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Old Strathcona / Whyte Avenue

^As mentioned in the interview I do feel there is plenty of validity to the model of creating alternative and unique spaces for pedestrians to go to and move through instead of just the main street. One of my favorite areas to visit is Pike Place market and area in Seattle. Whyte ave is further moving in that similar direction which is great for the city in the long run. I hope that the backlane project can find its way one day towards the back alley between 82 and 81 ave, between 102st to 101st. There have been plenty of positive steps forward "east of the tracks," there just seems like something is still missing there to really tie it to the rest of the area.
 
Rapid Fire Theatre will receive $800,000 to convert the main floor of a former telephone museum, located in Edmonton's historic Old Strathcona neighbourhood, into a 200-seat theatre. The renovated space will include a lobby, theatre, tech booth, stage, green room, backstage storage and workshop space. The main floor will also include a box office, staff offices and a meeting room. Rapid Fire Theatre has performed in many venues across Edmonton over the years; this project represents the first time the organization will be able to customize a dedicated performance space for its presentation needs.
 
Ok, but what about the density/need?

We complain about designing roadways for peak demand... do we do the same for sidewalks? aka Sat from 11-3?
 
Ok, but what about the density/need?

We complain about designing roadways for peak demand... do we do the same for sidewalks? aka Sat from 11-3?
Ian, for crying out loud, do you have ANY other argument, besides density? It's getting exhausting...

Whyte has enough foot traffic for this, even outside of peak hours. There's also induced demand (it works for pedestrians as well, you know?), and the business density of the street is more than enough to support wider sidewalks.
You go there ANY day between 11 and 1 or between 4 and 6, and the sidewalks are always busy, especially between Gateway Boulevard and 106 street.

Not to mention that Old Strathcona and Garneau are fairly dense neighborhoods, with a lot of walk-ups and more than a few mid-rises, and being an older neighborhood, even the single families are densely packed and have smaller lots, with basement suites. And that is not counting the few high-rises in Garneau, and the low vacancy in the area, with several houses being even used by groups of students at the U of A, generally with more people living there than the average household.

There's more than enough to justify wider sidewalks and better transit options for Whyte Ave. We don't need Vancouver or Toronto density to make improvements to the pedestrian realm.
For what matters, it might even work the other way around... Improve the area and it will attract some extra density.
 
I think we can improve some areas and their walkability, but there really does seem to be a war on cars from a small subset of the community (of which I believe most don't drive a lot and live centrally).

Everyone is entitled to their opinions and their vision on how to build a better city. However you can put me in the catagory of improving walkability and transit, with no real intentions of using it, other than commuting to work.

Having good road networks in the city remains vital to a majority of Edmontonians. With Edmonton having few natural boundaries, it's very likely the car remains vital to transportation for many years into the future.
 
The car isn't going anywhere (that sounds like an oxymoron). I mean the car is here to stay. It just needs to be thought of as a proportional alternative to other means of getting around ("Little Deuce Coupe, you don't know what I've got"). By about 2035 the majority of cars, trucks, boats and planes will be electric... ah now I feel like a prognosticator... micro atomic energy plants will supplement wind, solar and geothermal power sources -- coal will be the first to bite the dust, oil will be reduced to a smaller footprint and mostly unrelated uses to energy production, natural gas will be mostly used for the production of "blue" hydrogen (although there will also be a strong introduction of "green" hydrogen), cities will continue to densify, small towns will see a new growth spurt as white-collar workers move away from the City (already happening) and take up side-line hobbies that relate to "gentlewoman" farming, select-cut forestry will become a dominant practice, food-fishery farming will move off-coast sparking a whole 'nother trend in food culture, space exploration and extra-terrestrial harvesting of rare metals will become a huge industry, and there will be settlements on both the moon and mars.
 
Just 40 years ago places like Amsterdam were car centric.

We shouldn't need natural boundaries to do what's best for human flourishing. The research is pretty substantial. Car dependency is horrible for people. There are alternatives, we should implement them.

I dont see any harm in calling it a war on cars. It is. And its a fight back against the war on people, bikes, transit, kids, seniors, the disabled, the less affluent, etc that existed the last 70 years.

If making driving inconvenient is a "war", there's been a genocide on all other types of transportation...

I still own 1 car and hope its the last I ever need to own. Imagine if transit and bike infastructure were as prevalent as roads, and roads as prevelant as trains and bike lanes. Thats the right balance for the future.

Shipping, freight, long trips outside the city, etc etc will always be taken by cars.

But daily commutes and trips under 10k need to become non car trips.

It requires improving options AND making driving worse. You can't just add transit and leave the roads and hope it changes.

As long as our suburbs are built like they are, everyone will drive.

And once you own a car, why wouldn't you use it for most trips? Thats why so many trips under 3k are still done by car here.

I dont want to subsidize roads for drivers. I dont want to subsidize Healthcare for unhealthy people. I dont want to have my kids be isolated and dependent on me till they can drive cause of our suburban wasteland made for cars.

A better future is possible! Let's build it :)
 
It's been a while since I wandered Whyte Ave.

I forgot to take pics of the new dog park next to the Southpark on Whyte - it was packed!

Here are the respective replacements for the Second Cup and Starbucks on the important corners of 104 St.

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The Butchers Son has opened just east of the streetcar terminal.

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Good to see those two spots on 104st filled. I still wonder why both coffee shops closed there. One would think those were good locations.
 
Second Cup is a dying (dead) brand.

SB does not want urban locations unless they have drive-thrus and parking and prefer standalone now.
 

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