06-24-2024, 09:18 PM
Yeah they do see a lot of use when events take place, but otherwise they are not frequented too much. It's complicated by the fact the institutions around there were built in the middle of the 20th century and those surface lots were more useful for the demands downtown at the time. They evidently still are because they fill up when events are on, so removing them entirely negates the reality that they are obviously useful. One might argue that you can remove the lots and people can easily park a couple blocks away then walk and that's true, but it's not a Star Trek utopia yet.
The park space issue illustrates a good point in regards to overall space downtown, while also showing that at this point Kitchener is long overdue for a new arts centre. Centre In The Square is a fine place, but built in 1980 as the main arts and cultural institution for the city and region which at the time was a fraction of its present size. An option may be for the present CITS building to be modernized and expanded, optimizing the space use at the same time (my implication here would be underground parking or something).
But better yet: a new primary arts centre could be constructed elsewhere downtown, although available space is an issue. If the city was not run by incompetent clowns, integrating an arts centre into the Bramm Yards plan would be a great idea but the city has already thrown in the towel and are recommending the sale of that property, despite only a couple months ago going public with a "Master Plan" information campaign, asking the public their thoughts on the best ways to utilize it as an urban business park. In typical local fashion, they basically said of of the last remaining 8 acres of city owned property in its downtown "ehhh IDK, this is too much effort, let's just sell it to some developers while we can still get a lot of money".
Irrespective of that though, the issue with parks is just one part of an overall space issue. Our downtown may have a lot of new buildings, but the actual foundation of it hasn't changed much since the 20th century. Gaining park space and removing surface parking (without necessarily reducing the actual convenient available parking) is easy enough to do...there are lots of ways we can reconfigure, tweak, optimize and expand our use of space downtown for not simply parks but all aspects of the built environment. We could easily direct our city in a good direction but the issue is we lack vision for bigger things and are simultaneously handicapped by the fact there is either a serious leadership issue, or a severe lack of both overall political and governance skill across the board. Planning for parks should be something they are already on top of, not something people should feel compelled to email them about.
The park space issue illustrates a good point in regards to overall space downtown, while also showing that at this point Kitchener is long overdue for a new arts centre. Centre In The Square is a fine place, but built in 1980 as the main arts and cultural institution for the city and region which at the time was a fraction of its present size. An option may be for the present CITS building to be modernized and expanded, optimizing the space use at the same time (my implication here would be underground parking or something).
But better yet: a new primary arts centre could be constructed elsewhere downtown, although available space is an issue. If the city was not run by incompetent clowns, integrating an arts centre into the Bramm Yards plan would be a great idea but the city has already thrown in the towel and are recommending the sale of that property, despite only a couple months ago going public with a "Master Plan" information campaign, asking the public their thoughts on the best ways to utilize it as an urban business park. In typical local fashion, they basically said of of the last remaining 8 acres of city owned property in its downtown "ehhh IDK, this is too much effort, let's just sell it to some developers while we can still get a lot of money".
Irrespective of that though, the issue with parks is just one part of an overall space issue. Our downtown may have a lot of new buildings, but the actual foundation of it hasn't changed much since the 20th century. Gaining park space and removing surface parking (without necessarily reducing the actual convenient available parking) is easy enough to do...there are lots of ways we can reconfigure, tweak, optimize and expand our use of space downtown for not simply parks but all aspects of the built environment. We could easily direct our city in a good direction but the issue is we lack vision for bigger things and are simultaneously handicapped by the fact there is either a serious leadership issue, or a severe lack of both overall political and governance skill across the board. Planning for parks should be something they are already on top of, not something people should feel compelled to email them about.