Quote:
Originally Posted by Franco401
Get it together people, it's not the end of the world.
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No, it's not the end of the world, but there is no denying that 2015 constitutes a major defining point in the history of the city.
If the events centre does not get built, then Moncton will continue on much as it has in the past. It will remain a prosperous regional services centre for the central portion of the Maritime provinces, and likely will stay as one of the 3-4 cities in the region that continues to grow (as the rest of the region decays and withers). It will pass population thresholds of 150K, 175K and possibly 200K. It will remain the second largest CMA in the Maritimes. In other words - life goes on.
But what type of city will it be? For most of the time of the "Moncton Miracle", growth has been in the suburbs, business parks and power centres. The downtown core has seen little or no growth and only a minority of citizens actually lives in the core. Aside from the restaurant and bar district on Main Street and the Capitol Theatre, there is little reason for people to visit the downtown (except for work and business related activities). Many people (myself included) virtually never visit the downtown. This is kind of sad.
Monctonians have to decide how important the downtown is to the city. I suppose that you could argue "not much", but most times that you visit another city, you head to the downtown. Most visitors to downtown Moncton I imagine are at least somewhat disappointed. If you read travel guide commentaries on Moncton, they tend to ignore the downtown, or offer vague patronizing comments. Meanwhile, these travel writers tend to be effusive in their praise over our sister cities like Saint John, Fredericton, Halifax and Charlottetown. I find this frustrating. We can do better. It's one thing to be prosperous, it's quite another to be admired and loved. Those are emotions you don't hear too ofter from visitors to our fair city.
Sad as it is, it's probably time to think of a back-up plan for the Highfield Square site if the events centre doesn't get built. The odds of the events centre getting built are getting long and are probably now less than 50/50.
One of the callers in to the CBC during the debate on the events centre last week suggested that it be turned into a park. It's easy to scoff at this suggestion, and judging from the quaver in her voice, she was probably in her 70's and was probably looking for another good place to feed the pigeons from, but there is some merit to this suggestion.
There formerly was some parkland in this area, especially in the old Bay parking lot. Looking at old photos of the area, it was quite nice and in the present day would have an interesting "high rise" backdrop with the federal office complex and the Crowne Plaza Hotel in the background. The adjacent CN mainline would also provide some interest. It could be done nicely, perhaps becoming Moncton's version of the Public Gardens in Halifax. There would be a cost to this, and there would be no generation of income from property tax collection, but the idea is not without merit.
Vintage Moncton photo
One reason why I might support this is that it might decrease the way in which development in the downtown core is "strip like" along Main Street. By removing this land from the equation, it might force future downtown development to the east of the subway, and to the lands south of Main Street towards Assomption Blvd. In the long run, this might give Moncton a more traditional compact downtown core with some depth like you see in other cities.
Development between Main and Assomption would take a very long time, especially without the catalyst for growth that the events centre would be, but eventually, in a century or so, the results might be worth it.
My first preference
by far is the events centre, because it would enliven the core and would kick start downtown development like nothing else, but we must be prepared to think of alternatives if the events centre dies (as it appears that it will).
Thoughts anyone???
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