The document that is currently being worked on will set out the terms of reference, what is to be done, who is on the team, how much time is allocated to getting tasks done and what are the deliverables.
Vibrant core or sleepy main street ?
Which begs the question – just what has been delivered in terms of a “downtown” core in the last five years? Does Burlington have a real downtown core? What we appear to have is a street that runs into Lakeshore that gives access to Spencer Smith Park and THAT is certainly a destination and known for very large popular events. Get north of Caroline – and there isn’t really very much. Do the people who populate the core want much more? The residents of the Baxter condominium over on Pearl Street, have a bar at street level that they would cheerfully end the lease on. Dickens has had its license suspended at least once for violating the alcohol serving regulations.
The Sound of Music Festival delivers a lot to the streets within the downtown core but this isn’t something that is an integral part of the core – it is an event that a group of dedicated volunteers take to the streets
What does Ms Wellings bring to the table as a Planner? One vital ingredient is her private sector experience. She spent time with Canadian Tire and if anyone knows retail those folks do. Welling also spent time with the Region and has a big picture view of what the market is like and what the potential is as well as what the obstacles are.
Part of the Core Commitment review includes a look at a Farmer’s Market. The last time this came to Council the people behind the move wanted a handout from the city to get the thing off the ground. Many felt it was not the city’s role to provide funding for this kind of thing – fair enough. But maybe the city could lend the space in front of city hall as a starting point for a Farmer’s Market. Give it a shot – see if it takes. It would certainly bring people ‘downtown’.
One of the more obvious missing elements downtown is a decent supermarket – even a small one. Parking problems is always the reason the people in that business don’t want to locate downtown. Put a supermarket above the public lot between Brant and Elizabeth. Second level supermarkets exist in other cities – it could be done in Burlington.
Wellings is a perky type – you don’t sense that dreaded “civil servant mind set” that has them speaking in what can only be called “protecting the rear end” with every word they say. “This business of creating a downtown core is “messy” Wellings will tell you and we always have to “loop back” to make sure we fully understand and then ask: “Is this what you have in mind?”
Her close to constant plea is – “inspire us” and Wellings is very sincere – she wants to hear from people, she wants ideas, she wants comment. She understands that the forces driving change come not only from within the community but from outside as well. The recession that hit North America in 2008 still has elements that linger – there is a sort of hesitancy to the economy and for retail there is no way to make up for a sale that is lost during a recession. You just hope you can make it up when times are good.
And for Burlington there is the hint of good times to come. Many had hoped the elite cycling event would bring a nice boost to the core but that event seems to have evaporated – through no fault of the city’s one might add. The scheduled opening of the Performing Arts Centre will make a difference – how and where is unknown yet. The two massive summer events – Rib Fest and the Sound of Music are on track to be as big as they have been in the past. Do each of these need an upgrade and a new look? Just asking.
The document Wellings works from has three parts with Part 1 being the statement of the importance of the downtown core to the city and the guiding principles that are considered essential to balancing the needs and desires of the existing community – which doesn’t mean a hill of beans to people walking along Brant looking for a place for lunch or shops that are inviting. And fear for the visitor who wanders East or West of Brant – a curiosity seekers wasteland awaits them. Well, the Oyster does deserve a good look and JJ Orr has a scarf in the window that I would like to take a closer look at – but it is kind of pretty slim pickings in terms of variety and choice. The Village Square has the potential to become a spot worth walking to and if intelligently managed it could become both a destination in itself and a magnet for others in the area.
Where doe all this Core Commitment stuff fit in with the Strategic Plan the city is working its way toward? See the Core stuff as a subset to the over all strategy.
Wellings argues that City Hall should always be at the center of things – OK – so our City Hall is at the center of things – I don’t feel any sense of vibrancy about the square that has water spurting up from the ground and the names of every commercial sponsor that donated as much as a brick, prominently displayed. But there is nothing happening there. Zippo – nada! Surely there are events that could be programmed into that space if the Farmer’s Market idea doesn’t fly. Why not try buskers in the space ?
There is a patch of vibrancy along the north side of Lakeshore opposite the park – not nearly enough though. The Waterfront Hotel is what Hume called an “architectural mistake”. And they apparently want to put up another tower. Please, not two ugly sisters.
The Pier will make a difference and the Pier will open and it will be a very worthwhile attraction. We will eventually see development to the east along the Old Lakeshore Road but that is going to take time.
The document Wellings has to work within is loaded with that corporate happy talk which over uses the word ‘vibrant’. We need to use the word vibrant to describe what we would like to be – not what we are. For we are just not a vibrant city.
One of the not quite hidden assets that is vital to the development of the downtown core is Brian Deane, general manager of the Burlington Downtown Business Association (BDBA). The man is tireless and a consistent, positive voice for his membership. High octane energy kind of guy. But Deane can only do so much on his own – he needs a membership that is as committed as he is – unfortunately too many are satisfied with the way things are or don’t want to do the heavy lifting that has to be done to make that difference. Those might sound like harsh remarks – when was the last time you got home from an evening at a restaurant and said you were certainly going to recommend the place to friends? Just asking. Deane describes Burlington as the city that wants to be a town and describes Oakville the town that is more like a city.
Wellings make the point that streets like Brant are populated with shops run by independent owners who have a clear idea as to what they want to do. The Malls have the corporate chains that are run by people who read the policy manuals. A classic example of this mind set revealed itself when the STOP the Escarpment Highway people wanted a place to put their petitions. Tumblehome on Brant Street jumped at the opportunity and set up a space with a small display. Mountain Co-op said they couldn’t create a space for the petition – against corporate policy. If there was ever a market for Mountain Co-op it has to be the people who will fight to keep a highway off Mt Nemo – but that natural tie in didn’t sink in for the folks at the Co-op.
Wellings has a document with all the right words in it. What I can’t quite get a grip on is why we always talk about Burlington being part of the high growth taking place within the Greater Golden Horseshow. Burlington isn’t growing – well we are growing a bit but we have the lowest growth in the Region and the plan is to stay as the lowest growth community in the Region. At the same time our seniors population is the fastest growing in the province.
Now there is a recipe for “vibrant” growth. Smallest population growth with Seniors leading the growth pack. As my friend Scott Stewart, chief barrel handler at Community Services for the city would say: “Are you kidding me?” We do this in Burlington – we constantly kid ourselves.
Mayor Goldring has the beginnings of a deep understanding as to what the city faces as it sketches out a 20 to 25 year Strategic Plan. He has more studying to do but he is certainly on the right path when he brings in speakers like Hume of the Toronto Star and the plans to bring Gil Penalosa to Burlington to talk about how you can create a city that works for people. This guy is well worth a listen.
The Mayor’s biggest challenge is changing mind set and attitudes. He seems to have decided to do this by expanding minds and introducing new ideas to the community. His Inspire series has tag lines that ask you to Explore new ideas; Consider alternatives; Shift perspectives.
There wasn’t a large audience for Chris Hume but there was the beginning of a dialogue and that is a fundamental part of getting to where Goldring realizes the city is going to have to go. While new as Mayor he is finding his feet and getting a sense of the job he now has. He is a product of Burlington but is showing the community that he is bigger than the community he was raised in.
Past City Council’s have struggled with where to put the Freeman railway station and while they fiddled the city lost the thousands of dollars that were available through a Stimulus Grant. Fortunately for the city there is a hardy band of citizens who aren’t ready to let the station be cut up for firewood and they appear to have found a location that is a natural – in Spencer Smith Park at the foot of Nelson, kitty corner from the Brant Museum, across the street from the Burlington Arts Centre. Previous attempt to place the station in this area were voted down by Council members who were more focused on votes than the overall betterment of the city.
The freeman Station could be the other book end to the Navy Memorial at the east of Spencer Smith Park and become a location to tell the story of what passed through the station.
The railway station is an ideal place to tell the story of the tons of grain and yards of lumber that were transported out of this community; to tell the story of the fruit and vegetables that came out of the farms that were once the core of this city. And to tell the story of the many men that boarded that train for Europe never to return. It would be a magnificent bookend to the Naval Memorial at the other end of Spencer Smith Park.
When the Freeman Station comes to a vote at City Council let us hope that those Council members who failed to do what was right for their city when funds were available to move the station, hang their heads in shame and vote to have the station in the park and then to provide whatever the city has left in the way of funds and all the technical support they can offer to this endeavor.
So what does Jody Welling do with all this? She isn’t going to single handedly create the downtown the city feels it needs. She has an impressive shopping list – with a significant number of things she either didn’t have enough money to pay for or the item was out of stock when she did have funds
Acquiring the MTO lands – still on the list.
Completing the Burlington Beach Master Plan – that one is getting a push by the Region and Welling will ensure that it gets worked into the Core Commitment.
Attracting new office buildings – alas this is a troubling one. There is no class A office space in the core and it will take a tenant brave enough to take that leap of faith to get this off the ground. Is Burlington a city that people earning the big bucks want to live in and raise their families? Questionable.
The festival and events strategy is in place and it is working but it will need innovation and constant refurbishing to ensure that the headline events don’t go stale.
The post secondary campus got away on us.
Big work to do on the Heritage side of things. There was a time when Burlington had three waterfront wharfs and handled more shipping than Hamilton. There was a time when an electric trolley system ran the length of New Street – but that was a different era – Burlington has yet to decide what it wants in the way of transit. The residents still love their cars and believe that technology is going to come to the rescue and cars will be manufactured that don’t need gasoline. They might be right.
All these issues, problems and challenges sit on the desk of Jody Wellings who doesn’t happen tot have an answer for you right now but she appears to be the kind of planner who will recognize the answers when they appear.
Where then does the lady who is going to steer the process of bringing some vibrancy to the downtown core actually live – downtown of course.
[retweet]
