From todays Free Press:
I have long been a proponent of an idea like this...their plan is to close only one block of albert, which i support as a first step, but i can envision one day all of albert from the park to notre dame closed off, with shops all along it.
specialty clothing stores and boutiques are popping up in the exchange, as well as across the city on streets like corydon and academy.....if the city closed off this street and did some renderings showing a destination boutique strip, i think it might work.
waterfront drive, 100 main and now the avenue building RFP shows that winnipeg business steps up for these ideas...it seems they just need the first push....show them the potential and they get on board.
maybe this should be an initiative for the urban advocacy group that you guys are trying to form...i am going to try and contact them to throw my support their way....maybe help them with some renderings.
what are your thoughts?
Power to the pedestrian
Petitioners want to close off a block of Albert Street for foot traffic only
Sat Mar 31 2007
Sitelines / By Ian Tizzard
Susanne Klueppel and Anders Swanson on the stretch of Albert Street they’d like to see closed to vehicular traffic.
SUSANNE Klueppel and Anders Swanson want a first for Winnipeg -- a permanent street closure that would create a pedestrian mall in the middle of a downtown commercial and residential area.
About three weeks ago, they circulated a petition that asks the public works department to study the idea of barring vehicle traffic on a 100-metre stretch of Albert Street between Bannatyne and McDermot avenues.
"We don't want to block emergency vehicles, and there's no getting around delivery trucks, but we'd like to limit it to just that," says Klueppel.
To get the process started, she and Swanson need signatures from 70 per cent of the building and business owners at seven addresses along the block.
"We've been closing the street for Car Free Day two years in a row," says Klueppel, who works at Natural Cycle, a bike shop and messenger service located in one of the petitioned buildings. "It would be nice to have it permanently closed."
Klueppel notes that a number of cities have a pedestrian mall, including Victoria, Ottawa, Montreal, Regina and Calgary.
The initial supporters of the idea are still developing a detailed plan. But the information delivered with the petition showed a small artist's rendition of the block as it looks today, except with people instead of cars on the street.
"If the idea is just to close the street and keep the same streetscape, I won't be for it," says Chad Garchinski, owner of the Fyxx, a restaurant next door to the building in which Klueppel and Swanson work. He says he plans to sign the petition, although with some reservations. "Do they expect many people are going to walk around for the six months of winter?"
"I assume everybody's going to have ideas," says Klueppel, who envisions having benches, public art, street vendors and a place where people who have attended nearby events can congregate. Gino Distasio, director of the Institute of Urban Studies at the University of Winnipeg, agrees that the block as a pedestrian mall could become an added draw for people attending the fringe festival or the jazz festival.
He says urban planners generally accept the need to allow some vehicular traffic on a pedestrian mall during off-peak hours.
But the small distance the block on Albert covers and the small number of vehicles that uses it make a unique combination.
"Traditional pedestrian malls are bigger than what they're proposing, but it might lend itself to being an interesting experiment," says Distasio, who suggests the city could try it out for a month without too much controversy.
"The project needs a traffic study, but it's hard to find fault with the idea on the face of it." Back on Albert Street, business owners see some potential drawbacks.
"It's a nice and simple idea and we're a pedestrian-friendly business," says Bryson Maternick, who owns the Lineup restaurant, across from the Fyxx. "We get a lot of walk-in traffic in the restaurant. But we get drive-up traffic, too," he says, adding that, for now, he supports studying the idea only.
Maternick's concern is well-founded, according to Lisa Holowchuk, executive director of the Exchange District BIZ.
"It's a concept that's worked really well in some cases, and failed miserably in others," she says.
"This isn't something that just affects the businesses facing this block," says Holowchuk, whose organization is trying to maintain an ideal commercial climate in an area where businesses share a lot of customers. "People have to really understand what they're getting into, especially in a city where people love their cars so much."
For his part, Swanson prefers biking and walking to driving, and suggests an argument that mixes his ideals with commerce.
"It's a pretty easy idea to wrap your head around; it's a short block, already cobblestoned," he says. "People associate cars with money. It's true, but it's a matter of whether you depend on people parking directly in front of your door. A Wal-Mart needs cars. A heritage area like this, people prefer to see it on foot."
ian.tizzard@freepress.mb.ca