Comments on: Envisioning London’s Downtown Future

By: This Blog in 2009 | Brian Frank

This Blog in 2009 | Brian Frank — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 11:19:59 +0000

[...] Envisioning London’s Downtown Future [...]

By: phronk

phronk — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 03:58:05 +0000

I'm glad the meeting was a success. I can see why Dundas is such a hotspot for discussion; it's so close to being a great place already and just needs a nudge to get there. I spent a lot of time there today, in the little specialty stores that are unique to London. There's just this image problem – it's seen as sketchy and dirty, and often it is. Part of it is its location within the city, and the other places nearby. Not sure how to solve that. The radiating dumbbell sounds nice though.

By: phronk

phronk — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 23:58:05 +0000

By: Brian Frank

Brian Frank — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 17:06:26 +0000

@rockinon It was great to get more connected with everyone last night, including yourself.

Instead of just building a blog around those words I'm becoming more inclined to focus on building a life around them.

By: Brian Frank

Brian Frank — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 16:57:32 +0000

@chrismcinnis You're right, there's a lot of self-selection bias. Conspicuously absent were comments like, "We need to widen streets so I can get home to Masonville as fast as possible." Not many people wanted more parking lots, etc.

At least one table represented some positions along those lines... but I'd be curious to know how the dynamic changed after Shmuel Farhi and Jim Chapman left (Chapman talked about the session yesterday, somewhat sarcastically but with a couple of interesting points, at the 14:00 mark; I assume he mentioned it today too).

By: Rockinon

Rockinon — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 14:05:10 +0000

Excellent. You say near the end, “…a place in which enough people care…” A entire blog could be build around those words. And, I've noticed you often draw thoughtful comments that are also worth a look.

Well done, but that is not surprising as it's what I've come to expect from you.

Cheers!

By: chrismcinnis

chrismcinnis — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 12:05:12 +0000

Excellent post.

I think the public visioning session was a great idea, and appreciated Adam's prolific tweeting since I couldn't make it.

My only concern/question about the consultation is whether the city is making any efforts to get input from those are not already champions of downtown – I have no idea what the demographic of last night's crown was, but I suspect a lot of the attendees were people who already have a lot invested (personally, not necessarily financially) in downtown life. I think an effective “master plan” needs to do just as good a job of asking the people who don't like or are afraid of downtown, “Why?”