Gage Park

[SteelTown]

Gage Park highlights

* The Hamilton Children's Museum: The plan is to construct a building that will have nearly five times the floor space of the current Children's Museum. The new structure will have room for a wider array of exhibits targeting infants to youth, as well as library and parent resource centres. New parking for will be provided as well as a new drop-off area.

A business plan will be prepared to reuse Gage House, the museum's current location.

* The tropical house: A new two-storey structure, at least 1 1/2 times larger than the current space, will be adjacent to the demonstration gardens. This building will be connected to the museum through a breezeway and will offer community outreach programs that cannot currently be offered because of space. Staff will be able to look at using the facility for more events, such as increased wedding photography and floral shows.

* The aviary: The aviary will have a permanent home for the first time since being forced to move from Dundurn Castle in the '90s. It's currently housed at the Royal Botanical Gardens, but the facilities need extensive repairs. Being at Gage Park will give the public better access to the aviary, which has been around since 1928.

* Storm water management: The eastern edge of the park is a location that could accommodate a storm water management facility. This would hold and dissipate surface water from the Rothsay community, where city staff say the combined sanitary and storm system needs relief. The final form of the facility is still to be determined.

[SteelTown]

City gives green light to Gage Park plan

March 24, 2010
The Hamilton Spectator
http://www.thespec.com/News/Local/article/741521

The city has given the go-ahead to plans to transform Gage Park.

The public works committee voted to approve the Gage Park Master plan presented this week.

The proposal calls for a new Children's Museum, expanded tropical plant house and an aviary. The new facilities would be housed in a central hub complex near the current city works yard.

The committee also asked staff to report back on the cost of the project. Those details are expected by the end of the year.

The plan has been five years in the making as part of a new vision for the park.

[coalminecanary]

hopefully they fix the grading of the path by the baseball fields at the south end... it's a swamp 50% of the part of the year that it's not frozen!

[omro]

How come the media have ignored the cutting down of trees in Gage Park?

[BrianE]

Because it's in the masterplan. Has been planned for years, I've been to 3 different open houses and it was mentioned in each with nobody even batting an eye.

There was someone from the City this past Saturday interviewing people and their thoughts on the cutting of the trees (Hedge??) around the fountain. She said reaction was mixed. That tells me nobody really cares.

And they shouldn't, I think losing the hedges around the fountain is a good thing, it really improves site lines into the park and of the fountain.

[BrianE]

My only gripe would be the same that I had for previous phases of work that have gone on in the park. One day a whole lot of work gets done... then it sits for a few weeks or months. Then for a day or two works starts, then it stops half finished. Stop leaving things half finished! Get er done.

[realcity]

good sign Omro.

[SteelTown]

Gage Park trees cut to stop vandals

Danielle Wong
http://www.thespec.com/news/local/ar...o-stop-vandals

It wasn’t disease or damage that felled a stand of historic beech trees near the Gage Park fountain, but vandalism. Except it weren’t vandals wielding the chainsaws, but city crews.

Safety concerns prompted local officials to make the decision two years ago, and the ring of trees on the west side of the fountain finally came down Thursday. But one of the candidates running for council in the east-end Ward 3 says there should have been more widespread notification before the axe fell.

“We’re talking about a two-year-old decision. Even if it was announced two years ago we need to have a refresher,” said Paul Tetley, who issued a press release calling the move a “Gage Park chainsaw massacre.”

The decision was made in 2008 upon recommendations of police and the city’s horticultural staff as part of the Gage Park Master Plan, mainly for public health and safety concerns over a “rash of vandalism ongoing over the past few years,” forestry superintendent John Taylor said.

“There have been some incidents around the fountain constantly being vandalized just because you can’t see it from anywhere,” he said, adding the hedge was becoming too large and not manageable.

The city will replace the trees with a new hedge, most likely beech again, maintained at a manageable height for city staff once the Gage Park fountain’s renovation project is completed by spring 2012, Taylor said. He couldn’t say exactly how many trees were felled, but there are about 20 stumps remaining around the fountain.

Joanne Avarello, 65, immigrated to Hamilton from Italy in 1955 and remembers when Gage Park was the place to go on a Sunday afternoon.

Avarello is upset with the graffiti on the walls along the steps leading to the fountain and even on the signs on the fence around the fountain, but people will vandalize “without or without trees,” she said.

“I don’t think cutting these trees is going to stop people from writing on the wall,” Avarello said, sitting on a bench facing the fountain. “To cut these beautiful trees to stop this, I don’t think it’ll work.”

Neighbours and frequent visitors of Gage Park indicated some mixed feelings about the city cutting down the stand of beech trees.

While they would prefer nature to be left alone in the park, they feel vandalism and public safety has been a growing concern over recent years.

“I’m ambivalent. I see both sides,” Matthew Marchis said as he watched his daughters play in the park. “We’re having more vandalism here more … so if it’s going to help I’m more on the side of deterring that. Yeah, I hate to see losing any type of trees or nature … If it’s going to help, great. But if it’s not, then we just lost a few good trees that have been here a long time.”

Councillor Bernie Morelli said numerous meetings were held about the trees and the Friends of Gage Park was consulted as well. “Clearly, all of us love that park so much that sometimes there’s some short-term pain for some long-term gain,” he said.

Cory Leet, 30, said he was glad the trees are gone. “You can see the fountain from the street … Over there (vandalism) is where it’s concentrated the most,” he said. “(Police) will be able to see right in there. You won’t be able to hide in there.”

Chloe Ghose, who spent Saturday afternoon removing graffiti from the steps area in front of the fountain with a new product she’s hoping to sell, said the issue was broader.

The city needs to provide facilities such as a pool for young people to have something positive to do in the area instead, she said. “I think they have to start doing something for the residents … to really take pride and care about (the park).”

[markbarbera]

Where's the need to report this in the newspaper? It really is non-news. As Brian pointed out this was discussed at length and decided years ago. Bringing it up now is nothing but a blatant attempt to get names in the paper during the heat of a municipal election (which sadly appears to have worked).

This isn't the first attempt at crisis creation in this ward for political gain. I would not be saddened to see Morelli 'retire' this go around, but it does sadden me to see cheap politics deployed so liberally in the effort to do so. It speaks to the character of his challengers in a rather unflattering way.

[omro]

Originally Posted by realcity

good sign Omro.

Thanks, it's on my lawn!

[omro]

Originally Posted by markbarbera

As Brian pointed out this was discussed at length and decided years ago.

Decisions made years ago, need to be examined frequently to make sure they still correspond with modern needs and public opinion.

[markbarbera]

Originally Posted by omro

Decisions made years ago, need to be examined frequently to make sure they still correspond with modern needs and public opinion.

The Gage Park Master Plan received final council approval in March of this year. How frequently must it be revisited?

[omro]

Originally Posted by markbarbera

The Gage Park Master Plan received final council approval in March of this year. How frequently must it be revisited?

How often does this council do things that the general populace would wish them to do otherwise?

[markbarbera]

Omro, in the many years of consultations, discussions and votes on the Gage Park Master Plan, I don't know of anyone raising concern about this hedge being removed. There was no opposition voiced then, why is it being voiced only now once the work has already been completed?

[omro]

The city and most councillors have a history of poor communication.  If a person needs to post a notice and deliver notifications to neighbours about a request to change zoning of a building, why shouldn't the city post a notice and communicate the removal of trees in a similar/same manner?

Or do you think that people should spent their entire time keeping on top of everything going on at City Hall?

[markbarbera]

There were community meetings and consultations during the development of the master plan. IMO there was plenty of opportunity to make oneself aware of what is going on in the park and raise concern over the plan. The replacement of the hedge is no surprise element.

Frankly, I would be concerned about any candidate who would claim to be caught unawares of the work to be carried out as part of the Gore Park master plan, given the prominant role this park plays in the ward, and the amount of time and energy put in by the city developing this plan (with significant public input I might add).

Honestly, this whole thing is way overblown. We are not talking about the wholesale removal of groves of majestically tall endangered species of trees here, we are talking about the removal of an overgrown Beech hedge. The maintenance of the park had declined over the years and the curved hedge grew unkempt to a height of 15 feet. In order to restore the heritage elements of the fountain area, the hedge needed to be replaced.

You know, in the same park, great care has been made to preserve the existing trees. Cedar paddocks have been introduced in areas with older trees to protect them from damage. Ironically, this action has also drawn complaints from parkgoers. Guess there is no winning.

[BrianE]

Agreed. Overblown.

Every action has positives and negatives I think this is an over all positive. From a heritage point of view this hedge was never supposed to be this high. The fountain was always intended to be visible from almost anywhere in the park since it is a main feature of the park. These beech trees, while not intended to become a nuisance have become just that by providing a hiding place for taggers to do their work.

Mark is right. If you do something to protect the trees, people complain. If you don't do something to protect the trees, people complain. If public works stopped all work they were doing when someone complained nothing would get done, ever.

[omro]

Gage Park tree-cutting stumps critics

The removal of a hedge of mature beech trees from Gage Park over public safety and vandalism concerns, has Hamilton environmentalists raising their own alarm.

The city chainsaws came out last week to clears some 34 beech trees that had formed a five-metre thick boundary around the historic Gage Park fountain. The trees were between 15 and 30 centimetres in diameter.

Hamilton forestry superintendent John Taylor said the 40-year-old beech hedge was removed to curb a rash of vandalism to the fountain and to boost public safety in the area.

The hedge, which had become too thick to trim and was obscuring existing lighting, had created a visual screen to let vandals spray-paint graffiti on the fountain and adjacent stonework and encourage sex, drugs and alcohol consumption in the area, Taylor maintains.

The removal of the beech trees has some Hamilton environmentalists howling. But city officials said the move was necessary to preserve the 80-year-old fountain that is undergoing a $500,000 restoration.

“The spray paint alone and the graffiti in that area is phenomenal. It occurs almost every night,” Taylor said.

The city hopes to replace the hedge with other trees or plants that will be maintained at a lower height. There is a possibility another hedge near the fountain might be removed for the same vandalism and public safety concerns.

Lynda Lukasik, the executive director for Environment Hamilton, said the city’s rationale for the tree removal is flawed.

“My sense from the information communicated is that the trees were removed because of concerns over vandalism. If you use that as a justification, I wonder what other parks will soon look like? Where do you stop?”

Brenda Johnson, a project manager with Environment Hamilton and a Ward 11 candidate, said the notion of city crews taking chainsaws to 34 mature trees in Gage Park to deter vandalism doesn’t make sense.

Particularly given the city plans to replace the trees with new ones.

“I think the average person has to look at this and wonder what did we just do? We just spent money to cut down trees to plant new trees in the very same spot. This just doesn’t make sense.

“It’s like tearing down a wall to rebuild a wall,” she said.

Johnson said Gage Park is a city gem that provides shade and comfort for many local homeowners who live on small lots without shade or air-conditioning. A big part of what makes Gage Park special, she said, are the mature stands of trees.

“Is lighting a problem in that area that they could not have lit the area properly?” Johnson wondered.

She also wondered why the city crews destroyed the mature trees but left a second huge hedge around the fountain that vandals could use for cover.

Ward 3 candidate Paul Tetley said there should have been more notification before the axe fell.

Tetley said the city has spent “tens of thousands” of dollars on a paddock to protect some trees in the park from the impact from local festivals but is taking a chainsaw to others.

“I don’t know whether it’s a case of the right hand not knowing what the left hand is doing. We have a park with mature trees and we protect some and we chainsaw others,” he said.

Ward 3 candidate Wilamina McGrimmond is saddened by the tree cut.

“I can’t see Gage Park being without trees. If we cut more trees down, Gage Park won’t be Gage Park,” she said.

Hamilton environmentalist Paul Glendenning is also concerned.

“The loss is greater than any gain they are getting. Our urban forest is undersized. We can’t afford to lose any more trees. You can’t just put them back,” he said.

The hedge removal decision was made in 2008 on the recommendation of police and the city’s horticultural staff as part of the Gage Park Master Plan. Taylor said the ward councillor and Friends of Gage Park were notified. Taylor said the city has worked to remove a number of hedges impairing visibility into the park. But in turn the city is planting 150 new trees as well.

kpeters@thespec.com

905-526-3388

[mattgrande]

The way some people are reacting, you'd think they'd clear-cut the park...

[omro]

Originally Posted by mattgrande

The way some people are reacting, you'd think they'd clear-cut the park...

I don't disagree that some of the comments accompanying the article are a little "much", however it does seem to be a weak way to prevent vandalism and bizarre that they are replacing the trees with more trees to end back up at the same result in a few years time.

I personally feel that a better, long term solution would have been better.