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Downtown

occidentalcapital said:
I remember visiting Nice. The street sweeper came every morning and scrubbed the cobblestones clean. Daily cleaning is what is required for a premium downtown area.
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Whatever happened to the shop keeper who came in the morning and swept the sidewalk in front of their store, cafe or restaurant for a few minutes before opening?

Oh yeah, here in supposedly free enterprise Alberta we expect the government to do everything and then complain when it doesn't. Of course, with all the vacant spaces downtown, this would only work to a certain extent.
 
Why would anyone want to invest and live downtown at it's current state? I am a current downtown resident with 2 condos (one that I am living in and one as a rental property). If I had purchased a house instead of a condo downtown in early 2010's I would have been up ~50k instead of being stuck with a depreciating asset, increasing condo fees and special assessments. Just trying to figure out a way to re-coup my losses and move out of downtown.

Some of my frustrations:
1. The amount of garbage is embarrassing. For such a densely populated and property tax generating area, you would think greater amount of resources would be spent on cleaning up. Especially with the playoffs and out of town visitors that we are getting, you would think that the city would make a better effort.
2. Requests from residents lie of deaf ears. Been requesting a garbage can to be placed in front of my building for the past year and still no action. Talked to multiple people in City of Edmonton and DECL.
3. Girlfriend been harassed aggressively when taking dog for a walk. Won't walk alone outside now after that experience.
4. Crime
5. City wants to promote density, but there is absolutely no benefit in choosing to live this way. Stuck with a depreciating asset, increasing condo fees and risk of special assessments.

/endrant
 
TAS said:
I like the refresh on this building on Jasper and 108, but it is getting tagged continuously.

View attachment 398870View attachment 398871
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I think someone, or perhaps more than one person, has taken offense to the paint job over the nice stone work and how long this has dragged on.

However, there finally seem to be progress being made here and it does look a bit better. I think it is still questionable if this really is an improvement, but it tends to follow the bar trend of cover up the windows.

That didn't work so well across the street on the former Knoxville's site, but I think they got way too carried away and also did a very poor job.
 
IanO said:
My disappointment with Downtown is not a result of parking rates, difficulty getting there or what malls offer, but rather:

-a low bar with regards to cleanliness/maintenance
-a general lack of pride
-a complete disregard for safety of those who live there
-an abysmal retail scene that cannot even compare to Regina or Winnipeg
-a lack of respect for those that use the Downtown by construction projects, LRT etc.
-an odd acceptance and lack of enforcement for gravel/dirt parking lots that are required to be: hard surfaced, lit, landscaped and with proper drainage
-a general failure of The Quarters thus far
-an overall lack of vision (although improving again)

With a few exceptions, the overall experience when visiting, living, working or exploring our Downtown is poor. This is not a COVID impact, but has been ongoing for about 4-5 years now and disappointing given the progress we saw from 2010-2018.
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Well if some of the absentee landlords made a bit of effort to fill up some of the spaces, instead of whining and waiting for the perfect tenants to fall into their laps, that would help some.

I think in some other areas of the city the BRZ's have made an effort to shame or badger some of the owners of run down or empty space to do something about it, with some success. Of course it is harder to do that to a large company headquartered in another city possibly several time zones away.
 
barhonda said:
Why would anyone want to invest and live downtown at it's current state? I am a current downtown resident with 2 condos (one that I am living in and one as a rental property). If I had purchased a house instead of a condo downtown in early 2010's I would have been up ~50k instead of being stuck with a depreciating asset, increasing condo fees and special assessments. Just trying to figure out a way to re-coup my losses and move out of downtown.

Some of my frustrations:
1. The amount of garbage is embarrassing. For such a densely populated and property tax generating area, you would think greater amount of resources would be spent on cleaning up. Especially with the playoffs and out of town visitors that we are getting, you would think that the city would make a better effort.
2. Requests from residents lie of deaf ears. Been requesting a garbage can to be placed in front of my building for the past year and still no action. Talked to multiple people in City of Edmonton and DECL.
3. Girlfriend been harassed aggressively when taking dog for a walk. Won't walk alone outside now after that experience.
4. Crime
5. City wants to promote density, but there is absolutely no benefit in choosing to live this way. Stuck with a depreciating asset, increasing condo fees and risk of special assessments.

/endrant
Click to expand...
I have long ago come to the conclusion the City of Edmonton is useless except for issuing parking tickets, collecting fees and taxes and doing consultations or studies which they ignore or implement poorly.

The city is filled with bureacrats most of who are either incompetent or don't want to do anything but plan. My only suggestion is to put your Councilor on speed dial and if they don't respond, feel free to post their name and the issues here.
 
Love this look/feel (from Austin). Imagine more side streets were like this...

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Austin 2018: Drinking with Don Quixote - SkyscraperPage Forum

Austin 2018: Drinking with Don Quixote My City Photos
skyscraperpage.com
 
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CWB lobby is being renovated - see pics. Chatted with the guy who runs the Second Cup and he said the renos should take about a month. He also mentioned that a gym at the basement level is in the works but isn't sure if it will be a public gym like Crunch Fitness or a private gym for tenants only.

20220517_103019.jpg
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