1201 replies to this topic

[dasmo]

Boulevard Saint Laurent

Montreal

[aastra]

 

Some people shop downtown, some people don't. I am a believer that you could answer every one of a "don't" persons on the surface problems and they still wouldn't come/shop downtown.

 

I agree 100%. The people who hate downtown are a lost cause. Forget about them. That should make it easy, right? Embrace the people who actually like downtown and who invest in downtown by buying homes and spending money and all that good stuff? Here's the problem: many Victorians (politicians and political groups included) would prefer to have a struggling downtown if the alternative is to have a thriving one.

[aastra]

 

Who is fighting density?

 

Did I imagine the big stinks about the Crystal Court, Northern Junk, Pandora at Vancouver, the additional level (!) in Chinatown, and on and on and on? Or the looming big stink about the bus station?

 

I would really, really, really like to see incentives of some sort to make things happen, rather than waiting for things to happen and then fighting them tooth and nail when they finally do happen.

[Mike K.]

The new downtown plan is a perfect example of too little packaged to appear like something grandiose.

[dasmo]

Did I imagine the big stinks about the Crystal Court, Northern Junk, Pandora at Vancouver, the additional level (!) in Chinatown, and on and on and on? Or the looming big stink about the bus station?

 

I would really, really, really like to see incentives of some sort to make things happen, rather than waiting for things to happen and then fighting them tooth and nail when they finally do happen.

 

Kind of like the NIMBY's in this thread huh?

Let's just do this. It has also been talked about for decades... It's an easy thing to do for minimal cost... We don't need another study on it. We need bold action...

Edited by dasmo, 26 January 2015 - 09:31 PM.

[Bingo]

has anyone asked the stores whether they think making a mall would improve their business?  would mayor Lisa approve of a study?

 

drop the rents and you will have tenants.

 

Right, if you have a bunch of buildings that can't attract tenants, you need to ask the businesses why they are staying away. 

Now that we have a lower looney, it will be interesting to see what difference that makes to this years tourist season.

As for density, I think we had a more vibrant tourist trade 40 years ago, long before we had the downtown density we have now.

Maybe the locals just prefer to shop in their own communities.

[dasmo]

Saint Catherine Street - Montreal (summer only)

[aastra]

 

As for density, I think we had a more vibrant tourist trade 40 years ago, long before we had the downtown density we have now.

Maybe the locals just prefer to shop in their own communities.

 

If locals preferred their own community wouldn't they be shopping downtown instead of in Langford? I really don't think the commercial situation is any mystery. The population hasn't increased by much but the increase in commercial space at Hillside, Mayfair, Uptown, and the west comms in particular has been massive. Downtown went from being the only choice to just one choice among many.

[Bingo]

Saint Catherine Street - Montreal (summer only)

Sure, you can move people off the sidewalk onto the road, but is there an increase in foot traffic? I don't think so in this photo.

[Bingo]

If locals preferred their own community wouldn't they be shopping downtown instead of in Langford? I really don't think the commercial situation is any mystery. The population hasn't increased by much but the increase in commercial space at Hillside, Mayfair, Uptown, and the west comms in particular has been massive. Downtown went from being the only choice to just one choice among many.

 

Free and easy parking will get you out of town.

[Makita]

I like the idea, I spend alot of time in Ottawa, and especially on Sparks St., and the mix works there quite fine. And by mix, I mean bars and restaurants, tacky tourist stores and nicer clothing stores, diverse architecture and stark gov't buildings, vehicles and pedestrians, there are vibrant stores and a few vacancies.

 

I don't live there full time so I can't speak to the viability of having Sparks as a pedestrian boulevard, but as a person that visits every other month for 10-14 days at a time, I walk it every day if not to enjoy the bars for dinner and drink, I also use the corridor to get to the Byward Market.

 

Personally it's time this idea was considered, but be creative and entice tourists and locals alike to want to venture downtown. Also George Street in St. John's is more pedestrian than vehicle, loaded with the awful bars that all do quite well, and all types of people (tourists and locals) seem to flock there   

[dasmo]

Sure, you can move people off the sidewalk onto the road, but is there an increase in foot traffic? I don't think so in this photo.

[Bingo]

Is that how you want to debate, by changing the photo that went with my text?

[dasmo]

http://youtu.be/BxywJRJVzJs

[dasmo]

NYC DOT carefully tracked before-and-after data on the project, and found that the changes to Broadway successfully improved traffic flow and increased safety.

http://www.pps.org/r...nomic-vitality/

[lanforod]

Dasmo, you're not winning arguments by posting photos that are obviously of various festivals. Take a photo of Government street on a summer Saturday during buskers fest and it will look similar.

Edited by lanforod, 27 January 2015 - 07:29 AM.

[Rob Randall]

This has been studied so many times. It's one of the oldest topics on this forum, too.

 

This is the City's 2012 study: (pdf)

 

http://www.victoria....estian_Mall.pdf

 

There's at least one more major study from a past decade but I can't find it.

 

Basically, I think it's a matter of time because in the summer, activity often spills out onto the street--the sidewalks can't contain the people, especially if we get slammed by several cruise ships in one night. 

 

We can use bollards that come out of the ground so that the street can be open in the mornings for deliveries.

[dasmo]

Dasmo, you're not winning arguments by posting photos that are obviously of various festivals. Take a photo of Government street on a summer Saturday during buskers fest and it will look similar.

Yes! It becomes a pedestrian Boulevard during a festival!

Fair comment. But they aren't all during festivals. The last one was but I might consider that fair after the nit picking of the previous photo ;-)

[lanforod]

Vancouver does this for part of Robson street and Granville street in the summers. At the very least, we should be doing this from Victoria day till Labour day, 10 AM till 1 AM ish.

[dasmo]

Vancouver does this for part of Robson street and Granville street in the summers. At the very least, we should be doing this from Victoria day till Labour day, 10 AM till 1 AM ish.

Yep, start here. This was supposed to happen years ago...