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Keep 102 Ave closed to vehicles

Planters and benches will not work Gronk. You need restaurants, novelty stores, convenience stores, grocery stores, movie theatres, bars etc.

I think that will happen in the future. I predict that ECC will be redeveloped, Manulife Place will be redeveloped and Tower 101 will be developed with anyone but Regency. You need to develop a vision for the future, @itom987 , not for what's there right now.
 
I think that will happen in the future. I predict that ECC will be redeveloped, Manulife Place will be redeveloped and Tower 101 will be developed with anyone but Regency. You need to develop a vision for the future, @itom987 , not for what's there right now.
Hold onto to that vision. After all the redevelopment occurs maybe then is the time. But not now.
 
The idea has promise but there needs to be businesses there too to draw people. If they want to close it and allow food trucks and pop up vendors to populate the ave that might actually work but if it is just an empty street with a few tables and chairs we already have Churchill square for that.
 
Idiotic.

Ill conceived and not the right time.

But hey, why not create a dead zone.
I'm taking guesses on when the switch in opinion will begin -- lollipop goes to the person who makes the closest estimate.
 
I can remember -- many moons ago -- when we were looking for some catalysts to "fire up" Old Strathcona -- a time in the early 1970's when most in the City viewed the area with the same askance sneer that a lot of people today hold for the Boyle Street area downtown -- the same people who can't, to save their lives, see the possibilities wrapped up in enigmatic "change". Into our nascent office one day strolled Barry Sparrow and Dale Cook wanting advice on locating a nightclub concept in Edmonton that they were going to call "Cook County Saloon". I took them on a tour of some of the historic buildings of Old Strathcona and talked them into the location that has served them well over the succeeding years. Their club was built on Gateway Boulevard just south of 81 Ave. They were the catalyst that spun the area around, eventually making it Edmonton's prominent "go to" place.

My advice to the Edmonton boosters -- don't listen to those who dwell on "can't" or "idiotic" or "not now" -- 102nd Avenue has the possibility of becoming one of the premiere pedestrian areas in the City and its conversion to such now will serve as a catalyst for change along the avenue. It will also boost ridership of the LRT. Edmonton is just beginning to grow into its skin -- it has an exceptionally bright future!
 
^ You fail to mention that in spite of Whyte Ave. being 'run down' in the '70s there already were stores open and running along the street. It was not the dead wasteland you see on 102 Ave., it is gonna take time to bring life into the buildings along that street.
 
Almost there?

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How many pedestrian-only spaces can Downtown support? We already have Churchill Square and Ice District Plaza, the latter which is just starting to attract commercial tenants facing the plaza. My worry is that if 102 is pedestrianized, it will be quite empty and desolate for a while, consdiering there are minimal reasons to visit 102 Ave (i.e. few retail or food destinations, a harsh streetwall thanks to Telus Toll as well as a vacant lot wasteland from Regency. The LRT, sidewalk and bike lanes will offer ways to get through those few blocks without a vehicle but there is really no reason to linger right no. We should focus on giving people a reason to linger in our existing pedestrian-focused spaces Downtown - Jasper Ave, 104 St., Churchill Square and Ice District.
 
Exactly. This stretch is far from ideal from a width, other uses and lack of street fronting anything and NO # of food trucks is going to change that. Focus limited resources on our other areas and make them function well before going after other things.
 

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