Let me preface this with the fact that I walk 90% of the time, maybe more... with 5% of my travel by car and 5% by bike/transit.
I also travel a fair amount and believe that I have enough empirical knowledge from places that value well thought out public, private and in-between places and spaces to comment on things.
Do I love what I'm seeing right now on Jasper? no
Do I hate it? no
Is it a vast improvement? absolutely
Do I think that it struck the right balance? yes
Is 100-102st some of the worst consultant directed BS I've ever seen? 100%
Is this part of the puzzle? yup
Do most people want to sit on Jasper? Will they ever? no
Why? few people want to sit on a busy avenue that needs to function as one for a variety of reasons
Also, there are places like Churchill Sq, 104st, Alex D Park, Dick Mather etc. etc. to enjoy.
Jasper/Downtown needs to be a safe, well-designed, functional and clean place with reasons to go there, stay there, linger and explore.
We don't have the hook, demand, density or desire to really have an urban core... but like small tastes of it.
Add in a climate that is either too cold, too windy or too dusty and things are an uphill battle here...
Can we do better? yes
Are we? generally yes
While I disagree with your opinion, I do respect it.
On my end of things, I have lived in a fair amount of places and visited an also not too small number of other ones, across a few continents, which I also believe make me at least a little bit qualified to comment on these matters.
I'll try to answer the same questions you asked yourself there, so we know where our differences reside there:
Do I love what I'm seeing right now on Jasper? No really
Do I hate it? Also no
Is it a vast improvement? vast? Nope! Improvement? Yes!!!
Do I think that it struck the right balance? Not in a million years. I still see it prioritizing cars more than anything else and I don't believe that is the right balance. Bikes, transit and pedestrians should be the priority. The one thing I can't get past in this whole project is not getting a protected bike lane as a replacement for the (absolutely USELESS) turning lanes. Going around a block, when you're driving, so you don't make a left turn DOESN'T HURT! It also improves traffic flow drastically, which is a bonus for the car-people.
Is 100-102st some of the worst consultant directed BS I've ever seen? 200%
Is this part of the puzzle? The entire downtown urban fabric is.
Do most people want to sit on Jasper? Will they ever? No, they don't, but they could. Take Av. Paulista, in São Paulo, for example. It is, probably, the busiest street in the southern hemisphere, still, you'll see people sitting in bars and hanging out in the street night and day, 7 days a week.
Why? Lots of people want to sit on a busy, but safe, well maintained and attractive street. People crave energy, vibrancy and excitement and a busy street can provide just that, as long as it is safe and comfortable to enjoy it from the patios.
To stay in Edmonton, Whyte is as much of a thoroughfare as Jasper and, still, even on the busiest rush hours, people stay in patios, sometimes improvised or temporary, because it transmits certain degree of safety and comfort.
I do believe that most of our disagreements on this are also generational. Millenials and Gen Zrs are much more willing to take drastic, sometimes risky, measures to get things to change. We're also, in general, much more environmentally conscious and this plays a big part on our vision for the world and the cities that we live in. Not that you (or a lot of people from previous generations) don't care about it, but the feeling is that it is relegated to a less important stance.
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