Originally Posted by millerman
Hi Phil.
I appreciate your opinion about Kelowna and lack of centralized mid and high rise buildings within the city. Too much growth too fast, was a big issue for the better part of 20 yrs. I have lived in Victoria, Nanaimo and also Vernon/Kelowna, so I know those communities very well. Short of that, when you make a comparison, it should use the same bounds and parameters for all your population to be tested (here the test population is cities). The comparison of Kelowna to Nanaimo does not seem a valid comparison in the manner you presented.
The area you describe in Nanaimo comprises an AREA vs a street. The 4 buildings you mention are located on Front St, and Promenade St, not all on one street. Downtown Nanaimo can be described as an area bound to the north by Comox St, east by Front St (ocean), south by Front and Esplanade, and west by Hwy 1. The boundaries of the downtown area can vary by any group deadcribing it. However, as with Nanaimo, Victoria or Kelowna, the downtown area is NOT depicted by one street. This is how you have compared Kelowna (Bernard Street) to other cities. So to make a factual based point, Bernard Street is only one of a number of streets in downtown Kelowna; and in fact downtown Kelowna does comprise an AREA like Nanaimo or Victoria. Does Yates Street define downtown Victoria - I don't think so.......
Downtown Kelowna area is well documented in various urban research studies and planning reports. The area is comprised by Harvey Ave - south boundary, Ellis or one street further east, is east boundary, Manhatten Dr as north boundary and Water/lakefront as west boundary. This comprises a downtown area just as Victoria and Nanaimo have downtown areas, and cannot be defined by a "street". Bernard Street is a main street in downtown Kelowna, just like Douglas Street, Blanchard Street, and Government are main streets in Victoria, or Front St and Bastion St are main streets in downtown Nanaimo.
The Kelowna downtown area does have a number of mid and high rises within the downtown AREA, as depicted by Metro One's photos. In fact the photo of Ellis Street shows a great variety of buildings from renovated heritage buildings housing art studios to mid and high rise offices and residential apartments.
Bernard Street does not have many high rise buildings for ONE BIG reason, protected heritage status! Similar to Government Street in Victoria. Hence a lot of new buildings are off Bernard Ave except where non-heritage buildings are present - like the new planned Brooklyn development 25 stories.
So in the future, in order to gain my support in a debate, try to make your argument adhere to the same parameters and bounds.
By the way, I'm a huge Victoria buff, loved living in that city, although back then it was called " city of the newly wed or newly dead".
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