11-13-2021, 06:48 PM
(11-13-2021, 05:50 PM)tomh009 Wrote:(11-13-2021, 01:43 AM)nms Wrote: 5. (Rick Haldenby said) the new centre of gravity in the downtown is at the intersection of King and Victoria, and that area needs a beautiful, public focal point.
I'm not entirely convinced of this. Certainly, we have Station Park on the NW side of Victoria, but we also have large projects upcoming on Ontario and on Queen -- and the east end is also changing quickly. There may not be an actual "focal point" to downtown, apart from the Carl Zehr square (which probably is pretty close to the centre of gravity anyway).
Also, centre of what? Culture? Transportation? Population? Restaurants? Government? Business? Development? Some of these things maybe, definitely not all, and there’s considerable difference if you ask new people or existing locals wealthy people or less wealthy people.
People like simple answers but people, and by extension sociological questions rarely have simple answers. It’s why people create narratives like “this is the centre” but it’s worth remembering who and what a narrative is centred on and what its author seeks to achieve.