Edmonton Construction 9 (2008-08) - Page 265

Kevin_foster · #**5281** Posted **May 13, 2009, 3:15 PM**

Protip: Don't google VAG if you are at work!

Coldrsx · #**5282** Posted **May 13, 2009, 7:19 PM**

I have a somewhat serious question for people on this forum...

What do you think of when you hear the word (acronym) EDC?

(as in what resonates with you about the EDC both positively and negatively)

please answer as this is more than just for me

deedub35 · #**5283** Posted **May 13, 2009, 7:27 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Coldrsx

What do you think of when you hear the word (acronym) EDC?

(as in what resonates with you about the EDC both positively and negatively)

A committee of people that scrutinize proposed projects. The projects have to meet certain requirements before they are given approval. Perhaps they might be too picky and hinder development. Some developers seem to be ready to go but can't because their project has some elements that EDC does not like.

Coldrsx · #**5284** Posted **May 13, 2009, 7:30 PM**

love the idea if in the right location
--------------------------------------

Edmonton mayor favours downtown skateboard park

BY GORDON KENT, EDMONTONJOURNAL.COMMAY 13, 2009 1:02 PMCOMMENTS (3)

STORYPHOTOS ( 1 )

Logan King, 13, practices his skateboard stunts at the Kaskitayo Youth Park at 111th Street near 19th Avenue on April 18. Mayor Stephen Mandel thinks there should be a skateboarding park in downtown Edmonton.
Photograph by: Bruce Edwards, Edmonton Journal
EDMONTON — Mayor Stephen Mandel wants the city to look at building a downtown skateboard park to provide more recreation for young people and help keep them out of trouble.

The mayor said Wednesday he was “shocked” to learn what he described as a “harmless and healthy” activity isn’t allowed on Churchill Square.

“My God, in Edmonton there’s enough kids skateboarding downtown,” he told reporters.

“If we’re going to make downtown comfortable for kids, let’s find a place to build a skateboard park.”

While he wouldn’t say where he thinks the facility should be located, Mandel said it would be part of his push to use education and other approaches to make Edmonton safer.

“Any place where there’s young people, we should find opportunities for them to have fun things to do.”

Coun. Ben Henderson supports the idea, saying it might be possible to create a skateboard park and a playground in the little-used plaza on the south side of the Stanley Milner library.

“One of the things we have to recognize with downtown is that if we want people to live here, we have to make it a family-friendly space,” he said.

“You should be able to be a teenager in the heart of the city. You should be able to be a kid in the heart of the city.”

[email protected]

© Copyright (c) The Edmonton Journal

http://www.edmontonjournal.com/Sports/Downtown+needs+skate+park+mayor/1592706/story.html

Coldrsx · #**5285** Posted **May 13, 2009, 7:30 PM**

haha... gotta love one of the comments back:

"Downtowner

May 13, 2009 - 1:07 PM
Flag this as Inappropriate

Downtown is for adults with jobs. Kids in the heart of the city = trouble. A skate park is a great idea, but not next to our best hotels. Suggestions? Re-develop the otherwise abandoned Beaver Hills House Park, or any of the parking lots in west Downtown. Keep this skate park as far away from East Downtown as possible if it's for teenagers, as the Milner library area is a blight and magnet for drug dealing and harassment. I feel the library site is a complete disaster, and so far removed from its heyday as a family friendly place."

MrOilers · #**5286** Posted **May 13, 2009, 7:43 PM**

God, some people are morons. Kids get into trouble when they are bored and told by everyone else to get lost. Build a skate park for kids and kids will go there to skate.

Plus, if kids want drugs and hooliganism, they hang out at 7-11 parking lots or bus shelters, not skate parks.

wco · #**5287** Posted **May 13, 2009, 7:56 PM**

We have a skate park in our area and it's always jam-packed with kids.

Coldrsx · #**5288** Posted **May 13, 2009, 7:58 PM**

"I have a somewhat serious question for people on this forum...

What do you think of when you hear the word (acronym) EDC?

(as in what resonates with you about the EDC both positively and negatively)

please answer as this is more than just for me"

MORE RESPONSES PLEASE

Kevin_foster · #**5289** Posted **May 13, 2009, 8:14 PM**

OK COLD HERE YA GO FELLA

When I hear EDC I think of:

Pros: progression, council having invested interest in city's aesthetic appearance, promotes quality of life for citizens, members seem to have knowledge in the area of urban design, has detracted a few doozies

Cons: It's in its infancy, its reach still not far enough, should be more open to the public and/or flaunt itself to the citizens of Edmonton (not many people know of the EDC), many items that have passed that shouldnt have been passed,

And on a less serious note, EDC's mandate should have a retro-date of about Jan 01, 1999, and hire some cranes & wrecking balls!

Simon Speichert · #**5290** Posted **May 13, 2009, 8:18 PM**

Three cheers to Mandel for suggesting a skate park downtown. Since Churchill was redone I've been saying it could be the city's greatest skate park. Being the center of attention it could attract some great demos from skateboard/apparel companies.

When I think of EDC, I look at the godawful seniors 4-storey walkup, chartreuse and brick, next to Bonnie Doon mall and I think EDC's reach isn't far enough. Can anybody besides me picture ground floor retail and condos down Whyte from 99th to Bonnie Doon?

Coldrsx · #**5291** Posted **May 13, 2009, 8:22 PM**

cool event this weekend...

FINDING PLACE: DWELLING IN NATURE AND CITY
Visiting Artist DOUGLAS PATERSON
Free Public Lecture and Citywalking Tour
May 16th 2009, lecture at 1:30pm, tour at 3pm
2-922 Enterprise Square

Douglas Paterson is Associate Professor and former Director of the Landscape Architecture Program at UBC. His past posts include President of the Canadian Society of Landscape Architects, and Regional Director of the North America Council of Educators in Landscape Architecture. A leading artist and scholar in the field of landscape architecture, Paterson has directed parks and recreation master plans across Western Canada at the city, provincial, and regional levels.

Paterson’s research examines the public sphere, and the civic and place-bound imaginations that reside there. His lecture will explore the formal, aesthetic, and cultural issues that landscape designers and planners confront in contemporary North American cities, and will be indispensible to Edmonton, an expanding city whose beauty and functionality will increasingly depend on architectural insight and innovation.

etown · #**5292** Posted **May 13, 2009, 9:31 PM**

The Skatepark fantastic idea. I could have only dreamed of something like that when I was a kid. Instead we spent our time trying to get away from Campus 5-O.

Re: the EDC - great idea - buildings like element lofts 82ave and 99st would never have gotten through.

Sometimes I feel that they slowed the application process to the point where projects just don't get built - and some that have been passed by EDC aren't exactly beauties anyway.

And what's with the public art requirement that always comes up? I like art, I just don't expect it in front of every condo in the city.

ue · #**5293** Posted **May 13, 2009, 9:50 PM**

Skatepark:

Man that comment was dumb. What about New York, London, Tokyo, Beijing, etc. where kids live in the "city", or even neighbourhoods like Queen Alexandra, Belgravia, Glenora, and Alberta Avenue that are close to the core? Yeah they're filled with troubled kids. Well, I'm sure there are, but a neighbourhood that actually more than 10 years old does not qualify as a haven for bad children.

The Skatepark idea is a great idea. Not to mention - if the kids have the skatepark - wouldn't they be more likely to be skating rather than dealing drugs

?? Skateparks will bring even more diversity to our core, so I think it's a good thing.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Coldrsx

^^then what about Fredericton's art gallery?

.

CMD UW · #**5294** Posted **May 13, 2009, 11:25 PM**

Here is a cool infill project in Westmount (111 Ave and 122 St) that was approved by Council on April 27th. 6-storeys, good articulation, good amount of glass.

http://webdocs.edmonton.ca/OcctopusDocs/Public/COMPLETE/REPORTS/CC/CSAM/2009-04-27/15141by_pink.doc

Scroll to the last page to open the Appendices.

ue · #**5295** Posted **May 13, 2009, 11:29 PM**

^Looks interesting. I can't really tell on the design too much but from what I can tell the design looks good except for the south wall. It will be some nice decent infill for the Westmount area. Is it still in proposal ... looks like it.

Well I hope it goes through looks nice.

Jasper and one o nin · #**5296** Posted **May 14, 2009, 1:24 AM**

I think it looks good.

sdimedru · #**5297** Posted **May 14, 2009, 1:34 AM**

When I hear EDC I think of buildings in Edmonton being evaluated against a set of standards (personal/professional) attempting to improve building quality / appearance in Edmonton

newfangled · #**5298** Posted **May 14, 2009, 2:32 AM**

Would that 6 storey be the "highrise" that the community was wary of last year? "Because the high-rise would be filled with one-bedroom suites, he also worries about a potential increase in crime."

Design looks good, although the colours could be a little less...er, CGA (technically EGA, I suppose). Luckily nothing in the real world could ever look like that.

deedub35 · #**5299** Posted **May 14, 2009, 2:41 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Coldrsx

MORE RESPONSES PLEASE

[SARCASM]
Maybe you can solicit more responses if you started ANOTHER NEW thread!!!!
[/SARCASM]

HomeInMyShoes · #**5300** Posted **May 14, 2009, 9:09 AM**

EDC: overseers of good taste/design. They actually seem to wield some teeth in the process which is nice, but sometimes it seems that, even with their teeth, improvements are sometimes less than satisfactory. I will not name some commercial building near Manulife as the case in point. I don't necessarily think that is entirely the fault of EDC, I think that atrocity was definitely the result of zoning and overlay restrictions on that site in general.

Overall, I'd give the EDC a B. A definite move forward. I'd like to see the EDC form a subcommittee of a group of some sort to come up with a masterplan concept for the downtown area and work on identifying areas, parks, bike paths, traffic flow, and work out how to make the heritage zoning and FARS works a little better to promote some amazing development.

I have to agree with Kevin's retro concept. Please. Legacy.