Saskatoon Construction III

[djforsberg]

Originally Posted by Ricopedra

So in essence, you're not taking any of this seriously. My bad. I took you for a voice looking to solve a serious societal problem. Duped again.

Wtf are you talking about? I’m 100% serious. Quit projecting. Also which one of us has their real name as their username?

[djforsberg]

My point being it is society that needs to lift people struggling with mental illness and make it so they don’t have to resort to drugs to escape a shitty life (by making sure they don’t have a shitty life). This would including taxing corporations and the rich more and if I had a say, we would nationalize all drug manufacturers. I’m not sure why you are reacting so strongly against what I’m saying. I’m actually trying to solve the problem as it hits close to home and is one of my primary motivators in life.

[Ricopedra]

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[djforsberg]

Originally Posted by Ricopedra

Wow, buddy, you're all over the board. I'm not fighting you. Take care.

Let me be clear: drug manufacturers should definitely be held accountable for their role in the opioid epidemic. They should certainly be sued into inexistence. I’m just saying it won’t solve the proliferation of mental illness that leaves people more open to abusing vices. If we want to truly end suffering, we have to get to the root causes. The existence of under-regulated drug manufacturers is not a root cause.

[prairieguy]

This is sounding too much like the Regina thread got to be....lots of personal attacks and ongoing posts that had nothing to do with construction. Back to the topic please!!!

[Ricopedra]

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[phone]

Originally Posted by prairieguy

This is sounding too much like the Regina thread got to be....lots of personal attacks and ongoing posts that had nothing to do with construction. Back to the topic please!!!

Agreed, if I wanted to read some undergrad seminar arguments about "neoliberal policies" I'd open a David Harvey book.

In boring suburban news, Taylor Street is about to be opened up to Wess Road (aka Hillcrest access road). Arbutus is building a bunch of apartments out by the Costco, probably because Solair fell through and they still want to ensure a captive market for the obviously struggling Meadows Market. That said it looks like a new grocery store is about to open there, of the "neighbourbood market" variety.

I have thought that if CP was ever to abandon its ROW and the city was to operate an LRT in its place, that Zimmerman Road area would make for a decent eastern terminus. While it is obviously soulless suburbia right now, I think there is some hidden potential for that node to become a transit village a la what the city envisions for Confed Suburban Centre, but only if an LRT can actually materialize along that route. Of course, this comes at the expense of downtown, but in such a hypothetical I would think it would be better suited for a walkable transit friendly area than Stonebridge.

[phone]

Originally Posted by Ricopedra

But you have to admit, it's relevant to the topic of downtown livability, the Lighthouse location, and perceived outflow of condo owners due to violent drug addicts around the University Bridge, no?

It's relevant to an extent, but indulging in half-baked arguments that vacillate between suing big pharma into inexistence (sic) and nationalizing the same industry winds up with things getting pretty off-track (and detached from reality, frankly).

Back to the street crime issue, I don't think that it's helpful to act like violent crime hasn't been rising or that it isn't linked to broader socioeconomic issues. We have to be honest and acknowledge that there is a problem, that it seems to be getting worse, and also face the fact that there isn't a "smoking gun" we can point to. In my view there are a few things that would help.

1. More eyes on the street, which developments like Knox Tower and Baydo Towers would bring.
2. More funds directed toward (sufficiently trained) community policing and harm-reduction agencies.
3. Decentralizing the Lighthouse into separate emergency shelter, low-income housing, soup kitchen etc and spread these throughout the downtown and other core areas.
4. Continued public investment into amenities that draw people downtown such as the new library and new arena.
5. Certain things to make winter more palatable, such as warming shelters
6. Improve public transit to facilitate and promote people circulating through downtown and spending time there

There are other things such as downtown festivals and public events that Saskatoon already does quite well I'd say. We also do a good job of having cultural draws (Remai, Ukrainian Museum, Wonderhub, Kinsmen Park, Persephone, Shakespeare on the Saskatchewan).

We want to promote a good investment climate downtown both for retailers/food service/nightlife, for tourism more generally, for condo residents, and for corporate citizens. These things feed into each other but the result will hopefully be an increased tax base for the city AND reduced crime downtown.

Maybe this went a little sideways but I think there is a strong connection between crime levels and public activity downtown. The more people are downtown conducting business and living their lives, the harder it will be for people to get away with personal crime. Not only this but increased economic opportunity in the core should mean that fewer people need to resort to crime in the first place (but perhaps that's overly idealistic). It should go without saying that access to housing/harm reduction strategies needs to accompany this.

[roryn1]

Strata posted some photos of Tees and Persse’s Parapet Repair so renovations must be fully resuming! Thank goodness https://www.instagram.com/p/CG8ECYzH...d=2g4wtnjnwjvu

[prairieguy]

Originally Posted by phone

Back to the street crime issue... In my view there are a few things that would help.

1. More eyes on the street, which developments like Knox Tower and Baydo Towers would bring.
2. More funds directed toward (sufficiently trained) community policing and harm-reduction agencies.
3. Decentralizing the Lighthouse into separate emergency shelter, low-income housing, soup kitchen etc and spread these throughout the downtown and other core areas.
4. Continued public investment into amenities that draw people downtown such as the new library and new arena.
5. Certain things to make winter more palatable, such as warming shelters
6. Improve public transit to facilitate and promote people circulating through downtown and spending time there

There are other things such as downtown festivals and public events that Saskatoon already does quite well I'd say. We also do a good job of having cultural draws (Remai, Ukrainian Museum, Wonderhub, Kinsmen Park, Persephone, Shakespeare on the Saskatchewan).

We want to promote a good investment climate downtown both for retailers/food service/nightlife, for tourism more generally, for condo residents, and for corporate citizens. These things feed into each other but the result will hopefully be an increased tax base for the city AND reduced crime downtown.

Maybe this went a little sideways but I think there is a strong connection between crime levels and public activity downtown. The more people are downtown conducting business and living their lives, the harder it will be for people to get away with personal crime. Not only this but increased economic opportunity in the core should mean that fewer people need to resort to crime in the first place (but perhaps that's overly idealistic). It should go without saying that access to housing/harm reduction strategies needs to accompany this.

Well said and in complete agreement!!!

[roryn1]

phone for mayor!

[Ricopedra]

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[Ricopedra]

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[Ricopedra]

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[Ricopedra]

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[djforsberg]

It only went south when I challenged your idea that suing drug manufacturers will have any significant effect on cleaning up the streets of downtown Saskatoon (I’ve lived in Saskatoon and area recently and feel I have informed thoughts on the topic). I offered radical alternatives to the myriad other failed policies, and for some reason it struck a chord with you. I’m a democratic socialist but only became one after seeing the same old neoliberal BS getting re-hashed to only make things worse. Things won’t get better until our society is radically changed to be for people and communities instead of shareholders and elites. I know people like me are still in the minority around here but I’ve been vindicated year after year. Just watch as America continues its descent as it doubles down on neoliberalism with Biden and the next far-right populist rises from the ashes of Trump. Except this time, they will be much more effective than Trump and it’s going to be a scary time for everyone. All because socialism is too scary.

[phone]

Originally Posted by Ricopedra

That's from me.

So mr. phone, you make it look like, "inexistence" is a quote from me when it's from djforsberg, and in the same sentence you parrot my phrase, acting like a scholar far above our undergraduate bickering. Again, I'm not picking any fights, I just believe details and facts are important. And the spins being spun here are based upon prejudice, not facts. That's what sucks. Did I mention that not only am I an alcoholic, but also a lesbian? Take that for a ride. All tongue in cheeks

Because I'm for densification and preservation of nature doesn't make me a socialist. I just love a vibrant society. You do need a safety net for the losers, or they'll wreck havoc on your freedom. It's worth the money and the effort to deal with these unfortunates. But no-one should get a free ride. (Writing this to Saskatoon, there could be some tasteless jokes, from what I've heard, out past the city limits). Anyway, folks seem quick to draw their guns here. If you took more time to contemplate the words, we'd get further ahead in the discussion. Cheers. Doh! (Haha -that alcoholic label got folks judging quickly, didn't it?>) Over and out.

Ricopedra- you're fine. I have no qualm with you and I usually agree with your positions. In fact I like the rowdiness you bring to this forum. I quoted you to chime in alongside you -- thought that would be clear enough from the context. Sorry if I wasn't clear enough in establishing my ground.

djforsberg - I think most people here are sympathetic to basic ideals of improving people's living standards and wanting to build a better city. There might disagreement on how to get there but there are definitely not many Trump-y people here as far as I can tell. So it's not that I necessarily disagree with the core of what you're saying (in fact I do agree with much of it), I just have trouble linking it back to anything substantive of what's going on in terms of local development projects or policy.

That said, IDGAF about debates about neoliberalism in a construction thread. Can we start a Sask Politics thread or something?

[djforsberg]

I saw posts about trying to clean up downtown and I offered my insight. Crime is only rising in Saskatchewan, so it’s not going to be the last time we talk about this. Hell, Regina was “worse” than Saskatoon in 2019. Maybe we do need a separate thread to discuss these things.

[The Bess]

the difference between capitalism and socialism is in capitalism it is men exploiting men in socialism it is the other way around. so do we know if tunnels downtown would be better than skywalks? maybe some ex U of S can help with that

[roryn1]

I’d be 100% supportive of a social programming solutions style thread - as long as it’s all positive discussion. It deserves to be on a construction thread because developers definitely don’t consider Saskatoon when our crime rate is so high. Our messy social programming system in Winnipeg, Sask, Regina, and Edmonton are why our cities are so high on the crime severity index.

This article sums up how messy our system is: https://thestarphoenix.com/news/loca...wn-enforcement

I’ll create one!