Central Memorial Park Grand Re-Opening

[Bigtime]

After at least 2 years worth of work it appears that the renos are completed at Central Memorial Park.

They will be having a grand re-opening on Friday, May 14th starting at 5pm.

http://www.centrecitytalk.com/my_weblog/2010/05/central-memorial-park-springs-anew-.html

I'm hoping to go down either Friday evening or Saturday (weather permitting) to check out the new landscaping and parkspace.

Some highlights of the renovated park:

-An amazing new year-round restaurant called Boxwood - where you can find everything from snacks to go to fine dining morning noon, night and weekends in this glorious park setting. http://boxwoodcafe.ca/

-Outdoor reading rooms with wireless Internet

-Water features

-Modern lighting features to focus on monuments and the library as well as providing an improved safety element

-Public restroom facilities

-A level performance stage where festival events will take place

-Edwardian garden design with plenty of spots to sit and truly soak it all in

-The Memorial Park Library - lovely as ever
-
The Cenotaph Plaza, flagpole and commemorative monuments

-Statue of R.L. Boyle on his horse

[Wooster]

Boxwood looks like it might be really awesome. Great use for the park. I'm glad Calgary's gotten over its phobia of commercial uses in public parks in recent years.

I haven't seen an pics of Central Memoral Park renos. *Looks at Mersar*

[frinkprof]

Yeah I think that Boxwood restaurant could be quite popular during lunch.

[Bigtime]

I haven't seen an pics of Central Memoral Park renos. *Looks at Mersar*

I'll make sure to bring the camera with me if we go down Friday or Saturday.

[mersar]

I'll take some from my deck tonight. Overall its looking pretty good, and already is getting used by a lot of people.

Personally I doubt theres any way the work will be completed for Friday though, the entire east half of the park (from the statue to the library) is yet to be sodded (the west half was completed by Remembrance Day last year), the fountains aren't finished, and sadly a huge amount of what was supposed to be in the redesign got cut as the project is reportedly massively over budget (to the tune of several million). They've made a lot of progress in the last few weeks though, but considering they were still installing the irrigation system this morning its going to be another 26th ave promenade type grand opening unfortunately, unlike the very sucessful (and completed) reopening of Haultain park last year.

[Bigtime]

Crap, they got to get it together with this kind of stuff. Push the official re-opening back until it is substantially completed then.

I'll still probably go by on a walk to check out what is done.

[Calgarian]

When is Lilac fest? having Central Memorial finished by then would be ideal IMO.

[Bigtime]

I think Lilac fest is on the 30th this month.

http://www.4streetcalgary.com/lilacfestival/

[Calgarian]

Here's hoping for some nice weather for Lilac, last year was pretty rainy IIRC. I think having more space in the park will be good, especially if there is a stage set up for some of the entertainers.

[Jimby]

last year the Lilac Fest was hot and sunny!

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2480/3583569082_a071ce84d3_b.jpg

[Calgarian]

I must be thinking about the year before.

[AUM]

I really hope this park gets tons of use from the public so it doesn't get overrun with vagrants who end up scaring people off. It is a great opportunity and hopefully a precedent to create more parks like this throughout the core!

[fusili]

I really hope this park gets tons of use from the public so it doesn't get overrun with vagrants who end up scaring people off. It is a great opportunity and hopefully a precedent to create more parks like this throughout the core!

That is exactly the whole point of making parks great places. Until we realize that if we let our parks space deteriorate it will be overrun with vagrants, we will never recognize the importance of proper parks maintenance and design.

[mersar]

Well I managed to get home just at the right time tonight, they were testing the fountains and irrigation system in the park. So I grabbed my camera (as did a half dozen others who were wandering around the park) and headed across the street.

http://compscience.info/public/images/2010/centralmemorialpark-may10-1.jpg
Looking west from the Library

http://compscience.info/public/images/2010/centralmemorialpark-may10-2.jpg
Looking east. There are white LED's around the outside of the pool, which look neat at night

http://compscience.info/public/images/2010/centralmemorialpark-may10-3.jpg

http://compscience.info/public/images/2010/centralmemorialpark-may10-4.jpg

http://compscience.info/public/images/2010/centralmemorialpark-may10-5.jpg
Fountains in the sidewalk between Boxwood and the Parks office

http://compscience.info/public/images/2010/centralmemorialpark-may10-6.jpg

http://compscience.info/public/images/2010/centralmemorialpark-may10-7.jpg
There are LED lights like this buried along the pathways all throughout the park

http://compscience.info/public/images/2010/centralmemorialpark-may10-8.jpg
The Boxwood Cafe building

http://compscience.info/public/images/2010/centralmemorialpark-may10-pano-1.jpg (http://compscience.info/public/images/2010/centralmemorialpark-may10-pano-0.jpg)
And a huge pano from my balcony (click to see full size (http://compscience.info/public/images/2010/centralmemorialpark-may10-pano-0.jpg))

[Radley77]

I would have strong reservations about the creation of any new parks within the City Centre. Why? City parks can lack the natural guardians that streets have, and often creates sightline blockages that aids criminals at concealing criminal activity. Even the best designed park is at risk for crime like drug trafficking and alcohol use.

Instead my thinking goes along the lines of instead of creating a "park", create ribbons of green space, interjected with focal points. Work on improving the streetscape and sidewalk, and lighting beneath railway underpasses. I believe serving the mobility needs of pedestrians is way more important to improving quality of life in City Centre than development of parks. For example, the Stampede Grounds are awful for pedestrians, there are also areas of downtown where sidewalk is non-existent, or the stretches of railroad lines where there are no crossovers for pedestrians.

Sorry for the rant; this weekend I found a cache of spray cans hidden behind some shrouding in a park (which was likely used for graffiti tagging), so I am convinced parks end up all to often fuctioning as places for drug trafficking instead of the beautification that city planners had envisioned.

Even Olympic Plaza which I would say is one of the more pretty parks in the city, and has been wellfunded, it is difficult to cross through without being hassled for money or seeing someone passed out and drunk on a bench.

Putting up a bunch of benches, picnic tables, and a couple of trees can seem like a well meaning idea, but if the park lacks engagement of people throughout the day and night, it might as well be the perfect place to cache spray cans or traffic drugs.

[Radley77]

Thanks for posting the photos Mersar. The terminating vista of the Sheldon Chumir Centre looks wicked!

I used this park a lot on lunch breaks before. I'm keen on checkin' out the layout and the the wifi and public library is a great combo!

[mersar]

Thanks for posting the photos Mersar. The terminating vista of the Sheldon Chumir Centre looks wicked!

Yep. The city has an image from a postcard circa 1930 of a similar vantage from the roof of the library overlooking the old Colonel Belcher. I'd love to get up on the roof of the library and take that a shot from the same view once everything is finished up.

[Wooster]

Thanks for the pic. It's coming together nicely. Although I like the design of Memorial Park, with its intent to return the park more toward its original design, I'd like to see other new urban park spaces represent more the cutting edge in landscape architecture.

Radley, I'd have to disagree. Parks are fundamental to quality of life in high density urban environments. The problems of some of our urban parks have much more to do with poor design, poor integration with their surroundings and lack of active uses around them. Olympic Plaza may be a well funded park, but it too suffers a lot of design issues. It in fact is up for a re-design.

[mersar]

Oops, forgot to link the pano. The full size is here (http://compscience.info/public/images/2010/centralmemorialpark-may10-pano-0.jpg)

[LFRENCH]

Does anyone have a picture of the park before the reno's? My first time ever in Calgary was in 2007 for two days of which I never came back untill I moved there in Sept.

However I tend to agree with Wooster, especially if the cafe succeeds in supporting "legitimate" uses of the park. another example was walking down and seeing the new green space near Victoria Crossing, which had children playing.
If you compare and contrast this park with one say like century garden then I'm sure you will find vast differences in both design and level of intergration of the green space into the surrounding urban fabric.

[Wentworth]

Does anyone have a picture of the park before the reno's? .


http://ww2.glenbow.org/search/archivesPhotosResults.aspx?AC=GET_RECORD&XC=/search/archivesPhotosResults.aspx&BU=&TN=IMAGEBAN&SN=AUTO4327&SE=115&RN=0&MR=10&TR=0&TX=1000&ES=0&CS=0&XP=&RF=WebResults&EF=&DF=WebResultsDetails&RL=0&EL=0&DL=0&NP=255&ID=&MF=WPEngMsg.ini&MQ=&TI=0&DT=&ST=0&IR=22491&NR=0&NB=0&SV=0&BG=&FG=&QS=&OEX=ISO-8859-1&OEH=ISO-8859-1

:D

[mersar]

Well lets just say the park looks fantastic at night. Theres LED's in all the water features, plus the in-ground ones throughout add an interesting effect. They turned all the fountains off around 10 so I'll have to try to get some photos another night of it. The electricians actually are just leaving, they've been working all evening on getting everything working in the dark.

[Radley77]

Thanks for the pic. It's coming together nicely. Although I like the design of Memorial Park, with its intent to return the park more toward its original design, I'd like to see other new urban park spaces represent more the cutting edge in landscape architecture.

Radley, I'd have to disagree. Parks are fundamental to quality of life in high density urban environments. The problems of some of our urban parks have much more to do with poor design, poor integration with their surroundings and lack of active uses around them. Olympic Plaza may be a well funded park, but it too suffers a lot of design issues. It in fact is up for a re-design.

I like parks in theory, but in practicality there is a big gap between the ideal and what happens. The form of most urban parks easily lends itself to alternative functions, and with that in mind I think that building a park is one of the riskiest developments a city can undertake.

i.e. Could a soccer pitch with two nets which might have had a ton of use at only a fraction of the cost and perhaps a lot less negative crime implications be built instead?

[Bigtime]

i.e. Could a soccer pitch with two nets which might have had a ton of use at only a fraction of the cost and perhaps a lot less negative crime implications be built instead?

Given the history of this park I doubt the city wanted to just grass it all over and throw up some pitches. Just a block away (heck they almost touch) is the new Haultain park next to Union Square that has a soccer pitch on it.

I think this park was always going to be "fancier", I look forward to going down to it with the family and letting Littletime enjoy the water features and stuff.

Mersar, what building are you in? You may be in the same building that my dad rented many years ago when he was our age!

[MichaelS]

Thanks for the pic. It's coming together nicely. Although I like the design of Memorial Park, with its intent to return the park more toward its original design, I'd like to see other new urban park spaces represent more the cutting edge in landscape architecture.


Can you give an example of a park with this type of landscape architecture?

[mersar]

Mersar, what building are you in? You may be in the same building that my dad rented many years ago when he was our age!

I'm in Park Place.

It seems they are really pushing to get the park done. A semi just showed up with sod, and all the construction fence is being taken out right now. So theres a chance it won't look half finished for the opening. Theres also a camera crew out in the middle so I suspect the city is doing one of their video blogs about the reopening.

[Stang]

i.e. Could a soccer pitch with two nets which might have had a ton of use at only a fraction of the cost and perhaps a lot less negative crime implications be built instead?

As a soccer player, absolutely! ;) The problem is, it would be a tough sell to the general public as the park would essentially become exclusive to a particular group of people. I know that you're just using soccer as an example, so I'll keep with it: parking would be a nightmare too, stray balls would piss people off on 12th Avenue, etc. But what a beautiful setting that would be to play a game in... Also, it would be very active from 6-10 PM, but during the day, it might even attract more unsavoury folk than a landscaped park. At least, with the landscaped park, you'll more people wondering, eating lunch, etc. as opposed to an open field.

[Bigtime]

I'm in Park Place.

Yup, that's the same place.

[Aegis]

I'm in Park Place.

It seems they are really pushing to get the park done. A semi just showed up with sod, and all the construction fence is being taken out right now. So theres a chance it won't look half finished for the opening. Theres also a camera crew out in the middle so I suspect the city is doing one of their video blogs about the reopening.

Well it's about time. It's been almost 2 years! The entire structure of EAP built to date has gone up in less time than this simple park has taken...

[mersar]

Well they got 80% of the missing sod in today, so its actually looking pretty good. Most of the construction fence is gone as well, so you can actually cross from 13th to 12th in the middle of the park.

[KONYS]

The workers are flying today. More sod is down and flowers are being planted all over. I walked by the other night and saw the fountains on and lit up. They look awesome.

[Wooster]

Looked like most of the pathways are still yet unpaved, is this correct?

[Bigtime]

Going to be swinging by the park tonight. I'll grab some pics.

[Calgarian]

Great to see this is finally nearing the finish line, I can't believe how long it's taken. I might have to detour through there on my way home from work.

[mersar]

Looked like most of the pathways are still yet unpaved, is this correct?

I believe the plan is for the inner pathways to be gravel, keeping with the "victorian" theme of the park. There outer paths running east-west (not the sidewalks along the road but the next set in) are concrete.

I missed the fountains last night due to a BPG meeting, so hopefully tonight they are on. I must say though that I love just hearing the sound from them from my balcony, it actually drowns out a lot of the traffic noise coming over the park from 12th.

[Radley77]

I rollerbladed within Memorial Park yesterday on the outside paths, there was only one elderly gawker there walking slowly. The different pathways will keep the higher speed cyclists and rollerblades away from the windier and gravelled central calming area and fountains. I like this feature.

Nice park; I will be interested to see how many users it attracts when it is finished, plus Devonian and Alberta Courts in the surrounding area which may end up spreading the demand for parks over the three areas. Haultain Park had a number of kids on the children's park, and every tennis court was full when I bladed by...

Also, went by Olympic Plaza. They have installed pink ramps, and there was about a dozen teenagers using it as a skateboard park and filming. I think it's good if there is some ad hoc programming to occur in some of the parks.

Others, like Hostel Park, Connaught Park and Sien Lok Park I think are some of the worst parks right now in City Centre.

[mersar]

Tons of people in the park tonight, including CPS who just kicked two people who were playing frisbee out, though looks like they sent them over to Haultain Park instead. Curious to see if the city is going to post the park similar to Century Gardens as a 'passive use only' area.

[Wooster]

^ I hate shit like that. I can understand like a full on game of Ultimate not being appropriate for a park like Memorial, but two people tossing a frisbee around is totally inocuous. Beltliners trying to enjoy the little park space that they have.

[mersar]

Yep. I'd even understand it if they were doing it on the newly laid sod, but they were on the older part of the park

[Calgarian]

I understand them moving things like frisbee to Haultain as Memorial seems to be more of a sitting / walking park, and Haultain is one block away. I drove by it last night and it looks pretty good, lots of colour and lights now, hopefully it gets good usage.

[Bigtime]

Ok, heading down there this evening to enjoy the wonderful weather. Will bring the camera.

[Bigtime]

Here are some of the shots taken this evening, I like how the park looks now. It was already getting lots of people strolling through and checking it out:

Looking to the northeast from the park:
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1392/4604873427_6c00c16037_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/bigtimeaa/4604873427/in/photostream/)

Enjoying the new fountains:
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1393/4605489266_efd06a525f_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/bigtimeaa/4605489266/in/photostream/)

Looking to the northwest:
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3301/4605490632_984356e5b6_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/bigtimeaa/4605490632/in/photostream/)

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4046/4605491198_64403248bd_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/bigtimeaa/4605491198/in/photostream/)

Looking east:
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4002/4604877043_e6391b738d_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/bigtimeaa/4604877043/in/photostream/)

[mersar]

Tons of photos from the opening this evening, plus some awesome night shots coming up soon. And maybe later tonight some video I just shot of the fountains in action at night as well.

The actual ceremony was quite brief, fairly busy (I'd estimate 500+ people) and free cake :) Couple military bands to provide music, dutch dignitaries and soldiers on hand, and lots of residents. Probably most of city council was there, only mayoral candidates I saw were Joe Connelly and Jon Lord but I may have missed others.

And the fountains are still going, curious to see how late they are on. Wouldn't be surprised if they leave them on past midnight if some of the drunks on their way home from the bar decide to go for a swim.

[mersar]

http://compscience.info/public/images/2010/centralmemorial-may14-1.jpg
Looking at the crowd from my balcony just before 5pm

http://compscience.info/public/images/2010/centralmemorial-may14-2.jpg
One of the military bands providing entertainment

http://compscience.info/public/images/2010/centralmemorial-may14-3.jpg
Honour guard

http://compscience.info/public/images/2010/centralmemorial-may14-4.jpg
The fountains after the Mayor and someone else turned the fountains on

http://compscience.info/public/images/2010/centralmemorial-may14-5.jpg
The west fountain

http://compscience.info/public/images/2010/centralmemorial-may14-6.jpg
CPS mounted patrol

http://compscience.info/public/images/2010/centralmemorial-may14-7.jpg
A look at the crowd (cake was served in the tent)

http://compscience.info/public/images/2010/centralmemorial-may14-8.jpg
The east side of the park

http://compscience.info/public/images/2010/centralmemorial-may14-9.jpg
More of the fountains


And now the night shots. Just want to point out that the lights aren't as white as they appear, the colors are actually a lot deeper in person

http://compscience.info/public/images/2010/centralmemorial-may14-10.jpg

http://compscience.info/public/images/2010/centralmemorial-may14-11.jpg

http://compscience.info/public/images/2010/centralmemorial-may14-12.jpg

http://compscience.info/public/images/2010/centralmemorial-may14-13.jpg
The LED's embedded in the grass

http://compscience.info/public/images/2010/centralmemorial-may14-14.jpg

http://compscience.info/public/images/2010/centralmemorial-may14-15.jpg

http://compscience.info/public/images/2010/centralmemorial-may14-16.jpg

http://compscience.info/public/images/2010/centralmemorial-may14-17.jpg

http://compscience.info/public/images/2010/centralmemorial-may14-18.jpg

http://compscience.info/public/images/2010/centralmemorial-may14-19.jpg

http://compscience.info/public/images/2010/centralmemorial-may14-20.jpg

http://compscience.info/public/images/2010/centralmemorial-may14-21.jpg

[Bigtime]

Great shots Mersar! I love the lighting on the fountains and inset into the grass, will have to go by one evening to check it out.

[mersar]

Thanks :)

And heres the video:

TBalRwZ-kI4

sZHJrj6eZSQ

[Wooster]

Thanks for the pics and video!

[frinkprof]

Nevermind.

[ue]

^It's called aesthetics for 6 months of the year. Besides I'm sure Calgary has outdoor neighborhood rinks...and I highly doubt they're popular in May. You are putting way too much emphasis on what...4 months out of the year? I'd say Calgary is a winter city if 10+ months out of the year were winter (and getting some snow in 10+ months on record doesn't count).

Great pics, the park doesn't look that bad. Only thing is I'd rather have the dirt/gravel/whatever have been polished with new sidewalk like other parts.

[frinkprof]

Nevermind.

[Colin]

^It's called aesthetics for 6 months of the year. Besides I'm sure Calgary has outdoor neighborhood rinks...and I highly doubt they're popular in May. You are putting way too much emphasis on what...4 months out of the year? I'd say Calgary is a winter city if 10+ months out of the year were winter (and getting some snow in 10+ months on record doesn't count).

Great pics, the park doesn't look that bad. Only thing is I'd rather have the dirt/gravel/whatever have been polished with new sidewalk like other parts.

I think it was a joke...
I do agree with you though. I would have loved to have a stone path instead of gravel paths.

[RicoLance21]

I think it was a joke...
I do agree with you though. I would have loved to have a stone path instead of gravel paths.

Cobblestones?

[shogged]

I can't really explain it, but i'm pretty dissapointed. maybe its the location, maybe its the urban format... but this is a pretty ugly park. I support it though, the downtown core can't have too many parks in my opinion and i'm sure there are potential users out there =)

[LFRENCH]

I like the fountains, however it would be nice if the color changes were more fluid and not so abrupt.

[Riise]

Thanks for the great pics Mersar. I'm not opposed to the style of the park but even so, it seems incomplete. Maybe it's the fact that I'm now use to really green grass or they still have a bit left to complete but something seems to be missing from the park that can push it from a being 'a nice park to have' to just being 'a nice or wonderful park'. Nonetheless, it is a nice park to have downtown and practice does make perfect.

[Doug_Cgy]

I don't understand everyone's dissapointment. I think this park is great! As mentioned before, trees will need to grow, as does the grass on the dirt/soil areas, but overall I think its good. The fountains & the lighting really win me over. Its refreshing to see more than just a few park benches and flowers.

[mersar]

Yep. The finishing touches will be nice to see when they are done. That and when the sod starts to take, as its looking a bit brown still.

And people are certainly using it. Just took a quick look across the street and theres at least 30 people in the park right now, some walking around, others just sitting watching the fountains.

[Bigtime]

So we went on a big walk today, and on the way back home thought it would be perfect to go through the park and try out the fountains so Littletime could play with them. One problem though, they weren't on! This was seriously the perfect day to have those suckers running, what gives? The other two main fountains were up and running.

[mersar]

So we went on a big walk today, and on the way back home thought it would be perfect to go through the park and try out the fountains so Littletime could play with them. One problem though, they weren't on! This was seriously the perfect day to have those suckers running, what gives? The other two main fountains were up and running.

They need to play with them a bit more, the drainage wasn't keeping up to the amount of water they were shooting up and the entire area (including the grass along there) became a swimming pool by the time they turned off at midnight on Friday. They were on for about an hour or two on Saturday morning but they've been off since then.

[Bigtime]

Interesting, I hope they get them up and running for the summer.

A couple of shots I took while down there:

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4058/4612507945_bac9fc82a1_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/bigtimeaa/4612507945/)

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3407/4613119072_c1379190f0_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/bigtimeaa/4613119072/)

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4058/4613115060_75c4aa95dd_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/bigtimeaa/4613115060/)

[mersar]

Interesting, I hope they get them up and running for the summer.



Well they may have already changed it. They just turned the fountains on, and they are noticably lower then on Friday but the kids who are out there are having fun running through them.

[mersar]

And they've changed the programming for the colors as well. There was actually a guy from Parks sitting with a laptop adjusting things when I was over taking some new video earlier this evening.

[Radley77]

Mersar, you should try to hack that ground fountain's LED and water pressure SCADA system. It would make for an entertaining party trick. Thanks for sharing the videos.

[mersar]

Heres the video from last night with the different color pattern.

kNMUCyGos50

[Innersoul1]

cool fountain.

[Bigtime]

Took this today from the 5th floor of the Sheldon Chumir, I was there for Littletime to get her 12 month shots:

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4052/4709640532_efc7a7e9be_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/bigtimeaa/4709640532/)

[mersar]

You should post that in the Beltline group on Facebook.

They've been doing some concrete work by the Parks office (essentially dug up all the sidewalk) and I could see them out with the concrete cutter doing something on the north sidewalk near 4th street as well this morning.

And its being noticed by the film industry as well, there was a notice taped to the front gate of my building yesterday that they are filming scenes for a movie in the park next week.

[Bigtime]

There was a film crew set up at the Kahanoff centre this morning also.

[Calgarian]

There was a film crew set up at the Kahanoff centre this morning also.

They're still there.

The park looks pretty good from the 5th floor, I'm impressed with the renos. They are replacing a lot of the sandstone on the old school building in Haultain park right now, that looks good too.

Speaking of Haultain park, anyone know if they are planning on planting grass on that big patch of dirt in the middle? it looks pretty dumb to have that spot fenced off in a brand new park.

[Bigtime]

I know they are doing the Haultain/Scarth Street festival again this year, Sunday September 12th starting at 11am. Should be a good time, it was fun last year.

[Surrealplaces]

I know they are doing the Haultain/Scarth Street festival again this year, Sunday September 12th starting at 11am. Should be a good time, it was fun last year.

Good to hear. I'm definitely going to try to be there.

[kw5150]

A construction crew is ripping out the some of the freshly poured concrete near the new cafe and other building today. The concrete was in bad shape from shoddy concrete work last fall. I hope it wasn't poured in near-freezing weather like half of the other projects in the city lately where the concrete has deteriorated....... 16th ave nw, crowfoot park and ride for example.

[Calgarian]

You can pour concrete in sub zero temperatures, it just has to be a low water mix.

[kw5150]

You can pour concrete in sub zero temperatures, it just has to be a low water mix.

Yeah, but it is not ideal. Half the workers dont even know what they are doing or dont care (keep that in mind). Maybe that is changing not that people have to fight for work these days.

[Calgarian]

Yeah, but it is not ideal. Half the workers dont even know what they are doing or dont care (keep that in mind). Maybe that is changing not that people have to fight for work these days.

Temperatures can be below freezing when concrete is being poured nearly half the year, and a lot of time it's not feasible to wait for warmer temperatures, so that leaves 2 options. 1 use a specific mix or 2 use hoarding and heat the area. If you are doing a sidewalk, then it's not feasible to hoard and heat it so you have to use a special mix.

That being said, there is no excuse for the concrete in a high profile area like Memorial park to be cracking and spalling already, so there was something wrong with either how it was mixed or poured and whoever screwed up is probably eating the cost.

[kw5150]

Temperatures can be below freezing when concrete is being poured nearly half the year, and a lot of time it's not feasible to wait for warmer temperatures, so that leaves 2 options. 1 use a specific mix or 2 use hoarding and heat the area. If you are doing a sidewalk, then it's not feasible to hoard and heat it so you have to use a special mix.

That being said, there is no excuse for the concrete in a high profile area like Memorial park to be cracking and spalling already, so there was something wrong with either how it was mixed or poured and whoever screwed up is probably eating the cost.

I guess I would just like to get to the bottom of all of the crap concrete poured these days...it is unnacceptable! Some of the cost does make its way back to the city in the form of change orders and supervision.... Thank you for the reply.

[mooky]

I've noticed that too. The last several years this city has been terrible generally speaking with concrete pours. They look terrible from an aesthetic perspective (poor quality float and finish work), and they hold up poorly over time. Not to mention how many ares get poured, only to a couple years later come back and require cutting and repouring.

They were redoing some sidewalk work in Bridgeland in the Bridges area last weekend. For the life of me I don't know why, they repoured a couple curbs that were already wheelchair accessible, and some concrete road edge sections in small little 4-5 foot sections.... Wasn't this concrete just poured a couple years back? And its not like there was anything really there anyways, just empty lots for the most part... I mean once construction is done and its all filled in I can see having to re pour some destroyed during construction but now.... ?

[CorporateWhore]

This lack of construction quality and quality-control is exactly why I'd stay away from any new construction condos from the boom times. If this is the type of shoddy work that goes on in high-visibility areas like a public park sidewalk, I can just imagine the crap work being done on areas that nobody sees. I wouldn't be surprised to hear these quality issues surface in a few years from all the various condos out there...

Shame that pride in construction is no longer the norm, but the exception. It's not just a Calgary-specific issue either...

[DizzyEdge]

Temperatures can be below freezing when concrete is being poured nearly half the year, and a lot of time it's not feasible to wait for warmer temperatures, so that leaves 2 options. 1 use a specific mix or 2 use hoarding and heat the area. If you are doing a sidewalk, then it's not feasible to hoard and heat it so you have to use a special mix.

That being said, there is no excuse for the concrete in a high profile area like Memorial park to be cracking and spalling already, so there was something wrong with either how it was mixed or poured and whoever screwed up is probably eating the cost.

Considering there is original 1906 sidewalk concrete just a block or 2 south on 2nd street that's still in fine shape I would have to agree!

[Calgarian]

Considering there is original 1906 sidewalk concrete just a block or 2 south on 2nd street that's still in fine shape I would have to agree!

That's the NW corner of 2nd st and 15th avenue, right by my apartment, there are actually 104 year old dog prints in the concrete too.

[mooky]

Now that's cool. 104 year old concrete still holding up well to the harsh Calgary elements, sand, salt, etc. That has to be some of the first non-wood sidewalks in the downtown area eh? I remember my mom talking about wood sidewalks in some areas as a kid growing up in Edmonton back in the late 1950's and stepping thruough one and getting a nail in the knee, so I can't imagine Calgary would be much different to have only started pouring concrete sidewalks back around the turn of the century in the central core, no?

What the heck did they do back 104 years ago that we aren't doing today with our concrete work that some of the original sidewalks of Calgary are still hanging on.

[Calgarian]

Now that's cool. 104 year old concrete still holding up well to the harsh Calgary elements, sand, salt, etc. That has to be some of the first non-wood sidewalks in the downtown area eh? I remember my mom talking about wood sidewalks in some areas as a kid growing up in Edmonton back in the late 1950's and stepping thruough one and getting a nail in the knee, so I can't imagine Calgary would be much different to have only started pouring concrete sidewalks back around the turn of the century in the central core, no?

What the heck did they do back 104 years ago that we aren't doing today with our concrete work that some of the original sidewalks of Calgary are still hanging on.

They used a good concrete mix and didn't cheap out. That being said, I'm still amazed that there are some sidewalks that are that old, exposed concrete shouldn't last that long.

[Calgarian]

Since Central Memorial is basically finished and there is still relevant discussion, maybe we should change the name to "Calgary Parks Thread" or something similar.

[kw5150]

That's the NW corner of 2nd st and 15th avenue, right by my apartment, there are actually 104 year old dog prints in the concrete too.

That is awesome. I think I had cat prints in mine from 1910. In some areas, the increased quantities of salt that city is putting on the roads is to blame as well.

[DizzyEdge]

That's the NW corner of 2nd st and 15th avenue, right by my apartment, there are actually 104 year old dog prints in the concrete too.

yeah I love those, we've been trying to find a way to get the city to somehow preserve that date stamp (and perhaps dog prints) whenever they need to replace the sidewalk, or any old sidewalk.

[DizzyEdge]

Now that's cool. 104 year old concrete still holding up well to the harsh Calgary elements, sand, salt, etc. That has to be some of the first non-wood sidewalks in the downtown area eh? I remember my mom talking about wood sidewalks in some areas as a kid growing up in Edmonton back in the late 1950's and stepping thruough one and getting a nail in the knee, so I can't imagine Calgary would be much different to have only started pouring concrete sidewalks back around the turn of the century in the central core, no?

What the heck did they do back 104 years ago that we aren't doing today with our concrete work that some of the original sidewalks of Calgary are still hanging on.

I know around 2-4th st and maybe... 14-12 ave, or thereabouts were the first sidewalks in the city.. or maybe I'm thinking of paved roads.. either way it was a rich area (think Lougheed house, demolished Burns mansion, etc) so they got that infrastructure way earlier than the rest of the city.