Quote:
Originally Posted by SignalHillHiker
What a different city we could have been had we preserved ALL that we had and completely avoided North American-style development, opting for the density of British suburbs instead.
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I agree.. Looking at that picture, that's the St. John's I want to live in. One in which the population lives in one densely packed, large, bustling, thriving neighborhood.
I would love to live in a St. John's that expanded with the same density that existed downtown. One in which you can hop on a cable car and get from one end of the city to the other in 15 minutes, One in which everyone was heavily reliant on the downtown; where people worked and shopped downtown and power centers were non-existant.
But sadly, we expanded unwisely as the rest of North America did. Now we are left with a beautiful downtown that, to much of our population, is just the place where tourists go. You can live your life in SJ, never ever go downtown, and be perfectly well off. I would like to see that change. I would love to see us use the beautiful heritage that remains and use that to sculpt a vibrant urban center and cap the cancer that is urban sprawl. I would much rather see Danny Williams buy all of Rabbittown, bulldoze it and make an urban heaven than to create a second Paradise even furthur from the city's core. But sadly, people follow money and will build whatever makes the most profit. Whatever types of developments make the most money are the types that are going to be built. In our case, it's suburbs and power centers.. Let's hope that changes soon!
I want to live in a downtown SJ that has that old-timely "big town" feeling but has grown into a modern, dense urban center. I believe the future is bright
