ION - Waterloo Region's Light Rail Transit

[panamaniac]

Nobody has mentioned the two negative articles on the record today... and their comment sections.

In the case of the problems being encountered by the Corner Pub at Ottawa and Charles Sts, I was left wondering whether the City couldn't consider moving the expropriation forward to this year from 2018?  The owner seems to be in distress for little reason, in the circumstances.

[panamaniac]

Would you prefer drab and functional, then? Perhaps grey and Soviet-functional-esque? Public art makes a city or region nicer to live in and gives it character - or helps to expand upon the character already there.  I'm all for a 1% rule of thumb.

The Soviet Union and other communist states paid a lot of attention to public art. Moscow’s metro, for instance, has extensive artwork at each station, and so do transit systems in other formerly communist cities. There’s no dearth of public art in squares and other public places in formerly communist countries.

I prefer functionally aesthetic, personally, and think things should be designed with aesthetics in mind at every step, rather than designed functionally with public art shoe-horned in at the end. I’ve never heard of this 1% rule of thumb. That strikes me as a fairly reasonable guide, though I can’t be sure. But I don’t think anyone taking the time to post here is hoping for anything “drab and functional.”

I tend to agree and in the case of ION, I'd be very happy if the public art were simply visible from each station (or along the route) rather than being installed as part of the station platforms.

[KevinL]

A local example of art overspend: a large amount was budgeted for art at the expansion of the bus garage at Strasburg and Chandler, based on a percentage of its budget. While the bus operators, riders of Route 3, and local neighbourhood may appreciate it, it doesn't have much of a broad impact.

[panamaniac]

Would you prefer drab and functional, then? Perhaps grey and Soviet-functional-esque? Public art makes a city or region nicer to live in and gives it character - or helps to expand upon the character already there.  I'm all for a 1% rule of thumb.

The Soviet Union and other communist states paid a lot of attention to public art. Moscow’s metro, for instance, has extensive artwork at each station, and so do transit systems in other formerly communist cities. There’s no dearth of public art in squares and other public places in formerly communist countries.

I prefer functionally aesthetic, personally, and think things should be designed with aesthetics in mind at every step, rather than designed functionally with public art shoe-horned in at the end. I’ve never heard of this 1% rule of thumb. That strikes me as a fairly reasonable guide, though I can’t be sure. But I don’t think anyone taking the time to post here is hoping for anything “drab and functional.”

I tend to agree and in the case of ION, I'd be very happy if the public art were simply visible from each station (or along the route) rather than being installed as part of the station platforms.  For example, the pool/fountain at the corner of Charles and Gaukel cries out for a piece of sculpture - putting it there rather than on the platform across the street would be fine, imho.

[panamaniac]

A local example of art overspend: a large amount was budgeted for art at the expansion of the bus garage at Strasburg and Chandler, based on a percentage of its budget. While the bus operators, riders of Route 3, and local neighbourhood may appreciate it, it doesn't have much of a broad impact.

I remember questioning that at the time, and I was shot down by other forummers.  To me. the money spent for art at the bus sheds should have been used to place the artwork somewhere with high visibility.  It's not a case of "overspend", imo, but rather one of poor placement.

[BuildingScout]

Oh, right. Sorry, I ought to have known that. I find that disingenuous. The full phrase was “the $1.9-billion project to put electric trains on streets next year.” It should have read, then, “the $1.9-billion project to put electric trains on streets next year, and operate them for the following 30 years.”

The article was written by Outhit, so you shouldn't be surprised. :-)

The last couple of issues of the KW-Reckless were particularly thin. The Guelph Perjury is gone and the Hamilton Speculator is not doing much better. I seriously question if these newspapers will be around by the end of the year.

[tomh009]

I understand. I'm not going to talk to the person at the grocery store. I posted in the heat of the moment what I wanted to do, not what I'll actually do.

I'm sorry, and I regret my post.

Can we please move on?

Sorry, Canard, I was generalizing a little bit, was not aiming this at you specifically!

[kitborn]

First 'o' in Waterloo is missing at KCI.
Personally, I prefer the whole thing be bricked not just the center.

[KevinL]

Got an excellent view of the current work on Charles this morning!

From Cedar:


Eby:


A bit closer:


Right at the action!



Not sure why this gap is here - they went right up to the old pour on the northbound side when it went in yesterday.

[KevinL]

Then, I got the bird's-eye look from the parking garage.

Down Charles:




Benton at King:


And, the interminable Charles and Queen:

[Canard]

As always, thanks for your photo update, Kevin!

[KevinL]

Looks like no plans for fresh pouring on Charles today. Lots of prep work - welding, rebar placement, etc.

[GtwoK]

Francis from King to Duke (as well as both of those intersections) shut down a week from Monday, for 4 months.

Once Victoria has to shut down, what does that mean for traffic? Where could it conceivably go? Literally all traffic from downtown Kitchener , OR anyone who has to cross Kitchener (via Victoria) will have to go down Joseph and along Water. And that's assuming Water isn't still shut down too. Can those roads handle ALL that traffic?

[timc]

I think it's best to just avoid driving anywhere near downtown.

[chutten]

I think it's best to just avoid driving anywhere near downtown.

During the construction, too.

(rimshot)