Sparks Street

[eternallyme]

I just don't see retail working on Sparks Street anymore these days. The overall flow is east-west along Rideau and Wellington these days for pedestrians (especially tourists) and the Rideau Centre and ByWard Market are the prime destinations. Such is especially true the farther west you go along Sparks.

[Uhuniau]

I just don't see retail working on Sparks Street anymore these days. The overall flow is east-west along Rideau and Wellington these days for pedestrians (especially tourists) and the Rideau Centre and ByWard Market are the prime destinations. Such is especially true the farther west you go along Sparks.

Other than maybe during the changing of the guard, pedestrian traffic on Sparks during work hours is much higher than on Wellington.

[citydwlr]

From the Sparks Street Facebook Page (https://www.facebook.com/SparksStreet?hc_location=timeline)...

A rendering of the Walk of Fame (to be in place by 2015, apparently):

https://fbcdn-sphotos-f-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xaf1/t31.0-8/10669352_763428867047886_7030633729370958397_o.jpg

* Sorry, not a huge fan of this... I find the big red maple leaves actually cheapen the street and makes it all the more gimmicky. I have no problem with a walk of fame, but integrate it better into its surroundings, or choose a different method of honouring people on the street...

[rocketphish]

:previous: :yuck: Well, at least the rendering accurately represents the lack of people and attractions along Sparks St. after they do this.

[Aylmer]

Perhaps if we were to try rearranging the tables on the Titanic...

Honestly, perhaps the last thing we need is another gimmick on Sparks. Having fancy new maple leaves with names on them isn't going to make Sparks spontaneously become a lively, well-loved urban street. We keep trying all of these cosmetic niceties (we've tried everything from a rouge to a mauve on this pig) without addressing the fundamental and underlying issues which have turned the street from our Yonge to the tumbleweed racetrack it is outside of the lunch hour (land use and the retail mix, to name two problems).

I just can't take this silly proposal seriously.

[kevinbottawa]

With this Walk of Fame Sparks will continue to be more of a place for tourists than residents. I'd rather see a Walk of Fame outside the National Arts Centre. By the way, how will this walk of fame be different than the one in Toronto?

[acottawa]

It's gimmicky and tacky, but lots of gimmicky and tacky things attract tourists. Maybe it will get a few tourists or office workers to walk the length of the street, which may pick up business at some places along the street. Not impressed with the trees in flower pots though.

I think Biermarkt could help to bring all day traffic to sparks (brunch, lunch, after work drinks, dinner, evening drinking).

[Aylmer]

Building such a central area for tourists while excluding any use for residents is generally a poor idea. There are already enough overpriced tourist shops on Sparks to drown a fish, but tourists alone can't sustain a lively, central district, especially in a region where not every day is a Saturday and a sunny 25°C.

Make a great and useful place for residents and it tourists will come.

[Kitchissippi]

The idea of a Walk of Fame isn't so bad but this looks like it was done by an amateur with no design skills. They should use a more natural maple leaf pattern and scatter them randomly — kind of like the old Rideau Centre look that they're about to get rid of :)

[J.OT13]

I'm not against the Walk of Fame, or even the red Maple Leafs, but Sparks is the wrong place for it. Lined with all these old architectural gems, Sparks should be a more high class, sophisticated place, sort of like Old Montreal, only not as awesome.

As kevinbottowa mentioned, a walk of fame around the NAC (or maybe King Edward post truck traffic) would be more suitable.

[movebyleap]

The bear! The bear! What have they done with the bear?

[acottawa]

Bear was already dug up last time I walked by a few days ago.


http://www.obj.ca/Local/Retail/2014-10-10/article-3899393/BIA%2C-analyst-see-bright-future-for-Sparks-Street-Mall/1

BIA, analyst see bright future for Sparks Street Mall
David Sali
Published on October 10


Les Gagne hopes the end of an era in Ottawa retail will coincide with the dawn of a major renaissance at the city’s downtown pedestrian mall.



Mr. Gagne, the executive director of the Sparks Street Mall Business Improvement Area, admits Holt Renfrew’s recent announcement that it will close its Ottawa store at 240 Sparks Shopping Centre early next year wasn’t exactly cause for celebration in his office.

Still, the self-described “eternal optimist” says he prefers to see the luxury retailer’s decision to leave Ottawa after 78 years, including 37 years on Sparks Street, as an opportunity rather than a defeat.

“There are some negatives with the Holt Renfrew closing, but I also do think that what we’ve been working on for the last two years … I think you’re going to see a lot of the new retail and the new storefronts be built around that,” he says. “I wouldn’t say we’ve completely turned the corner, but we’ve certainly made a lot of progress in rejuvenating Sparks Street and hopefully creating something new.”

Currently, his group’s responsibility for promoting businesses at the mall extends only from Elgin to Bank streets. Starting in March, the BIA will add 240 Sparks to its territory, and Mr. Gagne is excited about the opportunities that presents, even despite the departure of Holt Renfrew.

“I’m pretty confident that a space like that, if it’s positioned properly and they take the necessary measures to create a cluster environment for higher-end boutiques, I think 240 would be a great complement to what we’re doing and vice-versa,” he says. “That’s a huge name that’s leaving, especially when they’re expanding in other markets. Am I disappointed? One hundred per cent. But do I think we’re going in the right direction to identify that next opportunity? Yes – very much so.”

Plagued by empty storefronts and often a virtual ghost town after office workers go home for the day, Sparks Street has long battled a perception as a retail wasteland. Holt Renfrew’s decision to bolt from the area doesn’t help matters – indeed, longtime retail consultant Richard Talbot told the National Post the store’s location is a “disaster” because Sparks is a pedestrian mall without easy access by car.

Barry Nabatian, director of the market research division at Shore Tanner & Associates, says he thinks Holt Renfrew “regretted” not moving to the Rideau Centre when it had the chance. He says the current location, one of the chain’s smallest stores at 35,000 square feet, needed millions in upgrades to compete with the likes of Nordstrom, which will open its Rideau Centre outlet next March, and Holt Renfrew probably just decided it wasn’t worth it.

“Ottawa was supporting it, but because of Nordstrom and a number of other retail changes, I think Holt Renfrew came to the conclusion that the status quo isn’t working for (them),” Mr. Nabatian says.

Still, he says “there are a number of businesses that would do extremely well” in the space, among them lower-end retailers such as Winners or Mark’s, an electronics or similar consumer goods store or even a supermarket. The growing number of relatively affluent consumers moving into nearby condos makes Sparks Street an increasingly attractive option for retailers of all kinds, Mr. Nabatian says.

“The people who are moving into these, the vast majority of them are single-person and two-person households, which means that they have got a lot of income on a per-capita basis and they are the ones who are going to spend lots of money on fancy cheeses, chocolates, high-end retail, fancy services, spas, things like that,” he says.

“I think Sparks Street has really tremendous potential. I think it’s really in a good position for a renewal.”

Mr. Gagne says he hasn’t heard of any potential new tenants eyeing Holt Renfrew’s space yet. A spokesperson for Public Works, which owns 240 Sparks, told OBJ in an e-mail last week the federal department “is currently reviewing the options for the soon to be vacant space, including looking for a new retail tenant(s).”

In the meantime, Mr. Gagne says he has plenty to cheer about in his ongoing mission to revitalize the pedestrian mall.

Toronto-based restaurant and bar chain Bier Markt is set to open its first Ottawa location in part of the space formerly occupied by Zellers at 156 Sparks, and Mr. Gagne says a “major Canadian retailer” is preparing to take over another 20,000-30,000 square feet of space at the site later this fall.

In addition, renowned chef Matthew Carmichael, the man behind trendy establishments such as Restaurant 18 and Social in the Market and El Camino on Elgin Street, has confirmed he plans to launch a new restaurant in the former Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce building at 119 Sparks in the next year or so.

“We can never compete with the Rideau Centre, but there are things that we are able to do,” Mr. Gagne says. “We just have to do a better job of targeting the right businesses that could be successful here. We offer something a bit different than the other destinations in Ottawa, and I really think we’re starting to realize what we want to be when we grow up.”
meanwhile, at the other end

[movebyleap]

Mark's Work Wearhouse? Winners? No, no, no!!! We all know that this is the perfect location for a spectacular, high-end, state-of-the-art, 2-floor Shoppers Drug Mart flagship concept store!!

[citydwlr]

Actually, I don't think Nabatian is that far off in saying a supermarket could do well there - I'm thinking one of the new Loblaws stores (like at Maple Leaf Gardens (http://www.blogto.com/city/2011/11/new_loblaws_unveiled_at_maple_leaf_gardens/)) will likely take over that space...

I can't see much else really surviving there - it's too far down on Sparks for anything "high-end" to draw enough of a crowd - they'll fail in the same way Holts has.

[acottawa]

It would be nice to see Grecos or goodlife move there to get out of storefronts on Sparks.

[acottawa]

Mark's Work Wearhouse? Winners? No, no, no!!! We all know that this is the perfect location for a spectacular, high-end, state-of-the-art, 2-floor Shoppers Drug Mart flagship concept store!!

They could absorb the Pharma Plus and make it 3 floors.

[kevinbottawa]

Changes to Sparks Street

Entrance to Bier Markt
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-XR2AwSdkIv0/VFfGtUyhR8I/AAAAAAAADOU/xu_TAzW57Y8/w923-h519-no/IMG_20141103_100501.jpg

Yesterdays is now Nate's
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-rBpkrxbHa88/VFfGuMagaYI/AAAAAAAADOY/C6Zpa-KewYc/w923-h519-no/IMG_20141103_100547.jpg

Seating areas with advertisements and maps are gone (I kind of liked them)
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-RAVzjCkgfOg/VFfGyXbkqwI/AAAAAAAADOs/Zo0ndJm6XnU/w923-h519-no/IMG_20141103_100732.jpg

New pavers
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-AMy8_m_4-TY/VFfGykWnC6I/AAAAAAAADOw/LjFMi5EUVMU/w292-h519-no/IMG_20141103_100753.jpg

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-D966XyWYbpc/VFfGzej5CuI/AAAAAAAADO4/mm5czQHQ-gI/w292-h519-no/IMG_20141103_100817.jpg

Book store is now Expedition Shoppe
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/JiJYuVuiTeAhUxFmnaJOS1EvdPPZKaJ_YK7l98dzR48=w923-h519-no

[J.OT13]

Thanks for the pics. Nice to see some progress on the "new" Sparks.

[Uhuniau]

It would be nice to see Grecos or goodlife move there to get out of storefronts on Sparks.

Why?

It adds life to an otherwise dead zone.

[acottawa]

Why?

It adds life to an otherwise dead zone.

Takes a huge swath of storefront while contributing very little to the street (Grecos seems to have quite limited hours and goodlife fronts on Queen, although it does have a back door on Sparks).

[Urbanarchit]

Takes a huge swath of storefront while contributing very little to the street (Grecos seems to have quite limited hours and goodlife fronts on Queen, although it does have a back door on Sparks).

Yeah, Goodlife has a not-so-good street presence on Queen, and leaving that for good retail would be very important. But PLEASE fix the Queen Street façade. It's awful!

https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7350/12253150286_73424d4822_b.jpg (https://www.flickr.com/photos/sheldef/12253150286/in/set-72157642931584565)
Goodlife Fitness (https://www.flickr.com/photos/sheldef/12253150286/in/set-72157642931584565) by Shel DeF (http://www.flickr.com/sheldef) on Flickr

[JHikka]

It's funny because after 7PM that Goodlife provides half the pedestrian traffic around Downtown just from people walking to and from the gym. :P

[Kitchissippi]

Being right in front of the future LRT station entrance, that location is going to be prime space in a few years. I predict that Queen and Sparks are going to have an amazing renaissance within a decade :)

[Uhuniau]

Takes a huge swath of storefront while contributing very little to the street (Grecos seems to have quite limited hours and goodlife fronts on Queen, although it does have a back door on Sparks).

Do not misunderestimate the contribution it makes to the street by virtual of mere motion, late-night light, and, um, eye candy.

[Urbanarchit]

Do not misunderestimate the contribution it makes to the street by virtual of mere motion, late-night light, and, um, eye candy.

Do they use the ground floor? The area can still be vibrant if it's on the upper floors of a building, with the ground floor for other retail. They should fix the mess on Queen Street.

[MountainView]

Good Life only leases the space. It would be up to the building managers/owners to fix that facade.

[Uhuniau]

Do they use the ground floor? The area can still be vibrant if it's on the upper floors of a building, with the ground floor for other retail. They should fix the mess on Queen Street.

Yes, they use the ground floor. Goodlife expanded to that floor last winter/spring. It's a much better ambiance than that horrid discount clothing store was (though I'd still love to see Marks and Sparks back.)

[Arcologist]

Sparks needs more residential to bring in more people after the 9-5 workday.

[OTSkyline]

^ Very true. Except the one and only residential/hotel project that was to be built on Sparks seems to have been cancelled or stalled forever... :shrug:

[citydwlr]

Bier Mrkt showing some progress:

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/B2F__H_IUAAS4p8.jpg:medium
[Source (https://twitter.com/mparadis004/status/531846966259773440)]

This should be a livelier corner come next summer. Looking forward to it!

* Why is there a Mannequin Pis over the entrance?

[rocketphish]

* Why is there a Mannequin Pis over the entrance?

A new fountain feature of some sort? ;)

[citydwlr]

Here's some surprising news regarding the dismissal of the head of the Sparks Street BIA:

Les Gagne relieved of duties as Sparks Street BIA boss (http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/les-gagne-relieved-of-duties-as-sparks-street-bia-boss-1.2831626) (via CBC)


The BIA’s board quietly cut Gagne loose after he served for more than two years as the board's executive director.

In an email to Sparks Street merchants, the board’s treasurer said that as of Nov. 3, Gagne was "relieved of his duties as executive director of the Sparks BIA and the Sparks Street Mall Authority."

No reason was given for Gagne’s departure and members of the board have declined to comment.

[Urbanarchit]

Here's some surprising news regarding the dismissal of the head of the Sparks Street BIA:

Les Gagne relieved of duties as Sparks Street BIA boss (http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/les-gagne-relieved-of-duties-as-sparks-street-bia-boss-1.2831626) (via CBC)

Is this the antagonistic person responsibility for their social media presence? CBC says he was responsible for the "valet parking" on the pedestrian mall.

[rocketphish]

Is this the antagonistic person responsibility for their social media presence? CBC says he was responsible for the "valet parking" on the pedestrian mall.

...and the inane zip line idea.

[Uhuniau]

...and the inane zip line idea.

Inane how?

[Harley613]

I, for one, was really looking forward to the INSANE zip line...

[rocketphish]

Inane how?

It's one thing to have a zip line in an amusement park, where like-minded people go looking for that kind of excitement, and have other rides available to complete their day of adventure, or out in the wilderness somewhere where you can safely fly past the treetops or across the river in an expansive environment. But this kind of attraction, built small-scale as it would have to be to fit within the confines of a narrow pedestrian mall, simply wouldn't survive as a paying attraction, IMO. Nor is it really compatible with the other uses of the mall: business, shopping, loitering, etc. Would you really want to be sitting out at the patio at Nates, and have somebody noisily zip over your table every few minutes? Think of the liability of an installation like this over a high-traffic public area. And do I need to mention the NCC? This idea was never going to fly.

[TransitZilla]

Is this the antagonistic person responsibility for their social media presence? CBC says he was responsible for the "valet parking" on the pedestrian mall.

I'm surprised. I've never met him but there seemed to be a genuine effort to improve the street in the past couple of years with him at the helm, including the creation of the New Years' Eve party and Poutinefest.

It's too bad the zip line hasn't come to fruition. I think it would have been cool.

[TransitZilla]

It's one thing to have a zip line in an amusement park, where like-minded people go looking for that kind of excitement, and have other rides available to complete their day of adventure, or out in the wilderness somewhere where you can safely fly past the treetops or across the river in an expansive environment. But this kind of attraction, built small-scale as it would have to be to fit within the confines of a narrow pedestrian mall, simply wouldn't survive as a paying attraction, IMO. Nor is it really compatible with the other uses of the mall: business, shopping, loitering, etc. Would you really want to be sitting out at the patio at Nates, and have somebody noisily zip over your table every few minutes? Think of the liability of an installation like this over a high-traffic public area. And do I need to mention the NCC? This idea was never going to fly.

Sorry, all of those sound like pretty lame, bureaucratic reasons why it couldn't be done.

[rocketphish]

Sorry, all of those sound like pretty lame, bureaucratic reasons why it couldn't be done.

If bureaucratic reasons like suitability, cost, profit, liability, zoning regulations, NCC approval, etc, are lame, then so be it. At the end of the day that's what really matters, not how cool the idea might be.

[Uhuniau]

It's one thing to have a zip line in an amusement park, where like-minded people go looking for that kind of excitement, and have other rides available to complete their day of adventure, or out in the wilderness somewhere where you can safely fly past the treetops or across the river in an expansive environment. But this kind of attraction, built small-scale as it would have to be to fit within the confines of a narrow pedestrian mall, simply wouldn't survive as a paying attraction, IMO. Nor is it really compatible with the other uses of the mall: business, shopping, loitering, etc. Would you really want to be sitting out at the patio at Nates, and have somebody noisily zip over your table every few minutes? Think of the liability of an installation like this over a high-traffic public area. And do I need to mention the NCC? This idea was never going to fly.

A) To hell with the NCC.

B) Last time I was in downtown Vancouver, there was a zipline. "Urban zipline". It's a thing.

C) How is it "incompatible"?

D) It doesn't have to be permanent, you know.

[Uhuniau]

Sorry, all of those sound like pretty lame, bureaucratic reasons why it couldn't be done.

You're new here, aren't you? :)

I also believe a zipline would reduce property values, kill dozens of children, and probably destroy the sun.

[Uhuniau]

If bureaucratic reasons like suitability, cost, profit, liability, zoning regulations, NCC approval, etc, are lame, then so be it. At the end of the day that's what really matters, not how cool the idea might be.

How are cost and profit bureaucratic reasons?

Those are things for the proponent to worry about, not the bureaucrats.

[OttawaSteve]

Here's some surprising news regarding the dismissal of the head of the Sparks Street BIA:

Les Gagne relieved of duties as Sparks Street BIA boss (http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/les-gagne-relieved-of-duties-as-sparks-street-bia-boss-1.2831626) (via CBC)

Suggested alternative headline: Head of Sparks Street BIA Given His Walking Papers.

I get the sense that the Sparks Street strategy lately has been Try Anything and Everything with no unified purpose or vision. Things like silly walk signs, giant plastic flowerpots, and Ribfest are short-sighted gimmicks, the optics of which don't reconcile particularly well with longer-term efforts to revitalize the street with higher quality retail, etc.

Monty Python's Silly Walk comes to Ottawa's Sparks Street

Peter Simpson, Ottawa Citizen
Published on: August 14, 2014, Last Updated: August 14, 2014 3:52 PM EDT

http://wpmedia.ottawacitizen.com/2014/08/0815-silly-walk3.jpg?w=800

[Uhuniau]

Suggested alternative headline: Head of Sparks Street BIA Given His Walking Papers.

I get the sense that the Sparks Street strategy lately has been Try Anything and Everything with no unified purpose or vision. Things like silly walk signs, giant plastic flowerpots, and Ribfest are short-sighted gimmicks, the optics of which don't reconcile particularly well with longer-term efforts to revitalize the street with higher quality retail, etc.

Silly Walk, sure; flowerpots, yup... but Ribfest has been going on (with a couple of hiatuses) for almost 20 years.

[rocketphish]

Once ritzy, Sparks Street now a battered butler for the PS

Kelly Egan, Ottawa Citizen
Published on: November 16, 2014, Last Updated: November 16, 2014 8:31 PM EST

Sparks Street, for oldtimers, is the city’s boulevard of broken dreams.

It was often said, smirkingly, a cannon could be shot down Sparks after 6 and hit nothing. Not true. The cannon actually hit everything, especially in the stretch between Bank and O’Connor.

Snakes alive. Half the block on the north is all hoarding and tarps and fences, the back end of 180 Wellington. One day last week, there were so many trucks on the “pedestrian” mall it looked like Dealer Days for F-150s.

At 179 Sparks, the Green Dragon has taped up a farewell letter, a last will or white flag in the window: “Thank you for your patronage/ 75 years on Sparks Street/ We’ll miss you. Doris, Brian, Derek, Lem, Adrian & Lindsay.”

Doris, many of you will know, was a true character, Ottawa’s original tiger mom, capable of riding Brian and Derek pretty hard. In the back of the store, you’d swear, there was stock last dusted in the Ming Dynasty.

Sparks needed a novel idea or two to find its old dancing shoes. And it found just the man, Les Gagné, who wasn’t afraid to talk wacky (a zip line, silly walks?).

Now the executive-director of the mall authority is mysteriously gone. Questions were referred to a man named Sam, a hair salon operator apparently the head of the board.

Scissors in hand, he seemed miffed at being interrupted last week and said to call and “make an appointment.”

Yes, your highness.

Outside, meanwhile, a tiny snow squall had started when I looked up at the old E.R. Fisher store, its green and cream-veined marble facade still intact. In the 1960s, my Dad would take us there the odd time, but we had to behave, like it was something special. It was all hushed inside, where the shirts and ties lived in neat rows of boxes along the wall, like Gatsby’s closet.

There was a huge swordfish fastened on the outside facade, made of metal. Up a big staircase to the second floor, you never saw so many dark blue suits, a factory for turning out serious men of all sizes.

As a kid, I can still remember going to Simpsons on Sparks, with all my Christmas tip money from my paper route.

I bought my parents an electric knife, which was just plain weird for an 11-year-old. The clerks were kindly matrons who likely felt sorry for a ragged stray with a fistful of quarters.

They wrapped it, beautifully, at no charge. Dad’s eyes grew when he opened it, probably with alarm. I took early to blowing money.

To say nothing of the Birks across the street. Not only did it sell jewels, it looked like one, all glitter and brass, and Royal Doulton figurines, like my grandmother collected and worried we would break.

Well, nostalgia gets Sparks Street nowhere. The Rideau Centre, suburban malls and modern shopping habits have altered everything.

It neither helps — a huge problem, in fact — that the feds, without a real profit motive, own most of the real estate on the street.

On the positive side, though, the new Nate’s Deli at Sparks and O’Connor was humming with life, a lineup at the door.

The Bier Markt has invested mightily in its new location and looks ready to rock any day now. It is a sizable spot and no doubt will fill with crowds of Hill sharpies.

Up the street, near Elgin, the Expedition Shoppe opened in the last month and it’s running an attractive outlet with the kind of product Ottawa loves — extreme polar gear for the trek to Starbucks.

Though it looks a little ragged at the moment, Sparks will survive, maybe even thrive, because of one factor: it is surrounded by, what?, maybe 50,000 well-paid public servants, a captive crowd that needs to eat, drink, have its hair cut regularly and its extreme polar gear updated on occasion, buy shoes and watches and mitts and sweaters and CDs.

So, no, it won’t ever be the city’s classy sister again — boys will have to make memories elsewhere — but it’s too central to collapse.

The ritzy anchors may be gone. But, dear Sparks Street, know what you are, now: a service industry to public servants, a butler to mandarins, a tourist kiosk — and be best at that, cannon balls be damned and dodged.

To contact Kelly Egan, please call 613-726-5896 or email kegan@ottawacitizen.com
Twitter.com/kellyegancolumn

http://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-news/egan-once-ritzy-sparks-street-now-a-battered-butler-for-the-ps

[rocketphish]

How did this Sparks Street thread end up in the Transportation sub-forum anyway? Wouldn't it be more appropriately located in Downtown & City of Ottawa, or maybe Urban Design?

[BenTheGreat97]

How did this Sparks Street thread end up in the Transportation sub-forum anyway? Wouldn't it be more appropriately located in Downtown & City of Ottawa, or maybe Urban Design?

Exactly what I was thinking. I always get tired of seeing it here.

[J.OT13]

I concur. No clue why it's "Transportation".

Back to Les being let go; I thought he did a good job. Although he did have a few random ideas with no rhyme or reason (Walk of Fame, Zip Line), he did do a lot of good for Sparks. As someone mentioned, the New Year's Eve party is a great addition to not only Sparks, but the City. It's refreshing to see something new with an actual demand created in this city. Not like old ideas recycled over and over again (casinos and waterparks).

And we can see a bit of a linear, consistent vision: Sparks is becoming a dinning destination. Les 3 Brasseurs, Nates, Bier Market, the one soon opening in the CIBC building...

[rocketphish]

Another chance to get Sparks Street right

Jonathan McLeod, Ottawa Citizen
Published on: November 17, 2014, Last Updated: November 17, 2014 1:01 PM EST

It slipped by with barely a word. A man few of us had heard of was relieved of a job many of us didn’t know existed.

It was Nov. 3 that the businesses on the Sparks Street mall received an email notifying them that Les Gagne would no longer be the executive director of the Sparks Street BIA and the Sparks Street Mall Authority. The man who has had the greatest say in shaping Sparks Street over the last two years is out.

You may not know Les Gagne’s name, but you’ve seen his fingerprints.

Sparks Street has always been a bit of a conundrum in Ottawa. Located in the middle of a business district, it has always had to decide what it really was: an entertainment district, an outdoor mall, a tourist attraction, a heritage monument? With a challenging locale and so many cross-purposes, the Sparks Street mall has been disappointing. Gagne sought to change that. His vision was of a lively, prominent gathering place.

You could see this vision in the attractions he brought to the street. We have Ribfest and Poutinefest. We had an Oktoberfest celebration. Gagne brought us Latin Dance Parties and New Year’s Eve celebrations.

Under Gagne, Sparks Street, our pedestrian mall, had an odd fascination with cars. Aside from the many delivery vehicles, he brought in valet parking, car shows and test drives. On a pedestrian mall. This is the unfocused nature of Sparks Street distilled.

This past summer we had a Farmer’s Market. It didn’t go too well (actually, it went too well). Food is served at Farmer’s Markets and the pubs and restaurants that litter the street were none too enamoured with the new competition. Sure, residents loved it, but what did it do for business? This is the question that plagued Gagne’s tenure; there were so many events, but did they actually help the businesses?

Sparks Street is an odd beast. It’s a street, yes, but it’s also a mall. It is managed by the BIA and, seemingly, for the BIA.

“BIA” stands for “Business Improvement Area”; the Orwellian nomenclature conflates the location — the neighbourhood — with a commercial organization. So it is no wonder that the question “does any of of this help business?” is regularly asked.

But this is a wholly inappropriate question to ask. Our neighbourhoods, our streets and our heritage destinations do not exist for the purpose of squeezing revenue out of residents and tourists. Our city is subservient to no one’s business plan. Profits will be made off of Sparks Street, but Sparks Street should not be made for profit.

So, we must ask what should be done with Sparks Street. First, we must move away from the event- and party-oriented nature Sparks has recently adopted. It is no surprise that the biggest news along the street is the opening of another bar, the Bier Market. In the last two years, Sparks has been focused on time-specific revelry, ignoring the day-to-day joys of life.

We need to re-insert residents into the regular life of Sparks Street. We have begun building condos there, and that’s a good start. Any vital and viable neighbourhood has people who work, play and live there. We need to make Sparks Street home.

We need to take control back from the BIA. The life of the street shouldn’t be held hostage to profit margins. The city needs to envision a prominent and important space for Sparks Street in the life of Ottawa. It should be more than a strip mall with a heritage facade.

Jonathan McLeod is a general fellow with the Canadian Council for Democracy.

http://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-news/mcleod-another-chance-to-get-sparks-street-right

[rocketphish]

Repairs to Sparks Street's Kinetic Clock could cost more than original price of statue

Matthew Pearson, Ottawa Citizen
Published on: November 20, 2014, Last Updated: November 20, 2014 4:45 PM EST

http://wpmedia.ottawacitizen.com/2014/11/ottawa-on-may-20-2008-kinetic-clock-sculpture-by-andr.jpg?w=800

The cost of repairing a piece of public art that was quietly removed from Sparks Street may be almost double what the city paid for it in the first place.

The Kinetic Clock — a modern art sundial that was commissioned from artist Andrew Stonyer in 1989 for nearly $37,000 — was removed from its location on the pedestrian mall last year because trucks and snowplows kept hitting it, said Sam Elsaadi, the chair of the Sparks Street Business Improvement Area.

The clock was taken away sometime in April 2013 by a contractor hired by the BIA after it was hit by a truck and subsequently deemed unsafe for its location between O’Connor and Metcalfe streets, Elsaadi told the Citizen.

The city and BIA are at odds over whether the city was informed about the Kinetic Clock’s removal and apparent storage in a field near Richmond, where it was photographed in August 2013.

Elsaadi says the city was contacted when the piece was removed, while the city claims its art and heritage department wasn’t notified about the clock’s absence until June 12, 2013.

The piece is now in the city’s possession, waiting to be repaired.

“It’s not been thrown away, it’s safe,” Elsaadi said.

But those repairs won’t come cheap. They’ll cost between $45,000 and $70,000, according to an estimate supplied by the city. Its art and heritage department is now consulting with Stonyer, who lives in England, on the repairs and relocation on Sparks Street or elsewhere.

Although the clock is owned by the city, Elsaadi said the BIA has spent an unspecified amount of money over the years to maintain it and repair the cement around it.

He says the city and the BIA are working together to make the necessary repairs and decide where to install it next.

Sparks Street would be an option, Elsaadi says, as long as “we put it in a safe place that’s far from the trucks, from the fire exit.”

“If the city wants to put it back on Sparks Street, it’s their street and we’ll be happy to find a right location for it,” he said.

Although the street has been closed to vehicular traffic for decades, delivery trucks, snowplows and utility vehicles can often been seen driving or parked on Sparks.

The incident is just the latest bout in the delivery trucks versus public art boxing match on Sparks Street.

As reported by the Citizen in May 1993, the statue of a grizzly bear holding a fish on the tips of its claws, called Territorial Prerogative, was “installed last summer after a delivery truck drove over the previous artwork at the sight, the so-called kinetic clock, a kind of modern-art sundial that is now being repaired.”

Coincidentally, the bear statue also required a repair, the paper reported at the time, after another delivery truck cracked the bear’s arm.

But that wasn’t the end of the bear’s troubles.

It made front-page news last December after the artist’s widow complained when the BIA adorned the bear with a big red bow and string of lights, in a failed attempt to infuse the public art with some festive cheer.

Les Gagné, who at the time was the mall authority’s executive director, said the decorations were merely part of an effort to make Sparks Street more festive and welcoming.

“It’s silly. What can I say?” he said at the time. “It’s Christmas, and if putting some lighting and a bow on a bear gets people upset, well maybe that’s just our city.”

mpearson@ottawacitizen.com
Twitter.com/mpearson78

http://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-news/repairs-to-sparks-streets-kinetic-clock-could-cost-more-than-original-price-of-statue

[rocketphish]

:previous: I have to wonder if maybe they got rid of "lost track of" it because it's just plain ugly?

http://img.groundspeak.com/waymarking/large/6291bdcd-4805-4d8d-a6c3-6b2210932634.JPG (http://img.groundspeak.com/waymarking/6291bdcd-4805-4d8d-a6c3-6b2210932634.JPG)

Image from: http://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/WMD179_LEGACY_Kinetic_Clock_Ottawa_Ontario

[kwoldtimer]

I've never liked that bear sculpture.

[citydwlr]

Another restaurant coming to Sparks Street (via Twitter (https://twitter.com/cbcjlong/status/561885471782232064)):


Looks like we have a new restaurant/bar addition coming soon to @SparksStreet (https://twitter.com/SparksStreet) near Bank. #cbcott (https://twitter.com/hashtag/cbcott?src=hash) #Ottawa (https://twitter.com/hashtag/Ottawa?src=hash)

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/B8w32-gIgAEElOV.jpg

8:55 AM - 1 Feb 2015


Is the FarmTeam Cookhouse popular in the Glebe? I've only ever driven by, but it never seems overly crowded. I believe these were the same guys complaining about the Red Roaster food truck taking away their business (http://ottawacitizen.com/uncategorized/location-of-new-food-truck-angers-glebe-restaurateur).

[gjhall]

Another restaurant coming to Sparks Street (via Twitter (https://twitter.com/cbcjlong/status/561885471782232064)):



Is the FarmTeam Cookhouse popular in the Glebe? I've only ever driven by, but it never seems overly crowded. I believe these were the same guys complaining about the Red Roaster food truck taking away their business (http://ottawacitizen.com/uncategorized/location-of-new-food-truck-angers-glebe-restaurateur).

Did it have to be these a--holes?

On a broader note, I think this big shift toward Sparks being a restaurant row is probably the best we can hope for given the arduous conditions of being a merchant on Sparks (no people living nearby, short leases, official language requirements, endless construction and renovations of adjacent parliamentary precinct buildings). At least their patios will make good use of the "pedestrianized" street.

With Holt's gone, I can see little knock on benefits for most fashion/jewellery merchants in the area...it will be interesting to see how the area evolves in the short and medium term.

[phil235]

Another restaurant coming to Sparks Street (via Twitter (https://twitter.com/cbcjlong/status/561885471782232064)):



Is the FarmTeam Cookhouse popular in the Glebe? I've only ever driven by, but it never seems overly crowded. I believe these were the same guys complaining about the Red Roaster food truck taking away their business (http://ottawacitizen.com/uncategorized/location-of-new-food-truck-angers-glebe-restaurateur).

It's actually pretty consistently busy. They've also done some good things, like turning a big chunk of their parking into a patio, and working with local farmers. I can see this doing okay on Sparks.

[TheGoods]

Winners to take over basement of former Zellers space on Sparks Street:

http://www.obj.ca/Local/Retail/2015-03-09/article-4070465/Winners-to-take-over-former-Zellers-space-on-Sparks-Street%3A-Sources/1

[eltodesukane]

On a broader note, I think this big shift toward Sparks being a restaurant row is probably the best we can hope...

Anyway, Sparks street is too dark, narrow, windy to be a pleasant place.
Too narrow to be a proper plaza, too enclosed in a narrow canyon of buildings.

[Uhuniau]

Anyway, Sparks street is too dark, narrow, windy to be a pleasant place.
Too narrow to be a proper plaza, too enclosed in a narrow canyon of buildings.


Dark?

Narrow? It's about the same width as Place-Royale in Quebec

WINDY??!?!?

Canyon?

Huh?

Seriously, Ottawa, is this city built on some magical part of the planet that doesn't revolve around the axis?

And "windy"?

Really?

Compared to.... ?

[silvergate]

Anyway, Sparks street is too dark, narrow, windy to be a pleasant place.
Too narrow to be a proper plaza, too enclosed in a narrow canyon of buildings.

Really, every street is like that in the winter. I bussed through the so called "westboro canyon" today and the sun was shinging. The main problem with Sparks is the lack of people living above/around it.

[Uhuniau]

Really, every street is like that in the winter. I bussed through the so called "westboro canyon" today

AND YOU SURVIVED??!?!?

THE WIND TUNNEL DIDN'T KILL YOU ALL TO DEATH?!!!?!?

You should sell your brave story of survival to the CBC for a movie-of-the-week! You are among the few to make it out alive! :)

[J.OT13]

Stanley Cup monument group struggling to raise needed money

Don Butler, Postmedia News | March 25, 2015 | Last Updated: Mar 25 4:10 PM ET

The not-for-profit group behind the proposed Ottawa monument commemorating Lord Stanley of Preston’s donation of the Stanley Cup in 1892 is struggling to raise the needed money, putting the project’s 2017 timetable – and perhaps its viability – in jeopardy.

“We’re still trying to raise the funds,” Paul Kitchen, president of Lord Stanley Memorial Monument Inc., said this week. “It’s a tough job getting these funds, but we’re still working on it.”

Kitchen said fundraising for the $4.5-million monument at the eastern end of the Sparks Street Mall, has gone “a lot slower” than expected.

He said he wasn’t in a position to say how much the group has raised so far “because we don’t have the actual confirmations signed, sealed and delivered.”

But he indicated that his group – which once hoped corporate sponsorships would pay for the monument – is now seeking government funding as well.

http://news.nationalpost.com/news/stanley-cup-monument-group-struggling-to-raise-needed-money/

You know, I don't think anyone (other than people associated with the bear on that site today) would oppose a Stanley Cup Memorial on that site. This one has so much more significance to so many more Canadians and I would like to see the government change its focus from the negative Victims of Communism memorial and its extremely inappropriate site to instead support the Stanley Cup memorial, which represents not only something positive, but something that unifies the country.

[rocketphish]

Would allowing vehicles onto Sparks bring Ottawa's famous street back from the dead?

Don Butler, Ottawa Citizen
Published on: April 24, 2015, Last Updated: April 24, 2015 9:04 PM EDT

In the beginning, it was good. The Sparks Street Mall, Canada’s first pedestrian-only street, was chock-a-block with department stores and other retail shops. For a time, it bustled.

The decline began with the rise of suburban malls and gained momentum with the construction of the Rideau Centre. One by one, Sparks Street’s department stores closed. Properties were left empty, sometimes for years. Scaffolding went up and stayed up. The massive government buildings on the street’s north side were perpetually being renovated, or so it seemed.

Today, the street is a shadow of its former self: deserted after the public servants go home for the day, desolate in winter. Aside from a handful of popular pubs and the odd festival celebrating poutine or grilled ribs, there is little to attract anyone there.

Les Gagné, who was dismissed from his job as executive director of the Sparks Street Business Improvement Area last November, calls it “a sorry excuse for a pedestrian promenade.”

All of which raised the question: Would reopening Sparks to motor vehicles help revitalize the moribund pedestrian mall?

A National Capital Commission‘s advisory committee appears to think it could.

The advisory committee on planning, design and realty — composed of experts in real estate development, planning, urban design, architecture and landscape architecture — provided feedback last year on a Public Works and Government Services Canada demonstration plan for properties along the south side of Wellington and the north side of Sparks streets between Elgin and Bank streets.

The demonstration plan is part of an urban design master plan developed by Public Works that provides a vision, guiding principles and design guidelines for the redevelopment of the three blocks over the next 50 years.

According to draft minutes of its meeting in February 2014 released to the Citizen under access to information, the advisory committee made several suggestions following a presentation on the demonstration plan. The most striking was to examine the reintroduction of vehicular traffic “in order to animate” Sparks Street.

It’s hardly the first time someone has raised the idea since the street was permanently closed to vehicular traffic in 1967.

“My understanding is pretty much ever since they closed the street, they’ve been thinking about reopening it in some form or another,” says Kevin McHale, event and programming co-ordinator for the Sparks Street BIA.

The last time the BIA and the Sparks Street Mall Authority actively pursued the idea was about five years ago, McHale says. “There were presentations to the NCC and Public Works and the City of Ottawa. But that’s pretty much where it ended.”

The idea of putting cars back on Sparks Street keeps coming up, McHale says, “because a lot of the pedestrian areas in North America have opted to have an off-season, where they do put vehicular traffic on the street again.”

Indeed. The NCC advisory committee pointed out there were “many examples” around the world of pedestrian malls that have welcomed back motor vehicles. It specifically cited Chicago, where the city government axed a nine-block pedestrian mall on State Street in 1996 after a 17-year failed experiment. The street has thrived ever since.

But there’s no sign that Ottawa’s signature pedestrian mall will follow suit any time soon.

“No consideration has been given to reopening the street to motor vehicle traffic,” says Vivi Chi, the city’s manager of transportation planning. The city doesn’t even have an official record of a request to do so, Chi says.

Coun. Catherine McKenney, whose Somerset ward includes the Sparks Street Mall, has “absolutely no desire” to open the street to vehicular traffic. “To me, that’s creating a car mall, and we’ve got lots of those.”

McKenney would welcome a cycle lane on the mall, however, “so people will at least get on their bikes and move through.”

One person who likes the idea of opening up Sparks Street to vehicles is Gagné. “If it’s managed properly, having some vehicular traffic on that street would be a real complement to the businesses and the whole dynamic of Sparks Street,” he says.

“At the end of the day, the pedestrian takes priority. But in the off-season, when there’s very little traffic, I don’t see why you wouldn’t want to have some kind of vehicular traffic down there. I think it makes sense.”

Gagné points to the Stephen Avenue Walk in Calgary — an outdoor pedestrian walkway between 6 a.m. and 6 p.m. that converts to a one-way, single-lane roadway with parking from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. — as an example of the type of hybrid approach Sparks Street could consider.

The city has jurisdiction over the roadway, but would consult with “stakeholders in the area” prior to making any planning decisions about Sparks Street, said Rick O’Connor, the city solicitor and clerk.

Those stakeholders include the NCC and Public Works, whose mandate includes the management of the buildings along the north side of Sparks between Elgin and Bank streets. The department has no jurisdiction beyond the buildings.

If the city decided to proceed with a traffic initiative on Sparks Street, Public Works “would examine potential implications at that time,” the department said in an email.

Sparks Street’s appeal as a pedestrian mall has been degraded over the years by the departure of retail anchors and bad planning, such as the decision to build the CBC Ottawa broadcast centre — which Gagné describes as “200 feet of dead space” — on the mall. “That killed block three between O’Connor and Bank,” he says.

“It’s no longer the mall that somebody envisioned. That’s why the introduction of a lot more animation, a lot more events, maybe even vehicular traffic, are the kinds of things you now have to look at. Because what you designed originally is nothing like what we have today. The whole makeup of the street has to change.”

McKenney agrees that Sparks Street has challenges, and has for years. “Right now, it doesn’t really serve the community,” she says. Though the street has some life during the day, when office workers spill out onto it, “as soon as they go home, it empties out.

“I’ve always said that it won’t become a real, livable, active street until people live there,” McKenney says. “That’s what’s going to truly animate it in the end.”

The NCC’s advisory committee agrees. It says Public Works should encourage residential use in its plan for the three blocks between Elgin and Bank streets “or the downtown core will not change and become more vibrant.”

That doesn’t seem likely, either. Public Works says residential use “is not being contemplated at this time.”

The department says its master plan for the three blocks focuses on rehabilitating the properties “to meet future parliamentary and federal government accommodation needs while retaining retail and commercial space.”

dbutler@ottawacitizen.com
twitter.com/ButlerDon

http://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-news/would-allowing-vehicles-onto-sparks-bring-ottawas-famous-street-back-from-the-dead

[canabiz]

I was on Sparks St. last night to grab some poutine around 6 p.m. and it wasn't that particularly busy.

The cold weather probably had something to do with the attendance. We wanted to watch Game 5 but Bier Markt was pretty much full (and they don't have many TVs to begin with). Same for D'Arcy so off we went to Elgin.

[McC]

http://news.nationalpost.com/news/stanley-cup-monument-group-struggling-to-raise-needed-money/

You know, I don't think anyone (other than people associated with the bear on that site today) would oppose a Stanley Cup Memorial on that site.

I'm not a big fan of moving public art since too often it becomes "removing" ... All of the sudden there aren't enough funds and/or a suitable location to move it to, or it gets damaged, and next thing you know, we have one less pice of art (and that bear is of a much higher quality than a lot of the works the City has commissioned recently as part of the various street reconstructions). If we're looking at Sparks for Stanley Cup Memorial, my recommendation would be to put it at the Place de Ville end, lots of space and not much going on down there at present (other than copious parking, and soon LRT, which make it a good place to start/base a visit to the area) and it would give folk another reason to go end to end on Sparks.

[kevinbottawa]

I'm not a big fan of moving public art since too often it becomes "removing" ... All of the sudden there aren't enough funds and/or a suitable location to move it to, or it gets damaged, and next thing you know, we have one less pice of art (and that bear is of a much higher quality than a lot of the works the City has commissioned recently as part of the various street reconstructions). If we're looking at Sparks for Stanley Cup Memorial, my recommendation would be to put it at the Place de Ville end, lots of space and not much going on down there at present (other than copious parking, and soon LRT, which make it a good place to start/base a visit to the area) and it would give folk another reason to go end to end on Sparks.

But there's no historical relevance to the Stanley Cup near the Place de Ville; it was presented at the Russell House hotel on the site of the war memorial. The bear can go anywhere, the Stanley Cup monument can't.

[Urbanarchit]

But there's no historical relevance to the Stanley Cup near the Place de Ville; it was presented at the Russell House hotel on the site of the war memorial. The bear can go anywhere, the Stanley Cup monument can't.

But then why not put the Stanley Cup Memorial beside the NAC? That would be closer to the exact location of Russell House.

[acottawa]

Why does everything need a monument? Why can't they put a nice plaque indicating where the cup was first presented, maybe with a nice bronze replica of the original for tourists to take pictures with?

Back on topic, I don't see how cars would make people more likely to go to sparks.

[NOWINYOW]

Back on topic, I don't see how cars would make people more likely to go to sparks.

I agree. What would bring people there is if there apartments/condos along the street. Retail on ground floor, residential on 2nd and up. Granted, this won't work for every building, but I'd say there are several buildings that could be renovated.

Just don't Lauzon be part of any group doing the planning. His track record is less than stellar.

[canabiz]

It looks like there will be a new restaurant on Sparks St. from this article

Plans are underway at 62 Sparks St., where Carmichael will open Imperial, a casual-style restaurant in the old CIBC building, a 7,000-square-foot space that was most recently a stamp shop, a few doors west of the corner of Elgin Street. Imperial, a working name that will stick unless another car name comes along (Impala, maybe?) will open in the fall, likely October. Jordan Holley, chef de cuisine at El Camino, is Carmichael’s partner in both new ventures.

http://ottawacitizen.com/life/style/ottawa-bites-movers-and-shakers-in-capitals-foodie-scene

[canabiz]

http://www.ottawasun.com/2015/04/26/sparks-st-could-use-a-little-spark

There was a poutine festival on Sparks Street this past weekend. Which isn’t saying much. There is always a poutine festival on Sparks Street.

Or so it seems. Poutine festivals are used today to bring people to Sparks Street, which I think shows you just how low Sparks Street has fallen.

There was a time when people came to Canada’s first pedestrian mall to shop, mingle with friends, inspect the wares of street vendors and artists.

Now they come — if they come at all — to celebrate a unique form of food that has as its chief claim to fame the fact that it looks as though it has already passed through your body.

Ah, Sparks Street. What has become of you?

With summer approaching (or at least that’s the story we’re going with) Sparks Street is back in the news, with media reports that Public Works Canada and the National Capital Commission are considering reopening the street to cars.

Yep, that should do it. The only thing missing on Sparks Street. No drive-thru poutine window.

To have Sparks Street just one block from Parliament Hill is almost a national embarrassment. Except the rest of Canada doesn’t care about the street either, so we’re somewhat off the hook on that one.

Vacant buildings, shuttered department stores, street artists long chased away – Sparks Street is like a dead-zone in the middle of the nation’s capital.

Such a waste. I once worked on Sparks Street and I will always have a fondness for the street.

It was for an alternative magazine I helped found and when we discovered the name of the building we were moving into, to start the magazine, was called the Hope Building, we all took it as the ultimate good-luck sign.

Six months later, with the magazine almost bankrupt, the place should have been re-named the Misery Building. Or the Not-The-Best-Idea-In-The-World building.

But when I look back on that time there was one thing I quite loved about it all. Sparks Street.

I loved having breakfast at the restaurant next door, buying newspapers at the Green Dragon, using the post office at the corner. I walked everywhere and loved working on a pedestrian mall.

The initial idea, I think, is still good. And you still get some sense of how it must have been in the beginning during the Buskers’ Festival, or any night at D’Arcy McGees, one of the best pubs in the city.

That the government wants to scrap the idea of a pedestrian mall is absurd. The problem with Sparks Street is not a lack of cars. The problem is there hasn’t been a destination on the street for decades.

This is a retail problem. That’s it. It’s not a rocket-science problem.

If Nordstrom had opened on Sparks Street we would never see another poutine festival. If Mountain Equipment Co-Op had opened there, Sparks Street would be this city’s destination for outdoor enthusiasts.

And just think what would have happened if Bruce Firestone, the man who brought us the Ottawa Senators, had been allowed to open a casino on Sparks Street as he proposed doing back in the ’80s.

Before the Casino du Lac-Leamy had even started construction.

All levels of government helped shoot down Firestone’s idea. The feds, for one, had better plans for the proposed building.

Leave it empty for the next 30 years.

Sparks Street just doesn’t operate like a typical retail area, and that’s the problem. The north side is part of the Parliamentary Precinct. You have Public Works Canada, the National Capital Commission and the city of Ottawa all involved in running the place.

Government bureaucrats make poor retailers. Sparks Street is your proof.

But businesses on the street are part of the problem as well. They are the ones, let’s remember, who keep holding poutine festivals.

Merchants on the street belong to the Sparks Street Business Improvement Area. BIAs do a lot of good things in the city, but one thing they never do is lobby for greater competition.

BIAs have no interest in welcoming a Nordstrom or Whole Foods to the neighbourhood. They don’t want the competition. They want more customers for the existing members.

So we get never-ending sidewalk sales and bad-food festivals.

Sparks Street is worth saving. I wish someone would get serious about it.

[rakerman]

http://www.ottawasun.com/2015/04/26/sparks-st-could-use-a-little-spark

The problem with Sparks Street is not a lack of cars. The problem is there hasn’t been a destination on the street for decades.

This is a retail problem. That’s it. It’s not a rocket-science problem.

If Nordstrom had opened on Sparks Street we would never see another poutine festival. If Mountain Equipment Co-Op had opened there, Sparks Street would be this city’s destination for outdoor enthusiasts.

Sparks Street just doesn’t operate like a typical retail area, and that’s the problem. The north side is part of the Parliamentary Precinct. You have Public Works Canada, the National Capital Commission and the city of Ottawa all involved in running the place.

Government bureaucrats make poor retailers. Sparks Street is your proof.

But businesses on the street are part of the problem as well. They are the ones, let’s remember, who keep holding poutine festivals.

Merchants on the street belong to the Sparks Street Business Improvement Area. BIAs do a lot of good things in the city, but one thing they never do is lobby for greater competition.

BIAs have no interest in welcoming a Nordstrom or Whole Foods to the neighbourhood. They don’t want the competition. They want more customers for the existing members.

So we get never-ending sidewalk sales and bad-food festivals.

Sparks Street is worth saving. I wish someone would get serious about it.

Agreed.

This is the BIA remember that closed down the street market on Sparks because people were actually going to it.

Sparks was destination retail (department stores). Once the malls came, it died. The Parliamentary Precinct doesn't help. Having the back end of the CBC doesn't help. Holt's being in a bunker you could walk by for years without ever knowing it was there didn't help. Not having dedicated cycle lanes plus this "walk your bike" thing doesn't help. Suburban flight doesn't help. And the M-F noontime-peak crowd distorts the marketplace. Plus without destination retail, it would have to be a busy travel corridor from somewhere to somewhere - the streetcars used to maintain it as a travel corridor, but now it goes from... government offices on one end to government offices on the other end. It doesn't really take you between two or more important destinations.

The neglect doesn't help either. It used to look a lot more interesting.

1978 https://www.facebook.com/LostOttawa/photos/a.380380215394542.81184.380334048732492/897887556977136/?type=1&permPage=1

1978 https://www.facebook.com/LostOttawa/photos/a.380380215394542.81184.380334048732492/873198256112733/?type=1&permPage=1

1960 https://www.facebook.com/LostOttawa/photos/a.380380215394542.81184.380334048732492/884186695013889/?type=1&permPage=1

early 1900s https://manifestomultilinko2.wordpress.com/2015/02/22/sparks-street-at-the-turn-of-the-20th-century/

The current preference for cheap (and ugly) concrete sends a signal. The signal is definitely not "welcome to a high-end shopping and culture destination".

Plus they haven't clue how to use a pedestrian space. Plus Ottawa has a weak pedestrian culture.

If it were a normal European shopping street it would be strung with local retailers who would be fighting with chain retailers to hold onto their spots, and it would glow with lights at Christmas.

https://flic.kr/y/B5LvMc

But we are very definitely not in Europe.

Sparks is just a particularly intense version of the challenge of most Ottawa streets - almost all the destination retail is in the malls, and almost everyone lives outside the city centre. Plus a lot of shopping has moved online. About the only thing people will go to as a street destination downtown now is a restaurant, which is why Bank and Elgin are strung with restaurants.

At this point, it's stuck in a similar cycle to Bank - too central (and presumably too expensive) to meaningfully gentrify its way out of neglect, too neglected for people to go, too empty when you do go there. I like Expedition, but they must be struggling to pull people in off of Elgin. Carmichael's place will help, but basically the only place you would go shopping before or after would be Expedition. Nate's may be great, but who is going to go all the way there for breakfast when few people live nearby and Dunn's and other places are well-established?

Bank can at least transform itself with condo development (although condo ground-level retail has its own generic-chain issues).

Basically Sparks needs to pull people from Tribeca, Mondrian and The Slater, but people's natural tendency is to go up and down Bank or Elgin, or to the Market. Sparks will never condo-ize itself (is Re ever going to be built?) Without multiple steady destination draws, with still a low concentration of residential nearby, and with very little flexibility to change its built form, Sparks is basically stuck.

[elly63]

56 Sparks Street Ottawa 4, part of millions of Canadian's childhood.

[OTSkyline]

I think Sparks Street is doing good things when it comes to special events but what it has/does on a everyday basis is lacking.. Like everyone has mentioned; except for a few pubs and restaurants (D'arcy McGee's, Nate's Deli, Bier Markt, Three Brewers), the street has nothing else to offer and there is no retail destination.

However, I do think they do special events quite well and this shows when you see the street filled with people for things like;

Poutine Fest
Rib Fest
Busker's Fest
Latin Sparks (went twice last summer - amazing event and such an incredible experience when it's nice out and the entire strip is packed with people for an outdoors party)
etc..

[JHikka]

However, I do think they do special events quite well and this shows when you see the street filled with people for things like;

Poutine Fest
Rib Fest
Busker's Fest
Latin Sparks (went twice last summer - amazing event and such an incredible experience when it's nice out and the entire strip is packed with people for an outdoors party)
etc..
You mean when the events aren't being moved to City Hall? ;)

Visited Poutinefest this weekend and it was same as the past few years. Good stuff all around. Sparks seems better this year than last year thanks to BierMarkt and Nate's...still a long way to go to be that fun destination we all want it to be.

[YOWhopeful]

Agreed.

This is the BIA remember that closed down the street market on Sparks because people were actually going to it.

Sparks was destination retail (department stores). Once the malls came, it died. The Parliamentary Precinct doesn't help. Having the back end of the CBC doesn't help. Holt's being in a bunker you could walk by for years without ever knowing it was there didn't help. Not having dedicated cycle lanes plus this "walk your bike" thing doesn't help. Suburban flight doesn't help. And the M-F noontime-peak crowd distorts the marketplace. Plus without destination retail, it would have to be a busy travel corridor from somewhere to somewhere - the streetcars used to maintain it as a travel corridor, but now it goes from... government offices on one end to government offices on the other end. It doesn't really take you between two or more important destinations.

The neglect doesn't help either. It used to look a lot more interesting.


1978 https://www.facebook.com/LostOttawa/photos/a.380380215394542.81184.380334048732492/897887556977136/?type=1&permPage=1

1978 https://www.facebook.com/LostOttawa/photos/a.380380215394542.81184.380334048732492/873198256112733/?type=1&permPage=1

1960 https://www.facebook.com/LostOttawa/photos/a.380380215394542.81184.380334048732492/884186695013889/?type=1&permPage=1

early 1900s https://manifestomultilinko2.wordpress.com/2015/02/22/sparks-street-at-the-turn-of-the-20th-century/

The current preference for cheap (and ugly) concrete sends a signal. The signal is definitely not "welcome to a high-end shopping and culture destination".

Plus they haven't clue how to use a pedestrian space. Plus Ottawa has a weak pedestrian culture.

If it were a normal European shopping street it would be strung with local retailers who would be fighting with chain retailers to hold onto their spots, and it would glow with lights at Christmas.

https://flic.kr/y/B5LvMc

But we are very definitely not in Europe.

Sparks is just a particularly intense version of the challenge of most Ottawa streets - almost all the destination retail is in the malls, and almost everyone lives outside the city centre. Plus a lot of shopping has moved online. About the only thing people will go to as a street destination downtown now is a restaurant, which is why Bank and Elgin are strung with restaurants.

At this point, it's stuck in a similar cycle to Bank - too central (and presumably too expensive) to meaningfully gentrify its way out of neglect, too neglected for people to go, too empty when you do go there. I like Expedition, but they must be struggling to pull people in off of Elgin. Carmichael's place will help, but basically the only place you would go shopping before or after would be Expedition. Nate's may be great, but who is going to go all the way there for breakfast when few people live nearby and Dunn's and other places are well-established?

Bank can at least transform itself with condo development (although condo ground-level retail has its own generic-chain issues).

Basically Sparks needs to pull people from Tribeca, Mondrian and The Slater, but people's natural tendency is to go up and down Bank or Elgin, or to the Market. Sparks will never condo-ize itself (is Re ever going to be built?) Without multiple steady destination draws, with still a low concentration of residential nearby, and with very little flexibility to change its built form, Sparks is basically stuck.

Agreed!

The problem with Sparks is there is no worthwhile retail. If H&M opened downtown on Sparks, all the university students would be there instead of taking the bus to Bayshore mall.

However, I disagree with those that say no one lives downtown. On the contrary, there have been lots of condo developments in centretown in the last 10 years but retail hasn't followed.

The following condo 20 condo buildings have all been built in the last10 years in the square that is bordered by Bronson, Elgin, the 417 and Parliament:
the Mondrian on Bank;
metropolitan I, II, III on Cooper,
the Pinnacle on Lyon,
The Gardens I and II on Bronson;
condo tower on Laurier near Bronson;
Cathedral hill (just finished on Sparks and Bronson),
the Hudson I and II on Kent;
the Domicile condos on Kent (I don't recall their name)
the Tribeca I and II on Metcalfe,
the soon to be finished Gotham on Gloucester;
the Bowery condos being built next to the Gotham;
the Strand on Kent;
the Opus near the Museum of Nature
Central I and II condos on Bank;
the SOHO on Lisgar;
the Slater being built now.
If you assume that each tower has about 80 units, that at least 70% of condos are sold when the project is built, and that each condo is inhabited by 1 1/2 persons on average, then that's about 1800 new people living in the area between Parliament, the 417, Bronson and Elgin. This is in addition to the already existing condo and apartment buildings in Centretown. It is more densely populated than the Glebe. I live in Centretown. I go BY Sparks Street everyday, I would go TO Sparks Street if there were something to go to. I do not need tired-looking uncool clothing stores, post cards or Ottawa t-shirts and I don't go to the restaurant everyday (but gladly welcome new ones on Sparks).

[acottawa]

The thing is, it is in the middle of an office district. It seems normal that it would attract stores catering to office workers that be willing to pay more than "niche" stores (that want cheap rent) and be less appealing for "destination" stores (that want to be in the rideau centre).

[rocketphish]

Why do we think cars would save Sparks?

Joanne Chianello, Ottawa Citizen
Published on: April 27, 2015, Last Updated: April 27, 2015 4:52 PM EDT

To mark the centennial celebrations of this country, we banned vehicles from Sparks Street, turning it into this city’s premier pedestrian mall. Now, as we approach our sesquicentennial in 2017, some are musing that we should let the cars back on it.

The idea of nixing the pedestrian mall was most recently floated by a National Capital Commission advisory committee. As reported by the Citizen’s Don Butler, the committee’s thoughts on returning vehicles to the street were part of the feedback for a long-term development plan that Public Works and Government Services Canada is developing for the north side of Sparks, between Elgin and Bank streets.

What to do about Sparks has long been a discussion of debate, and every few years or so, someone invariably suggests allowing cars back the road. Those in favour of returning vehicles often point to State Street in Chicago, which ended its 17-year pedestrian-only experiment in 1996 and has been booming ever since.

Of course, State Street is home to the historic Chicago Theatre and flagship stores of some the country’s most popular national retail chains, spanning the shopping gamut from Old Navy to Anthropologie. Are cars part of what sparked State Street’s rebirth?

If so, what to make of cars being banned from Times Square? Barring vehicles from arguably the world’s most famous piazza met with plenty of skepticism (especially from cab drivers) when it was first tried in 2009. Naturally, it was an instant hit.

The reason that these projects were successful — one adding cars, one taking them away — is that both locations offer visitors plenty to do and see.

Sparks Street used to do that. According to Alain Miguelez, author of A Theatre Near You, Sparks boasted a number of cinemas, including the Regent and the Centre, both of which closed in the early 1970s. Until the mid-’90s, Place de Ville on the west end of Sparks had movie theatres. Now you can’t find a single theatre in the downtown district west of the canal (unless you count Lansdowne Park and Old Ottawa South as downtown), let alone on Sparks Street.

Another factor in the Chicago and New York wins in redeveloping their respective cities was they each had a mayor with a vision and the determination to make it happen. But with Sparks Street, it’s hard to know who should be stepping up to the plate. The city is only responsible for the actual roadway. Public Works department and the NCC own most of the actual buildings. With three different government entities involved, coming up with a bold plan becomes that much harder.

We know all the arguments. We’ve heard all the complaints. The government isn’t exactly the ideal landlord, with renovations going on sometimes for years. Rents are too high. Planning errors were made: three banks on the street make for wide swaths of deadzones on the street level, offering no evening action. The CBC headquarters has no entrance onto Sparks, providing zero-street level activity.

So what’s the solution?

More people. As the area councillor, Catherine McKenney, points out, “if you want a place to be livable, then you need people to live there.”

And people are moving into the area. The Cathedral Hill condos on the west end of Sparks are nearing completion, Ashcroft is building a boutique hotel and condos at Sparks and Metcalfe that will be open in 2018, and 35 furnished lofts and flats are available at 126 Sparks Street.

These developments will help. But if we want Sparks to be the sort of lively place that residents and visitors want to visit, we need even more people living in the downtown core so that Sparks becomes a more integral part of the city community, as opposed to a service avenue that largely keeps bankers hours.

One way to do that would be for Public Works and the NCC to turn some of their office space into rental units, although there’s no evidence that they’re interested in being in the housing game. The feds refused to entertain the idea of mixing office and residential space when considering the Tunney’s Pasture redevelopment plan.

Or the federal government could sell some of its buildings to private developers. That would certainly be controversial but a way to get more people on Sparks. The city might offer incentives to convert downtown office space to residential units.

It would take years, decades even, to get enough people living downtown to help the Sparks situation. And we seem to be trying to revitalize every part of town at once — from the ByWard Market to the old Domtar lands, to Rideau Street, to Lansdowne — while shopping centres expand and new big-box malls pop up. What if there just aren’t enough of us to rejuvenate every corner of the city that wants spiffing up?

All this to say, there’s no clear path to solving our Sparks Street woes. But it’s hard to believe that when we’re digging a trench one block south of Sparks Street as part of a $2.1-billion light-rail plan, we should encourage more people to get into their cars.

jchianello@ottawacitizen.com

http://ottawacitizen.com/opinion/columnists/0428-col-chianello

[danishh]

we should probably wait until LRT opens to see what the effect is before any drastic changes. Maybe moving transit one block closer makes a difference?

[phil235]

we should probably wait until LRT opens to see what the effect is before any drastic changes. Maybe moving transit one block closer makes a difference?

Very good point. Queen Street is intended to be a premiere pedestrian street once the LRT is built, so there may be more of a critical mass of pedestrian destinations there.

LRT may also be key in attracting a destination retailer or entertainment option. There are plenty of people living downtown to keep local retail busy, as evidenced by Bank St., but in order to have a vibrant destination, you need to draw from outside that area.

[phil235]

Was just on Sparks Street. It's looking pretty good with the big new patios for Nate's and the Biermarket. This new direction for the street shows some promise.

[Uhuniau]

Very good point. Queen Street is intended to be a premiere pedestrian street once the LRT is built, so there may be more of a critical mass of pedestrian destinations there.

LRT may also be key in attracting a destination retailer or entertainment option. There are plenty of people living downtown to keep local retail busy, as evidenced by Bank St., but in order to have a vibrant destination, you need to draw from outside that area.

Queen is never going to be much of a "premiere pedestrian street" as long as it is lined with ass-faced buildings.

[phil235]

Queen is never going to be much of a "premiere pedestrian street" as long as it is lined with ass-faced buildings.

Presumably it will get lots of pedestrians by virtue of the LRT stations alone, which may encourage landlords to improve their street presence. The SunLife Centre is already making changes.

[Uhuniau]

Presumably it will get lots of pedestrians by virtue of the LRT stations alone, which may encourage landlords to improve their street presence. The SunLife Centre is already making changes.

Changing one's street presence != improving it.

The Delta and Place Bell both changed their street presence, and for the better, aesthetically - but the function hasn't changed one jot.

[phil235]

Changing one's street presence != improving it.

The Delta and Place Bell both changed their street presence, and for the better, aesthetically - but the function hasn't changed one jot.

Fair enough. I would expect that wider sidewalks and streetscaping will at least provide some encouragement to property owners.

[canabiz]

I had Camp 31 half-chicken, half-rib combo tonight and it was good. No place for us to sit outside or on the patio so we ended up at the Cock & Lion to polish things off...

Great nite out...I may come back for an encore tomorrow as it's supposed to rain on Sunday.

Sparks St. was full of people tonight. Great to see. One of the few times a year I venture from Barrhaven to downtown ;)

[canabiz]

I was on Sparks Street today around 3:30 p.m. and saw a restaurant worker putting the patio furniture away...on a beautiful day in the middle of July and with tourists milling around on Elgin across D'Arcy and public servants in nearby offices about to end another working day...it's just sad man, it really is...

I recently spent some time in Barcelona and London, U.K. and I know we are comparing apples to oranges in terms of population, culture and attractions but if they can get Las Ramblas (Barcelona) and Covent Garden (London), to name a couple of the more well-know pedestrian streets) humming at ANY time of the day, ANY day of the week, what is stopping Sparks Street from getting to that level?

http://i.imgur.com/pqhpqaz.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/88DcAuw.jpg

[canabiz]

http://i.imgur.com/lUqhM0U.jpg

[Uhuniau]

I was on Sparks Street today around 3:30 p.m. and saw a restaurant worker putting the patio furniture away...

Which restaurant?

[canabiz]

Which restaurant?

I don't remember the name but it's across from the RBC building, between Metcalfe and Elgin.

Unless I am missing something, I thought it was pretty odd to clear the patio in the middle of a beautiful day.

[phil235]

I don't remember the name but it's across from the RBC building, between Metcalfe and Elgin.

Unless I am missing something, I thought it was pretty odd to clear the patio in the middle of a beautiful day.

Yes, odd, as there has been a huge increase in patio activity on Sparks over the past year.

[OTSkyline]

I think it really is a shame but I think there are 2 main factors that differenciate these areas metnioned above to Spark St.

1) The retail options; you can easily stroll down Las Ramblas to visit the shops AND stop for coffee, drinks, meals but sadly Sparks St doesn't offer that... YES, it is somewhat getting better as the restaurant assortment grows but other then that there is nothing.. Basically unless you're eating, you don't go to Sparks St.

2) The Culture. Europeans love to mingle and socialize and spend HOURS outside or at cafes to drink, chat, meet up with friends etc.. Have you ever been to dinner with the French or Italians or something? A meal out is a night out in itself and you can easily spend 2-3 hours at a restaurant to eat, sample food, drinks and socialize. Unfortunately in Canada the culture is different and we are more of a "go-go-go" population. You drive down to Boston Pizza with your family of 4 and go in-and-out of there within an hour to rush to go to Costco after and catch the latest episode of Law & Order at home... Canadians, and probably even moreso Ottawans, are notorious for being "home-bodies", hence why very little downtown government workers or Orleans, Kanata, Barrhaven residents come/stay downtown to enjoy the patios and the "city life".

[canabiz]

I think it really is a shame but I think there are 2 main factors that differenciate these areas metnioned above to Spark St.

1) The retail options; you can easily stroll down Las Ramblas to visit the shops AND stop for coffee, drinks, meals but sadly Sparks St doesn't offer that... YES, it is somewhat getting better as the restaurant assortment grows but other then that there is nothing.. Basically unless you're eating, you don't go to Sparks St.

2) The Culture. Europeans love to mingle and socialize and spend HOURS outside or at cafes to drink, chat, meet up with friends etc.. Have you ever been to dinner with the French or Italians or something? A meal out is a night out in itself and you can easily spend 2-3 hours at a restaurant to eat, sample food, drinks and socialize. Unfortunately in Canada the culture is different and we are more of a "go-go-go" population. You drive down to Boston Pizza with your family of 4 and go in-and-out of there within an hour to rush to go to Costco after and catch the latest episode of Law & Order at home... Canadians, and probably even moreso Ottawans, are notorious for being "home-bodies", hence why very little downtown government workers or Orleans, Kanata, Barrhaven residents come/stay downtown to enjoy the patios and the "city life".

I think you hit the nail in the head with respect to the culture part, OTSkyline (The lack of food venues is also a good point).

I am guilty as charged. At the end of a typical workday, I look forward to firing up my grill and enjoy a cold one at my Barrhaven home, going downtown and chilling on Sparks Street is usually not in my routine (unless there is an event like Ribfest and/or prior appointments with families/friends.

It is cheaper and more relaxing for me to do so although I do miss the people watching aspect in the summer months (don't we all love the eye candy!). Sparks Street is what it is and same goes for Ottawa so I just have to resign to those facts and appreciate the greenery, spacious living spaces and lower cost of living (compared to Barcelona and London, U.K.) that we have here. The grass is not necessarily greener on the other side...

[Aylmer]

I think that one important aspect of Sparks St.'s decline is that it doesn't really connect easily from anything on either end; To the west, it trickles off past Bank leading to a lonely albeit beautiful lookout. To the east, it's halted by the horrible series of clusterfuck intersections between lifeless buildings (Old train station, NAC) and empty space (War Memorial and that weird piece of empty greenspace beside the NAC), culminating with a humiliating trip down an underpass to finally attain the active but unappealing Rideau street. There's a reason why the north, underpass-less sidewalk on Wellington is always so full and the south side is so empty - people would rather cross Rideau/Wellington twice than to have to go under that ungodly underpass, no matter how loud they blast the music or how many laminated reprints of art they stick up down there.

http://www.cbc.ca/polopoly_fs/1.2206390.1382679379!/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/original_300/ot-underpass-fence-080131.jpg

The entire reason that Sparks was so appealing in the first place is because it was the one street which connected Uppertown (downtown) and Lowertown across the canal*. It was the street you had to (and indeed wanted to) take for so many necessary, utilitarian trips and it worked as an almost seamless connection. In my opinion, the War Memorial was built in a very unfortunate place for exactly that reason - it turned a small gap in the urban fabric (the canal) into a wide, empty field of inactivity in the exact spot that had made it such an excellent crossing in the first place; crossing from one part of town to the next was no longer a natural flow - it required the 'determination' to cross past Elgin, something which it still does today.

http://www.pastottawa.com/include/ottawa/images/archivephoto/1000fs/aerial_view_ottawa_rideau_canal_1920_1421892965.JPG
(Notice how small a gap there is between Lowetown (Union Station) and Uppertown (the old post office) - perhaps all of 75m.

Of course, there's no moving the War Memorial nowadays - it is where it is. However, there's a LOT we can do to close the gap and make Sparks a natural link across the canal:

1. Built it out/Fill in the blanks
Between Elgin and Sussex, there needs to be a concerted effort to close the "missing teeth" along the south side of the street, most notably the empty facade of the NAC, the slope towards the canal beside the NAC and the space between the old train station and the Rideau Centre. They could fill them with low-mid rise buildings (4-5 storeys) with excellent street presence to invite people to venture further along.
We could attain something even better than what was there before the demolition of the Corry block in the 60's, that is to say a connection which, though not seamless, isn't completely severed as it is today.
http://www.pastottawa.com/include/ottawa/images/archivephoto/640/rideau_sussex_corry_building_ottawa_1376739839.JPG


2. Tame the road

the horrible intersections and roads between Elgin and Sussex need to go. No more double-left-turns, no more highway overpass, no more traffic speeding past tiny pedestrian islands like sharks around a dinghy. If we want people to walk along it, Rideau/Wellington/Elgin need to be slow streets with easy-to-understand intersections and pedestrian priority - slowing down cars from 60km/h to 30km/h for 100m will make little to no difference for motorists, but will mean the world to the people walking and sitting as well as the businesses which depend on them (which is to say all of them except the Chateau Laurier). By slowing people down, we can even hope to attain to actually increase vehicle throughput like they did in Poynton, UK.

3. Make it comfortable
It gets hella hot/cold in Ottawa and people are reluctant to have to walk across any significant distance of shade-less Serengeti in the summer and buffer-less arctic tundra in the winter. There needs to be some serious tree-planting to connect Sparks to Rideau, including on the Plaza bridge (which, as we've shown on the Somerset overpass, we CAN do).


The connection between Rideau and Sparks is, in my eyes, the element which made it so successful in the first place. The break in that connection is also what I believe has made Sparks so useless and unused even while other main streets like Bank do so well - there's just no really good reason to be on Sparks other than if it's your final destination; people who need to get somewhere have little use for it.

If we ever want to make Sparks anything more than an empty shell of itself, we are going to have to fix this.



*Wellington did too, but it failed as a commercial artery because of the huge presence of the Parliamentary precinct preventing development on both sides of the street

[lrt's friend]

Excellent analysis Aylmer!!

I think the easiest thing we can do is to return a store front present at the NAC. For years, there was a large book store there.

We could also wish that Union Station was returned to a public function.

Those two things alone would make a big difference.

I also hate what they did with the intersection of MacKenzie-Sussex and Rideau. Looking at the various shots, they demolished at least 4 buildings to allow better traffic flow. But who cares about pedestrians? It created a somewhat creepy spot, which was worse when somewhat undesirables used congregate there. Pedestrians can't be placed down in holes like this. They should be at street and store level. This creates a sense of security. They should at the very least get rid of the hole and return pedestrians to street level even if it slows traffic down a tad.

Then there is the missed opportunity of having an LRT station in this gap between Rideau and Sparks. This alone would have enlivened the gap and allowed for better reuse of the NAC and the adjacent land.

We allowed this gap to develop over a 50 year period (1920s to 1970s) not realizing the invisible pedestrian barrier that we were creating step by step. Likewise, the Elgin Street boulevard developed in the late 30s did likewise. This is actually a contributing factor as it extends the pedestrian barrier southward as well. You just have to look at where the lively part of Elgin ends, right where the boulevard begins. And for a pedestrian, that is a distance before you get to Sparks or Rideau where there is something interesting again. We then added to all of this by having almost every building on Elgin having no or little street presence. Mistake upon mistake.

It is funny how something designed to provide a dramatic vista for the war memorial turned out to be so destructive to the urban fabric of the city.

[1overcosc]

2. Tame the road

the horrible intersections and roads between Elgin and Sussex need to go. No more double-left-turns, no more highway overpass, no more traffic speeding past tiny pedestrian islands like sharks around a dinghy. If we want people to walk along it, Rideau/Wellington/Elgin need to be slow streets with easy-to-understand intersections and pedestrian priority - slowing down cars from 60km/h to 30km/h for 100m will make little to no difference for motorists, but will mean the world to the people walking and sitting as well as the businesses which depend on them (which is to say all of them except the Chateau Laurier). By slowing people down, we can even hope to attain to actually increase vehicle throughput like they did in Poynton, UK.

This is a huge problem in many areas of our inner city; the roads & intersections are confusing, intimidating, and inconvenient for pedestrians, and street crossings are complicated.

The Sparks/Elgin mess, the whole Waller-Nicholas-Besserer area, the weird intersections around the escarpment (Slater/Albert/Bronson/Commissioner), are the worst offenders.

We need a serious simplification of the street network along with pedestrian-oriented intersections... no push buttons, changing frequently.

[Harley613]

This is a huge problem in many areas of our inner city; the roads & intersections are confusing, intimidating, and inconvenient for pedestrians, and street crossings are complicated.

The Sparks/Elgin mess, the whole Waller-Nicholas-Besserer area, the weird intersections around the escarpment (Slater/Albert/Bronson/Commissioner), are the worst offenders.

We need a serious simplification of the street network along with pedestrian-oriented intersections... no push buttons, changing frequently.

The straight-ahead lane at Sussex and Rideau heading Eastbound is messed up, the light isn't aligned with the lane. It stills makes me feel uncomfortable after driving through it for 19 years.

[Uhuniau]

*Wellington did too, but it failed as a commercial artery because of the huge presence of the Parliamentary precinct preventing development on both sides of the street

I don't think it ever fancied itself a commercial artery. Government has always been its main function since Parliament came to town; the 19th and early 20th-century non-government uses on the street were, apart from a few pioneer-era survivors west of Bank, mostly ancillary to government. (Law offices, newspaper bureaus, etc.)

[Uhuniau]

We need a serious simplification of the street network along with pedestrian-oriented intersections... no push buttons, changing frequently.

And yet, notwithstanding all the pretty and meaningless words in official plans about pedestrian priority, virtually every street rebuild in the core in the past 15 years has taken out pedestrian signals that operate automatically - when traffic gets a green, walkers get a walk - and replaced them with signals that do not give you a walk unless you specifically request one.

It's happened on Wellington, it's happened on Rideau, on Bank, and on, and on.

[Uhuniau]

We could also wish that Union Station was returned to a public function.

I think it'll generate more life at street level as the temporary Senate than it ever did as the GCC. It's time to start thinking, soon, about its post-Senate purpose.

Then there is the missed opportunity of having an LRT station in this gap between Rideau and Sparks. This alone would have enlivened the gap and allowed for better reuse of the NAC and the adjacent land.

This failure was the chief reason that moved my mayoral vote last fall.