It has been awhile since I last showed you where things stood at what was once Lansdowne Park. I use the word was because building residences, retail, and office space on what is supposed to be a public park seems to be steadily wiping out everything that made the place unique. I'm not a fan of the city just gleefully giving such a space over to a pack of developers to play with and benefit from for decades to come.
Construction continues on all aspects of the project. The claims from OSEG, the consortium behind this whole thing, that the retail side of things would involve unique shopping experiences and new to Ottawa vendors, rings hollow when the list of impending retail outlets include names you can bloody well find anywhere (have I mentioned this project just pisses me off?).
Even the solemn promises by OSEG that Aberdeen Pavilion, the crown jewel of the park, would have its sightlines preserved, means nothing. The pavilion, there in the background, is quickly getting overwhelmed from the viewer at Bank Street by the encroaching retail and the stadium.
The stadium's coming along. This summer the CFL football team will be back playing here again at the refurbished stadium. Have I mentioned I dislike football? Well, I do. Particularly when the wankers who are behind OSEG think that the Ottawa Redblacks is a splendid name.
On the off chance that these words might come to the attention of the jackals who run OSEG: middle finger extended right at you, boys. Do the world a favour. Hold your breath. For an hour, you bloody prats.
I love the expanse of your fourth photo!
ReplyDeleteI like your values, and these shots are good too
ReplyDeleteALOHA from Honolulu
ComfortSpiral
=^..^= <3
You should be glad you don't live in Toronto! They have made a mess of the city by building apartment block after apartment block wily nily. I heard Honest Ed's has now been sold too. A real shame...
ReplyDeleteI agree with you. We have the same problem in Florida. We call it "paving over Paradise." The developers, who buy the politicians and run in packs, care nothing for quality of life, just for those things which put more dollars in their pockets! Ugh!
ReplyDeletelol, you're on a roll this morning! ahhh, don't get me started on developers, can't stand them! now football? are we talking soccer or american? love me some football!
ReplyDeleteI see that this kind of things do not happen only here. It is very sad to see a growing wave of ugly and nondescript buildings which overwhelms beautiful views and historical landmarks,
ReplyDeleteLinda: I find myself wondering if I will ever be able again to take unobstructed shots of that pavilion.
ReplyDeleteCloudia: thank you.
Halcyon: I have seen the mess they made of the lakeshore.
Lowell: developers by and large seem to be scum.
Tanya: it is Canadian rules, similar to the American version of football.
I do understand your anger, believe me. That's exactly how I feel when I'm confronted with similar situations here.
ReplyDeleteMy, you are a little annoyed are 't you!
ReplyDeleteAh, progress!
ReplyDeleteI'm gonna guess that you see this project as having very little value (translation: NO value). ;))
ReplyDeleteThese are great shots. Sadly it is very hard to stop this kind of development.
ReplyDeletePRAT....that's a great British word..and more than fitting.
ReplyDeleteJane x
We have that kind of crap going on here, too.
ReplyDeleteThey actually force people to sell their homes (eminent domain) so developers can put up new malls while the the mall down the street has become a ghost town. Soon, we'll all have to live in those vacant malls because there will be no room left for homes.
I'll never buy property. There's no telling how long I'd get to keep it!
Well, well! It seems that developers are taking over the world.. and not in a good way! Your rant about OSEG sounds incredibly like my rant against the Elizabeth Quay project here in Perth. So bad!
ReplyDeletei like your passion. :) i'm sorry, too.
ReplyDeleteWell vented. I greatly dislike developers who make the mess take their money and run. MB
ReplyDelete@VP: it's been incredibly disruptive for people living in the area. I lived across the Canal from this project until a few months ago, and they were working into the night and early in the morning. I was sleeping terribly.
ReplyDelete@Jose: and all the city council seems to see is the potential revenue.
@Furry Gnome: Oh, that's an understatement!
@Revrunner: in this case, progress bites!
@EG: no value at all.
@Luis: it would have been better to do nothing at all with the site.
@Jane and Chris: it's a word I love making use of.
@Norma: it's completely short sighted.
@Grace: I know you dislike that project.
@Tex: there'll come a day when these developers really screw the city over, and when it does, I'll just have to refrain from saying I told them so.
@MB: they're hustlers. This group of them certainly are. They bleed money from a city and give not one damned thing back.
I think it's the same story everywhere, William, a lot of buildings and landscapes we once loved and apprediated are offered overhere in the Netherlands too. Everything for the happy few and the big money, disgusting!
ReplyDeleteI hate it when cities give up so much to benefit so few! We recently had a project where some old buildings were preserved and it was promised that local businesses were going to fill the spaces. I think there is possible one local business in there now, the rest are chains to be found everywhere.
ReplyDeleteI guess I'm lucky in a way that most of Versailles is listed and can't be touched... Just like you, I dislike this kind of 'vision' that makes all our city centres the same...
ReplyDeleteHaving said that, considering that Versailles' buildings are listed, I do wish there could be a bit more modern art on pavements for instance. Not the same as developments, I know.
What a sad shame. This seems to be happening everywhere. I'm with you on this and on football too!
ReplyDeleteWell... I have no words...
ReplyDeleteHow can this be a park?
ReplyDeleteA few words I haven't heard in a while, good on ya William, that's a great vent and I highly sympathize. I hate developers coming in and calling it progress!!! Progress for their pockets maybe. I am not a football fan either, though I am surrounded by those who are.
ReplyDeleteCome on, William! Tell us how you REALLY feel!
ReplyDeleteNice shots but I prefer to see trees , forest and country sides every day over buildings and cities lol I just cant stand the city lol ! Wish they could leave well enough alone thought !
ReplyDeleteOh, your unhappiness about this project that apparently ruins forever what was once a pristine park for all people shines through, to say the least. It seems unfathomable that a city can even consider giving over a public green space to commercial development. Is there anything more precious, for us and for future generations, than a city with green spaces?
ReplyDelete@Jan: it seems there's no thought for the long term here at times. Handled right, this place could have been an local variant to Central Park.
ReplyDelete@Sharon: that very much sounds like the retail that will be here. There was an alternate version put forth that would have respected the buildings already there, but put an emphasis on parkland as its core, with minimal retail in the form of a handful of boutiques... not big box stores.
@Ciel: consider yourself lucky!
@Judy: I've never understood football... or soccer, for that matter.
@Karl: it's an atrocity.
@RedPat: the real shame is it could have been.
@Denise: I can think of one developer here who had respect for the history of a place she redeveloped. The rest? Not at all.
@Cheryl: I know, when I get off on a rant.
@Country Gal: they claim there'll be some parkland, but I seriously doubt it.
@Merisi: it's too late at this point to go back on it, unfortunately. And while one of our city papers has asked critical questions, another one's practically doing the PR work for the project.
It 's a desecration, it is. Even if they'd built the retail bits to complement the Pavilion's architecture, that might have helped make it look more interesting. Now it will seem as if the victorian building is an affectation.
ReplyDeleteAnd will the farmer's market return when all is done?
You lambasted them! They, however, will pay no heed.
ReplyDeleteRegrettably, if I have it right, your opinion doesn't count unless you've got cash and political power. I watched this sort of "evolution" over a lifetime in California and ultimately came to call it "zoning for dollars."
ReplyDeleteTake all the trees and put them in a tree museum.
ReplyDeletecharge the people a dollar and a half just to see 'em.
Don't it always seem to go, you don't know what you've got till it's gone.
Take paradise and put up a parking lot.
William, don't be so timid. What do you really think?
ReplyDeleteThey paved paradise and put in a parking lot.
I'm so sorry to see this happening. It truly is a shame!
ReplyDeleteok, i had to re-read that a couple times - i thought the 1st time i read it you had a park so i thought where the heck are the trees? i love trees.... i must be tired. so i read it again.... got ya now. we have lots of construction going on in the big city near us ... & i wonder why they need so many businesses. i wonder about those folks that are called "urban planners". i wish they would reuse old building - not buying & building more. i get that it is cheaper. but ??! i made a joke once on FB ... when i had a personal FB page & i had a bunch of people rip my head off ... when will folks be happy - when the world is nothing but sidewalks? for me ... i love trees, beautiful lands, & did i mention trees. ( :
ReplyDeleteJudy Collins had the right message in her song as previous commenters have quoted her famous lyrics. And, yes William I would have known, no guessing needed, that you were angry at this development and that you disliked football. I agree the name is idiotic.
ReplyDeleteSure doesn't look like a park! I can see why you're upset. Seems like the whole world is being developed willy nilly, whether we like it or not.
ReplyDeleteI am right there with you! Different place and circumstances, but why does every open space in a city have to developed? The really sad part about it, is that if it wasn't this company, there are probably 20 others who would have.
ReplyDeleteRedblacks is very odd for a team name.
@Hamilton: the farmer's market has indeed returned. It's in the pavilion now, and will be outdoors when warm weather returns.
ReplyDelete@Mari: they never do.
@Kay: they could have used this place and done something really special. Instead they handed it over to these guys.
@Linda: an appropriate lyric.
@Jack: that's a good way to put it.
@Lois: in the right hands, this could have been a Central Park.
@Beth: it wasn't a park in the traditional sense, but an exhibition ground. They could have done so much better.
@Beatrice: in ten years, the franchise will fold and there'll be a white elephant stadium.
@Elaine: I lived for awhile across the Canal from this place. The construction sounds going on here wrecked my sleep cycle for months.
@Pat: there's no shortage of greed when it comes to developers.