03-01-2023, 04:26 PM
(03-01-2023, 02:12 PM)LLac3r Wrote:(03-01-2023, 07:50 AM)Rainrider22 Wrote: Make king street a pedestrian European like square/ mall... Cafes and shops. No cars.
It would be nice. And they had plans for that in the 20th century.
When Market Square was being constructed, they planned to enclose all of King Street in a shelter and have it pedestrian only. They scrapped that idea, though. Probably for the best since Market Square was terrible.
They also pedestrianized King Street it one summer. Not sure what year it was, maybe the 1950s or so. It was partially open to buses I believe (I can't recall). There was a video floating around a while back but it has unfortunately vanished from the internet, but it looked great. They had huge planters and benches set up. People were out and enjoying the weather, going in and out of different stores (when downtown actually had more to offer than weed and take out food).
They could still pull it off today and there have been plenty of studies that have looked into it. We just have yet to take the leap of faith and try it.
King St was turned into a temporary pedestrian mall for a number of years in the 1970s. I can’t recall why it was discontinued.