Lansdowne Park Revitalization | N/A | N/A | Proposed - Page 2

Mister F · #21 Posted **Feb 3, 2008, 4:08 AM**

^Great ideas WRT the canal. Much better than the towers in the park proposed a few posts up. Lansdowne Park is such a waste right now. I'd love to see the canal have more Amsterdam style development around it. Probably not going to happen though, the NCC loves having those scenic country roads leading right up to downtown.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ajldub

Well there weren't enough ticket-buying Glebites to keep the renegades around. Or the roughies for that matter.

You're making it sound like the market for football is limited to a 1 km radius around the park. By that logic there aren't enough fans in any given neighbourhood in Orleans either. The CFL would be a city-wide draw, only a small percentage of fans at any given game are from the local neighbourhood. For any city-wide draw a central location makes the most sense. It's close to the Queensway, local transit, and an easy walk from downtown.

My parents went to an event at the Rogers Centre (Skydome) in Toronto and it let out at the same time as a Leafs game a block away. The traffic at the event wasn't managed very well and the traffic jams were way worse than usual. My parents, being car-dependent exurbanites, were saying they should have built the stadium on the outskirts somewhere. I tried to convince them that that would have made things even worse - poor transit access, way more required parking, no integration with the neighbourhood, few opportunities for after-game nightlife....I don't think they quite understood.

ajldub · #22 Posted **Feb 3, 2008, 1:03 PM**

Does this mean that Ottawa can't support a CFL team then? Or were the Gliebermans really just that bad?

Jamaican-Phoenix · #23 Posted **Feb 3, 2008, 6:44 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by ajldub

Does this mean that Ottawa can't support a CFL team then? Or were the Gliebermans really just that bad?

They were really just that bad...

p_xavier · #24 Posted **Feb 3, 2008, 6:49 PM**

With the constant immigration flux, would a pro soccer team fare better?

Deez · #25 Posted **Feb 3, 2008, 8:50 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mister F

^Great ideas WRT the canal. Much better than the towers in the park proposed a few posts up. Lansdowne Park is such a waste right now. I'd love to see the canal have more Amsterdam style development around it. Probably not going to happen though, the NCC loves having those scenic country roads leading right up to downtown.

You're making it sound like the market for football is limited to a 1 km radius around the park. By that logic there aren't enough fans in any given neighbourhood in Orleans either. The CFL would be a city-wide draw, only a small percentage of fans at any given game are from the local neighbourhood. For any city-wide draw a central location makes the most sense. It's close to the Queensway, local transit, and an easy walk from downtown.

My parents went to an event at the Rogers Centre (Skydome) in Toronto and it let out at the same time as a Leafs game a block away. The traffic at the event wasn't managed very well and the traffic jams were way worse than usual. My parents, being car-dependent exurbanites, were saying they should have built the stadium on the outskirts somewhere. I tried to convince them that that would have made things even worse - poor transit access, way more required parking, no integration with the neighbourhood, few opportunities for after-game nightlife....I don't think they quite understood.

I would also love to see buildings right up along the canal, but as you say, the NCC would never let it happen.

WRT stadiums in the burbs, get your parents to go to a Sens game and see how they like the traffic coming out of Kanata. If anything, traffic is much worse with suburban stadiums because way more people drive and everybody is heading home in the same direction.

harls · #26 Posted **Feb 4, 2008, 5:35 PM**

Everytime I go to a Sens game, I take a shuttle bus from Local Heroes or Darcy McGee's in Bells Corners.. it's something like a buck and you don't have to worry about road-raging your way out of the parking lot.

Mille Sabords · #27 Posted **Feb 4, 2008, 5:58 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by harls

Everytime I go to a Sens game, I take a shuttle bus from Local Heroes or Darcy McGee's in Bells Corners.. it's something like a buck and you don't have to worry about road-raging your way out of the parking lot.

That's assuming you can road-rage. Kinda hard to do that sitting in traffic waiting for 10,000 cars to go through the same little intersection with the 15-year-old cops on traffic duty in -45 weather working their way up the ranks by practising their attitude ...

harls · #28 Posted **Feb 4, 2008, 7:21 PM**

Sometimes I have road rage episodes at my desk, just thinking about times I've been cut off.

I think I need to visit Curtis E. Bear one of these days.

TransitZilla · #29 Posted **Feb 4, 2008, 9:37 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Deez

I would also love to see buildings right up along the canal, but as you say, the NCC would never let it happen.

WRT stadiums in the burbs, get your parents to go to a Sens game and see how they like the traffic coming out of Kanata. If anything, traffic is much worse with suburban stadiums because way more people drive and everybody is heading home in the same direction.

There's a new chairman at the NCC now... they're on the project team, right?

You never know till you try...

Ottawade · #30 Posted **Feb 4, 2008, 10:22 PM**

Unless they take the bus! The 403 gets me back from the game faster than any car ever could.

waterloowarrior · #31 Posted **Feb 7, 2008, 2:54 AM**

from the Greater Ottawa blog...

Quote:

A Lansdowne concept

Over the transom comes this drawing from John Leaning, a former chief architect for the NCC, among many other things, proposing a general plan for remaking Lansdowne Park.

Seems like a lot of playing fields to me — usable only at certain times of the year, unless they were all bubble-domed — and I wonder where the actual parking lots served by the shuttlebuses would be.
Your thoughts?
If you've got a sketch of your own, send it on over.

Jamaican-Phoenix · #32 Posted **Feb 7, 2008, 2:58 AM**

That plan for Lansdowne sucks. Period.

Too much grass and field and a loss of a stadium capable of hosting major world events...

clynnog · #33 Posted **Feb 7, 2008, 12:59 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by d_jeffrey

With the constant immigration flux, would a pro soccer team fare better?

I would love to see a pro soccer team here in Ottawa as that is my favourite sport. I realize that there are some folks on this board that would love the CFL to be back, but lets face facts (and demographics) here. If you go to any school yard or park in the summertime what sport are kids playing either in an ad hoc or organized manner...soccer. Baseball is no longer the draw it once was, football (non 'association') is too expensive and requires too much equipment to quickly get a game going. Both baseball and CFL have had their go in Ottawa and they didn't make a go of it. Things move on.

TransitZilla · #34 Posted **Feb 7, 2008, 1:34 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jamaican-Phoenix

That plan for Lansdowne sucks. Period.

Too much grass and field and a loss of a stadium capable of hosting major world events...

Agreed.

Ottawade · #35 Posted **Feb 7, 2008, 2:48 PM**

The thing I do like about that plan is storefronts down bank. Otherwise...

Jamaican-Phoenix · #36 Posted **Feb 7, 2008, 4:36 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ottawade

The thing I do like about that plan is storefronts down bank. Otherwise...

The store fronts are a problem there for a couple reasons...

#1. Loud, busy, bus-littered Bank St. As you can see in the illustration, there is no real pedestrian action along that section.

#2. The sidewalk is too small and if you read what it says near the street, it says "shuttle buses to parking". Who seriously wants to walk beside a neverending conga line of shuttle buses and regular buses? Way to turn Bank St. into another Rideau St.

#3. This artist also seems to have forgotten a certain bridge that crosses over the canal. The stores would do very poorly if there had to be tucked away behind the rising bridge and parked next to the Queen Elizabeth Driveway.

For me, the only redeeming qualities of this plan are the wide open market, the gateway to the Promenade, and the promenades themselves. Everything else about this plan reminds me way too much of some sort of Disney Adventure Park, and I don't mean in a good way...

Mille Sabords · #37 Posted **Feb 7, 2008, 8:34 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jamaican-Phoenix

That plan for Lansdowne sucks. Period.

Too much grass and field and a loss of a stadium capable of hosting major world events...

I'm with you too dude. It's disturbing that a former high-ranking NCC official would use his stature to pull public opinion toward such a mickey-mouse, selfish, inward-oriented, rural backwater type of daydream, dangerously setting the stage for a false debate between green and urban.

This guy is staking out the "side of the angels" with an unrealistic scheme.

harls · #38 Posted **Feb 7, 2008, 10:30 PM**

"Should be a nice place to be?"

what is this, 1930?

m0nkyman · #39 Posted **Feb 8, 2008, 1:08 AM**

I'm guessing that the sketch is from the 1930's... 'cause it sure doesn't fit into the City of Ottawa of 2008.

'Course I'm hoping for a bunch of permanent rides including a ferris wheel and wooden roller coaster, and a farmers market/craft fair type development on the north side, so I'm not one to talk.

TransitZilla · #40 Posted **Feb 8, 2008, 2:47 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jamaican-Phoenix

The store fronts are a problem there for a couple reasons...

#1. Loud, busy, bus-littered Bank St. As you can see in the illustration, there is no real pedestrian action along that section.

#2. The sidewalk is too small and if you read what it says near the street, it says "shuttle buses to parking". Who seriously wants to walk beside a neverending conga line of shuttle buses and regular buses? Way to turn Bank St. into another Rideau St.

#3. This artist also seems to have forgotten a certain bridge that crosses over the canal. The stores would do very poorly if there had to be tucked away behind the rising bridge and parked next to the Queen Elizabeth Driveway.

For me, the only redeeming qualities of this plan are the wide open market, the gateway to the Promenade, and the promenades themselves. Everything else about this plan reminds me way too much of some sort of Disney Adventure Park, and I don't mean in a good way...

The worst part about it is the pond, which is completely useless. If you're going to create some sort of water feature, at least connect it with the canal, like one of the earlier plans did, so that you can boat right into the park in summer and skate in the winter.

There are ponds like that one in Orleans (Avalon)- they're for stormwater management. Do we really want to turn half of Lansdowne into a stormwater pond? Come on.