Discuss Detroit » Archives - Beginning January 2006 » Campus Martius #4 Public Square in US and Canada « Previous Next »
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Second_ave
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Username: Second_ave

Post Number: 5
Registered: 11-2005
Posted From: 68.40.223.253
Posted on Sunday, December 18, 2005 - 10:41 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

http://www.pps.org/info/newsle tter/december2005/us_canada_sq uares

Follow the link to Campus Martius and you'll find some nice pictures, including a pre-Compuware image.
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Motorcitymayor2026
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Username: Motorcitymayor2026

Post Number: 276
Registered: 10-2005
Posted From: 71.10.63.140
Posted on Sunday, December 18, 2005 - 10:54 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Archer's goal was for this to be the number one public space in America...and its success has been greater than i bet he even imagined.

CM is well on its way towards a national reputation as one of the greatest public spaces in North America
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Mike
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Username: Mike

Post Number: 526
Registered: 11-2003
Posted From: 68.41.109.36
Posted on Monday, December 19, 2005 - 1:30 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Lots of NY on that list.
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Mackinaw
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Username: Mackinaw

Post Number: 1080
Registered: 02-2005
Posted From: 141.213.173.94
Posted on Monday, December 19, 2005 - 1:52 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Very interesting. This gives alot of credibility to those who envisioned CMP and who made it happen.

If they think it's great now, I can't wait to see what they think when it's used even more and is surrounded by an even better built environment (hint: Monroe block redevelopment and the finished product at Kennedy Sq.)
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Ray
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Username: Ray

Post Number: 610
Registered: 06-2004
Posted From: 69.208.36.242
Posted on Monday, December 19, 2005 - 2:15 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Wow, that is a great bit of media that we can all be proud of.
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Lmichigan
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Username: Lmichigan

Post Number: 2808
Registered: 10-2003
Posted From: 67.172.95.197
Posted on Monday, December 19, 2005 - 2:15 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I'd like to see more Campus Martius-type parks/squares in other areas along the major avenues. You know meeting places in other parts of the city that slow down traffic and create a walkable environment.
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Citylover
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Username: Citylover

Post Number: 1450
Registered: 07-2004
Posted From: 4.229.123.88
Posted on Monday, December 19, 2005 - 2:37 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Grand circus pk and Capitol pk Lmich.........
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Lmichigan
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Username: Lmichigan

Post Number: 2810
Registered: 10-2003
Posted From: 67.172.95.197
Posted on Monday, December 19, 2005 - 2:43 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

And Harmonie, Times Square, and so on and so on. I mean, they need to actually be utilized. But, I was thinking some more along the lines of parks outside of the historic core to function as Campus Martius has.
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Gistok
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Username: Gistok

Post Number: 1629
Registered: 08-2004
Posted From: 4.229.81.24
Posted on Monday, December 19, 2005 - 2:49 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

It is interesting that Chicago has no park on that list....
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Smogboy
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Username: Smogboy

Post Number: 1477
Registered: 11-2004
Posted From: 68.84.183.189
Posted on Monday, December 19, 2005 - 2:56 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Oooo...sometimes I cringe when I hear of ratings. Sure sometimes the stats aren't in favor for Detroit but for once, we seem to be doing okay. I still wonder what the criteria for their rankings are though.
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Genesyxx
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Username: Genesyxx

Post Number: 367
Registered: 02-2004
Posted From: 209.69.165.10
Posted on Monday, December 19, 2005 - 10:08 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Rating will probably go up once they decide to work on the rest of the area.

It's a great time in (this part of) Detroit!
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Jsmyers
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Username: Jsmyers

Post Number: 1314
Registered: 12-2003
Posted From: 209.131.7.68
Posted on Monday, December 19, 2005 - 10:55 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

PPS is a pretty cool organization, and these are subjective ratings.

Unfortunately LMich, Times Square (which really has another name), will be no more. The new bus terminal is planned to wipe most of it out (as well as a block of state street).

Plans may have changed, but that is what I was told were the plans.

It seems it is easier to pave a city owned park and abandond a street than to buy or condem a vacant lot.
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Kazooexplorer
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Username: Kazooexplorer

Post Number: 961
Registered: 10-2003
Posted From: 155.79.138.253
Posted on Monday, December 19, 2005 - 11:32 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I've been to 8 of those parks/squares and CM definitely belongs on that list.
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Mind_field
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Username: Mind_field

Post Number: 445
Registered: 10-2003
Posted From: 209.240.205.61
Posted on Monday, December 19, 2005 - 11:39 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Coldayman of the UrbanOhio forums seems to think that Campus Martius Park only attracts people because it is newish. Does anyone else share this sentiment? I think he is off base, but only the future can tell. But with the park being the front yard for numerous major office and soon to be residential structures, I have a hard time envisioning a decrepit Cmart park.

How is the rink on weekends now? I remember last year the 5 or 6 times i went by the rink on weekend nights it was just packed. But last Wednesday or Thursday night, I went thru the park and there were maybe 15 skaters in the rink...definately not packed. I wonder if that was because it was a weeknight?
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Jt1
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Username: Jt1

Post Number: 6232
Registered: 10-2003
Posted From: 198.208.251.23
Posted on Monday, December 19, 2005 - 11:54 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I don't think that the novelty will wear off with age. The Mrs. and I spent a lot of time there since it has opened and age will not change the relaxing atmosphere, the fact that a coffe or pop in the summer (and hot cocoa in the winter) tastes a little better in that environment.

The humor of watching kids waiting to get sprayed by the fountain mist then running away from it or live music, a movie, skating won't wear off anytime soon.

If anything I think that it is something that may get more patrons as word of mouth grows and people realize that eating lunch at your cube is no way to go through life when they have other options.
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Detroitwonk
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Username: Detroitwonk

Post Number: 55
Registered: 10-2005
Posted From: 68.41.207.52
Posted on Monday, December 19, 2005 - 12:01 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I would disagree with Coldayman...I love CM, and go there all of the time...in fact, I think I will go ice skating this afternoon just to spite him! :-)

Watch for the guy falling on his ass in the burberry scarf! :-)
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Goat
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Username: Goat

Post Number: 7919
Registered: 10-2003
Posted From: 70.48.209.102
Posted on Monday, December 19, 2005 - 12:55 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

CM was packed last night...The more people see it for themselves, the more they want to come back. A great job by the city of Detroit.
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Rust
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Username: Rust

Post Number: 58
Registered: 08-2004
Posted From: 64.118.136.130
Posted on Monday, December 19, 2005 - 1:06 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Goat, I was there last night also. It was a great experience for me and my 8 year old daughter who learned to ice skate last night. Get the Monroe block developed, finish Cadilac Square and enhance the median on Woodwards south of the park and this will be an urban success for many years to come.

In fact I think this has done more positive for downtown than anything else in recent time. Yay I know Compuware and GM coming down were huge moves but the resonance that this park is making thru all walks of Metro Detroiters is the best public relations coup Detroit has had in a long time.

I work in Troy with very traditional suburbanites and I can't tell how rewarding it is to here positive comments being made in regards to this park.
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Jsmyers
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Username: Jsmyers

Post Number: 1316
Registered: 12-2003
Posted From: 209.131.7.68
Posted on Monday, December 19, 2005 - 7:46 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

http://www.pps.org/info/newsle tter/december2005/motor_city
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3rdworldcity
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Username: 3rdworldcity

Post Number: 169
Registered: 01-2005
Posted From: 68.73.199.23
Posted on Monday, December 19, 2005 - 8:17 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I was at CM Sat AM. Wanted to take some folks to the new breakfast place (at 11 A.M.) but was not about to wait over an hour for seats (for 3.) So we went to Au Bon Pain (for the first time.) Very nice and so is the rink.

However, and this is not to knock CM, I was in Toronto 2 or 3 weeks ago and neither CM nor any of the other parks on the top 10 list come close to the facilities at Toronto City Hall. The ice rink is many times the size of Detroit's and creatively lit at night.

We watched looking down from the 42nd floor of the Sheraton Centre Hotel across the street and at 10 P.M they had probably 300+ skaters on the rink, 2000 +/- people in the "square" taking in 2 free live stage shows, one on a 2 decker stage, a light show, and then their nightly (during December) fireworks show which was a shortened version but as spectacular as Detroit's July fireworks.

I agree Detroit needs other venues similar to Campus Martius.
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Motorcitymayor2026
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Username: Motorcitymayor2026

Post Number: 279
Registered: 10-2005
Posted From: 71.10.63.140
Posted on Monday, December 19, 2005 - 8:25 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I have been to CM 2 of the last three saturday nights, and it has been VERY crowded.
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Second_ave
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Username: Second_ave

Post Number: 6
Registered: 11-2005
Posted From: 68.40.223.253
Posted on Monday, December 19, 2005 - 8:27 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Does anyone know what kind of role PPS played in the development of CM?
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Detroit_stylin
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Username: Detroit_stylin

Post Number: 2133
Registered: 10-2003
Posted From: 66.202.227.12
Posted on Monday, December 19, 2005 - 8:29 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

CM has always crowded, from the moment that it opened up to the the last time I walked by there which was Saturday night.

I really don;t believe that it is just a 'novelty' anymore...
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Sharmaal
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Username: Sharmaal

Post Number: 482
Registered: 09-2004
Posted From: 69.14.76.187
Posted on Monday, December 19, 2005 - 8:42 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

3rdworldcity - I've got a suggestion.

MOVE TO F-ING TORONTO!
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Saabdriver1986
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Username: Saabdriver1986

Post Number: 362
Registered: 04-2004
Posted From: 65.48.7.186
Posted on Monday, December 19, 2005 - 9:02 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Toronto kicks ass :-)
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Gistok
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Username: Gistok

Post Number: 1635
Registered: 08-2004
Posted From: 4.229.81.148
Posted on Monday, December 19, 2005 - 9:37 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Sharmaal, don't be so hard on him.... he's a business owner downtown! Plus Toronto is trying to get out of a tourism slump. The one thing that Toronto's City Hall Square is missing (IIRC) is intimacy. It (the square) doesn't have the warmth or human scale that CM has. Otherwise they would have been on the list. The same is true for Chicago.
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Toolbox
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Username: Toolbox

Post Number: 789
Registered: 10-2003
Posted From: 65.196.220.198
Posted on Tuesday, December 20, 2005 - 12:03 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)


quote:

3rdworldcity

I was at CM Sat AM. Wanted to take some folks to the new breakfast place (at 11 A.M.) but was not about to wait over an hour for seats (for 3.)




I recommend Honest Johns for a weekend breakfast. No waiting and very good food at a reasonable price.
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3rdworldcity
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Username: 3rdworldcity

Post Number: 171
Registered: 01-2005
Posted From: 68.251.224.44
Posted on Tuesday, December 20, 2005 - 12:30 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Gistock: Thanks. Shar almost hurt my feelings there for a minute. (I thought my post was positive about Campus Martius. I am.) You're right about the intimacy factor.

Toolbox: I agree Re: Honest John's. However, I've heard so many rave reviews about the new place (can't remember the name) despite the allegedly high prices, that I really want to try it. I have no patience, however. I'll try again.
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Sharmaal
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Username: Sharmaal

Post Number: 483
Registered: 09-2004
Posted From: 136.2.1.153
Posted on Tuesday, December 20, 2005 - 1:34 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

3rdworldcity - Yeah, I wasn't so nice there. Gut reaction. Apologies.
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Merchantgander
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Username: Merchantgander

Post Number: 1411
Registered: 01-2005
Posted From: 150.198.164.127
Posted on Tuesday, December 20, 2005 - 3:04 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

3wc, there is always at least an hour wait on weekends. If you can't wait go during the week for breakfast.
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3rdworldcity
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Username: 3rdworldcity

Post Number: 172
Registered: 01-2005
Posted From: 68.251.224.44
Posted on Tuesday, December 20, 2005 - 3:21 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Sharmaal: No harm, no foul. Comparing Detroit and Toronto is like comparing apples to oranges...both are good.

Merchantgander: Good advice and that's what I'm going to do. I hope it's as good as everyone says and I'm sure it will be.
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Upinottawa
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Username: Upinottawa

Post Number: 78
Registered: 09-2005
Posted From: 198.103.184.76
Posted on Tuesday, December 20, 2005 - 5:31 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

No Toronto bashing here, but Nathan Phillips Square is a concrete beach with a pond (or rink in the winter) straight out of the 1960s. The rink is a good size and the location is excellent, but Nathan Phillips Square has more in common with Hart Plaza than CM. Hart Plaza with a rink would not make the list either.


Nathan Phillips Square
© Copyright 1998, 2005, Hans Boldt & Sylvana Grisonich-Boldt
http://www.boldts.net/Tor0.shtml
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Mike
Member
Username: Mike

Post Number: 527
Registered: 11-2003
Posted From: 68.41.109.36
Posted on Tuesday, December 20, 2005 - 5:53 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Planning on going to C-M Park, going to take a few suburban friends who do not venture into Downtown. Would like to take them to see the tree and the decorations. Are those still going to be up after Christmas?

None of us can find time to meet till this Monday.

Plus, should I plan this before sun down, or afternoon is fine.

Any Dinner/Desert Ideas?
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Mackinaw
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Username: Mackinaw

Post Number: 1088
Registered: 02-2005
Posted From: 141.213.173.94
Posted on Tuesday, December 20, 2005 - 6:32 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

During the winter CM seems busier at night. The skating rink is really full on weekend nights.

Dinner: there's so much within walking distance. Greektown, Hard Rock, anything on Broadway or Harmonie Park.

The tree should be up at least through New Year's, right?
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Young_detroiter
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Username: Young_detroiter

Post Number: 158
Registered: 08-2004
Posted From: 69.209.150.189
Posted on Tuesday, December 20, 2005 - 7:29 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

The tree may remain until the Super Bowl...The fountain has heating capability, but last winter it was not used at all during the cold season.
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3rdworldcity
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Username: 3rdworldcity

Post Number: 173
Registered: 01-2005
Posted From: 68.251.224.44
Posted on Tuesday, December 20, 2005 - 8:13 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Check out Upinottawa's link above. Very worthwhile. The spectacular Toronto City Hall was, I recall, designed by Detroit architect Yamasaki(?). The site's worth a look.

For those that mourn J. L. Hudson's Detroit store, the Bay Company department store is across the street from the park. Est. in 1630, it's Canada's oldest company, and a visit will evoke memories of Hudson's.
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S_marshall
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Username: S_marshall

Post Number: 30
Registered: 10-2003
Posted From: 72.138.72.51
Posted on Tuesday, December 20, 2005 - 9:11 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Toronto City Hall and the square were designed by Finnish architect Viljo Revell, selected from an international competition around 1960 - good thing too, as nearly all the other designs were dull, or would have dated very quickly.

Nathan Phillips Square (the official, and still best-known name for the square) is a grand square, built to host massive rallies, concerts and other events (and does this very well). The rink is amazing. Though it is a concrete field, and not the kind of place that would attract one to say have lunch on a sunny afternoon (too hot). NPS and CM are completely different in terms of function and design, and for what they do, they do it well, though NPS really needs a facelift.

Next door to NPS is the Osgoode Hall grounds, open to the public and a much quieter and pleasant place to sit and relax.

(Message edited by S_Marshall on December 20, 2005)
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Danindc
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Username: Danindc

Post Number: 1134
Registered: 10-2003
Posted From: 67.100.158.10
Posted on Tuesday, December 20, 2005 - 9:30 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I personally think the park in front of the Ontario Parliament building is a far more attractive place.

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