Quote:
Originally Posted by Treesplease
I've lived in both cities and consider both as home and want to see both do well. Despite the current point in time status of the two cities in terms of population, I don't think Regina is lacking anything. I like Regina's prospects much better in terms of planning and balanced development between infill and sprawl. I would be much more concerned about what Saskatoon is lacking. Saskatoon is currently following the "doughnut" approach to development - outer edges developing and getting new commercial development while the centre stagnates/disintegrates. Saskatoon really needs to do something to encourage development downtown and their north downtown area.
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Hi, I'm new to the forum, too. I'm from Regina and I'm currently in my fourth year at the U of S, so I have a pretty good view of both cities.
First, I'm curious why there are always so many comparisons to Saskatoon in the Regina thread? Why the jealousy and focus on becoming the largest city? There used to be so much talk when I was growing up about how nasty Saskatoon people were about Regina and how jealous they were of Regina, but in my experience, that trend has completely reversed.
Now to address the quote above, I completely disagree. Saskatoon is developing their downtown very well. The number of new and existing restaurants and stores on second and third avenues along with those on 21st street don't suggest a deteriorating downtown. Neither does the low office vacancy rate or the lack of available parking. And Midtown Plaza is starting to look like a mall in Calgary or Edmonton with all the retailers in or near it like American Apparel, Mexx, Guess, Sephora, Town Shoes, Lush, Pandora, and Michael Hill.
I think Rabbit Fighter '77 made some
great posts awhile back about the vibrancy of Saskatoon's downtown. Having the TCU Place, Persephone Theatre and Odeon down there, along with the movie theatres, really adds to everything. And Saskatoon gets many acts that Regina doesn't because of these midsize venues - I've seen bands like F.U.N., Snoop Dog, the Black Keys and the Pixies in either TCU or the Odeon over the past three years, and they all skipped Regina. This has nothing to do with Credit Union Centre, more about Saskatoon developing good facilities downtown (and having a desirable market for promoters). I remember the Prairie Dog mentioning this a couple years ago, too.
Whenever I come home, I can't help but notice the amount of development at Grasslands, north Pasqua, and east Vic. Really not too different than what is happening in Saskatoon. Both cities need to reduce this and focus more on the core, getting more people living downtown. I wouldn't say there is much difference in either city when it comes to commercial development, other than Saskatoon has more (I would really like to see Regina get a Banana Republic - this has been a great addition to Saskatoon).
And as far as overtaking Saskatoon in population, don't hold your breath. Even with Regina doing as great as it has been, Saskatoon still outgrew it. We have studied population trends and forecasting, and this won't change. Saskatoon will probably be bigger by 100,000 people in 10 years or less. And that's OK - Regina will still be doing well. We still have a great city, we have a CFL team, an impressive skyline and there are many jobs here.
Those are just my thoughts. Hope I didn't offend.
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The Terrace building on Research Drive? That houses Information Services Corp and Technology Mgmt Corp as well as a few other private businesses...
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