Portlands (on a brownfield site perhaps - a great way to learn about remediation) ? The Split definitely deserves saving - but will the City and Parks Canada listen ?
Monday, June 27th, 2005 - First day of the next 40 years of my life - the life of an office worker.
Given my pervious office working experience, the first day wasn't too bad actually. Granted I wasn't assigned any work but I think I would enjoy working there. So far, the people sitting around have been really nice - I definitely couldn't ask for more.
Management wise though, the Branch seems a bit disorganized. My manager is leaving this week, and my mentor told me today that he won't be my mentor (so I'm mentor-less). The branch is also moving in a week. Not to mention they were totally unprepared for my arrival. Sure, it has only been a day, but I don't remember my first day being as chaotic when I was next door at PPESB.
So hopefully boredom will not consume me. Gotta stay positive and keep myself busy - or else I will just end up hating the job (and I really don't want that to happen).
Monday, June 13, 2005 - Abercrombie & Fitch: We love to hate them, yet we can't resist them (well who can resist a guy like that ? )
So Jason and I survived our weekend of "hot" fun (and I was referring to the 30+ degree weather - so get your mind out of the gutter) in Buffalo/Niagara, NY ! It was primairly a shopping trip for both of us - though of course it was also our nice little getaway. Since Jason hates camping, going to the "wilderness" is pretty much out of the question - so the alternative (as if I'm complaining) is to spend 3 days shopping and maximizing our credit cards ! woo-hoo !
To begin, let me just say that Jason is an awesome driver. Not only can he drive stick, he drives it well (puts me to shame that's for sure). I haven't been to Buffalo in years (cross -border shopping was never a huge thing in our family) and I certaintly was ready to visit the outlets.
First, the city of Buffalo (gotta do my planner thing): it's depressing. Abandoned buildings, deserted downtowns, confusing streets and highways that lead to nowhere, the city seriously need a turn-around. After taking a few wrong turns, we ended up in the heart of downtown Buffalo, yet there was nobody around (literally no one). It is definitely a textbook case of the "donut" effect - where the downtown is in decline while the suburbs are flourishing (though I wouldn't say the Buffalo Area is flourishing - period). One worthy note though - the city does have some really amazing buildings. One building (I believe it was city hall or some civic building) was built in grand art deco style and has been pretty well maintained, considering half the city is crumbling. Too bad I didn't bring my camera along...
Ok now back to the shopping: Abercrombie was a bust. The A&F store at the Galleria was closed due to renovations and the kids Abercrombie was a dark, stuffy, sweaty store filled with rude young college salespeople and bad teeny-booper music (if I say it's bad, then it's gotta be bad). Jason and I did spend some time there - but he definitely didn't enjoy himself (he called it the worst store he has ever been into! ). Not to mention the pictures of the "boys" hanging on the walls were definitely a distraction...I feel wrong even typing about it now.
Other than that, the mall lived up to my expecations, though I think Jason still managed to buy more than I did. We also hit some of the key big box stores: Target (which was awesome), Walmart (which was ok), Circuit City (cheap DVDs) and some other ones along the strip. The Barnes & Noble near our hotel was also cool and considerably cheaper than Chapters.
One rant: those really big American servings. Seriously, those portions were way to big for an average person - who eats that much mashed potatoes anyway ! The result: over half the people we saw were over-weight. Pretty scary eh ? Anyway, of course Jason laughed at how slow I eat !
Overall, it was an awesome weekend (thanks Jason !). Considering it was my grad trip, I enjoyed every minute of it (except the stuffing yourself with food part). There were also a few neat things too, such as the partial toll highway - which I have never even heard of - and the connections between malls (which Jason was quicked to point out). Things are cheaper in Buffalo, especially with the US dollar to our favour, so that made spending the $ a bit less guilty...though I know I will regret it come the end of next month.
June 9th, 2005 - More post-birthday and graduation thoughts. First, I feel like a hypocrite now since in my past 2 posts I have already gone on and on about how birthdays aren't a big deal - but yet this is my 3rd post on the matter ! argh...but I just thought it would be cool to write down what I've been doing the past couple of days as part of my "birthday plans":Tuesday: So yes, as mentioned, I had dinner with Jason. We went to a bar-type restaurant near his apartment and then we went to see Madagascar. The movie was pretty disappointing - the plot was horrible (there wasn't really one - no climax in the story at all) and the animation were only half decent. The jokes weren't all that great either. Jason got me 2 cds as presents: a Sum 41 cd (he said it was very hard for him to pick it up and actually pay for it) and also a best of Jimi Hendrix cd, so I could be educated about "music". He was totally surprised when I mentioned that I'm not familiar with Jimi Hendrix at all when we were talking about the Music Project building in Seattle (the building was designed and built based on Hendrix' music, i.e. Purple Haze and so on). Wednesday: I managed to wake up early ! Jason and I both left the apartment at a decent time though I didn't get home till 10 am (we left at 8). I had to tutor later in the afternoon and then it was off to dinner with Freeman, the Amys, Ray, and Carina (a butchy lesbian friend from high school !). It was nice seeing them, esp. Ray and Amy since I haven't seen them in awhile (same with Carina but I don't know her that well). Freeman and I got to talk about his apartment hunt - he's pretty picky himself. The two of us still have underlying issues to talk about - I think he knows it too - and I've also been thinking of having him meet Jason...anyway, the gang got me a GAP gift card - though I was surprised that Amy/Ray didn't have a present ready ! Not that I expect one of course...but usually they are really good with that kind of stuff..hmm...and oh, my friend Ruth also sent me a birthday card - she's really good with remembering things like that !Thursday: Thursday (today) was Eddie's day. We had dinner at Il Fornello (I thought it was Il Postino - i.e. the horrible Kevin Costner movie) and we went to Demetre (where I bumped into a former student waitressing - another sign of old age perhaps ?). It was good hanging out with him again - I was a bit embarrassed that I couldn't even finish my pizza (thanks to Grandma's noodles just hours before the dinner). Eddie said he's going to take me shopping so he could buy me clothes (Is my closet really that bad ? geez...). Upcoming weekend: This week seems to have flown by, because tomorrow Jason and I are heading out of town for the weekend ! yay ! it should be fun and I can't wait =)So yes, my overall birthday wrap-up: definitely quiet but really nice as well - just the way I like it. The only downfall I guess is the lack of recognition of the day from my own family. Besides grandma (who at least gave me a red-pocket envelope) and my sister (who now owes me a cell phone face plate), my parents haven't shown any emotions at all towards it. I guess it's somewhat disappointing - but not surprising at all...Though not even a red pocket, mom ? (no, it's not about the money, but a little of recognition would be kinda nice too - especially from my own family....)
