Raise the Hammer

Sarah does mention Gage Park, although it's really hard to include that park when discussing Ivor Wynne. It's a 15 minute fast walk for someone 6ft. Probably a half an hour for little legs and you are talking crossing King and Main.

You have to wonder about the Arts College. I believe from what I've read, that the building is very under-utilized. I wonder how much the owner plans to expand the program. How many kids did it house when it was a high school? Would tearing it down and building a community centre attached to an arts college perhaps create a more reasonable space for the college?

Scott Park gets brought up a lot with this Ivor Wynne proposal, sometimes just saying 'Scott Park', and sometimes mentioning the school. Perhaps this owner can be 'bought'? I see huge benefits in having an arts school there don't get me wrong. Just curious if they need all that space? A Dundas Valley School of Art type facility would be great for that area. Although, the very few window layout of the facility, is not a very inspiring place to be creative I would think?

Could they actually build an arena into the main level of the school? Visually, the school looks very solid. Perhaps some sort of similar amalgamation would allow the space where the arena now resides, to be transformed into a playground with splash pad.

It would also be nice to encorporate soccer over at Scott Park field. I put together a quick picture which shows how a soccer pitch could be aligned. It would mean eliminating two of the three diamonds, but it creates another community accessible sport footprint.

The Boys and Girls club is not too far away as far as community centres go, a facility our family uses a lot. If the gym is still intact at Scott Park, could that not somehow be accesible to the community. Could there be seperation within the old Highschool, between the Arts College and a community centre? Jimmy Thompson is right next door so we don't need a pool. Just a gym, games room, a place for families like at the Boys & Girls club, and some meeting rooms.

The problem with the current setup of the school, pool, and arena, is that they are all seperate. I believe anyway unless they are attached at the back? Would combining them somehow in a new build project, create more space?

There is a playground at King George/Parkview as well although there is no greenspace around it. Could replacing Parkview or King George with new facilities or re-working the existing structures, allow for better configuration to create greenspace on those parcels of land?

An outdoor hockey rink with boards, that is concrete in the summer and ice created in the winter, would be a great addition to this sports hub.

This article surely identifies how important it is to keep Scott Park green in some way shape or form. And it is a green space. People talk about how they throw a football around or of course the baseball leagues that play there. People who walk their dogs around it. It's a nice spot, but it could possibly all be reconfigured to work more efficiently and better serve the commuinity and compliment Ivor Wynne. My favorite part of that park is the tree lined hill along Melrose. I hope that is left as is.

Comment edited by lawrence on 2011-01-21 16:21:12