PART III: PLACES This part of the final report of the the importance place has in the ordinary, Royal Commission is an appreciation of day-to-dayexperiences of people. the waterfront as a place and as a series of We all react to the placeswhere we places.Moving acrossthe bioregion, from live and work, in wayswe scarcelynotice Burlington Bay in the westto the Trent or that are only now becoming known River in the east, it offers comments about to us. Ever-acceleratingchanges inmost the Commission's experience of the diverse people's day-to-daycircumstances are places on the waterfront. helping us, prodding us, sometimes While those who live, work, and play forcing us, to learn that our ordinary in these places probably have a deeper surroundings, built and natural alike, appreciation of their attributes, in this sec- have an incredible and continuing tion the Commission attempts to define the effect on the way we feel and act, and public valuesand objectives for each place on our health and intelligence. These along the waterfront, as placeshave an impact well as recommending on our senseof our- strategiesfor the future. The kinds of places we create self, our senseof The kinds of and evolve tell us who we are safety,the kind of work placeswe create and and what is important to us. we get done, the evolve-the buildings () wayswe interact with we allow to be built; the other people, even way we treat our rivers, roads, wastes,trees, our ability to function as citizens in a and water; the care and attention we pay to democracy.In short, the place where we our offices, schools,factories, restaurants, spend our time affectsthe people we recreational facilities, monuments, and are and can become. places of worship -measure who we are As placesaround us change - and what is important to us. both the communities that shelter us In his excellent book, TheExperience of and the larger regions that support Place(1990), author Tony Hiss captures them -we all undergo changesinside. 261 Toronto,cityview in the evening This means that whateverwe experience remote at all. It's enveloping, almost a in a place is both a serious environmen- continuum with all we seeand think. tal issueand a deeply personal one. And the danger we are now beginning Our relationship with the placeswe to seeis that wheneverwe make know and meet up with -where you changesin our surroundings, we can are right now; and where you've been all too easilyshort-change ourselves earlier today; and wherever you'll be in by cutting ourselvesoff from some of another few hours -is a close bond, the sights, or sounds, the shapesor intricate in nature, and not abstract, not textures or other information from a 262 Most and LeastDesired Types of the senseswhen walking down York Street WaterfrontDevelopment under the rail viaduct and the Gardiner acrossLake Shore Boulevard, past the low-riseapartments parking lots to reach the water's edge; fight the down-draft winds hurling down the low-riseoffice sidesand around the corners of the buildings new high-rises along Toronto's Central High-riseapartments Waterfront on a windy day; find an historic vista acrossthe bay, one that has brightened High-riseoffice the daily lives of many, but is now being buildings appropriated for the benefit of a few Nonew development hundred -these experiencesremind us Mostlike to see leasllike 10see that we need to safeguard,repair, and enrich the places our heritage has lent to Whenasked to considerdifferent developmentoptions for us so that we can enjoy them before we the woterfront,respondents favoured low riseover high passthem on to others. risedevelopment. Many of the placessurveyed here are Source:Environics Poll. 1991 in transition: sometimesthat transition is measuredand gentle, while nonetheless place that have helped mold our under- important, while in others, change is funda- standing and are now necessaryforus mental and magnificent in its impact. In to thrive. all of these places,we have the opportunity When people speak about vivid experi- not to "short-change" either our heritage ences of place, they are often referring or our future. to fond memories or magical moments; the waterfront offers many of these. Stand at the foot of Grindstone Creek and seethe denselytreed slopesrise steeplyon either side of the water; glance acrossHumber Bay from the easternshore of Etobicoke and see the distant gleaming towers of down- town Toronto shining in the sun; watch children play in Ajax's Rotary Park with the rushes and shrubs of Duffin Creek in the background; walk on Scarborough'sbluffs and look out over the lake -these are experiences to savourand remember for a lifetime. Sometimes,however, people's most unforgettable experiencesare of places that have been damaged and diminished over time. Absorb and survive the assaulton all 263 42% CHAPTER 7: HALTON The Halton waterfront comprises some 33 kilometres (20 miles) of Lake Ontario shoreline, and 5 kilometres(3 miles) along Burlington Bay/Hamilton Harbour. The regional waterfront includes the local waterfronts of Oakville and Burlington and stretches from Joshua Creek westto Grindstone Creek, where the waterfront meetsthe Niagara Escarpment. A significant number of watercoursesenter the lake to find a way to the southern sea.His party through deeply incised valleys,the most reached Burlington Bay and, after landing prominent being Bronte Creek (Twelve at what is now the park site, continued Mile Creek) and Sixteen Mile Creek, both inland to the SenecaIndian hamlet of in Oakville. Tinaouataoua, near present-dayWestover, The waterfront area was the first to be before returning to Montreal. It was only settled, both in Oakville and in Burlington. 13 years later that La Salle completed explo- Consequently,the area has more historical ration of the MississippiRiver and reached diversity in the age of its buildings and built its mouth. forms and in the maturity of vegetation than St. Luke's Church in Burlington, built can be found in more inland areas. in 1834, still retains its unbroken view of Across Burlington Bay, the stark Stelco Lake Ontario from the main south door. For and Dofasco steelworksin Hamilton contrast almost 160 years,this narrow strip of tree- with waterfront residential estates,golf lined lawn -20 metres by 160 metres (66 course lands, and the lush greenery of by 525 feet), extending from the lake to the Burlington side. La Salle Park on the Ontario Street, and originally without streets Burlington waterfront, but owned by the crossingit -has been known as Church City of Hamilton, is named after the French Avenue. This green lane provides a visual explorer who set out from Montreal in 1669 connection to the lake and is part of the 265 In October 1990 the City of Burlington purchasedthe 5.6-hectare(l4.acre) McNichol estate at the mouth of ShoreacresCreek. The City will preserve the McNichol house, dating back to the 1930's,and will retain the eight-acre creek valley in its natural state. Plans for the approximately 2.4 hectares (6 acres) of tableland overlooking Lake Ontario have not yet been made. The Town of Oakville also offers a variety of waterfront vistas. On the eastern part of the Oakville waterfront, Gairloch Gardens stretch from Lakeshore Road south to the lake. The gardens area highly mani- cured formal park with rose beds, decorative landscaping, flagstone walkways,and an armourstone shoreline. The land was bequeathed byJames Gairdner to the Town of Oakville in 1971 so that the public could enjoy the beautifullakefront setting at the mouth of Morrison Creek, where numerous St.Luke's Church, Burlington ducks and geesemake their home. The existing stucco dwelling has been converted property given to the Church of England by to a gallery and artists' studio operated by Joseph Brant, chief of the Six Nations. the Oakville Art Gallery. This park is a Spencer Smith Park, gently sloping to favourite for wedding photos which, because the lake, presentsan inviting vista of Lake of demand during the spring and summer, Ontario and the Niagara Peninsula. On a have to be scheduled months ahead. clear day, the CN Tower is visible in the east. In western Oakville, the Lakeshore The view of the lake, from the lower end of Road bridge over Bronte Creek offers a Brant Street, is an invitation to take a break number of views: looking toward the lake, from work and to contemplate the magic of you can seethe inner harbour, the river- land meeting open water. A children's play mouth, and the new Bronte Outer Harbour. area, recently added at the westernedge Beyond the breakwalls of the outer har- of the park awayfrom the water's edge, bour, which is nearing completion, is Lake enables parents to enjoy the waterfront Ontario. Connecting the two harbours is viewwhile youngstersare busy. a public boardwalk along .the edge of the The extreme western end of Spencer river, extending along the lake frontage. Smith Park is the former site of the Brant Upstream from the Bronte bridge is a laI:ge Inn which; from 1920 to the mid-1960s, lagoon and cattail marsh; anew eight-storey hosted the big jazz and swing bands, and condominium building wraps partially sawthe beginnings of rock and roll. around the easternedge of the marsh 266 before the marsh merges with the heavily averagehousehold income of any region's vegetatedslopes of the creek valley. waterfront in the Greater Toronto Area, the In contrast to other parts of Lake highest proportion of residentsengaged in Ontario in the Greater Toronto region, managerial and professional occupations, the Halton waterfront has no overwhelming and a pattern of dispersed housing and environmental problems. However, the employment that makespeople strongly adjoining Hamilton Harbour has been iden- dependent on automobiles.