New Study Same Old Same Old: One Man's Opinion
By Ben Meisner
We have yet another study on the down town that will end up on shelf.
Arguabley this one is different in that it was set to see what sort of investors would come to the city and where the money would come from, but when you peel away the layers for $145,000 we are faced with the same problem.
Trying to attract investment in the down town core.
The idea of building housing in the down town to attract a different class of people has been around for some time. Look at the development proposed for Victoria and 6th. The plan was for retail to be located on the bottom and housing on the remaining floors. It has never got off the ground, even the sign is beginning to show its age.
This week the city paved the way for the development of Quebec Street but it also hinges on a couple of very large ifs. If the developer Yves Ghiai can talk 70% of the people interested in living in the down town to come clean with the money it’s a go. Problem is that trying to get 70% of the money up front is a non starter and now even City Hall who handed out the tax breaks to build in the core is looking over its shoulder.
Getting that retail space in the lower floors filled is also a problem.
Long ago the city fathers went about legislating the merchants out of the core and onto highway 16 west. That effectively killed the retail market in the core and trying to attract them back, faced with the kind of operations that have sprung up around them, is a daunting task indeed.
We don’t need some outside study to be done to see what the problems of the down town are, or where we can find an investor. There are people in this region who have the financial and moral convictions; they just simply don’t want to throw their money into a pit.
Trying to attract outside money is a long shot when the outsiders come to town and discover that the local shakers and movers don’t want to touch the core.
In the end we have spent another 145-G’s on a problem that we all know how to solve, but it isn’t about to happen.
I’m Meisner and that is one man's opinion.
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Posted by: trusted on June 14 2006 8:23 AM
I see can tire, wallworld, home dep, etc out west.
then i drive to where downtown should be and i see some Timmy's.
What is there to revitalize.
A small section on 4th ave has really tried, and those few shops did a great job.
But it seems every time i try and find what i needin the "downtown" i cannot anyways. So i head out to the "big boxes" ....even my favourite store the Northern, seems to be slipping.
It used to be my main source to get stuff at....but my last 4 trips through the door they did not have what i wanted, and they were somewhat common items.
Oh well, there is still Timmy's so the police have a hang out....as a side note.
Has anyone ever heard of a Timmy's being robbed? Me neither.