Christie Pits is a melting pot of urban humanity.
asserted
Pits → melt → humanity
On an August Saturday there, hundreds of spectators watched the Toronto Maple Leafs baseball team get thrashed, lounging on the steep slopes above the diamond.
asserted
team → watch → diamond
To the south, down in the deep vale of the park, young people rested on the grass listening to reggaeton, while others sprawled on picnic tables or did kickturns on the skateboard ramps.
asserted
others → rest → ramps
It was easy, on an evening like this, not to notice that the park is a mess.
asserted
park → notice → this
Benches are broken.
asserted
Benches → break → ?
The main pedestrian path is crumbling into a sinkhole, as it has been for years.
asserted
it → crumble → years
A picnic shelter and a century-old washroom building are shedding peeling paint.
asserted
shelter → shed → paint
As Toronto approaches a municipal election on Oct. 26, its Parks and Recreation division has no design vision.
asserted
division → approach → vision
The division will spend $440-million this year on construction projects.
asserted
division → spend → projects
But much of that money trickles out in piecemeal fixes and alterations that do not generate great places.
asserted
that → trickle → places
This 8.9-hectare space at Bloor and Christie streets was once a sand and gravel pit, spanning the old Garrison Creek.
asserted
space → span → Creek
People come to play, work out, watch baseball, enjoy festivals and just hang out in a crowd.
asserted
People → come → crowd
This intense activity demands careful co-ordination.
asserted
activity → demand → ordination
But no dedicated manager watches over the park.
asserted
manager → watch → park
And no plan shapes it.
asserted
plan → shape → it
The city is planning or enacting seven different capital projects here.
asserted
city → plan → projects
At least three more have been finished in recent years: Altered pathways, a new skate park and semicircular concrete pads billed as “lookouts.”
asserted
three → finish → lookouts
Those lookouts, carved into the hill on the park’s south side, have brought about erosion, generating a zone of hard-packed mud.
asserted
lookouts → carve → mud
That’s not in the plan; it’s what happened.
asserted
what → ’ → plan
In this chaos, basic amenities of a busy urban park are missing.
asserted
amenities → miss → park
There is no café or restaurant, where the thousand-plus people in the park on a busy day could get a sandwich or a coffee.
uncertain
people → be → sandwich
Like most of the city’s downtown parks, it is chronically ignored.
asserted
it → ignore → parks
Major parks should each have a manager, and a comprehensive 20-year plan drawn up by excellent landscape architects.
asserted
parks → have → architects
Not a shrub should be planted without reference to that design.
asserted
shrub → plant → design
This would offer a guideline: What kind of place is this?
asserted
this → offer → place
What do we want to happen here?
asserted
we → want → What
The mess has been building for decades.
asserted
mess → build → decades
Since the Pits became a park in the early 20th century, then named Willowvale Park, it has seen a subway go through its south side, and a pool and rink be added to its west.
asserted
pool → become → west
A 1922 drawing by city parks engineer R.B. Evans shows curling paths typical of Victorian green space.
asserted
drawing → show → space
Their remnants remain, a vision never fully realized.
asserted
remnants → remain → ?
A decade ago, Christie Pits almost got a new vision.
asserted
Pits → get → vision
Back then, Toronto’s new downtown plan included a brilliant parks and public realm strategy.
asserted
plan → include → strategy
In it, landscape architects PUBLIC WORK envisioned a specific “park district” here.
asserted
WORK → envision → district
But that did not result in a design.
asserted
that → result → design
Instead, stuff happened.
asserted
stuff → happen → ?
The parks consultation department and a non-governmental organization conducted a “public life study” asking park users what they wanted to see.
asserted
they → conduct → what
Dog owners said there should be more amenities for their pets.
asserted
owners → say → pets
Skateboarders were using the ice rink in the summer months and disturbing neighbours.
asserted
Skateboarders → use → neighbours
So the city paved some grass to create a skate park.
asserted
city → pave → park
This brought activity; it also damaged the adjacent trees and removed a rare place to sit in the shade.
asserted
it → bring → shade
…and 25 more, not listed.
The Aporia
