Charles St GRT terminal redevelopment

[the_conestoga_guy]

I agree that defeatism isn't a good policy.

But I also think it's important to be smart. The malls in downtown failed because the people who promoted them didn't bother to understand how and why downtowns work. I think the same thing is happening with people promoting arenas. It's not to say that an arena can't be included in a revitalisation project, but I believe that if an arena is the thing you think will improve things, that simply isn't the case. Making downtown a place people want to be is the answer.

Here, let's ask a relevant question. The city already has an arena, I've been to it a few times. Is the presence of the arena in the auditorium neighbourhood making that neighbourhood more vital or more active than it would be without it? Or is it intermittently adding traffic, congestion, and parking complaints interspaced by being an empty inactive plot of land.

So why would we think an arena would do something different in downtown?

Well, that is an easy answer. There is nothing else, but the arena near the Aud with little to no transit and very little density so not many people are walking. DTK has restaurants, shops, Rapid transit and high density around it. 

I am not saying an Arena is the only answer, but i truly believe that it is part of the answer, it guarantees 8-10k people entering the DTK core at a minimum 34 nights a year. That doesn't include the titans,  all of the concerts or other events it could host (Brier, World Juniors, Figure skating worlds).  The thing is, at the end of the day the Aud is 75 years old and will need to be replaced in the next 2 decades, why not think of it now while we still have available land DTK to incorporate a DT Arena.

Your last point is the one that I've been harping on, too. I still think that we shouldn't view downtown in a vacuum, and that moving the Aud downtown could open up the existing Aud-lands to become a massive housing development that could add thousands of homes.

Obviously an arena isn't a panacea for all of downtown's issues, and it won't magically turn downtown into a world-class place on its own. But I firmly believe that downtowns should act as the cultural hub for their cities, and in Canada, hockey is viewed as a major part of our culture. That's not to mention all of the other cultural amenities that you've listed.

Compared to the JLC Bud Gardens Canada Life Place in London, DTK has significantly more parking spaces available in closer-proximity. DTK also has rapid transit running through its core which London does not (not yet, anyway). For all the arguments that you could ever make against building a new arena downtown, the transportation-aspect is clearly not one that holds any water.

Lastly, if we're not going to build the arena downtown, where else would you rather see it built? There will be a new arena in the next 50 years regardless. Do we want to build it in the suburbs and rely on cars for getting to it, or do we want to put it somewhere that it can offer ancillary economic benefits while also being near rapid transit?