Many issues with plans for Centennial Square
Redesigning Centennial Square into a family splash park is fraught with many problems.
Let’s start with the removal of the beautiful sequoia tree in the square’s east end.
It is ironic because of the city’s view of tree removal. This magnificent tree grows beside Douglas Street, sucking up all the carbon from the buses and automobiles. As the stage is at the far west side, how does removing the tree improve “sight lines”?
Removing the fountain would be contentious, as are the three monolithic artworks, probably to be repositioned to where the sequoia now stands.
The biggest problem is the artist’s rendering of a revamped Centennial Square with young families cavorting in a new splash park. This is ridiculous.
Will this splash park be able to be converted to an ice rink in the winter? If not, then this is only a fair-weather water feature. Will this splash park also be turned off when there are major events, and/or protests held in the square?
Nowhere in the rendering are the daily inhabitants of Centennial Square who congregate to “socialize.” Will there be accommodations made for them, or will they be relocated just so the public will feel safer to bring their young ones downtown for a soaking like the rest of Victoria citizens are getting?
I surely hope the $7.4-million cost includes revamping the square’s bathrooms. There have been times where I have felt safer using the standalone exposed urinal at the corner of Pandora and Government.
Will there also be signage in the revamped square showing what the park used to look like for the heritage buffs? Victoria City Hall must start adding to history, and not removing it.
The biggest elephant in the room is City Hall itself. Perhaps the millions available should be redirected to upgrade earthquake preparedness. Otherwise, this project may just be a house of cards, ready to fall down.
Mur Meadows
Victoria
Add corbels and flowers to the square proposal
The proposed design for Centennial Square feels cold and sterile. In an effort to remodernize, it loses the charm that I love about Victoria.
Could they not redesign it by adding old-fashioned corbels and flowers and greenery? Yes, add some more walking space, but the buildings could be more esthetically pleasing.
Tina Short
Duncan
Many great suggestions in concept for square
I read the Centennial Square Revitalization Project Concept Design Report — and I like it a lot.
I’m sure some people will have strong feelings about the recommendation to remove the tree and move the monoliths. Personally, I think the proposal gets it just right.
It acknowledges the importance of the monoliths and finds them a new purpose. It honours the important role of landscaping and trees in making city spaces better, while recognizing that the sequoia, while impressive, has outgrown its space, is damaging infrastructure, and closes off that end of the square.
The new central space is flexible. Too often, spaces are designed for large events, but end up feeling barren and empty most of the time.
I love the way that water is used in the “heart” to create an active, fun, area, and how it can be selectively turned off to create space for markets, festivals, and other events, both large and small.
I also like the focus on bringing everyday commercial activity back to the square. That was always part of the vision, but the inward focus of the original implementation made the arcade unviable.
The new design is a big improvement, and there are far more people living downtown now than there were in the 1960s.
An active space is a healthy space.
Dialog and city staff have done a fine job with this design, and it should move forward. After six decades, Centennial Square deserves a little love.
Jim Mayer
Victoria
A splash park might not get much use
Did the design firm that included a splash park in the Centennial Square redesign actually consult with any families about the proposed concept? I question whether any family would consider downtown as a play destination for kids.
Pay parking, lack of change rooms and washrooms, and safety and sanitation concerns would all be practical deterrents for parents, regardless of how attractive the redesigned square might be.
Why go downtown when there are kid-friendly alternatives elsewhere?
I’ll be bringing my granddaughter to the wonderful splash park in Esquimalt.
Valerie Z. Cameron
Esquimalt
Another tree to be cut, and the planet suffers
Almost nobody seems to grasp it. Our survival lies in collective and individual insignificance.
A plan for Centennial Square includes cutting down a large sequoia and a few other trees. The prioritizing of man-made infrastructure over nature continues relentlessly. This even though doing so is contributing to the further destruction of our environmental supports.
We all make an exception in favour of ourselves over the common long-term interest. So we dig our foundations of concrete, and at the same time, our graves.
If we go extinct but nature revives after some millions of years one can only hope no creatures evolve with the same degree of dominance, ubiquity, and technology as humans have.
It will likely be a recipe for another cycle of murder-suicide unless there is a flowering of wisdom and ethics which has not been a match for our impulses of mindless narcissism and ruthless greed.
Can we commoners and our elites in politics, business, and the media change course in time?
Glynne Evans
Saanich
Improve the square, don’t ruin it
The City of Victoria plans to flatten the whimsical, important, and historical Centennial Square. They want to cut down the magnificent sequoia and remove the fascinating fountain built in 1965 for Victoria’s centennial.
1965! An era when we were united in our desire to build civil society. When the high modernism embedded in design heralded a future full of possibility. That fountain holds the memory of our vision of Canada as creative and filled with promise.
Stated goals are to make room for large numbers (4,500 to 5,000) for public gatherings to avoid overcrowding. Large gatherings in Victoria nearly always exceed 5,000 people, so nothing will change on that front.
The projected design includes a wading area and large splash pad. How many days a year would that really be used?
Transforming Centennial Square into a flattened, sterile space reminiscent of yet another shopping mall will meet the “sightlines” goal which will facilitate security. How dreary.
If the city wants people downtown, then make the square even more whimsical by keeping the fountain, the tree, adding even more High Modernist sculptures and small gathering spaces to be climbed on and enjoyed — reminiscent of an era when we saw ourselves collectively building civil society.
We need the square to keep those memories alive.
Jessica Van der Veen
Victoria
Outdoor performances are better at Beacon Hill
Victoria city council, don’t you dare cut down the beautiful sequoia tree.
You do not have the right. You do not own that square, you are merely stewards until the next group replaces you.
With any luck, they will have a better vision for Centennial Square.
If you want a bigger outdoor performance area, why not enhance the one at Beacon Hill Park?
Please stop cutting down trees to create a “better” city. The trees were here first.
Margo Thomas
Saanich
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