Confederation Line (Stage 1) | In Service 1.0

[lrt's friend]

Frankly, after seeing the mess on Rideau Street last Saturday, I don't know how anybody can succeed in business on Rideau Street these days. It literally repels shoppers.

[Aylmer]

It's completely ruined the magical atmosphere which has blessed Rideau Street for the past 30-40 years!

[gjhall]

Originally Posted by lrt's friend

Frankly, after seeing the mess on Rideau Street last Saturday, I don't know how anybody can succeed in business on Rideau Street these days. It literally repels shoppers.

I mean, it's a construction site...

[swimmer_spe]

Originally Posted by lrt's friend

Frankly, after seeing the mess on Rideau Street last Saturday, I don't know how anybody can succeed in business on Rideau Street these days. It literally repels shoppers.

Originally Posted by Aylmer

It's completely ruined the magical atmosphere which has blessed Rideau Street for the past 30-40 years!

Originally Posted by gjhall

I mean, it's a construction site...

Give it a few years. Once the line opens up, it will become an even more magical atmosphere.

[PHrenetic]

Good Day, all....
I can never find anything in the City of Ottawa website, but it must be in there somewhere, because Ken Gray of BulldogOttawa.com has a 22 Dec 2016 memo (8 pages) to Council of Total-Cost-of-Light-Rail-Transit-Project-Dec-2016-Final-pdf.pdf , at this link :
http://bulldogottawa.com/wp-content/uplo...l-Transit-Project-Dec-2016-Final-pdf.pdf
Interesting reading on some of the projects & numbers !!
(I will not copy the whole thing here; someone with more experience with the mores of this forum may wish to.)
EnJoy!

[JCL]

Originally Posted by PHrenetic

Good Day, all....
I can never find anything in the City of Ottawa website, but it must be in there somewhere, because Ken Gray of BulldogOttawa.com has a 22 Dec 2016 memo (8 pages) to Council of Total-Cost-of-Light-Rail-Transit-Project-Dec-2016-Final-pdf.pdf , at this link :
http://bulldogottawa.com/wp-content/uplo...l-Transit-Project-Dec-2016-Final-pdf.pdf
Interesting reading on some of the projects & numbers !!
(I will not copy the whole thing here; someone with more experience with the mores of this forum may wish to.)
EnJoy!

City Staff memos like the one you share via Ken Gray's Bulldog web site are usually never posted on the City of Ottawa web site, unless they are shared again at a Committee meeting (which will be listed as "Information Previously Distributed").

City Councillors, Transit Commissioners (where applicable), relevant City Staff members, and the media are the only ones that will get them when released.

[acottawa]

Originally Posted by PHrenetic

Good Day, all....
I can never find anything in the City of Ottawa website, but it must be in there somewhere, because Ken Gray of BulldogOttawa.com has a 22 Dec 2016 memo (8 pages) to Council of Total-Cost-of-Light-Rail-Transit-Project-Dec-2016-Final-pdf.pdf , at this link :
http://bulldogottawa.com/wp-content/uplo...l-Transit-Project-Dec-2016-Final-pdf.pdf
Interesting reading on some of the projects & numbers !!
(I will not copy the whole thing here; someone with more experience with the mores of this forum may wish to.)
EnJoy!

Staff seem to have an odd definition of "unanticipated". On that list, only the latent defects in the Rideau river bridge could be considered unanticipated and only if these defects could not be found with normal testing techniques. Also, how does a 390m bike track cost 2 million?

[Kitchissippi]

Originally Posted by lrt's friend

Frankly, after seeing the mess on Rideau Street last Saturday, I don't know how anybody can succeed in business on Rideau Street these days. It literally repels shoppers.

Not very many businesses are really affected by the construction on Rideau. Most of them have alternate entrances, either through the Rideau Centre or George Street. East of Nicholas is pretty well clear. It just looks messy when you look at the scene from the mall bridge but pedestrian access for the most part is far from an issue. If you're the kind of shopper that likes to look at construction progress, it's an attraction Judging from the people hanging around the bridge gawking through the glass, there's quite a few.

[lrt's friend]

Originally Posted by Kitchissippi

Not very many businesses are really affected by the construction on Rideau. Most of them have alternate entrances, either through the Rideau Centre or George Street. East of Nicholas is pretty well clear. It just looks messy when you look at the scene from the mall bridge but pedestrian access for the most part is far from an issue. If you're the kind of shopper that likes to look at construction progress, it's an attraction Judging from the people hanging around the bridge gawking through the glass, there's quite a few.

No wonder nobody operates with their main business entrance on Rideau. I was walking out onto Rideau that day and just thought to myself, what a mess, even more so as you go east where the east subway entrance is being constructed. All I saw was a For Lease sign and said, why bother walking that way and I didn't?

What the city has done to Rideau for the last 30 years has been terrible. And what we have ended up with is the Rideau Centre and not much else. It is far cry from Ste. Catherine Street in Montreal or Yonge Street in Toronto, both of which are teaming with pedestrians.

Both Rideau and Sparks Streets are a disgrace to this city and have been royally mismanaged despite a downtown that has otherwise been mostly thriving. We sold out to a big corporation that sucked the life out of both streets. Sorry, I like the Rideau Centre, but that is exactly what has happened and what will continue to happen.

[kevinbottawa]

Originally Posted by lrt's friend

No wonder nobody operates with their main business entrance on Rideau. I was walking out onto Rideau that day and just thought to myself, what a mess, even more so as you go east where the east subway entrance is being constructed. All I saw was a For Lease sign and said, why bother walking that way and I didn't?

What the city has done to Rideau for the last 30 years has been terrible. And what we have ended up with is the Rideau Centre and not much else. It is far cry from Ste. Catherine Street in Montreal or Yonge Street in Toronto, both of which are teaming with pedestrians.

Both Rideau and Sparks Streets are a disgrace to this city and have been royally mismanaged despite a downtown that has otherwise been mostly thriving. We sold out to a big corporation that sucked the life out of both streets. Sorry, I like the Rideau Centre, but that is exactly what has happened and what will continue to happen.

Once all the Rideau Centre and LRT construction are done the pedestrian experience immediately outside the Rideau Centre will be better than the Eaton Centre. I just drove through downtown Toronto yesterday. Yonge Street gets activity for a number of reasons- because of all the office workers, it's anchored by Yonge Dundas Square, Ryerson University (that has done a good job of integrating into the area), some of the tallest developments in Canada, Bloor Street and Front Street, and stores that people actually want to shop at. Both Yonge and St. Catherine streets are as much destinations as the malls. Looking at Rideau Street, what anchors does it have aside from the mall? The university doesn't integrate well, there aren't a lot of office workers in that part of downtown, and Rideau is full of crappy tenants like tattoo parlours, nightclubs that don't attract people before 10pm, and crappy stores. It's as much the landlords' fault as the city's that Rideau doesn't attract people.

[acottawa]

I don't know if you can blame the landlords. They are presumably trying to locate good tenants that will pay more money. The problem is that good tenants don't want to be close to the open-air drug markets police and bylaw continue to tolerate.

I would also be reluctant to blame the Rideau Centre. Independent department stores have closed everywhere (as far as I know the last one in Ontario was in London, which closed a few years ago), maybe the rideau centre helped accelerate their exit, but it's not like a no-rideau-centre alternative universe would have thriving department stores on Rideau. The Rideau Centre is one of the primary draws in the downtown area.

Part of the problem is that the market and rideau street have different BIA's which prevents efforts to enhance the whole area.

Hopefully the confederation line will help, but if the city doesn't improve the enforcement of laws and bylaws I suspect more people will either use the exit directly into the rideau centre or use the William exit that leads to the market without going on Rideau Street at all.

[lrt's friend]

The problem is that good tenants don't want to be close to the open-air drug markets police and bylaw continue to tolerate.

The city better clean this up otherwise Rideau station will become a place to avoid. That would be a disaster for the city and OC Transpo.

[1overcosc]

If they crack down on the drug selling the activity will just move somewhere else. Granted, somewhere else is probably better.

[Acajack]

At the moment, for most people much of Rideau St. is an undesirable area you rush through to get between two highly desirable areas (the market and Rideau Centre).

Kind of like a slushy pile of snow you try to step over when crossing a street.

Hopefully at some point in the near future the rising tide on either side of Rideau St. will "lift the boat".

[bikegypsy]

In my opinion, the key to an upgraded Rideau street is a properly developed King Edward, and the key to that is the infamous truck tunnel.

[Kitchissippi]

Originally Posted by bikegypsy

In my opinion, the key to an upgraded Rideau street is a properly developed King Edward, and the key to that is the infamous truck tunnel.

How will the truck tunnel address the homeless and drug issues?

[1overcosc]

With a number of significant social policy reforms on the horizon (like the safe injection site, the housing-first strategy to combat homelessness, increased mental health services) we'll likely see a reduction in both the homeless population & the drug-user population in the future. The devil-in-the-detail, of course, will be by how much and how fast.

[acottawa]

Originally Posted by 1overcosc

With a number of significant social policy reforms on the horizon (like the safe injection site, the housing-first strategy to combat homelessness, increased mental health services) we'll likely see a reduction in both the homeless population & the drug-user population in the future. The devil-in-the-detail, of course, will be by how much and how fast.

If there is a safe injection site they still have to get the drugs, then walk down Rideau street to shoot up. Likely to make Rideau worse, not better.

[1overcosc]

Originally Posted by acottawa

If there is a safe injection site they still have to get the drugs, then walk down Rideau street to shoot up. Likely to make Rideau worse, not better.

In the short term, but over time the SIS will reduce the drug-user population by providing a transition point into treatment, plus it will reduce many of the ancillary problems associated with drug use. Switzerland has achieved amazing results with SIS programs.

This is the 21st century, we can fix the problem through a social focus. The old "war on drugs" approach has been nothing but an expensive failure and it's good we're moving past it.

[bikegypsy]

Originally Posted by Kitchissippi

How will the truck tunnel address the homeless and drug issues?

No structure or urban development directly addresses the root cause of social issues such as drug use or prostitution, but the current situation in this particular area is conductive to the gathering of homeless people, prostitutes and drug users. This is similar to Square Viger in Montreal. I think that developers will be interested in the King Edward - Rideau area once trafic issues are dealt with and the area becomes attractive for new tenants and businesses. King Edward is basically a slow moving highway and could be transformed into an elegant boulevard lined with hotels and condos. This won't deal with the problems of the homeless directly but they will find a new area on its fringes.