Quote:
Originally Posted by Lexus
Burnaby Now is a shit news outlet
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Burnaby Now has turned into a bizarre newspaper version of trash talk shows from the 90s where "reporters" post their opinion about some minor issue (say one way paths in Deer Lake park) followed by edited posts from their imaginary opponent whom then they then proceed to berate in public over their opposing view. Surreal stuff.
As for Metrotown where I lived on and off for the last 25 years the mall is not the only problem to livability. Lot of this has to do with City of Burnaby and their lack of finesse and constantly changing plans. The fact that City of Burnaby Mayor & Council have a combined age of about 1000 is not helping the matter either. Some fresh ideas and bold approaches would be more then welcome. At least new Mayor is willing to spend some money.
In no particular order:
1) We somehow managed to get three pedestrian overpasses in MT core that are not accessible and go nowhere (two are closed) and waiting redevelopment for years now. The only one that "works" connects a parking lot with abandoned Best Buy.
2) The entire MT could use a high school given the population, but instead we split the MT into 3 high schools that kids have to be driven to or bus to. Two of them are literally at the bottom of the hill and are awkward to get to.
3) The entire MT does not have a decent produce store such as Kin’s Farm Market. The one we had in the mall (Langley Farm Market) moved decade ago.
4) The Station Square design supported hosting a farmer’s market in front of Best Buy. This was never realized. Instead Farmer’s market is held on City of Burnaby parking lot where very few people live and most people have to drive to.
5) There is a lack of patios. This is getting better lately with Station Square redevelopment. No patios, no street life.
6) Incomplete bike lanes. Bike lanes end just before where they are needed the most – through the urban heavily trafficked core. Nelson bike lane ends just before the mall. McKay one is the same although slightly better as it is less busy. Many bike crossings lack the button to press and require you to climb with a bike onto sidewalk to press pedestrian button. Burnaby just needs to complete these and not wait for the mall to be redeveloped.
7) Ever changing street designs. The latest design with sunken boulevard and built-in bike lane is great (Station Square Kingsway & Central Blvd), but there is only a few blocks of it. Supposedly the entire Kingsway should be like this, but that will not happen for the next 100 years at this pace. Since Burnaby only changes street design if there is a new development happening (as in developer pays) it is no wonder that all the streets look disjointed.
8) For some bizarre reason as a pedestrian you have to press a button to cross every single street in the entire Burnaby. Even the busiest traffic lights on Kingsway and Central Boulevard by SkyTrain require you to press the button. City of North Vancouver has for example automated all the crossing signals at traffic lights during the time of pandemic. City of Burnaby’s response during pandemic was to add signs to the Kingsway pedestrian overpass that literally nobody uses to keep 2-meter distance. Useful stuff.
9) As for the mall – they let them redesign the mall to merge two sections and close the last physical road through it (albeit delivery road) just a decade or so ago. That was the last chance to keep the mall separated and force the proper street grid through the mall site. But they let it go. Now a decade later they are talking about a 100 year plan for Metrotown to reverse that. And who in the right mind comes with 100 year plans?!? Just imagine somebody laying down a 100 year plan for Burnaby in 1900 - what relevance would that plan have just 10 years later.
10) Does every new building in MT have to be 40+ story tower? Are there other forms of construction possible? Why not mix it up a little like on lower Lonsdale?
11) There isn't a single event venue in MT. I guess Firefighter's club is the closest thing we have to that. Why? Yes, I know one is planned in the grand 60-80 year Metrotown plan...Again the venues that city of Burnaby supports such as galleries and theater are at Deer Lake park - close to nothing.
12) Some residential streets within MT core still lack sidewalks on at least one side (Hazel, Newton). Many streets just outside the core lack sidewalks completely. There are bizarre crosswalks leading to nowhere (for example, Booth and Grange), but surprisingly many busy intersections lack marked crosswalks entirely.
13) Why not spruce up Old Orchard Park? Why is the green space on the corner on Royal Oak and Dover sitting empty for a decade? Why not turn it into some useful community space? Water park for kids maybe? A proper park? Community garden?
14) Why is space under SkyTrain not used for something more attractive then a ditch? There is a whole stretch of it from Patterson station to Bonsor that just sits there for decades.
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