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Let’s give up on Sparks Street.
It’s a failure as a pedestrian mall, a failure as a shopping district, a failure as a roadway. The city’s planning a “revisioning” for it, in keeping with the full-on rethink of downtown brought on by the impending opening of the light-rail line. Perfect. Let’s revision it as a street.
We found the nerve to admit failure with the Rideau Street bus mall 20 years ago, when we stopped tinkering with that disaster, admitted we’d got it wrong, trashed the shelters we’d put up. Let’s reopen Sparks to traffic. Pave it. Put a two-way bike track on one side and parking on the other. Make the sidewalks as wide as we can get away with. But no big central patios, no ribfests or zip lines. Maybe close it for special events like Canada Day.
For almost 50 years, Sparks has been, in some nominal sense, closed to car traffic. For almost the whole time, we’ve wondered how we can fix it. Nobody says that about Elgin Street or Wellington West. On those streets, we argue about bike parking and patio extensions, and those are real things to care about, but they’re quibbles. Nobody considers Elgin or Wellington civic embarrassments.
Nobody who has a direct stake in Sparks Street takes its pedestrian status seriously. It cannot even theoretically be made to work without the co-operation of merchants, landlords, the city and the National Capital Commission, which has never all been forthcoming at the same time. Sparks has always needed better design, maintenance, rules and activity than we’ve ever had the wherewithal to give it.
We may say we want Sparks to work as a pedestrian mall, but our actions reveal otherwise.
The merchants on Sparks Street cram as many cars into the space as they can. Delivery trucks and tradesmen’s vans line the street constantly. When the weather’s bad, the association turns the whole place into a parking lot with their program of passes for “VIP” customers. Get it? Very important people get to drive there — on this pedestrian mall, walking is for the rabble.
Even the merchants’ association admits that seeing all the driving going on confuses visitors who aren’t familiar with the place, who turn onto Sparks and treat it like a normal road, which is ridiculously dangerous.
The mainly public buildings on both sides are so preoccupied with security they’re all but sealed off. Public Works moves tenants in and out constantly. The CBC headquarters, once envisioned as a street-embracing cultural centre, might as well be underground. Even people who work there aren’t allowed to use the fortified back door that opens onto Sparks.
When the weather’s nice, the place can be pretty crowded at lunchtime and right after work, but the rest of the time, you could throw a brick and not hit anybody. There’s probably a convenient pile of them lying around if you want to try.
Sparks has never succeeded as a retail district. It’s not a draw. Never has been. Name two distinctive stores there. Holt Renfrew was one and it closed. E.R. Fisher moved. The Expedition Shoppe is closing and the mustard shoppe is long gone.
The merchants’ association tried opening a farmers’ market, then throttled it because vendors were too much competition for the restaurants. They fired the guy whose idea it was. They bring in rib and poutine fairs, which have no synergy with the tailors and hairdressers.
Pedestrian advocates, including me, have treated Sparks Street like a place within reach of greatness, if only we did this or that. Get the cars right off it, or add more condos so residents will bring it life after-hours. Let people ride their bikes. More festivals because they attract people. Fewer festivals because they obstruct people and make your clothes smell like barbecue sauce. What about a casino? We put flower planters and those green chalet things on it for visual interest, then took them off because they were just clutter and messed up the sightlines.
Sparks is a sucking disappointment for tourists unless they need new pants or a haircut. Why do visitors think Ottawa rolls up the sidewalks at 6 p.m.? They went to Sparks Street looking for the action.
Sparks is a service area for public servants and politicos and it’s pretty good at that job. Let it do its work in peace.
dreevely@postmedia.com
twitter.com/davidreevely
查看原文...
It’s a failure as a pedestrian mall, a failure as a shopping district, a failure as a roadway. The city’s planning a “revisioning” for it, in keeping with the full-on rethink of downtown brought on by the impending opening of the light-rail line. Perfect. Let’s revision it as a street.
We found the nerve to admit failure with the Rideau Street bus mall 20 years ago, when we stopped tinkering with that disaster, admitted we’d got it wrong, trashed the shelters we’d put up. Let’s reopen Sparks to traffic. Pave it. Put a two-way bike track on one side and parking on the other. Make the sidewalks as wide as we can get away with. But no big central patios, no ribfests or zip lines. Maybe close it for special events like Canada Day.
For almost 50 years, Sparks has been, in some nominal sense, closed to car traffic. For almost the whole time, we’ve wondered how we can fix it. Nobody says that about Elgin Street or Wellington West. On those streets, we argue about bike parking and patio extensions, and those are real things to care about, but they’re quibbles. Nobody considers Elgin or Wellington civic embarrassments.
Nobody who has a direct stake in Sparks Street takes its pedestrian status seriously. It cannot even theoretically be made to work without the co-operation of merchants, landlords, the city and the National Capital Commission, which has never all been forthcoming at the same time. Sparks has always needed better design, maintenance, rules and activity than we’ve ever had the wherewithal to give it.
We may say we want Sparks to work as a pedestrian mall, but our actions reveal otherwise.
The merchants on Sparks Street cram as many cars into the space as they can. Delivery trucks and tradesmen’s vans line the street constantly. When the weather’s bad, the association turns the whole place into a parking lot with their program of passes for “VIP” customers. Get it? Very important people get to drive there — on this pedestrian mall, walking is for the rabble.
Even the merchants’ association admits that seeing all the driving going on confuses visitors who aren’t familiar with the place, who turn onto Sparks and treat it like a normal road, which is ridiculously dangerous.
The mainly public buildings on both sides are so preoccupied with security they’re all but sealed off. Public Works moves tenants in and out constantly. The CBC headquarters, once envisioned as a street-embracing cultural centre, might as well be underground. Even people who work there aren’t allowed to use the fortified back door that opens onto Sparks.
When the weather’s nice, the place can be pretty crowded at lunchtime and right after work, but the rest of the time, you could throw a brick and not hit anybody. There’s probably a convenient pile of them lying around if you want to try.
Sparks has never succeeded as a retail district. It’s not a draw. Never has been. Name two distinctive stores there. Holt Renfrew was one and it closed. E.R. Fisher moved. The Expedition Shoppe is closing and the mustard shoppe is long gone.
The merchants’ association tried opening a farmers’ market, then throttled it because vendors were too much competition for the restaurants. They fired the guy whose idea it was. They bring in rib and poutine fairs, which have no synergy with the tailors and hairdressers.
Pedestrian advocates, including me, have treated Sparks Street like a place within reach of greatness, if only we did this or that. Get the cars right off it, or add more condos so residents will bring it life after-hours. Let people ride their bikes. More festivals because they attract people. Fewer festivals because they obstruct people and make your clothes smell like barbecue sauce. What about a casino? We put flower planters and those green chalet things on it for visual interest, then took them off because they were just clutter and messed up the sightlines.
Sparks is a sucking disappointment for tourists unless they need new pants or a haircut. Why do visitors think Ottawa rolls up the sidewalks at 6 p.m.? They went to Sparks Street looking for the action.
Sparks is a service area for public servants and politicos and it’s pretty good at that job. Let it do its work in peace.
dreevely@postmedia.com
twitter.com/davidreevely
查看原文...
