What's happening to our heritage buildings
Check out Chris Hume's article about the demolition of the Walnut St. buildings and the plight of other heritage properties in Toronto.
This jumped out at me: "Though they may seem completely unrelated, a similar act of vandalism occurred when Mayor David Miller and his "cabinet" approved a deal that will hand over the sidewalks and their public furniture to Astral Media for the next 20 years, a deal that council is expected to approve today. Though the design of the street furniture is inferior and Astral Media operates illegal billboards throughout the city, Miller couldn't say no to the $20 million Astral will pay the city annually."
I knew nothing of this plan, but it needs plenty of discussion. What do you think?
8 comments:
Well, it's too bad that people only start to get involved and care about all these decisions by the time it's too late to stop them. All of our purchases and ethics are connected...if we shop at huge outlets and don't put pressures on the store buyers to eliminate packaging...then manufactuers will continue to over package products.
If we don't walk outisde choosing to drive...then we are out of the loop to what is going on with our sidewalks. No one uses sidewalks anyways...why suddenly care?
Some of the most vocal action groups are those who take public transit and the bike community. but they are a small percentage of the politicized urban savvy. They need drivers to support them, to become engaged in the city. Cherry Beach has been fucked over. Those buildings on Walnut have been ignored for so long....and what about all the incredible houses in the east end...right by the Salvation Army around Sumac, Sackville and Dundas area. They will be next for speculation. At least for a few years street kids squatted in them. Again street kids and the homeless....who use our sidewalks are more aware of city changes than those who drive.
Unfortunately...there hasn't been a rigorous marriage between the bikers, the public transit users and the homeless. If they could be brought together to inspire the rest of the city...and to educate the rest of the city well...maybe.
There are a million resources and ideas...but if peopel sit int heir cars they are essentially not even living in the city.
It's a big problem and I'm not sure how we got ourselves into the mindset that newer is better so that buildings are torn down and new ones put up.
When working in catering in Toronto I was inside many of these great old homes in Forest Hill and Rosedale that on the outside maintained their original structure, but often inside had been completed gutted and re-built. This was a common trend since many of the parties I catered were simply to show off the new house. I once commented to a colleague that perhaps something was lost in taking out the original intention of the builder/architect, but she looked at me like I was crazy.
I guess my point is that we've gone so far in our throw away culture that it's difficult to try and change. It's not an excuse, but a symptom perhaps.
I'm sorry that this has happened to Walnut Hall.
SP, good points. And I feel it ties into what I was saying about everything is connected.
If we all buy new clothes all the time, new everything...then why would we be upset that Walnut Hall would be replaced with somethign new. It's all connected. We replace so many things and in our own personal lives we have new things constantly.
If we shop at Home Depot, or Costco...then why wouldn't David Miller go ahead and look for cheap
sales on public benches?
Who do we hire to do our work? Are they labor or unionized? Maybe Astral Media isn't labor or unionized either? Surely we can't fault David Miller for being exactly like us? Or for the dismissal of Walnut Hall when we throw out stuff and buy new things all the time.
Our personal lives are related to how we approach politics and what we expect from our public servants.
Personally...it concerns me whether or not Astera Media DOES look after it's employees...do they pay for dentistry, a good retirement fund, are their products environmentally progressive? Astral Media has won an environmental design award and I suspect that is why Miller endoresed the 20 year contract.
I think a good step would be to monitor and write letters to the company saying as a taxpayer you expect them to uphold rigorous environmental and ethical procedures in their contract with the city.
I think a good step would be some public consultation about the kind of street furniture we want in our city.
I agree with the idea of public consultation. A better solution would be to elect me as mayor.
I agree with you about a discussion of the kind of furniture people want in the city.
I for one wish the parks...and various places that host benches would install them facing each other at least occasionally so people could chat together insead of how usually lined up...maintaining a sense of alienation.
I think MUCH more than how they look is how they are made...what products what effects on the environment...and I mean this all the way along any public civic manufacturing projects.
Here are some things from Astral Media:
I’m not going to go through them all here, but they aren’t hard to guess.
We believe there should be original solutions rather than off-the-shelf ones. A waste
sorter and information kiosk that works for Calgary likely won’t work for Miami.
We believe that it is important to create the streetscape with the neighbourhoods that will
receive new street furniture. In other words, co-create them. The first step to doing that is
to discuss with community leaders what matters and how we can best work together.
Next, whatever design is chosen should – no, must -- be integrated with the
neighbourhood. The Distillery District has a completely different feel to it than the area
around the CN Tower. One is historic; the other, modern. Toronto, which prides itself on
its wildly different neighbourhoods, would do none of them any favours by mandating
that their street furniture look the same on the Danforth as it does on King Street West.
Coming out of that principle is another one, of appropriateness. Ads for racy jeans on
waste bins in the entertainment district? Maybe. But those same ads in Withrow Park or
Eglinton Park or High Park? No way.
Being a responsible outdoor advertiser is about more than just selling as many ad faces as
possible to the highest bidders. Quite frankly, the best street furniture should provide a
public service FIRST before we consider secondary uses for commerce and
communication.
We also believe in the principle of balance when it comes to the ratio of advertising and
information, or advertising and public service. If we put too many of our clients’
messages on our billboards and information pillars, we may make more money in the
short-term, but the public would be turned off by this excess, which would alienate our
advertisers, which would reduce our revenues, which......well, you get the idea. Which is
another one of our principles: even the best design won’t work if the builder isn’t
prepared to operate, clean and maintain that site.
We also believe street furniture should not just sit there. It should help. Visitors
especially want to know more than: “Where am I?” when they’re in a strange city and
they walk up to an InfoToGo Pillar. They want different kinds and levels of information.
Like great things within a short walk.
They also want to be able to ask for information. So in this day of burgeoning
information-push, surely I should be able to ask a real human a question and get a human
voice in reply. That desire – that frustration, rather – led to us ensuring that audio
communication is available on all our InfoToGo Pillars in Toronto.
Finally, we believe it’s important for someone changing or recreating the urban
environment to respect the environment. It’s important to use recycled materials in
construction and look for environmentally friendly solutions in form and function
throughout. That’s why in all our streetscape projects, giving back a percentage of our
revenues to help the city clean up its parks and streets is ....well, it’s table stakes, frankly,
and should be for everyone in this business.
http://www.astral.com/Sites/astralmedia/multimedias/press/0706_jp_toronto.pdf
Some photos of Astral Medias furniture:
http://flickr.com/photos/joeclark/sets/72157600033348739/
What I think is missing is again, the idea of facing chairs..and maybe somewhere to put one's lunch...or cup of coffee while juggling a newspaper or book? but I think they are on the right track...
Zydeco Fish for mayor!!
I think its politics in action, my friend. I don't favor doing away with historical, esp. when there are grants to preserve such. I wonder if it would make any difference if some of us radicals got involved on some boards and in places of power in our communities?
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