this is the weirdest debate.
" the railside area of The Forks is a desolate place and slapping up some condos there is exactly the sort of desperate project that has repeatedly failed in other parts of downtown Winnipeg."
How about if we changed it to this:
The Railside area of the forks is a desolate place because it is the largest downtown parking lot in Western Canada, and building homes for people to live in, will create a neighbourhood out of an area that is currently a place to store cars for a few hours a day. This type of development will establish a resident population that will activate the overall site beyond tourist hours and provide an adjacent market for retail businesses and the extensive, but currently underused green space in the area.
I think you should change the word 'condo' to 'home' because you appear to think the former is some kind of pejorative.
Expanding the already extensive and underused green space at and around the forks is a totally dumb idea. Take a look at Central Park in New York. It is successful because it is surrounded by millions of people. I want people to kick soccer balls at the forks too, but nobody is going to drive there from st. vital to do it. There needs to be people living there. There's lots of room to kick a soccer ball today....why doesn't anyone do it? Building homes at the forks was an important part of its mandate from the first day it was established. It has always been part of the masterplan.
These other comparisons are just bizarre. A back lane of a shopping mall built in the 1980's failed so we shouldn't build homes downtown? The parkade at Centrepoint has no retail units, so we shouldn't create a neighbourhood at the forks? (Centrepoint itself has added a hotel, a large office population and two large restaurants)
Waterfront Drive is a perfect example actually. Do you remember what the exchange district was before waterfront drive? Empty buildings, a few antique dealers and the Fyxx. It is now home to thousands of people and it continues to grow. Waterfront was the catalyst for that. Railside is essentially another version of that very successful idea.
There is no argument that storefront retail in downtown winnipeg lacks compared to other cities. This is because of a low population and streets filled with parking lots that make them unwalkable. These are the two things railside is attempting to improve. More people living downtown is the solution to all of its problems. There will some day be a tipping point reached that will make storefront business work, like it has everywhere else in the world. That doesn't come before the people. The people come first. This is why every chance we get we should support building more homes for people downtown.....everywhere in the city, actually.
The forks has almost 5 million visitors a year. It is not the same as a back lane behind a mall or a plaza beside a 1970's apartment tower. It is a completely different opportunity. It is also a place where many people would consider living who would never think about living downtown.
'slapping up condo's' is not a desperate attempt at anything...it is precisely what is best for that site....providing places for people to live is a good thing....the last thing we need there is a park or another megaproject or whatever it is you think is a viable alternative to a neighbourhood.
Last edited by trueviking; Feb 4, 2021 at 9:35 PM.
|
Threaded Mode