Totally agree the transit situation needs to be addressed to get the market to its full potential, but continuing to shape the Market around cars won’t fix that.
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I agree, my point though is that removing parking should come last, transit first. Otherwise it will provide ammo to those opposed to transit and being pro-car. It is in fact a well known tactic. Without proper transit, any attempt to reshape the market is doomed to be what it is today.
Tourists who arrive at the airport and rely on public transit likely take them to a downtown hotel that is within walking distance of many of the key sites and attractions, including the market. IIR even when hockey teams are in town they prefer to stay downtown; 1/
The tourists who would rely on transit to see things like some of our major museums, would be in for a tough day; essentially no service to the aviation museum and very limited or awkward to science and tech or agriculture. W/out a car we don’t make it easy to be a tourist
Sad, isn’t it? Only solution is for Ottawa to have more money. Someone has to pay more, not sure the most just way to do that. Federal money to municipalities seems unfair but now feds have huge costs to cover - not sure they will by-pass provinces to give us more.
When we base our decision-making on unsustainable tax increases, and then spend the money we do collect inefficiently with low value outcomes, we end up with the city we have. We could do more, be better, create a better place w/better policy @jleiper.bsky.social @seandevine9.bsky.social
Yes, to all of this, but part of this is taking a leadership position. Somebody has to go first. We can’t continue to rearrange the deck chairs on a sinking ship. We can’t assume that removing Parking is going to make the market worse when in fact, it might actually make it better. 1/
And there’s no reason to not think that we could try and create a model in which Parking was removed from, say 6 AM to midnight allowing overnight deliveries garbage pick up street cleaning, etc. That satisfies business owners; especially if the city took a leadership role 2/
And built a secure lock up, so that store is not open for deliveries between midnight and 6 AM would have a secure lock up where their stuff could be delivered to then be hand cart the last hundred meters. This could be a quick and simple temporary pop-up solution implemented tomorrow 3/
While we build a more permanent cross stock facility that serves a higher purpose with community space, offstreet parking storage, etc., but that takes vision and leadership, which is lacking. We need visionary ideas and creative solutions, but those never make it through the RFP.
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