Core street closures -The long Text Goodbye
AN UN MANNED BARRICADE IN DOWNTOWN AUSTIN TEXAS. FOR SOME REASON IT IS NOT A PROBLEM THERE
Originally uploaded by markboscariol
This is a text message conversation copied verbatim from my Iphone this morning.
Read the core streets article in the star…this doesn’t work and im not sure why this guy is pushing it…I can explain
ME: I know. Forget the fact that the police won’t allow it without manning barricades which would coat thousands each week
What kills me is the star won’t allow comments on their editorials.
Other: That why I was curious who’s driving this and what these studies that show this works?…cuz my studies say otherwise
ME: 70% of pedestrian malls have failed since 1972 and have been converted back to traffic
ME: Ottawa BIA told me 50% of mechants in sparks street want it converted back to traffic but they bite tongue to avoid bad press
Other: Its the restaurant scenario….if you are in a huge one alone…you are REALLY alone….if its full then its a party
Secondly….this only changes the traffic…not the offerings
ME: I recommended rotating small street closures each week. One week Chatham west, one week university, one week Chatham east, then ouellette, pelissier. No bites
Every week there’s a street party but it looks full
Other: Closing a street is a reward to cellebrate the bounty….there is no bounty, that needs to be fixed first
Full is good….not full is devastating
Other: Cars add a kinetic energy that help fill the voids of missing people….to many people and you can lose the cars…not enough people and you need the cars….if you are celebrating, then absolutely close the street….if you aren’t celebrating there isn’t a draw….then by default you are celebrating absense….and you r
go to the mall to celebrate spring and sit in a caf_ with a beer and good company and listening to the sweet hum of harleys, buses, birds and city life. You really feel alone. People won’t suddenly shop downtown because the street is closed…they will shop downtown because there is shopping. Inverse, People don’t have to really understand your offerings and your target audience….
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My experience living in Ottawa in the late 80’s was, that Sparks Street Mall was dead - I mean, like Devonshire Mall after closing or Ouellette during the week day!!! At lunch time all the bureaucrats and civil servants populated the place but come 4:30 - zero - zip - nada! And there were only a handful of tourists there on the weekend. All the action was over at the Byward Market district!!!
Even citizens of Windsor won’t come downtown just because a street is closed, it has been tried before on Ouellette and failed miserably!!! There aren’t the stores to draw people! Not even the old tried sidewalk sale etc works!
First, start by turning ALL the one way streets in the core to two way, as it is now, driving downtown is the pits for locals and tourists!! Forcing everybody to go around and around in useless circles, I know, I’ve watched them many a time.
mark…
that last line should read ” people don’t go to the mall to celebrate spring and sit in a cafe with a beer and good company, listening to the sweet hum of harleys, buses, birds, and city life as a whole. ” You have to really understand your target audiance and what you have to offer them before you make drastic moves like this.
m..b.
you’re right…accept the one way street part. One way streets have almost zero significance in comparison to 2 way…sidewalks are 2 way and thats the parts that matters most….you will probably want to use pellisier as anexample of a failure but there is a history of planning no-no’s that we allowed to happen there….its still very solvable however.