Derelict Downtown
A couple of months ago in Veterans-Riverside Park there were a bunch of paving stones removed from around the tank area. These pavers were lifted and used to make a large fire pit. I couldn’t help but think how long it must have taken to construct this and the fact that nobody reported a fire going in the park.
Don’t know why, but I’m always surprised to see that there is a common problem of homeless and transients downtown. I’m never downtown in the Wee hours when I guess a lot of trespassing and vandalism occurs. I don’t think most people see this side of our City.
August 18th, 2009 at 2:02 PM
Hatter says:
I have been annoyed for quite a while that I hear about such an emphasis on reviving downtown, yet there’s a few store fronts which make it look like someones second hand garbage storage. If we replace rotten garbage pocket shops with more unique shops then I believe that alone would would really improve the quality of downtown altogether, more so than anything.
August 19th, 2009 at 10:13 AM
Judith says:
I think it’s great that this problem is finally being taken up by the media in this city. I feel like the only way you can get this city council to do anything these days is to embarrass them into doing something about it. And they should be embarrassed! The status of the downtown today is a direct result of the city’s failed policies and the extreme lack of initiative shown by the city’s economic development team. Really, they just don’t want to do any work. They’ll take the easy development, the big box stores and the suburban strip malls, where the only times they have to lift a finger are to cut the ribbon and take the credit for “how wonderfully the city is growing.” And sadly, all of this is discouraging local entrepreneurs from even getting in the game downtown. Just recently we’ve seen the closure of several downtown businesses – Carlson Wagonlit travel, The Comic Forge, Delio’s, Rabers. So many spaces are empty, despite what Mr. Webb has to say in that video. Quite frankly, any savvy business person would take one look at our downtown and realize that it’s not even worth the price of renting a storefront. How can you possibly get enough business to sustain yourself when all of your neighbouring stores are empty? If any of the dinosaurs on city council are committed to improving the downtown they should consider growing a spine, ponying up the money for much needed improvements, and stop wasting money and time on ridiculous, far-fetched plans that will only ever end up being stacked along with all the previous plans on someone’s book shelf, gathering dust.