Keeping out illegal dumpers
Q: A lengthy stretch of fencing was installed on property on Welland Canals Parkway across from the Lock 3 Museum complex in St. Catharines. What’s going on there?
A: Illegal dumping led the owners — St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corporation — to fence in the property.
Alvina Ghirardi, manager of regional services for the seaway, said in an email they erected the fencing on the parcel of land to reduce trespassing in general. But most notably, they were seeing an increase in dumping of furniture, household garbage and construction materials on the property.
Large amounts of garbage dumped early this spring even included seats removed from inside vehicles. The mess has been cleaned up, but to avoid it happening again, the seaway installed the chain link fence.
“The area is now fenced and secure and members of the public should be reminded that this is a ‘no trespassing’ area,” Ghirardi said.
The seaway has spent approximately $10,000 this year to clean up illegally dumped garbage on its open lands from St. Catharines to Port Colborne. Lands that are fenced have not racked up trash removal costs because people stay out.
The parcel of land is part of Transport Canada’s divestiture plan which is being administered by Transport Canada so its longterm use is to be determined.
Q: I have noticed St. Catharines has used reddish coloured concrete on a short section on the Lakeshore Road sidewalk near Lake Street. It is a narrow strip of concrete, between the sidewalk and curb on the newly rebuilt section of Lakeshore Road in the dip just before Lake Street on the north side. I see this colour of concrete has also been used in similar applications on the section of Glendale Avenue which has recently been rebuilt near the Pen, adjacent to the sidewalks and on the medians. Why the colour?
A: Quite simply, it looks nice.
Dan Dillon, director of transportation and environmental services, said the colour is used on some boulevard areas between the sidewalk and curb as a decorative feature to differentiate it from regular concrete sidewalk. It’s used in some centre islands as well, where there isn’t other landscaping like bushes or flowers.
“We try to pick contrasting colours that stand out a bit more,” Dillon explained. “Part of the challenge with concrete is it fades to a bit of a grey colour.”
In addition to the red colour effect, the city has differentiated between the sidewalk and curb on St. Paul Street by the performing arts centre using patterned concrete. A stamp was used on grey concrete to give it a brick pattern.
The decorative features shouldn’t be confused with cast iron insets with domes that are installed on sidewalks before intersections to warn people with visual impairments of the road ahead. The steel rusts initially giving it a red look, but that rust fades away over time.
The search continues…
A collection of outdoor art installations at the ARPAD Park Hungarian Hall in Niagara Falls is growing. The property at the corner of Montrose and Lyon’s Creek now has not one, but two giant Rubik’s Cubes.
The phenomenally popular puzzle was created in 1974 by a Hungarian professor, Erno Rubik.
Search Engine reported in July that the hall acquired a Rubik’s Cube sculpture that needed a home after being built for a Canada Day parade in Toronto.
Now, it’s taken on a second giant cube by the same builder that was
created for a one-month exhibit in Ottawa about Hungarian innovations and art. The Embassy of Hungary exhibition at Canada’s International Pavilion ended on Oct. 28 and the Niagara Falls hall agreed to take in the sculpture.
It’s been placed in front of the ARPAD hall and is more visible to traffic than the first cube, which is around back but still managed to attract a lot of attention this summer.
“We’re surprised how many people stop by. Unbelievable,” said John Szoke, president of the hall.
“During the summer, it doesn’t matter during the week, in the morning, afternoon, cutting the grass out there you see them stop by. It’s something I think people like.”
The cubes join the Tunnel Through Time wooden sculpture commemorating the 1956 Hungarian Revolution and Freedom Fight. That sculpture was on temporary display in Budapest Park in Toronto in October 2016 but needed a permanent home and the Niagara Falls hall said, Why not?
Szoke doesn’t know if there are more sculptures in the hall’s future, but he’s not ruling it out.