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Waterloo Park glowing trail will be a destination: Councillor

Waterloo Coun. Diane Freeman says she supported the glowing trail project in Waterloo Park because the location is already a destination for many reasons. That, and the money for the project didn't come from taxpayers.

'In terms of it being a destination, it actually is,' Coun. Diane Freeman says

CBC News ·
The central promenade through Waterloo Park is a stone surface. This project would upgraded the path to a hard surface with part of it incorporating an aggregate that glows. (Kate Bueckert/CBC News)

A decision by Waterloo city council to approve a project to make part of the main promenade in Waterloo Park glow is causing some to raised eyebrows.

But the project received support from one councillor residents might be surprised by.

Coun. Diane Freeman admits she hasn't supported other expenditures in Waterloo Park.

"I've actually voted against a lot of stuff," Freeman said in an interview on The Morning Edition Friday with host Craig Norris.

But she supported the glowing trail project because it will be both a path and public art, and the money is not from taxpayers.

The cash for the project was in the uptown development reserve, which is funded through investments and things like dividends from hydro.

"When we set our budget for taxes, this project is not included in that budget," Freeman said of the funding, added the reserve money "was intended to do things that would particularly enhance the uptown."
Waterloo City council said the glowing path in Waterloo Park would have been similar to the Van Gogh-Roosegaarde bicycle path in the Netherlands. However, they decided to drop the idea Monday. (ThisIsEindhoven.com)

It's a destination

She said the corner of Erb Street and Caroline Street has four buildings that have won Governor General awards for architecture: the former Seagram Museum in 1986, the Canadian Clay & Glass Gallery in 1997, the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics in 2006 and the Centre for International Governance Innovation Campus in 2014.

"In terms of it being a destination, it actually is," Freeman said of the corner, where the trail into Waterloo Park meets uptown Waterloo.

Listen to the whole interview with Coun. Diane Freeman:

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