864-872 King St W | 55, 44, 38, 16 fl | proposed

[panamaniac]

Now, the honking big parking lot between the hospital and SunLife might be an interesting possibility ...

From what I know, the parking lot is primarily used by Grand River Hospital employees these days, with Sunlife only using a small bit of it (in addition to both their parking garage and I think a small underground parking area) due to a lot of them now just working from home or only coming into the office when necessary. So...whenever the new hospital gets opened and the existing hospital begins to see less patients/visitors/staff there, perhaps there could be a chance that gets turned into a park. It'd be a nice space to make one, with two LRT stations just minutes away as well as the trail that runs along Belmont providing easy access not to mention future residential density that is 100% going to happen around here.

However, since Sunlife owns, it I wouldn't be surprised if they would immediately say no to that. There was that rather large condo project directly beside the office tower that never went anywhere as well as the project slowly underway at their other former office complex on Westmount. Sunlife is, of course, in the financial industry so they understand the value of the land they own. Unless the cities paid fair price for the land or convinced Sunlife to donate/collaborate on it, I can't see them not seeking as much money as possible. Plus...the border between the two cities runs between that parking lot I think, so that'd open up another can of worms to figure out.

Car hatred aside, that parking lot does see use and provides value to two extremely important (and some of the largest) employers in Waterloo Region so it does have tangible value even if it's a sea of asphalt. In contrast, dozens of acres containing hundreds of bones and rotting corpses provides...nothing. If anywhere could be considered for park space, a place like this is perfect, especially when you consider the long-term urban planning ideas the cities and region have for midtown: there is a lot of underutilized space here and in 30-40 years time, there will be skyscrapers and midrise buildings all over this little stretch of King Street. I can't think of any better place to put an absolutely massive public park that will last generations, which would act as a shared space for residents of both cities, than right here. One quick look at a map shows just how little space we have to play with for civic institutions.

The scary thing is, we are the generation that has been granted the task to define and direct the course of this region for the next century. The changes taking shape right now are equal to those that took place when this area was growing. Those before us were wise when they made Victoria and Waterloo Parks where they are. The question is whether we will be smart enough to take this opportunity to create a new park (and everything else) necessary to support citizens over the next 100+ years. Probably not. I'm sure we'll fumble and in 2080 they'll be wondering what the fuck we were thinking.

However, I think if the idea to turn this cemetery into a park was suggested to the public, the outrage would be absolutely wild. Every boomer, white Judaeo-Christian and conservative leaning citizen (referring to them, since they are groups that still place "value" on the concept of burying a body in a box and dumping a stone on top) would have a meltdown about the sheer idea of digging up bodies from their "resting place" to build parks, bike lanes and homes and it would be basically dead on arrival. It probably wouldn't even be worth the effort or cost to look into and propose this idea, because I don't think most people would accept it. It's almost a guarantee council would unanimously vote against it even if it was put up for vote as well, since they tend to only vote in favour for what will keep them having a job...

From what I know, the parking lot is primarily used by Grand River Hospital employees these days, with Sunlife only using a small bit of it (in addition to both their parking garage and I think a small underground parking area) due to a lot of them now just working from home or only coming into the office when necessary. So...whenever the new hospital gets opened and the existing hospital begins to see less patients/visitors/staff there, perhaps there could be a chance that gets turned into a park. It'd be a nice space to make one, with two LRT stations just minutes away as well as the trail that runs along Belmont providing easy access not to mention future residential density that is 100% going to happen around here.

However, since Sunlife owns, it I wouldn't be surprised if they would immediately say no to that. There was that rather large condo project directly beside the office tower that never went anywhere as well as the project slowly underway at their other former office complex on Westmount. Sunlife is, of course, in the financial industry so they understand the value of the land they own. Unless the cities paid fair price for the land or convinced Sunlife to donate/collaborate on it, I can't see them not seeking as much money as possible. Plus...the border between the two cities runs between that parking lot I think, so that'd open up another can of worms to figure out.

Car hatred aside, that parking lot does see use and provides value to two extremely important (and some of the largest) employers in Waterloo Region so it does have tangible value even if it's a sea of asphalt. In contrast, dozens of acres containing hundreds of bones and rotting corpses provides...nothing. If anywhere could be considered for park space, a place like this is perfect, especially when you consider the long-term urban planning ideas the cities and region have for midtown: there is a lot of underutilized space here and in 30-40 years time, there will be skyscrapers and midrise buildings all over this little stretch of King Street. I can't think of any better place to put an absolutely massive public park that will last generations, which would act as a shared space for residents of both cities, than right here. One quick look at a map shows just how little space we have to play with for civic institutions.

The scary thing is, we are the generation that has been granted the task to define and direct the course of this region for the next century. The changes taking shape right now are equal to those that took place when this area was growing. Those before us were wise when they made Victoria and Waterloo Parks where they are. The question is whether we will be smart enough to take this opportunity to create a new park (and everything else) necessary to support citizens over the next 100+ years. Probably not. I'm sure we'll fumble and in 2080 they'll be wondering what the fuck we were thinking.

However, I think if the idea to turn this cemetery into a park was suggested to the public, the outrage would be absolutely wild. Every boomer, white Judaeo-Christian and conservative leaning citizen (referring to them, since they are groups that still place "value" on the concept of burying a body in a box and dumping a stone on top) would have a meltdown about the sheer idea of digging up bodies from their "resting place" to build parks, bike lanes and homes and it would be basically dead on arrival. It probably wouldn't even be worth the effort or cost to look into and propose this idea, because I don't think most people would accept it. It's almost a guarantee council would unanimously vote against it even if it was put up for vote as well, since they tend to only vote in favour for what will keep them having a job...

I am an atheist and not originally from the Region, but if I had ancestors buried there, I would still object to them being arbitrarily dug up.

You and thousands of other locals with family buried there - some of them probably planning to be buried there themselves.  I assume that, at least since the City took on the cemetery in the 1950s, that burial plots came with a contract for perpetual care.