London’s making it a priority…
There doesn’t seem to be a week that goes by without The London Free Press featuring an article focused on the revitalization of their downtown. They have made the difficult first move in establishing the need for a vibrant downtown. Which is precisely what we’re trying to do here in Windsor…
New report sparks a positive ‘buzz’
Mon, February 25, 2008“If they made it worthwhile for newer or higher-end businesses to be here, then it would be good,” said Steve Weiler, who works at Runner’s Choice, a mainstay of Dundas Street, as he looked across the empty storefronts and the facade of the old Capitol theatre.
If the recommendations from a report aimed at revitalizing the once-proud downtown happen, there will be new life in the core.
The report, brainstormed by the Downtown Task Force, is being received with some positive buzz and new hope for the beleaguered core.
“It’s created a buzz and got us thinking,” said Bob Usher, chair of the London Downtown Business Association (LDBA).
“If nothing else, it certainly will create so much thought and discussion that probably hasn’t happened in a while,” Usher said
A greener, livelier, friendly core is the heart of the report’s vision and includes:
- Enticing more people to live downtown.
- Taking buses off Dundas Street between Wellington and Richmond streets by 2010 and possibly in about 15 years turning the area into a European piazza.
- Making downtown wireless for Internet users.
Other ideas include creating Canada’s first downtown vertical farm, develop an “artists’ habitat,” attract a grocery store and remove the fence surrounding the library’s reading garden.
Nash said he liked the “progressive, staged solutions” of the report and it’s understanding the solutions to downtown’s existing woes won’t come easily.
“It’s been a 20-year decline, it will take 20 years to come back,” he said.
And then later on in the same edition of the newspaper…
High hopes for city core
Mon, February 25, 2008London’s downtown has huge potential, says a noted Vancouver architect. James Cheng says city planners should ‘think big.’
A noted architect who helped transform Vancouver into one of the world’s most livable cities says the pieces are in place for London’s downtown to become a similar, small-scale success.
That assessment by James Cheng, a staple on Vancouver’s planning commission, was made during a visit Friday that coincided with the release of an independent report calling for major changes to London’s core by 2018.
“Just walking around, (downtown) London has more to build on than Vancouver had” when its urban transformation began 20 years ago, Cheng said.
In Vancouver, a unique give-and-take relationship exists between city officials and developers.
In one example, a developer was allowed to build a highrise a few storeys beyond the city-imposed limit if he maintained a heritage home on the property.
In another case, a developer was offered extra density for an apartment tower if he gave a $3-million donation to a public art display at the building’s base.
In other words, Cheng said, each new development is built with the rest of the city in mind.
“A lot of people are very narrow-sighted. They only look at their own buildings — you have to think bigger,” he said.
“If you make a place attractive, people will want to be there. Do quality development that is sensitive to the (urban) context. Like the movie says — they will come.”
Without co-operation between city hall and developers, however, little will improve, Cheng said.
“What we learned in Vancouver is there is a win-win formula for both sides. If it becomes confrontational, it doesn’t work.”
“You guys really have the bones to become a great city, (but) the first step is you have to want it.
“There has to be a desire to take what you have and build on it.”
The thing that gets me regarding these articles is the fact that James Cheng stated that “It looks.. like downtown London has been neglected” and it is widely accepted that Windsor is far worse neglected shape.
So, when Londoners believe that their downtown needs help, and it is in a far healthier state than ours, it is high time that we start the discussions that London has.
Tags: community improvement plan, Downtown, economic development, revitalization, walkable
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Great ideas for London! It is really too bad our elected officials don’t see the merit in having a virbrant arts community.
Though I am no artist and I loathe most modern art, I can still see it’s value in the community. Just because I don’t like it doesn’t mean it shouldn’t exist!
As for James Cheng and Vancouver. Once again we see a city that is willing to compromise. Windsor has shown it does NOT compromise on many levels.
Until this mindset changes, our downtown will continue to either take an eternity to develop (following other cities and not leading other cities) or continue to flounder from one idea to the next.
This is going to be a part of my presentation to the city budget meeting onTuesday. Priorities, priorities, priorities. Which is more important to you? Money for lawyers and consultants used on every project or possible plan or money transferred to the arts community and CIP plans?
I wonder, when our mayor went to Germany, did he stay at an airport hotel? Or, did he stay at a hotel in the centre of a bustling European City and experience what a real urban city can be like?
I once read a story about that bio-dome built out in the desert that was supposed to be a scientific representation of the planet we call home and it’s supporting environment.
They were having some problems in the dome when the trees began to mysteriously break and fall over. It seems that in their natural state, the trees are strengthened by the winds constant workout and when factor this was taken away they couldn’t even support their own weight as they grew.
Our council is kind of like these trees. By not compromising they are, in fact, removing parts of the equation that would make it stronger. By ignoring the needs and desires of residents and business owners alike, they are weakening their foundations to the point of failure.
The unfortunate part of this is that when our municipal government fails, it takes the rest of us down with it.
I like the idea of vertical farms that has sprung up. One vertical farm of 43 stories, it is reported can feed 50,000 people, so Windsor needs at least four of them. With the expertise of greenhouse growers just outside our door, it should be breeze to become somewhat self sufficient in food production and we got WATER!
I don’t see how the mayor and councilors can ignore what is happening in almost a panic mode with other cities in North America about their downtowns and how to revitalize them. There are more than enough ideas being generated on a daily basis. Most cities are starting to swim in infrastructure money and can’t spend it fast enough, while Windsor burns.
I read several newspapers a day besides the Windsor Star and get feeds from many others, plus RSSs from many city/urban type blogs. But I never get anything from the Windsor Star about what other cities are doing or any of the many good ideas that are out there. It is almost as if the Windsor Star is aiding and abetting the mayor and city council by keeping us in the dark and the possibility of dreaming or of knowing something better than what we have to what is out there and being done.
Urbanrat you know why don’t you? The Mayor’s office and the Editor of The Star are linked by employment and marriage.
Not that I want to defend His Worship or the Star, but I thought that was dispelled on another blog a couple months ago?
Is it just me, or does the pink shirt guy on the main page here freak out anybody else?
John - Not dispelled.
The publisher (or is it the editor?) of the Star’s wife is the King’s press secretary.
How convienient.
What’s this person’s name? And is it the publisher…….or the editor they are related to? That’s pretty serious stuff as conflicts of interest go, but as I recall someone (perhaps on MoM?) clarified the connection as being a little more tenuous than what has been alleged.
Norma Coleman (City Of Windsor Chief Of Staff), husband of John Coleman(Op/ed editorial editor, the Windsor Star)
FYI
That being the case, do you honestly feel the Windsor Star has a pro-Francis bias? In this case, we’re talking the op/ed (not the publisher, big diff) yet the city administration and gov’t is one of Henderson’s favorite targets (naturally). He’s even raked his old buddy Halberstadt over the coals once or twice. If this connection was anything more than an uncomfortable coincidence, would not the Windsor Star be a wee bit easier on the city when it comes to things like the recent “dead people pumping gas” story that received prominent coverage? Now I don’t disagree that the media-gov’t connection is improper, but I think more is being made of it than there really is.
Sure he rakes Halberstadt but Henderson sure doesn’t go after Eddie or council. In fact he went ofter the UofW for NOT choosing to do downtown (wise move on their part) yet didn’t scold the city for, once again, delivery an 11th hour presentation to the UofW.
What is it with Windsor’s 11th hour presentations in all things related to the forward progress of this city? One would get the impression that Windsor is in fne shape with no issues at all!
John, The Star can’t suppress all the negatives this city has in it’s administration. Besides, from what I have gleaned there is a bit of a power struggle or divided camp at The Star. One side wants Eddie to be the hero regardless of the actions of the city and the other wants to show who he reallly is…an Emperor with no clothes.
So when the Star does uncover any negatives with the city in its articles, it’s just a case of “they can’t hide everything,” and when they don’t, they’re in Eddie’s pocket. Basically they are damned if they do and damned even more if they don’t. This power struggle you speak of sounds healthy though, Dave. As long as one side doesn’t win altogether and it stays at/near equilibrium, it would naturally promote more balanced coverage with each side policing the other.