Quote:
Originally Posted by biguc
The meat of a neighborhood is supported by the people who live there. This means the basic services people use day-to-day--groceries, convenience stores, liquor stores--and the establishments that become institutions--in Osborne's case, think of the Toad and GST. And people from the suburbs go to the Toad and GST precisely because they're part of the neighborhood.
Now, when you start treating neighborhoods like drive-in, disneyland playgrounds for suburbanites and tourists, you crowd out and create a hostile environment for the locals who supported those establishments and made them somewhere worth going in the first place. In the case of Osborne Village, this already happened a few years ago when Hi-fi and Noir brought in a flood of suburban idiots who made the neighborhood dangerous and unpleasant.
It's something that's been the bane of trendy neighborhoods everywhere: Trendy people live in a neighborhood, trendy establishments open to serve them, suburbanites flood the neighborhood and turn it into an unliveable cesspit.
It's funny that you mention Gastown and Queen street. Gas town is terrible. I mean, it's nice looking, but it's not a neighborhood, and it has a bunch of stores selling shitty Canadian tourist shit. Maple leaf tchotchkes, or whatever. T-shits with mooses and beavers on them. If a place like that ever opened on Osborne, I'd burn it to the ground. Gastown is a tourist trap off east Hastings. Nobody lives there. Nobody in Vancouver goes there. It doesn't have the services to support a population in their day-to-day lives.
Queen street isn't as bad, but would you want to live near it? Go a few blocks north and you'll find a better neighborhood street in College, replete with the services people need, and some fun places to go.
My point is, why destroy the city's best neighborhood for the sake of a few tourist dollars? Winnipeg will never draw masses of tourists, and selling out Osborne village will put Winnipeggers out, more than it will draw anyone in. Actively courting tourists is always a huge mistake, anyway, but I won't get into that here. Unless you want to.
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The reason why I name dropped Gastown and Queen Street was because I think that they are successful high density trendier neighborhoods, and that the Osborne area can learn a few things from them. Gastown has definitely changed since the last time you were there. So before we throw shade at another neighborhood, maybe we should tread carefully first? We can compare to any trendy neighbourhood you want if neither of those are your cup of tea; we've got a selection of them in our Country
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As for the burbies; what you see as unpleasant and a nuisance, I see them as evidence for some movement in Winnipeg (even in Winter, and that is RARE). And we both know that there isn't a lot of movement in Winnipeg to begin with. From my point of view, it can be an element for Osborne to draw from.
For the record I am in no way trying to suggest that we destroy a neighborhood's energy. What I am suggesting is some vision for the future. Like I mentioned before, the Osborne and Corydon areas have got several recipes for potential. One thing that Winnipeg needs is a vision for the future, and that future needs to include the Osborne area.
I mean no one else has talked about what Osborne (or Winnipeg for that matter) will look like in 2030 or even in 2020.
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