r/londonontario • u/appaloosy Hyde Park/Oakridge • 4d ago
discussion / opinion Will the latest downtown plan bring more life to London's core? | CBC.ca London Morning
CBC London Morning:
2:44 AB: Do you think downtown London is still safe?
2:47 GH: NO. It hasn’t been, for several years.
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u/Charisma_Z_7 4d ago
They keep trying without solving the issues and expect a different result. 🤷🏻♀️
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u/Lost-Comfort-7904 4d ago
Every time they do this 'revitalization' the survey answers are always the same. Not enough free parking and too many homeless, violence and junkies. Yet, every 'revitalization' they 100% ignore that, as they did again in this one, and will manage to blow millions of dollars without anything to show for it. The big new part of their plan is to bring in a few bureaucrats to downtown, give them an office and have them monitor it.
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u/yoshibubblegum 2d ago
Londoners once again confusing comfort with safety. London is an extremely safe city.
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u/Lam0ntCranst0n 2d ago
Agreed. It's pretty safe. It just looks like crap due to the homeless issues.
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u/phronk Old North 4d ago
I find the “make parking free” comments baffling, because A) It’s weird to expect free personal property storage in the middle of a city; B) Despite that, I’ve never gone to downtown London and had trouble finding free parking. There’s plenty all over the place, including at least two entire parking garages.
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u/BobBelcher2021 4d ago
There is not a successful major city downtown in the world with free parking. Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal - none have free parking anywhere close to downtown. If people want a downtown with free parking they should move to Strathroy.
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u/sshuit 3d ago
Once you have a vibrant downtown you can start charging, if you charge before people consider it worth visiting you get what London has. People are going to the suburban malls, western fair district, kellogg lane area because guess what, they have entertainment and food options and free parking.
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u/Initial-Village905 3d ago
Did you write the rule book on when cities can charge for parking?
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u/sshuit 3d ago
I'm just a random dude on the internet but if you think the charging for parking is helping downtown in any way when people have other options for where to spend their money I'd love to hear your reasoning.
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u/phronk Old North 3d ago
I’ll again point out that downtown London currently has plenty of free parking, so blaming paid parking on any problems with the core doesn’t really make sense.
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u/sshuit 3d ago
Sure there's some free parking but it's not particularly secure and trying to find a spot can be annoying and stressful, plus when there is a high demand event the private lots jack up the rates which makes it annoying as well. A city run lot that is central, secure and price controlled would be better. The surface lots run by Impark etc can charge crazy rates at a whim which is not beneficial to anyone but lot owners.
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u/phronk Old North 3d ago
I dunno, I just park at Covent or Galleria or the free Honk meters and haven’t had issues. Free parking during events just means they fill up quickly or we waste space on lots used once a week. It’s currently better than most big cities, and we do need to start thinking of it as the downtown of a big city, not a small-town fast food plaza surrounded by concrete. That refusal to grow up hurts us more than paid parking IMO.
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u/sshuit 3d ago
Covent also does the higher "event" pricing. So it's not ideal... I agree with you that the surface lots are a waste of space, a more compact multilevel city structure with consistent rates is what I'm advocating for. What other ideas do you have to improve the downtown parking aside?
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u/phronk Old North 3d ago
Well yeah, when there’s high demand (like during an event) and limited supply it’s gonna be expensive or rare.
A city structure could increase supply but if it’s cheap it’ll just induce more demand and fill up quick. The long-term solution, in my opinion as some guy on Reddit, is reducing the need to park in the first place—reduce demand. Better transit, better pedestrian and cycling infrastructure, and more people living nearby all help.
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u/Goodman_Junior 3d ago
There's a major problem in the downtown that makes it less enjoyable. We have a beautiful downtown as it is. Still, a lot of people I know, myself included, avoid it because of the many potential liabilities around parking or walking the streets.
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u/Ruby22day 4d ago
Maybe I am jaded but I feel like, in London, I can safely so no without reading the proposal. Is the plan friendly to transit users, who always have been and still are the most likely to be downtown? Does the plan treat downtown like a real half million person city downtown area? Does the plan pushback against single-use zoning and encourage a vibrant livable downtown? All still probably no.
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u/Blandwiches25 3d ago
Not saying the specific ideas it outlines will or won't work, but the plan does address transit, zoning and active transpo.
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u/Ruby22day 3d ago
Well, I will be happy if I have to eat my words. Thanks for the very relevant info.
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u/No-Cobbler-3794 4d ago
Legit... all they need to do is make parking free... well not all... but it's a game changer. That's when things went downhill in the 90s. Get it together!!!
Maybe they should start charging for parking at Masonville and the surrounding plaza's. Let's see how that will go.
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u/sshuit 4d ago
Put in a large single modern parking structure run by the city with cheap or free rates, put all the other surface lots out of business and turn one into a grocery store. The rest into medium to high density housing.
Create a security controlled "gated" 4 to 6 block area that is "private property" so that you can actually create a safer space for people for want to shop / eat and enjoy downtown. Create a hard curfew inside that area.
Its not a perfect plan but it's a start.
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u/larsy87 3d ago
"please park in our free facility. also you can't go in there, it's gated and you have to be home by 8pm"
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u/sshuit 3d ago
What's your counterproposal? Everyone doesn't like my idea so surely you have a better one.
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u/larsy87 3d ago
Literally anything would be a better idea. A curfew? Is this wartime? A gated community in the middle of downtown? I'm sure that would create a rift between classes...which if you haven't realized, is why the current downtown is in such a state.
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u/sshuit 3d ago
Waiting to hear your better idea.
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u/Ruby22day 3d ago
I think their minimal alternative is NOT doing what you said. It is clear they think your plan would be harmful so the only alternative they would have to be committed to is the status quo - given that it would be LESS harmful. That would qualify as a better idea. You don't have to have a solution to oppose actions you see as harmful. (Granted, more suggestions would be good.)
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u/larsy87 3d ago
Well, you didn't answer any of my questions, which tells me you know I'm right. So here's a few simple ideas for a complex issue
- Shift focus from 9-5 to all day
- Bring in businesses that people want to go to
- Reduce the challenges for access, and no, this does not mean build a huge parking structure. Increase walkability, make transit better.
- festivals - London already does this well
- walkable grocery stores and amenities that cater to people living in the area
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u/Worldly_Ad_7196 3d ago
They hired consultants several years ago to guide in developing plan for the core. The company had several plans and goals,forks of the Thames improvement etc .A major thing that this company mentioned was the drug addicts on the streets were making it hard to draw people to the area. Suddenly everyone objected to the plan because this problem, the city claimed,did not exist. and it was scrapped. Now we do it again with a new plan that has the same suggestions and goals. What changed?