National Post

‘If you’re in Chicago, how do you view its waterfront? Often and happily.’

An envious visit to New York’s High Line park

- sondra gotlieb

We were in New York a couple of weeks ago and enthusiast­ic New Yorkers and visitors urged us to visit the High Line. The High Line, a former elevated railroad, had been slated for demolition since carrying its last trainload, frozen turkeys, in 1980. In 1999 two men began the fight against a group of property owners and developers who were determined to take down the railroad and build Toronto-type condos in its place. The two guys went to city hall and convinced Mayor Bloomberg they could raise enough money for the railroad to be changed into an attractive public space. The city came through with money as well and, after the usual bitter fight, the Friends of the High Line conquered the developers. The High Line became a thriving public green space, a huge tourist attraction as well as one of the prides of New York.

Can you see such a thing happening in Toronto? With a few exceptions our parks are green patches maintained by a mowing machine but with little interestin­g planting, unlike the High Line.

We have ravines that are supposed to be Toronto’s pride but I’m told invasive plants have taken them over. And when you tell visitors that we have ravines, there’s a real disconnect between one of our natural advantages and the people. Where are these ravines, anyhow? And when was the last time you looked at the skyline around the lakefront without despair? Every time I return from the airport I feel depressed looking at the proliferat­ing condos lining the lake and so little green space around them.

If you’re in Chicago, how do you view its lakefront? Often and happily. If you live in Toronto, you will get a very different answer. “Nobody in Toronto cares about public spaces and how they look.” I hear this over and over again. Those who dislike Toronto’s dreary look are dishearten­ed and don’t know who to turn to change things for the better. Is it possible for us to have our form of High Line? If not a railway track, perhaps we can do something exciting with our existing parks. It’s hard to compare any park in Toronto with the vast acreage of the Montreal Botanical Gardens, never mind Central Park in New York or Hyde Park in London. Wouldn’t it be ideal to have a big green space in the heart of town, say near the Eaton Centre? And yes, I know there’s a particular­ly ugly all-concrete square which acts as a kind of a live match.com for teenagers there.

Real parks or larger, more interestin­g squares like they have in New York, Boston, London, Paris, and many other European towns are the life force of the city and are designed in such a way that people of all kinds — young and old, rich and poor, locals and tourists, singles and families, nannies and babies — are drawn to them and feel comfortabl­e walking, playing or resting in them. In short, they are democratic and egalitaria­n. The Brickworks, the Music Garden near the lake and the Toronto Botanical Gardens have made a positive contributi­on to our city, thanks in particular to private support. But we need a grand vision, something large and green in the very heart of the city as well as building and expanding of what we all ready have, like Allan Gardens.

Is it possible to create the same kind of pride in Toronto that New Yorkers have in the High Line and Central Park? Well, we could go to the mayor and try to convince him, but somehow I think beatifying Toronto is the last thing on his list — although I’d bet the parks in North America bring more money to the community than the casinos.

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