Raise the Hammer

Timely, but check out this new UrbanToronto Photo of the Day:

Sugar Beach and the RedPath Factory

"The juxtaposition of recreational and industrial uses is part of what makes Sugar Beach such an interesting space on Toronto's waterfront. The most traditional view of these clashing styles is from the east (Sugar Beach) side of the Jarvis slip, where the public space's white sand and pink umbrellas stand in stark contrast to the Redpath Sugar Refinery on the opposite side..."

We could use a Sugar Beach copycat on the north-west corner of the pier where Sarcoa and HMCS Haida is. We'd have two beautifully contrasting views, just like Sugar Beach -- to the west is the recreational waterfront and to the east would be the Hamilton steelworks. We have other nicer beaches we can swim in but this is a perfect place for a parkette, given the proximity to industrials.

Any development on this pier that replaces all the ugly discontinued industrial buildings, should leave enough pier space somewhere to accomodate such a vision, with the beach parkette has to be developer or community funded. Make it a people-friendly area, including for any visitors. Since the waters isn't likely worth swimming in this close to the industrials, a Sugar Beach type "beach park" corner would be an interesting appeal to Hamilton's steeltown heart with a great view of both pretty recreationals and nice gritty industrials.

Thy copycat should be somewhat Hamiltonized, maybe a little local flavour -- maybe a steel H-bar "trellis" set back further behind the beach (with vines crawling over the steel) behind the beach with picnic tables within -- or some other idea. If cost is a dealbreaker -- then at the simplest, we can go with simple sand, a few parasols, and a few muskoka chairs to begin with for now -- and a small boardwalk strip behind the beach -- fairly inexpensive.

And if we cannot incorporate such a beach parkette into development on this pier (Where Sarcoa and HMCS is) for any reason, then the next pier to the east that becomes revitalized later.

Comment edited by mdrejhon on 2015-08-11 10:44:13