Friday, December 19, 2008

Graffiti Mars Evergreen Brick Works Kick-off


Graffiti in Brick Works Quarry Garden

I stopped by the Brick Works today. It was cold and sunny but the park is sheltered from the wind so it was quite bearable. Unfortunately not everyone is here to appreciate the scenery. A couple of days ago some yobbo spray painted all the signs and rocks in the quarry garden with the word "evergreed". Apparently his/her editorial opinion on Evergreen's project to renovate the Brick Works. It is ironic that the vandal targeted the park area which is still city owned and managed and not part of the renovations. Evergreen's lease extends only to the north edge of the buildings. However there is nothing to really say where their property ends and the city's starts.

This is an understandable confusion. It is not readily apparent that the property is in fact two distinctive sections. However neither the city nor Evergreen have made this clear. Evergreen's own conceptual drawings show a seamless connection, as if to say they have some control over the park as well as the buildings.

This may need to be clarified and I will certainly bring it up at the first meeting of the Brick Works Public Advisory Committee which will start to meet next year.


Interpretive signs cleaned off easy; evidence of paint remains in snow. The rocks are another matter. They will need to be treated with a high pressure spray to get cleaned up.


Is the Brick Works one place or two?


You can't visit the Brick Works without taking in the view

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

The spray painting vandals are so stupid and I congratulate you (?) for cleaning the signs but I do not think it matters which parts of the site are City run and which are run by Evergreen. Most people look on the site as 'one place' so I really see no need to start trying to tell pople who runs what.

Anonymous said...

I work at Evergreen and am extremely disappointed by the vandalism at Evergreen Brick Works over the weekend. While it is true the Quarry Gardens are not ‘run’ by Evergreen, as an organization, we’ve been active stewards of the Brick Works site since 1997, and will continue so during and after construction is completed. When the construction is done, the industrial pad - which includes the buildings and NOT the park area - will be a demonstration of Evergreen’s commitment to the partnership of nature and urban space through the preservation and adaptive reuse of the buildings at the Brick Works in a thoughtful and nature-considerate manner. And it’s good to point out that Evergreen isn’t committed to the Brick Works project because it will benefit us financially. We’re a charity focused on bringing nature and cities together for the benefit of both. It’s also important to mention, to achieve our vision for the site we’ve engaged individuals and corporate donors in a very thorough manner and have specific guidelines that evaluate all potential donors through the lens of our values. If anyone has more questions or concerns I’d be more than happy to discuss.

mailto:nhabermeyer@evergreen.ca