Quote:
Originally Posted by matt602
RTH, the "good thing we have" that I was referring to is Gore Park and King St. I don't pin the suffering retail situation downtown on either of them, in fact I'd go as far as to say they are both keeping things together downtown. Stinson said it himself: King St. is an awesome street in it's current state, as is Gore Park. It just needs some development around it to bring it out. You underestimate the projects that I listed. I think they'll have more of a positive impact on the downtown than any of us thought they would. Time will tell.
The only change to Gore Park that I really think is needed currently is getting the buses out of there. Once that is done it will be much quieter and enjoyable. Some more emphasis can be put on parking in the South leg, but for the most part it will be considered a "shared use" street. Once the buses are out the cobblestone needs to be re-laid, post haste. The buses have absolutely chewed up the old stones, they're all popping up and chipped up especially around Hughson.
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yup, I agree with you here. the new transit terminal can't get built soon enough IMO.
I certainly don't underestimate the impact of those projects...it's been a long time coming and fully expect them to have a great effect on downtown.
I just think that the north leg of King serves no real purpose considering the overbuilt road infrastructure right nearby. As the store owners on that part of king have said, cars are just flying through. there's nowhere to stop. I mean, I guess we could have 1 lane for curb parking somewhere on the north leg, but being Hamilton, you'd still have idiots roaring through here killing people. I'd prefer shared space with no through traffic allowed. like the european examples shown earlier. People will most certainly park on nearby streets and walk over to see whats happening. A shared space means the Gore area can be a constant 'festival'. True urban living with no worries about vehicle traffic.
this is the way of the future in dense, urban neighbourhoods...heck, I've even thought lately that I'd like to see Locke St cobblestoned and made into a shared space street, but it's probably too narrow. Westdale village could do it easily with all the space in between the rows of shops on either side of King.
York in front of the market most certainly should have a couple narrow traffic lanes and be shared space....unfortunately, I'm way ahead of myself.
this is the Hammer. Let's start right downtown and go from there.
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