Originally Posted by Richard Eade
Well, “fun cafes” will be one component, as will festivals, but there will need to be more than those. The downtown will need to become a destination.
OK, downtown used to be a destination – because it was where so many people went to work each day. That’s what made it a ‘destination’. Besides having to go to work every day, what got people to go downtown? Festivals and events. Buskerfest is always a great draw, and the Rib- and Poutine-fests seem popular. Parades draw in crowds, as does the Remembrance Day service. There are a few musical events, like Bluesfest and the ‘Silent Concerts’ on Bank that get good numbers. But, unless there is a lot of work put into animating the streets, there will be only empty streets.
The City is HORRIBLE at making sure that things are happening around the city. (This is the biggest reason that old Lansdowne was only bringing in about half of what it cost to maintain it. The City just didn’t work on having it in use.) The NCC is little better than the City. The Amphitheatre up on Nepean Pointe could have been a ‘hopping place’, but instead, it was just left to decay.
Do we need a giant ‘Spider’ to invade the city every day? Of course not. We need variety. Sparks Street used to offer ‘Dance Nights’ in the evenings, and the BIA paid for the orchestra. Why not open things up so that it is easy for any band, or even lone musician, to book a block for a few hours in an evening? They don’t have to be formally paid – it could be Busking. (Although the City and BIA could have a pot of money to attract ‘bigger names’, occasionally.) It could be like an incubator for musical, or other, talent. (Where do young bands go these days, when they think that they are ready to try their sound on a real audience – and not just bouncing it off of the walls of a parent’s garage? Back in Ottawa’s past, the many smaller clubs and bars often had a live band. Anyone remember Octavian, or any of the myriad small bands in Ottawa of olde?)
The empty streets and plazas (which we could use more of) in the core need to be animated – even if it is somewhat less regulated. Empty places with nothing happening generally don’t attract many people. (Although those are probably the places that need more police resources.)
Even some ‘static’ things can be a draw. There used to be sand-boxes along Sparks Street. How about putting in children’s play facilities in the core? (Oh, yeah, grandparents can no longer ‘abandon’ their grandchildren in a sand-box with other kids while they run into Birks to buy the silver cutlery as a wedding present for their niece.) Maybe a large slide from the Mackenzie King Bridge down to Confederation Park? (Adults would try it out, too, I’ll bet.) (Oh, yeah, liability issues.) Little things that jump-out and surprise people are a treat. (How did anyone ever get permission to paint the risers of the staircase from Mackenzie to Sussex? Good on them, though!) There should be a lot more things like that.
Sure, we have ‘The Market’ area, but that appears to have been dying out over the past many years. It hasn’t been the blocks upon blocks of nightclubs, that attracted the youth, for a long time. That was considered too rowdy, so the City imposed restrictive changes. The City wanted to move ‘The Market’ area back to its roots. So much for the nightlife draw.
The By-ward Market has faded as the number of local producers of vegetables and fruit surrounding Ottawa has dropped. Add to that the fact that many, more suburban, neighbourhoods are getting their own “Farmer’s Markets”. What is the incentive to go to the downtown location? It used to be that a late-fall trip to the By-ward Market was the only way to get a half-bushel of Russet apples (If you haven’t tried a Russet, do it this fall!). Now, I can go to my local Farm Boy and pick them up.
Do the few unique stores in the Rideau Centre justify driving downtown, to pay for parking?
People claim that there ARE draws to get folks to come to the core, but how many times do locals go to see the Parliament Buildings in a year? Even the National Art Gallery, and War Museum seem to be places that school groups visit once every few years. It seems that, at best, the Gallery has a big show once a year to try to drag patrons in.
There is the NAC, too, but that hardly makes a Theater District. In London, Eng., you simply go to ‘The West End’ and you know that you can choose from a selection of shows. Ditto for New York’s Broadway area.
Just getting a bunch more people to live downtown will not make it a destination. Lots of people live in Kanata, but how many of you travel to Centrum Mall every few days, just to see what is happening there? Probably not many (if any).
There needs to be a cluster of varied activities that is almost continuous. People need to know that they can just decide to go downtown on a whim, and know that there will be something happening there. This takes continuous work. This is not a ‘build-it-once-and-they-will-come-forever’ thing. Over time, it will become the place where things just happen, because that is where everyone expects things to happen, so that is where everyone does things – just as it used to be that if you wanted an office, you would immediately think of renting one downtown, because that is where offices were.
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