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Further to my excellent downtown adventure...

By: Dan Lett

5/07/2009 4:48 PM | Comments: 11

It has occurred to me after reading some of the comments here, and those
emailed directly to me, that one of the problems we have here is a dislike
of "downtown lifestyle." People who grew up in larger, more dense cities
have learned to live with/appreciate living in residences with less square
footage, public transit, shopping at smaller stores instead of big boxes,
and co-existing with the grittier issues that come with downtown
(panhandlers, street crime, traffic, noise and lack of greenspace.) When as a
young man living in Toronto was all about public transit, or cycling to and
from work/social engagements, eating and shopping downtown, and craving the
bustling, smelly, sometimes messy, eccentric culture of Toronto's downtown.

In my formative days, Queen Street West was just coming into its own, and
you could still barhop along Queen from University to Spadina and beyond in
the original beverage rooms that occupied what was once a working class
neighborhood. On return visits to Toronto from Ottawa, where I went to
school, or the west, where I worked after school, I would take the Subway to
Bloor and Yonge, and walk down Yonge all the way to Queen just to see all
the trashy storefronts, the colorful locals and the grime. I think the point
here is that if you love downtowns, I mean really love them, then you tend
to crave the grit and Toronto continues to have lots of that.

I'm thinking about Little Brazil along Dundas west of Bathurst, Parkdale,
and the Lakeshore Village west from the 427 are just a few of the ones that
come to mind. And by gritty, I don't mean trashy and unsafe; these are
neighborhoods that haven't been renovated and revitalized into the
gentrified Toronto that the rest of the country images. But these are places
where lower-income housing still rules, where there are way more strip clubs
and massage parlors than Starbucks, and some very colourful local characters
rule the streets.

My mother lived her last days out in a fantastic waterfront condo in the
Lakeshore Village. The building itself was very upscale, yuppie Toronto but
the surrounding neighborhood was wonderfully un-gentrified. In fact, there
isn't a Starbucks on Lakeshore from the South Kingsway exit off the Gardiner
Expressway all the way out to Port Credit (old Mississauga). Can you imagine
it?

The fact is, we've never had a large population of people living "downtown"
and thus we've never really created a generation of people who can
appreciate or at least navigate the good, the bad and the ugly of downtown
lifestyle. No downtown is perfect, and even in those cities where there are
tons of people living downtown; you still have to deal with drunks,
panhandlers and street crime. Toronto must have one of the largest downtown
residential communities of any city in Canada, and yet a quick review of the
pages of Toronto newspapers will tell you that crime does not disappear with
luxury condominiums or student residences.

So, here's the next question for all you downtownfiles - will Winnipeg ever
boast a portion of its population that appreciates downtown for all the good
and bad that it implies? Or will we continue to be a city of suburbanites
who don't crave and don't understand downtown?

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11 Commentscomment icon

If the mayor were capable of true leadership he would introduce progressive incentives to encourage development of more rental units and more entry-priced condos downtown. We have people in this city who would jump at the chance to move downtown if the city put meaningful incentives in place to spur the type of housing a downtown needs.

It's only a matter of political will.

When's the last time you heard mayor or council say anything at all about making the downtown an attractive place for young professionals to live?

We also need a progressive city council that will do things that will help encoruage urban devlopement and re-development. One big thing is that we need to re-write our zoning laws to more of a pro-urban stance and discourage suburban development.

I remember back in the 90s Downtown was a disater zone, and lots of things were gross looking, but with projects like Waterfront drive, the exchange district, and contiuning development of condos and apartments and the adding of more green space, & the redevelopment of Old Saint Boniface(Provencher), i'm really starting to see Downtown improve greatly. I'm really hoping one day i can buy one of those warehouse loft condo's in the exchange district, that neighbourhood is so beauitful it's hard to put into words. We're starting to get downtown back on it's feet. We just now need good officals in our municpial government that'll make Urban development a number 1 priority instead of more bedroom communities. Apartment vacany rates are under 1%. It's time for this city to jump on that so that more apartments are built downtown and not in the suburbs.

As perviously quoted "Love your downtown, and it'll love you back" fantastic line! We have our problems, but i know we'll be able to fix downtown and really make a place to live, work, play, and shop. Come on Winnipeg let's get into gear!

I think in the coming decades we will gradually become more densly populated out of necessity. It is simply a more efficient, more sustainable and healthier way to live. Scarcer and more expensive energy, along with a recognition of the benefits, will push people to live in truly urban neighbourhoods.
Once people experience the benefits of a well-planned, diverse urban neighbourhood, they won't look back.
That's my prediction, for what it's worth.

One lives and shops where they do because of.....the great architecture! Please. Here in Winnipeg? I think most people are interested on what is inside a building these days, as opposed to outside it, otherwise our Exchange District would be flourishing even more. Didn't some Winnipeggers just pay money to view other peoples homes, just so that they could see what is inside? Winnipeggers really do not realize what they have in this city, and that is one reason why our downtown suffers. We all have to look inside ourselves to see how we want this downtown to look, but all we do is navel gaze.

Okay, so there are moments when someone writes something that you desperately wish you wrote.

"Love your downtown, and your downtown will love you back."

Well done.

Downtown Winnipeg boasts some pretty spiffy architecture, which puts the (sorry to say) generally hideous suburban shopping strips to shame.

Living downtown offers amazing convenience. Nearly all the necessities of everyday life are withing walking distance. There are housing options for all income levels, and there are stores that are open evenings, though in both cases we need more choices. I was walking around downtown last night, too, with everyone heading toward the Forks for the fireworks, and the city felt really alive. We could use a bit more of that -- every night. It feels really good to experience a real place with real people, people of all sorts, nearly all of whom seem pretty friendly. Love your downtown, and it will love you back.

Again, you miss the point. Seems like you've forgotten about that insignificant group of people called the "middle class".

Downtown does not need more Starbucks stores or luxury condominiums. Downtown needs some affordable, yet comfortable housing. It's mostly either a "welfare friendly" room for $300/month or a high-rise palace for $1000+.

Downtown should be a place where a vehicle is not needed and stores are actually open past 5 or 6.

Seems like everybody wants downtown to become another suburb, but that will never (and should never) happen. Can we please have one area of the city with some personality?

Part of the problem is that downtown Winnipeg was allowed to expand beyond what its size should be, based on the population. The offices that line Broadway, should be on Portage, while Broadway should be residential; nothing we can do about that now.

A large population works downtown, but only a very small percentage lives there. Many young people want to live downtown, but cannot afford what few condo developments are being built. Again, the provincial government needs to do its part to help bridge the gap between what the market will pay, and what the cost is to developers to build the affordable housing downtown. There are too many vacant lots, and surface parking lots downtown; let's fill them.

Downtown BIZ has or is in the midst of creating some sort of retail plan to attract more retailers downtown; what the downtown needs are stores like H&M, Banana Republic, etc to bring people in from the suburbs.

Why don't you have this debate in the paper? I lived downtown for 7years and I liked it,but now I am back just across the river in osbourne village. The village is a better example of what downtown should be. High density, lots of shopping including Safeway, resaurants and it's cool. I am glad the grundge bar closed, as that crowd used to scare my wife.

Having grown up in Old St.Boniface and Elmwood in the 60's and 70's, I can tell you there is a stigma about downtown that only a native Winnipegger could understand. Although downtown was never pretty, in terms of shopping, it was high end. It was an event to go downtown; you only went to buy "expensive things". With the advent of the shopping mall, people found that they could get all the things they needed for less money and with less travel. With expensive stores and no parking, people stayed away in droves, causing the downtown to rot. The North Portage development was supposed to cure this, but failed miserably, making the downtown even worse in our eyes. There is little downtown worth appreciating compared to what is available in the suburbs. Winnipeg's culture is such that what is downtown is of limited appeal. Winnipeg's residents understand downtown completely; they just don't want to have much to do with it.

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