Out on LeBreton Flats, at the corner of Booth and Wellington / Sir John A Parkway, the NCC has reinstalled the Fleck fountain, as part of its Bold Drive By Experience temporary landscaping project. While the landscaping looks a little thin on plant material, maybe it will grow on us over time. Temporary could mean anything at all when it comes to the NCC. The trees might well die of old age.
There is an explanatory panel on site:
The landscaping and fountain does add some attraction to the otherwise bleakness of the Flats. For some years, the NCC apparently thought a successful new urban development needed to have Aleppo-like surroundings to attract new life to the area. Call it the Assad-school of urban renewal. Fortunately we will soon have the War Museum park (front yard and back yard along the river), the condo module with its sophisticated landscaping including the pedestrian Fleet St, and next year the Pimisi module, well linked by high speed multi lane roads and the occasional ribbon of greenery. I have fond hopes the Pimisi LRT Station may be connected along the aqueduct to the condos and Fleet / Pooley’s Bridge sooner rather than decades hence.
It looked to me that the fountain is intended to remain dry. Nonetheless, it is a sign of life, of interest, in this much-abused part of the city, and kudos to the NCC for getting something done.
I walk by the fountain every day. The area is so bleak. “Aleppo-like surroundings” is a proper choice of words.
I like the fountain. I’ll take the dogs for a walk to have a look at. It. However I’m not sure if the “Allepo-like” comparison with all the bombed out human misery associated with it is a good comparison.
Le Breton Flats indeed! How is it that an area so close to the downtown, has so much trouble getting developers to do something. Is it the economic model the NCC imposes, that scares away any reasonable developer? Why not simply draw up an urban plan with various densities and multi-use areas and then settle on land values as a function of the suggested urban form, under NCC control? Other cities have done just that successfully. Handing it all over to one undertaking was fundamentally wrong.