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Posted Jan 10, 2015, 6:40 PM
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BANNED
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Join Date: Apr 2008
Location: Lower Mount Royal, Calgary
Posts: 5,147
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I like the Sobow/Nobow terminology.
Quote:
Calgary's parks turn other cities green with envy
RICHARD WHITE
More from Richard White
Published on: January 9, 2015Last Updated: January 9, 2015 12:51 PM MST
It’s one of life’s great truths — you have to travel to appreciate what you have back home.
After six weeks in Europe, specifically Dublin, Florence and Rome, I have a much better appreciation for Calgary’s parks, especially those in and around our downtown.
While Dublin had several nice parks including St. Stephen’s Green and St. Patrick’s Cathedral Park, it has nothing to match the quality and quantity of Calgary’s urban green spaces. The public parks in Florence and Rome are, in a word, disgusting, complete with uncut grass, weeds, muddy pathways, tired playgrounds and dog poop.
Not only does Calgary already have great parks, but it’s only going to get better. Recently, the city announced $75 million in funding from the ENMAX Legacy Parks program for 18 parks, including mega makeovers of Century Gardens in downtown’s west end, the Beltline’s Thomson Family Park — the former Calgary Lawn Bowling Club site on 16th Avenue at 11th Street S.W. — and Hillhurst/Sunnyside’s Bow to Bluff Park.
It wasn’t that long ago — 2010 to be exact — Central Memorial Park was renovated thanks to the ENMAX Legacy Parks fund, which resulted in new pathways, fountains and a maintenance building along with the tony Boxwood restaurant. The fund was also instrumental in the dramatic makeover of Devonian Gardens from a tropical oasis to a more formal winter garden.
The Stampede and ENMAX have teamed up to create a new park on the east bank of the Elbow River below the escarpment in Ramsay. The Stampede is turning a parking lot into a park — how good is that! The new park will be home to the Indian Village during Stampede. The rest of the year it will be home to the Western Heritage Trail, an open-air museum with sculptures and history panels, a playground and amphitheater.
In addition to the park improvements being tackled with ENMAX funds, several other urban parks have been recently completed or in the process of being completed.
NEW URBAN PARKS
In May, the city completed the new Barb Scott Park on the west side of the Calgary Board of Education headquarters on 12th Avenue at 9th Street S.W. It has added much needed green space to Calgary’s most densely populated neighbourhood and is home to the popular Chinook Arch public artwork.
The city is also in the midst of creating a new park in a somewhat strange locale — Macleod Trail and 11th Avenue S.E. Enoch Park will incorporate the historic Victoria Park Queen Anne house built by clothing entrepreneur Enoch Sales in 1905. This green space will hopefully become a meeting space for the many new condo dwellers whose homes will be close to the park.
SIGNATURE URBAN PARKS
Prince’s Island is currently Calgary’s signature urban park, but soon it is going to have to vie with St. Patrick’s Island for that title. St. Patrick’s Island is getting a seasonal beach, outdoor amphitheater, tobogganing hill, fire pit and picnic areas as well as a wetland area. Calgary Municipal Land Corp., after extensive public consultation, has delivered on almost everything on Calgary’s wish list for this refurbished gem.
And let’s not forget Fort Calgary, which is in the midst of a multi-million dollar upgrade and expansion. Shaw Millennium Park, too, has to be one of the most unique urban parks in North America as a combination festival/skateboard park.
NOBOW PARKS
The north side of the Bow River boasts its fair share of urban parks. Riley Park is more than 100 years old and is unique with its cricket pitch. Plans for the Bow-to-Bluff Park will see the public corridor along the Sunnyside LRT line from the Bow River to the McHugh Bluff transformed into a linear urban park.
Also in NoBow is the 6th/5th Avenue Parkway, from 10th Street to 26th Street, where there is a park/playground space every few blocks — Riley Park, Hillhurst/Sunnyside Community Centre Park and Community Gardens, Queen Elizabeth School Park, West Hillhurst Park/Bowview Pool, Grand Trunk Park and Helicopter Park.
PLAYGROUND PARKS
It is crazy how many cool urban playground parks there are in the greater downtown core. I expect there are more than 30 vibrant, relatively new playgrounds in the schools and parks from Mission to Crescent Heights and from Inglewood to Parkdale.
Did you know there are more than 1,200 playgrounds in Calgary? That averages out to about six per neighbourhood. Since 2010, the Parks Foundation of Calgary through the Playgrounds and Communities Grant Program, has funded more than 100 new playgrounds valued at $15 million.
LAST WORD
These are only some of Calgary’s awesome array of urban parks. I haven’t even mentioned lesser-known parks like Humpy Hollow Park, the tiny Paget Park, Chinatown’s Sien Lok Park or the Nat Christie (sculpture) Park along the Bow River. When it comes to parks and playgrounds, Calgary doesn’t take a back seat to any city in Canada or around the world. Our beautiful parks are a big reason Calgary is the fifth Most Livable City (Economist Intelligence Unit’s 2014 Global Livability Index) in the world and Canada’s Best Place to Raise Kids (Money Sense magazine, April, 2014).
When it comes to making Calgary a better place to live, work and play — downtown or in the suburbs — the investment of $75 million into new and improved parks across town will pay dividends for decades to come. It is wise for a city to build on its strengths.
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http://calgaryherald.com/life/homes/condos/calgarys-parks-turn-other-cities-green-with-envy
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