Yup, I hide in hotels ;)

Sir I am far from that. Whenever I travel in Canada and the USA, it is by car or truck, I bet I have put way more miles in my 41 years then you will put in a lifetime on the HWY. Flying from one place to another is the lazy way.

As for the comment on Vegas, well thats a funny one as I go there often. one night, the casino's were closed, I was pretty much WTF??? Because the city was DEAD. And all there was left on the streets were the local bums and prostitutes.

In Miami, a city based on tourism for the most part, take a drive down the water front, Hotels and Condos all mixed together.:tup:

Lets take a jump to Denver, well the city center ( very nice imo as for looks ) but it is EMPTY at night .

Jump again to the Twin Cities, St Paul at night is a place you pretty much do not want to even stop. drive straight down University BLVD back ( if you dont get mugged ) and back to Minn, City is bright, and lots of towers and such, but again dead.

Now see my young lad, when I plan a trip, whether it be to Vancouver, GTA, New York, Key West, Vegas, etc etc. I jump in my Car and Drive. I find it very interesting to actually see the country this way, and not jump and miss everything. And going from one town, city to another and seeing the differences is unreal.

But since I seem to be in the back room still with peoples views here. I ask this, why do you people sit here and preach how WPG needs more people LIVING DT to make it viable for business etc? Yet when I mention it, you say I am out to lunch????:shrug:

still, its not bad. nice to see a high rise coming along with it

any potential other buildings or whatnot coming along as well? perhaps something mixed use

Well we were talking about a smaller hotel were we not, that was going to go ( I think ) either the north end or west side of the current building. I have not heard anything more about it this year though. And there is still the unknown MPIC lot which is in the North East corner of the center. So......lol


I hope some of these projects are firmed up sooner then later.

I wonder how 17 stories will affect the Manitoba Hydro building in terms of the recieving Sun in the Winter. The building is partially heated by the sun in the winter.

Umm, doesn't that then completely contradict your initial argument that hotel goers don't spend money outside of hotels? People were suggesting you 'hide in hotels' solely because of the counter-intuitive argument you were trying to make.

exactly and downtowns tend to be more walkable rather than suburbs

oh blast, another damn one or 2 skywalks to be constructed onto the new hotel(s) another way for tourist to not engage with the street level of downtown. With all the money they spend on the sky walks they should of build floor heated sidewalks like they do in Oslo, Norway for they never have ice on them. They could also build glass corridor with radiant heat above.

I am guessing the new and old renovated convention center won't have commercial space on the ground-floor instead it will all be tucked somewheres like on the second floor.

You're telling me to go easy for that comment?

I think that's an insult to him more than me. Obviously he was able to take it. :haha: But I'm not sure if a bunch of shitty experiences in American cities, many of which were probably more than a few years ago when the downtown resurgence began, can really be fairly used in this discussion. Just ten years ago my city's downtown was a bunch of boarded up businesses and nothing to do, now it's the entertainment district and you can't find parking at any time of day (which hasn't affected it yet, but will eventually. Unlike Winnipeg we don't have oodles of surface lots everywhere.)

Times change. He's 41 years old so he should know that.

Part of the reason cities get so dangerous like that is because people hide from the bad parts. With no eyes on the streets, criminals have free reign. Condos aren't the only eyes. Hotels are too. You need both. And you need businesses to serve those people. Mixed use. It's not limited to just two uses.

Again using my hometown as an example: Thunder Bay has two downtowns. In one, there are no condos or hotels and most businesses close at 5pm. In the other, there is more than twice as many people living there, and businesses close at 2am. Which one do you think has more crime?

It's not the one with all the bars and hotels.

Last trip, 4 months ago, total miles put on, 5000. Last time in your town, 1 year ago. And before that, 10 years ago, looks the same to me, just has some more shiny signs.

Last small trip, last week. Total miles, 1000 plus. That was to the Twin cities:rolleyes:

here

http://www.walkscore.com/


get your score for any city or area. This has been posted in the Canada section for some time. But maybe you missed it.:tup:

my house has a 77, nice! and it's missing hair salon, parks, community club. i'm going to add those in!

It gives Sky condos (340 Waterfront) a walk score of 90. It seems to count some things that probably shouldn't be counted.

Like a driving school nearby is a close school.

naming rights for the new convention center are for sale, here is to hoping that we dont get stuck with these various names:

Maple leaf processing center
Walmart Canada Corp. Center
Shoppers Drug Mart Center
Canadian Tire center
Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan center
Workplace safety and inspection board of Toronto center
Dollarama Center
Giant Tiger Center

i could go on......

:haha:

Haha. Those are good. Especially the last two.

Yes, because a new tallest building in one downtown and an entirely new waterfront in the other is "looks the same". Intercity has doubled in size. 10 years ago we didn't have the theatre, the casino, and a third of the university's educational buildings. "The same".

I guess you're just not really looking at the cities you're visiting since your visits are clearly very casual in nature. You're not going to the cities to experience the cities, you're going there for a brief business affair and then going back home. A trip to Minneapolis for you is as mundane as a trip to the bank for me.

Loyalty
 

Exactly! Anyone would understand this that travels a lot. Especially to the the USA and Canada. All the people I work with end up staying near the airport at the Hilton or Sheraton and only because of the points/loyalty programs. They would rather stay downtown and spend their money. I stay free in Hawaii at the Westin every year for 10 days. Don't fool yourselves, Winnipeg is missing out on a lot of business travelers and many tourists that would otherwise stay downtown but stay at the boring airport area..Me included. It frustrates many out of towners.

and the biggest changes for Tbay are yet to come! By 2015, Thunder Bay will look like a modern major city! Will feel like one too with all the people that the condos and hotel will bring to downtown. I wish Fairmont would buy the Prince Arthur Hotel and redevelop it into a nice one again!