2. The interior of the buildings could be restored and adapted for use as offices and/or meeting space for Victoria-sponsored arts, culture and heritage organizations. (Perhaps even as an adjunct to City Hall, only two blocks up Pandora?) Such organizations could pay some rent to the city.
For crying out loud, blah civic uses are ALWAYS extolled as the supposedly ideal and sensitive approach. It's the definition of unimaginative. On the one hand we call for innovation, but on the other hand we want more blah civic spaces?
What possible relevance could blah meeting or office space possibly have in a district that was once all about industrial operations, warehouses, commercial ventures, saloons, hotels and apartments? What possible relevance could blah meeting or office space possibly have in a district that is currently all about tourism?
I'm not saying such civic uses should be entirely out of the question, but I AM saying government offices, meeting rooms, and event spaces (the lamest of lame civic uses) should be the very last bright idea that anyone who cares about appropriate use would ever come up with. But instead, it's the first bright idea! (not to mention the only bright idea)
Mike K. offered the following gem of insight when the topic of potential civic uses was raised yet again back in October, 2019:
The last thing this city needs is more taxpayer funded event spaces.
Come on. Over and over and over again, the same shtick, the same script, the same canned lines. And the years pile up into decades.
Edited by aastra, 21 December 2020 - 11:10 AM.