Soccer Spin 101: New City Park renamed 'CITY VIEW' Park formally 'LAUNCHES' on Saturday, June 23rd, 2012

 

Mayor Rick Goldring addresses the massive crowd..

 

The GRAND OPENING of 'City View Park' -  formerly known as New City Park - launched on Saturday at 11am.   I admit I was expecting THOUSANDS of downtown soccer enthusiasts yelling, screaming, doing a 'plastic grass' victory dance. ... No such luck.

The City of Burlington website had been pumping the event for at least two weeks, inviting all and sundry. The opening was also advertised in the Burlington Post. The press were there, primed & ready. Tim Hortons' even pitched in as the kick-off sponsor offering FREE coffee and Timbits. All in all, set & ready to roll. But aside from the opening-exhibition game players, their coaches & parents, few turned up. How come?

Councillor Paul Sharman had an interesting theory. He was extrapolating on the reasoning for the continued use of plastic grass affording a longer play season etc, when he suddenly admitted "but we're over-capacity". He continued, 'We have more soccer fields then we know what to do with'. Dumbfounded, I listened.

Mr. Sharman, how does this make any fiscal sense? WHY build MORE soccer fields when the City already has a super-abundance? I suppose though that you are, in part, to blame for this, in that you were very actively involved in MOVING the Pan Am Games soccer event of 2015 up here to this "remote" location, instead of letting the Games play out in the fully serviced & available facility in YOUR downtown neighbourhood at Sherwood Forest Park. As I recall YOUR vocal citizen group was concerned about the noise, the parking, the glaring stadium lights & the generally reduced quality of life for adjacent residents. So, using political logic, yes, BUILD MORE (when they're not really needed) ELSEWHERE ...

Anyway, in total, there were less then 40 enthusiasts to hear the Mayor & other polished politicos spout their predictable platitudes of 'jewel of the escarpment', 'an amazing sport venue' etc. At least one third of those in attendance were City employees, with their supporters, who clearly have a vested interest in seeing this 'Centre of Sport Excellence' (or whatever they're spinning it as these days) reach full potential. To wit, Mike Wallace was there. Sure, there was a token gesture towards the Bruce Trail Association, but tellingly, this bells & whistles **MEGA OPENING Invitational** was not listed on either the Bruce Trail or Bruce Trail Iroquois Club websites. ... Obviously a 'public relations' oversight ...

None of this dampened the opportunity for what politicians do best - grandstanding & preening for the photo-op. The City staff photographer complied as best he could, finding soccer ball props and directing the Group shot of City officials, soon to appear in the City of Burlington's City Talk newsletter no doubt.

( Parks & Recreation acting Director, Chris Glenn, with the Mayor, (upper right) Ward 1 Councillor Rick Craven* at the podium (lower left) , City Staff Photographer, (lower centre) and the Group Shot: Mayor Goldring, Ward 6 Councillor Blair Lancaster, Ward 5 Councillor Paul Sharman - the Bruce Trial token spokesman - Ward 1 Councillor Rick Craven & Ward 3 Councillor John Taylor. Notably absent: Ward 4 Councillor Jack Dennison & 
Ward 2 Councillor Marianne Meed Ward.)

So, got it. The emphasis in this park is NOT the globally unique Escarpment itself - as it SHOULD be - but rather, the focus is on the soccer ... And WHERE, some may ask, is the 1500-seat soccer stadium going to go? See that liviing field below? Lovely 'as is', isn't it? well, forget THAT.  Who knows what the stadium will actually LOOK like. There has been NO 'public consultations' about that either. The Niagara Escarpment Commission has already given City the permit to install the third plastic grass carpet here with the unseen stadium. Somewhat ironic, considering that taxpayers, who ARE the PUBLIC, are ultimately footing this grandiose 'unseen stadium' bill.

 

I suppose the IDEA is to give the seated 2015 Pan Am Game promoters & spectators the opportunity to soak up the five star City View' from their elevated & privileged-access positions when they become bored watching the youthful game play far below ... And I suppose the stadium DESIGN for 1500 will try to do everything it can to mitigate the carbon offset of those plastic grass 'heat islands' . Maybe the designers will use expensive passive solar stadium cooling or some such?  Who knows. One thing is certain, this unique & timeless Niagara Escarpment landscape has changed for good. And not, in my humble 'local-yocal' opinion, for the better. 

 

  City View Park 'view'  

If there is one thing I have learned from this whole sorry affair - of putting padlocked fenced-in plastic grass carpets into an UNESCO World BIO-sphere - it's that City is just not listening. If they were, they would have HEARD  over 300 voices who OPPOSED the use of plastic grass in this natural parkland area. (via the Care2 petition, my Facebook page & the Environmental Review Tribunal of October 2010). Instead, they have selectively listened to the alluring trill of tinkling loonies, aggressive lawyers, PanAm promoters & the "30 people"  from Ward 1*, who all want to impose their GRAND DESIGN of a suburban tournament-level FIFA soccer facility onto this timeless landscape. - HELLO???  We - the people of Burlington, who live, work, play & pay taxes here - would prefer a NATURAL park - for recreational sport use in an un-fenced OPEN family-friendly living green space - as per the ORIGINAL park plan of 2009. Hello?

What has been lost with this fenced-in 'plastic grass' is the timeless rejuvenating GIFT this Living Earth place once offered us all: an opportunity to joyfully interact with this marvelous & majestic open natural environment. Now, we're just expected to play on the fenced-in plastic, follow the signs, and stay on the park-paved sidewalks or tended paths ....

At this point, for those who do genuinely love & RESPECT Nature's wonderful insights & pleasures, I can only suggest you do visit City View Park as soon as you can, before the soccer stadium completely dominates what little 'wild life' is left of this now-struggling "nature" preserve.  Building will commence in 2013 or early 2014. Seek solace where you can. Joni got it right.

One final thought, one wonders why City would name the park 'City View Park', when two parks with the same name already exist within a stone's throw in Southern Ontario. One is in Mississauga and the other is in Brantford. Both these parks are somewhat lifeless suburban community parks surrounded by cookie-cutter housing developments that offer one tired baseball diamond and a few run-down tennis courts. ah well.  Birds of a Feather and all that. Welcome to, um, BURLINGTON's largest Niagara Escarpment park: Where GREEN & SUSTAINABLE GROWTH really means 'We be Avid Supporters of Non-biodegradable Life-denying PLASTIC!

Why doesn't City just cut to the chase and call it 'PHOTO-OP PARK' - ?  If this GRAND OPENING was any indication of things to come, expect a LOT more 'Big Shot' Photo-Pooping & Scooping.

'City View Parks' in Brantford & Mississauga. 

*Officially, 'City View Park' is in Ward 1, even though those in Ward 3 in Burlington & Ward 15 of Hamilton - both ON TOP of the Escarpment - 
will be most affected by this Niagara Escarpment 'development'.

... stay tuned ...

New City Park 'Verdict', April 7th, 2011

'Earth Assault' 
 
For those who have been following this 'story', 

on April 7th, 2011, we finally received the

'verdict' from the Ministry of Natural Resources,

(apropos the fervently fought 

Environmental Hearing on October 5th, 2010.)

In brief, we lost.

 City & the Pan Am org won.

The Golden Horseshoe has just lost

what COULD have been the 

most magnificent NATURAL

Park of the entire Niagara Escarpment.

Short-term 'photo-op' expediency

and greed for 'free' PanAm money won.

Now, TONS of lifeless PLASTIC GRASS will carpet

this precious living landscape for GOOD.

Sad, sad day. 

If you care to read more, 

link 

HERE

'Victor'

Season's Greetings & Tribunal Decision

Dear friends, associates & other interested parties ...
to read my seasonal e-newsletter &
find out what has HAPPENED - link 'here'.

New City Park 'walk-about', Nov.14, 2010

Back tracking our walk, we did a 'circle' around the upper parkland area. The last shot shows an old tractor tire propped up against a tree, with the land graded for the artificial turf playing fields in the background ...


It was encouraging to see this bird nest in one of the NEWly planted trees along the brow's edge ...

View from the brow back out over Burlington & the lake. Yes, a bit 'gray', but it IS November and still, a great VIEW.

Tree plantings along the brow edge. Our gut feeling is that at least half these 'newlings' won't make their first winter. None are 'deer/rabbit wrapped', and though tethered, some have already been 'uprooted' by strong winds.


Moss covered OLD escarpment rock off the Bruce Trail. This 'untouched' area is the BEST part of the park at present. It affirms that this LAND has been here for a long, long, LONG time.

EdeG strolling on the Bruce Trail, along the brow edge ... near the 'catalpa' tree ...


We explored this karst/sink hole and were kind of surprised to see that for all the 'designing' going on around the upper parkland area, old farm debris, like a rusty decaying metal feed drum and ancient tires, are still embedded in this natural creviss. Why haven't they been taken out? What purpose does it serve to LEAVE this debris in here? We don't know.


Lots of gates/fences around the new plantings. Why? It effectively interrupts the 'open' feeling that this location once naturally gave ...

... more fences ...

The above shot gives a sense of the 'old' brow forest and the newly planted saplings - strategically placed.
The next three images indicate HOW the water will run off from the fake lake into the ESA - (ecologically sensitive area). Above is the 'unfiltered/uncontoured' drain-off that sort of 'drifts' off towards the woods ... It's all a bit hap-hazard at the moment. It doesn't anticipate HOW the run-off from the synthetic artificial turf will IMPACT this ground water and/or land ...

The above shot shows the rock screening where the pipe leads out from the fake lake ...

The fake lake at New City Park. Wild canadian geese seem to like it ... so that's sort of good ... The current plan is that this water will be used to 'service' the artificial turf. All the water will drain directly back into the lake after it is used to 'wash off' the sanitizing chemicals, and 'cool' the heat islands of latex/rubber in the summer when they reach in excess of 120F.

Overall, it's an eco-disgrace, and that's why your VOTE is still needed. Federal & PanAm monies have 'hi-jacked' this PUBLIC park and will soon turn it into an 'exclusive use' tournament level soccer sport STADIUM facility. The money and this 'out of town' AMBITION is turning it into something it should NEVER be. Unless we do SPEAK OUT, we'll lose this Niagara Escarpment 'jewel' for good.

We want New City Park to be GREEN, from stem to stern, not fenced-in plastic turf with a half million dollar flood-lit stadium illuminating the landscape for miles around.

Give us back our park! Vote via this link -

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/2/Vote-NO-to-the-Pan-Am-Games-in-New-City-Park/

Last Stand ! New City Park-Tribunal Decision

Just completed this oil painting, 'Last Stand!'. It kind of encapsultes my recent thoughts about the recent 'developments' at New City Park, in Burlington, Ontario, Canada. Wildlife is on the 'edge', literally & figuratively; it's 'stuck', habitat & food resources ever-diminishing.

As of today, we are still waiting on the 'decision' from the Tribunal to determine the fate and future of this park. Will it be just another 'major sports facility' with FIELDS of plastic grass and a domineering metal-rod flood-lit SOCCER STADIUM? an end-point 'sports toursim destination' as has been latterly proposed by the PanAm Org in conjunction with the City Staff/Council? OR, will it REMAIN as it was ORIGINALLY planned as an 'eco-friendly & sustainable' mixed-use 'recreational' NATURAL parkland area for ALL living things? The verdict is still out ... we wait.

In the interim, please join me for my final 'formal' Friends of City Park 'Meetup' on Sunday, November 14th, NOON, at New City Park. Meet at the front entrance of the Park on Kerns Road (at Dundas Street). Rain or Shine. Please be sure to wear warm clothes & good walking shoes/boots. All welcome.
This 'walk-about' should take about an hour. We'll likely have the Tribunal 'decision' by then, so, depending on that outcome, future 'strategic' plans will be considered/discussed. Your ideas, and continued help, are much appreciated.
Please join me to go 'a-wanderin' before the snow flies -
Hope to see you soon - Lindsay
p.s. New City Park doesn't have a 'website' or 'location' yet. Use Google MAPS, search for 'Burlington, Ontario L7P 4V9'.

Thanksgiving 2010 - Roots are Essential

For those of you who follow this blog, you'll know that this summer has been a very interesting and demanding one. Not only did I have my second public gallery exhibition, ['Memory's Shadow: Pinhole & Photo Collage Photography' by yours truly, well received and reviewed btw], I also undertook a personal crusade effective of mid-July to save a new park on the Niagara Escarpment from ruin. The mis-guided introduction of three fields of artificial turf aka 'plastic grass' into what is otherwise one of the few remaining wildlife corridors in Southern Ontario is an eco-disgrace.

In many ways, it seems to me, the last minute 'development' of this parkland area since December 2009 to satisfy 'out of town' sporting interests (the PanAm Games) re-enacts a well worn 'attitude' that the dominant & domineering human culture has about 'the planet' - in general. Locally, it can be seen in the 'colonializing' intent to reshape a natural environment to fulfill the over-weening AMBITION of bureaucratic planners, designers and landscape 'architects' to IMPROVE what Nature has done well and quietly for centuries.

After publicly protesting this venture through a petition (yes, you can still vote on my previous post), and then standing up at an Environmental Hearing last week to be HEARD, we are now waiting for the Tribunal to decide this park's fate.

In many ways, it doesn't look good. Millions of dollars have been 'earmarked' for this park's development. We all know that money speaks louder then words. Even so, if anyone of 'import' IS listening, hopefully they will come to understand that what is currently being destroyed is an IRREPLACEABLE CONNECTION to THIS wholly unique land for all of US, here, in Southern Ontario.

This leads me to the topic of this post - ROOTS. They connect us to each other by blood. And they ultimately and intimately connect us to the planet in our need for water, air and land. Without them, we flounder, fail and lose our bearings. Roots are essential for personal well-being and growth.

New City Park offers us, and generations to come, a chance to re-connect to the land and our vital living roots in ways that plastic grass never can. Without REAL roots, we are lost.

Roots assist us to define, refine and become who we singularly are. We all have them. We all need them. I am 'canajun' from HERE, Southern Ontario, the Niagara Escarpment, born & bred. To destory that, to smother it with toxic non-biodegradable crude, is an insult to all living things who thrive and survive at this point on the globe. Imported 'carpets' of synthetic grass are anathema to the spirit of this place. By using this product to cover the Living Earth, we are admitting our dominating dis-respect, dis-connect and dis-regard for ALL that sustains us daily.

Giving thanks during the harvest months is the antithesis of this superior 'attitude'. Giving thanks recognizes that we ARE a part OF Nature, not apart from it. Giving thanks expresses our gratitude for ALL living things that make OUR roots to this place deep and vibrant.

One such person who embodies this 'thankfulness' is Annie B. Her family lived and farmed what will become New City Park for nearly a century. Annie grew up on this escarpment land.

When Annie learned of the proposed 'changes' to the Park, she flew in from British Colombia earlier this summer to visit, one last time, what the land had always given her. her planetary ROOTS. The following photo of her shows a little hobbit-like creature meandering through the woods ... It may mean nothing to you, but to me, this shot embodies the solace and harmony that this landscape can bring. Annie is HOME here. And for that, she is most thankful.


Further to these thoughts, I've added a few images of the paintings & general 'messing about' I've been doing at my lakeside studio this summer ... And yes, I am most blessed. I too give thanks.

May you all have a warm and fulfilling Thanksgiving with your family, friends and loved ones. Thanks be too to the natural world that has - through its Life-Giviing Bounty - given us the bedrock- and benefits - so that we may all have a FULL life ....

New City Park - MLH Presentation to the Hearing

Here is the link to my presentation before the Environmental Review Tribunal, scheduled for October 5th, 2010, at Burlington City Hall, in Ontario, Canada. In it, I argue the reasons WHY 'synthetic grass' aka 'artificial turf' aka 'plastic grass' does not BELONG in New City Park, a 'new' park protected by the Niagara Escarpment Plan, and thus, now a part too of the UNESCO World Biosphere Reserve.

It's a long dissertation, so, you might want to get a cuppa before you settle in ... link - here.

(For those who follow my 'other life', kindly note, that after this is over, I will be posting new summer work, so please come 'visit' again soon ... thanks. mlh)

Grass Roots Petition now on global CARE2 Petition Site

VOTE NOW - NO to the Pan Am Games in New City Park

A Grass Roots PETITION - Vote NO to the Pan Am Games in Burlington City Park!

... a vital and alive natural landscape ...

A Grass Roots PETITION has just begun -
Vote NO to the Pan Am Games in Burlington City Park

We have so little time to get this message 'up' and 'out' - venues are being finalized, monies are being spent - yet, we MUST TRY to be HEARD before it really is TOO LATE. Please -
Vote NO to the Pan Am Games in Burlington City Park

The 'new' Burlington City Park, the largest park in Burlington, is currently 'under construction' at Kerns Road and Dundas Street.. The Bruce Trail runs along its brow edge and Kerncliff Park is already there, in its south-western 'corner'. Located primarily on TOP of the Niagara Escarpment, it is home & haven to a wide variety of species - including wandering & wondering nature-loving humans ...

Most of this rural park land, though in the political boundary of Ward 1, butts up against Ward 3 and Ward 15 on top of the Niagara escarpment. This petition has been created to draw attention to the FACT that most Burlingtonians - let alone citizens all over the Golden Horseshoe region - have had little to no say about the impact this Pan Am 'venture' will have on THEIR park. It's not simply the park that's underway, it's the sneaky way the City has 'slipped' in the Pan Am Games ONTO the development of this PUBLIC land space.

After the rejection of Sherwood Forest Park in the urban core as the 'soccer' venue for the Games, by local residents, City Staff put forward the "remote" new 'City Park' to Burlington City Council.. Before the City could get the Pan Am 'bid' they had to convince and get the Niagara Escarpment Commission's 'approval'. This entire escarpment zone is locally known as unique, in many ways it remains 'untouched' and, as such, falls under the NEC mandate to preserve and protect it from inappropriate development.

When the City originally proposed the idea to the NEC in February of 2010, the NEC turned them down. The City's 'plan' encompassed 10,000 spectators, with seating for 8,500 plus all the necessary food, security, garbage, restroom and media/power facilties to accommodate such a large soccer-minded crowd. The NEC was rightly concerned that the size and scope of this kind of event would upset the natural equilibrium of the park. So, the City went away, and sharpened their pencils. On June 17th, they came back with 'revised' numbers for the NEC: Suddenly projected attendance had dropped from 10,000 to 5000 that only necessitated 'temporary' seating for 3500 with NO on-site parking for spectators. The crowds would be shuttled in by a 'temporary' transit system. They also said that when the Games were done, the whole 'event' would be dismantled and cleaned up. The NEC gave them the go-ahead.

HOWEVER, things just aren't adding up, and this should be of GREAT CONCERN to all those interested in maintaining ANY wonderful natural park on or near the magnificient Niagara Escarpment. During the City's June presentation to the NEC, City officials maintained that there had been numerous public consultations - including an 'Open House' in Ward 1, specifically about the Games, and that the "vast majority" there of "over 30 people" had voted in favour of the Pan Am Games. 30 people does not a 'majority' make! Meetings have been held about the PARK, not the Pan Am Games IN the park, and that's where something is starting to stink ...

What is becoming increasingly clear is that the City does not want another 'citizen rejection' of their big-ticket Pan Am scheme. The City has seemingly used the 'cloak' of public consultations about the PARK, not the GAMES, to inflate their 'public approval' numbers to the NEC, the media and the organizers of the Games. If people really HAD been properly informed and consulted about the IMPACT these games would have altogether, it is very unlikely that they would want them any more then did sensible residents of Sherwood Forest Park.

All Wards butting onto the park - Ward 1, Ward 3 and Ward 15 of Hamilton - should be better informed about this 'Over the Top' SPORTS SHOW that will be running for the summer of 2015.

City Park, as originally conceived, is, yes, IN PART, a recreational sports park, but increasingly it is being 'modified' and 'reshaped' to accomodate the mega-million dollar 'branding' ambitions of the Pan Am Games. This is NOT - when understood in full scope - what people ' pro the park' had bargained for.

In short, 'we' were not adequately informed or consulted, and 'we' are now being 'railroaded' into 'accepting' it, like it or not. Well, I, for one, am NOT accepting it. The need to accomodate so many - 5,000 or 10,000 or even 15,000 - will move the park so far away - conceptually - from what it SHOULD be, and what it was originally SOLD to us as, that it does now warrant this GRASS ROOTS 'citizen's protest'.

Please join with me andVote NO to the Pan Am Games in Burlington City Park

The new Burlington City Park is INAPPROPRIATE for the Pan Am Games.

Sign the PETITION -
Vote NO to the Pan Am Games in Burlington City Park

Thank you.
Margaret Lindsay Holton
A FRIEND of City Park
Golden Horseshoe Artist & Author

.. now a barren, scoured 'lot' ready for 'artificial grass' ...

Press Links:

http://thespec.com/News/BreakingNews/article/815278
Activist Artist wants Pan Am soocer stadium Venue Changed

http://www.insidehalton.com/news/article/853369--petition-aims-to-take-pan-am-games-out-of-new-city-park

http://www.insidehalton.com/opinion/letters/article/857531--put-pan-am-soccer-at-bayview-park-resident

Note: We held off the assault for ten months, but as of April 7th, 2011, we've 'lost'. The Ministry of Natural Resources has given City the 'go ahead', albeit with certain conditions. It's over. Plastic Grass is going into this park forever. For more info, and Spring Newsletter, link here -