City Centre/Young Condominiums | 17, 25 & 6 fl | U/C

[jeffster]

That picture really goes to show you how little sidewalk space most of King Street has. It'd be really nice if they could turn the street into a pedestrian only area from maybe Francis Street to Frederick Street...maybe permit delivery trucks to drive down it if they needed to (which is common to see in Europe). Weber can easily remain the arterial road, and then let Charles take some of the local traffic load off King Street. One can dream, at least.

The King Street pedestrian mall idea was tried back in the 1960s / 70s timeframe. I don't recall the official verdict but it seems to me that if it had been successful, it would still be in place.

I know Buffalo, NY tried something like this, and eventually had the cars return. The idea almost killed the downtown completely, and they gave it around 30 years (1986 to 2016). The cars returned in 2016, and the business with it, was sort of a renaissance for the city.

I think the real problem for cities in the area is the crappy climate with have for at least 6 months of the year. I think we might be able to do it for 4 months, maybe, like the May long weekend until the end of September. Though perhaps you could climatized the mall, but then that almost defeats the purpose.