Help Design St. Patrick's Island!
- Posted July 29th, 2010
From the Calgary Municipal Land Corporation (CMLC):Participate in our second public survey and be entered to win one of three $100 gift certificates to the River Cafe.
St. Patrick's Island needs you. This 30-acre island is currently one of the least used parks in Calgary and we want to know how you'd like to see that changed. Situated in the Bow River and adjacent to the Calgary Zoo this small island is ready for a new life and that is where you come in.
As part of the master plan process the St. Patrick's Island Master Plan team is committed to public engagement and understanding what is important to all Calgarians. For the past six weeks we have conducted a series of public consultation events, including an online survey, two stakeholder World Cafe sessions, a display at Fort Calgary on Canada Day and Idea Studios on Princes Island and St. Patrick's Island.
This is the second of three surveys planned as part of the master plan process to capture the imagination, ideas and opinions of Calgarians. The images you will see within this survey are examples of what is possible on the island. You will be asked to prioritize your preference on a series of images depicting a wide array of activities and designs.
The survey will take less than 10 minutes to complete. Once completed you can enter to win one of three $100 gift cards to River Cafe*.
https://www.surveymonkey.com/
Your input is vital and we appreciate your time in completing this survey. This survey will remain open until September 6th at 11:59pm. *Full contest details online.
Through a competitive RFP process, Stantec Consulting has been retained to assist CMLC with the master plan for St. Patrick's Island and the associated public participation program.
For more details, please visit http://calgarymlc.ca/island or call Terry Koch, Public Participation Consultant, at Stantec (403) 716-8298.
Parks are most heavily used
Parks are most heavily used by those communities immediately surrounding them. But the problem with this park is the access to the park from nearby communities is difficult at best! The new bridge across to the island from the North side of the river will not solve this problem... Pedestrians and bikes need to get to the river before they will cross to the island.
It is difficult to cross Memorial Drive to get to the river, and this has not been addressed.
If you look at the far more successful island park, Princes' Island, you can cross Memorial from the communities to the north every 500 meters or less from 10th street to Center Street.
Now if you look at St. Patrick's Island, there are no crossings from Center Street to Edmonton Trail (800 meters) and then you have to cross the very busy Edmonton Trail and deal with all the homeless and panhandlers waiting to get back into the drop-in center. That's a very uncomfortable experience for many - especially if you are by yourself.
The next crossing is almost 900 meters away, and isn't an open crossing either, it is the rather narrow C-train bridge which also has panhandlers outside its doors.
What is needed is a nice wide pedestrian pridge over Memorial and into Bridgeland somewhere near the west end of St. Patrick's Island and near the new island bridge to encourage cyclists and predestrians to come down there. It wouldn't hurt to have a way down the hill and over Memorial somewhere between Center Street & Edmonton Trail as well!
Just get rid of all the bums
Just get rid of all the bums in the park. Why should they have unlimited access to smoke crack and litter in the park.
It can be quite scary to go there near sunset (or any time)