General Updates and News

[pblaauw]

Originally Posted by ILoveHalifax

Anybody going to Cogswell Shake Up, Thursday evening?
Anybody want to meet for coffee before or after?
Might be nice to put some faces to the names.

I might go. If you see a somewhat dishevelled guy in a wheelchair with reflective stickers on the wheels, that's probably me.

This is the most exciting thing to happen in the city since...well, all the construction notwithstanding....since forever.

Actually, it'll be the most exciting thing to happen here since the bridge redecking, since that will be happening first.

[worldlyhaligonian]

Big step for the city, and any bridge improvements are welcome as well.

Halifax seems to be getting it together.

[Keith P.]

Originally Posted by worldlyhaligonian

Halifax seems to be getting it together.

Please, cut the hyperbole. That's just crazy talk!!!

[toones]

Anybody else notice the 'high quality' siding going up on the King Edward Inn on Agricola. Beige Vinyl...

[beyeas]

Originally Posted by toones

Anybody else notice the 'high quality' siding going up on the King Edward Inn on Agricola. Beige Vinyl...

yeah my wife mentioned that the other day that she saw that. brutal.

[Empire]

Originally Posted by beyeas

yeah my wife mentioned that the other day that she saw that. brutal.

I saw that as well.

Vinyl is final. The worst building product ever invented and it should be banned.

King Edward Inn before the destruction:
http://maps.google.ca/maps?q=west+st+hal...x4VZr9D3L5Uwxt4Whw&cbp=12,201.86,,0,0.59

[Drybrain]

Brutal. Does anyone have a pic?

[Antigonish]

Originally Posted by Empire

I saw that as well.

Vinyl is final. The worst building product ever invented and it should be banned.

King Edward Inn before the destruction:
http://maps.google.ca/maps?q=west+st+hal...x4VZr9D3L5Uwxt4Whw&cbp=12,201.86,,0,0.59

Who ever is responsible should be jailed for 10-15 years...

[HalifaxRetales]

[moody]

*barf*

Who thought that was a good idea?

[Drybrain]

Obviously it was time to replace the siding, and they went with the cheap option. I understand why they did it, but that doesn't make it okay. It's not an amazing building anyway, but it was unobtrusive and had a certain charm. Now it looks like a big-— shed.

I wouldn't want to see Halifax go the museum-ification route of cities like Charleston (where the government makes you paint your house pre-approved, historically colours every five years) but it might be nice for something (tax credits? a small grant program for non-heritage properties?) to discourage such crapification. Or maybe just a ban on super crappy siding for any building above a certain size.

Upside: Unlike when owners ruin the facade of brick or stone buildings, this can always be fixed one day.

[ILoveHalifax]

I will try not to be too negative, but I just got back from Cogswell Shake Up.

I arrived at 5:40, it was supposed to start at 6:00. People were already speaking. BTW I was out of there before 6:00.

The space was way too small and crowded.

I was ssooooooooooooooooooo disappointed in the presentations or lack of presentations. You could stick colored dots on a chart. Some tables had a brochure with basically nothing on it. There were a few pictures from various cities around the world. One group laid lego in rows. One display showed some upside down boxes with windows drawn and indicating 4 to 7, 8 story buildings. There were lots of trees and grass.

Certainly not what I was expecting. If this is the best we can come up with I am going to start a group to save the Cogswell.

[Keith P.]

Originally Posted by ILoveHalifax

I will try not to be too negative, but I just got back from Cogswell Shake Up.

I arrived at 5:40, it was supposed to start at 6:00. People were already speaking. BTW I was out of there before 6:00.

The space was way too small and crowded.

I was ssooooooooooooooooooo disappointed in the presentations or lack of presentations. You could stick colored dots on a chart. Some tables had a brochure with basically nothing on it. There were a few pictures from various cities around the world. One group laid lego in rows. One display showed some upside down boxes with windows drawn and indicating 4 to 7, 8 story buildings. There were lots of trees and grass.

Certainly not what I was expecting. If this is the best we can come up with I am going to start a group to save the Cogswell.

Following some of it online it seemed a total waste. The usual suspects like the EAC and bike lobby were well-represented, but voices that supported the downtown business community seemed woefully absent. The voices were all slanted towards the "cars and business and tall buildings are bad, walking and biking and rooftop gardens are good" kind of thing. I expected nothing else though, and so the entire thing was an over-hyped waste of time. I heard Andy Fillmore was the force behind this, and if so, his credibility just took a major shot.

[ILoveHalifax]

I am so sorry about the times mentioned above. I changed watches and it had not been set to DST. Still didn't make it any better, though.

[someone123]

Cogswell is still at the "puppies and rainbows" stage, the same stage it has been in since the late 90's. It will only get real once the city commits to a timeline for dismantling the interchange. Hopefully that will happen soon.

[ILoveHalifax]

Would have been worth going if they had a puppy or two.

[Empire]

So far everyone is delusional about the Cogswell lands. There are no Cogswell lands. The claim of 6.5 hectares is wrong. This includes the ugly stinking sewer pit at the north end of the said "lands". The claim that half of that area will be required for traffic management is wrong. It is more like 70% and then you will have a massive bottleneck at the foot of Cogswell and on Cornwallis. Barrington must remain 4 lanes.

Why do people keep insisting that a stadium, Metro Centre or Arts Centre can go there? They cannot, tall towers with a small footprint similar to 1801 Hollis could be shoehorned in select wedges of land but there will still be a traffic nightmare. The streets have to go underground. It's too bad the city elected to put a 6ft dia. sewage collection line directly under the Cogswell exchange.

Also, I don't really see this connecting the north end to downtown. It connects the sewage treatment plant to downtown.

What could be there:
- transit hub- maybe a ferry terminal if someone is willing to give up waterfront property
- small pocket parks
- one midsized flatiron building
- four 35 storey office towers- connected underground with a retail network and connected to the downtown pedway system
- street level retail
- merge Hollis and Upper Water and go underground to the north end of the Cogswell interchange

[someone123]

I agree. I think the city will get a lot more out of the Cogswell lands if at least one street is buried, and even then the amount of land freed up will be much smaller than many people are anticipating.

I hope the debate will be brought into focus a little more. 4 storey buildings are not going to cut it if the intention is to recoup some of the cost of dismantling the interchange, and buildings with large footprints are not very feasible.

[Nifta]

Originally Posted by HalifaxRetales

Oh lord...

[hoser111]

Originally Posted by Empire

So far everyone is delusional about the Cogswell lands. There are no Cogswell lands. The claim of 6.5 hectares is wrong. This includes the ugly stinking sewer pit at the north end of the said "lands". The claim that half of that area will be required for traffic management is wrong. It is more like 70% and then you will have a massive bottleneck at the foot of Cogswell and on Cornwallis. Barrington must remain 4 lanes.

Why do people keep insisting that a stadium, Metro Centre or Arts Centre can go there? They cannot, tall towers with a small footprint similar to 1801 Hollis could be shoehorned in select wedges of land but there will still be a traffic nightmare. The streets have to go underground. It's too bad the city elected to put a 6ft dia. sewage collection line directly under the Cogswell exchange.

Also, I don't really see this connecting the north end to downtown. It connects the sewage treatment plant to downtown.

What could be there:
- transit hub- maybe a ferry terminal if someone is willing to give up waterfront property
- small pocket parks
- one midsized flatiron building
- four 35 storey office towers- connected underground with a retail network and connected to the downtown pedway system
- street level retail
- merge Hollis and Upper Water and go underground to the north end of the Cogswell interchange

I knew there was a sewage collection running through there, but I wonder how far down is it??