Quote:
Originally Posted by Uhuniau
Would it have remained "squalor" forever?
Turning the "squalor" into "park"ways, very underused "green" spaces, and the windswept ruin that Lebreton has been for most of the last century, wasn't the only option. Ottawa would be a much more interesting city if the "squalor" have been left in private hands and allowed to naturally evolve over time in response to small-scale, private transactions.
It's a good thing that not all of the "squalor" in the city got swept away, as the city fathers had intended in the early 1950s. Almost every one of today's gentrified and funky neighbourhoods would have been flattened as being squalorous.
|
You may not like the parkways , but we also got an extensive bikeway network that dates to the 1970s, long before cycle infrastructure was popular. Nobody is happy with LeBreton, but what was there before was not impressive, or dying industry or industrial railyards. Leaving it in private hands would have delayed the inevitable. The canal corridor was federally owned from its construction. I am all in favour in livening our waterways but our city has never had that orientation because of a history riverbank flooding and the priority for industry to use water power and associated hydro. We see how hard it is to change history with the decades to construct Zibi and how little it offers to the city so far despite having an outstanding location. Even with lots of planning, there has been flooding damage .
Threaded Mode