Jaques Cartier Bridge
Montreal, Canada
For some time the idea for this has been facing me every morning I walk in Lakeside Park. Those who drive may ignore the bridge as such - those who walk certainly don't.
Also - a recent report in the Star lists the 20 most promising Canadian places to visit in 2018. No - not Nelson. All represented by a single picture - the one of Montreal is the lit Jaques Cartier Bridge above.
Han River Bridge
Danang, Vietnam
What
Despite the often over-the-top claims to being special: Nelson's urban attractions are few.
And we lack a visually distinctive core-structure - marker - to identify the City to outsiders - tourists. Before they come.
Nelson's Eiffel Tower sort of thing. Unique!
1.
Our "heritage" buildings are visually generic, varying little from those of other BC towns. We have also known for some time that Nelson never actually wins the title of "most arty small town in Canada" - this claim "phoned-in" from here to the author of the infamous book claiming so. At the time he has never been to Nelson.
Astrid Heyerdahl, Touchstones - stating this most-artiest as a fact in her recent budget-proposal - shows the paucity of outstanding urban attractions.
2.
This central space to possibly become the visual/cultural heart of Nelson turns into a condo/supermarket development. Its image now the single-item background of one of the City's web-pages. This also is telling.
3.
While the CPR Station redo is commendable - the building as such is not special, and similar renos have been done elsewhere. Fernie does it with volunteers as a socio-cultural multi-discipline development to give itself a beating heart - 27 years ago.
See post
Fernie: The Arts Station and How It's Done
8 Feb, 2016
4.
A multi-purpose cultural center for Nelson's Railtown - THE HEART - is first (and several times since) proposed in
Post
To-At-From THE HEART
14 Dec, 2015
but has yet to be actively considered within the Railtown development.
So - be honest - what's truly unique in this town?
Iron Bridge
Shropshire, UK
WHY
While the basis of any major undertaking here should - at all times - be creative focus on the economy - we have been comfortably dawdling over coffee. With good enough being good enough inviting stagnation.
Stuck in self-satisfied/limiting local possibilities, any sustainable development for Nelson needs to come from tourism. In the current climate - there has been little movement past whitish heritage ad nauseam, minimal discretionary shopping - and many, many cups!
(I'm not talking snow-bunnies: a different time and place.)
So we must push ourselves and each other into spaces where nothing short of excellence will do - as a way of life!
Breaking out of our comfy comfort-zone!
Daring to think big!
International Peace Bridge
Canada/US Border
HOW
A visually daring statement-structure is a start - not only visible within Nelson but also when approaching it from either end. Remember the saw-mill's inevitable plume of smoke? Like that - but positive!
It's already there and frequently used in advertising as symbol of Nelson: the (incorrectly referred to as) Orange Bridge.
Shabby-looking in faded two-tone pink, it's currently just a habit needing to be crossed coming/going at the City's north-end.
Harbour Bridge
Sydney, Australia
But imagine it painted: one strong, clean color emphasizing its structure during the day!
Imagine it lit in a brilliant multi-color design at night! And the buzz of crossing it day-or-night, being inside it!
Imagine walking/sitting in Lakeside Park in the evening, listening to intimate live-music performances on the beach - the bridge providing a splendid background!
Imagine its magic even in the rain, a snow-storm!
"At the bridge" becoming a destination. For locals and tourists.
Its image (and imaginative use) recognized far-reaching. And taken home - advertising Nelson - on t-shirts, postcards, trinkets.
An economic blast(-off)!
Picture yourself looking at a single image each representing 5 BC tourism-towns. Heritage-whatever and hanging flower-baskets.The usual. Except one showing a colorfully lit bridge. Which draws your attention?
Enough already with mud-puddle-colored repression: a bright high-energy spark brings the local psyche alive. To eventually even lighting heritage-buildings downtown. Forget Xmas lighting - it's all in the year-around streetscape!
(Another story!)
Tower Bridge
London, UK
Who
While the Rotarians have earlier considered lighting the bridge - this should be taken on collaboratively with the City, it having access to resources the Rotarians haven't. With the bridge run by the Ministry of Transportation, and its highway thundering through town: there is the possibility of a beautiful friendship with benefits between floors in the White Building.
Big Four Bridge
Louisville KY, USA
How Much
Of course - the predictable initial response for not wanting to act (on this) is: there's no money! This reason is the excuse for countless wonderful ideas out there never seeing the light of day.
Mental sluggishness coupled with fear of succeeding!
Which by the way and conceivably could become the reason for Nelson never growing further than it has: a town with pretensions, aiming for solid mediocrity.
Some time ago the figure of 100K+ is mentioned as a possible price-tag for lighting the bridge. Even if it should be more: what is Nelson's sustained future worth to Nelson?
For some perspective: consider the way over 100K already sunk into (remember the?) Cottonwood Market we have yet to see and probably still not finished paying for.
The door to a focused future: willingness to be exceptional!
Bin He Bridge
Yinchan, China
Deb Kozak, Mayor
dkozak@nelson.ca
City Council
nelsoncouncil@nelson.ca
Pam Mierau, Manager - Development Services
pmierau@nelson.ca
Alex Thumm, Development Analyst
athumm@nelson.ca
Sydney Black, Executive Director - Nelson and District Arts Council
info@ndac.ca
There has been much tweaking of Nelson's parking-spaces/fees for some time: most meeting with a strong backlash from those who park. Or want to.
Now we are to have commuter-parking for a fixed fee on Cedar. With this concept arguable: the only public input possible - while indirect and late - is after the City's presentation to Council, in comments following online write-ups in both local papers. There and probably on facebook.
Some days later, this item in the Star has mysteriously disappeared - together with its comments. The explanation is unsatisfactory.
These comments - emphatic and poignantly questioning - ought to be real-time food for thought to the new wave at City Hall in charge of re-configuring parking for Nelson. Deja voo all over again!
Following are examples of what has increasingly irked the public parking-wise over years. To make them less receptive to new parking-bits.
Just rearranging the furniture won't do any longer.
While all those outside City Hall could get behind a parkade!
Park This! #1
When - Mar, 2014 - the Co-op applies to Council for a Nelson Commons parking-variance: this is a mere formality - because Dave Wahn, Manager of Development Services & Sustainability and Approving Officer, as well as the Co-op's enthusiastic flag-bearer at City Hall, has been working on this for a considerable time prior to the application. Ostensibly (coincidentally nudge-nudge!) reworking downtown-parking.
But really just running a show of smoke and mirrors. Seeing that the Co-op is going to ask for the required almost 200 parking-spaces to be cut by half - he will simply make spaces downtown shorter and narrower all the way down the rabbit-hole. Thus create more spaces elsewhere. The genius of it!
Council happily clucks its no-questions-asked approval. Followed by Wahn's so-there! comment after the fact: people will just have to buy smaller cars; this is the trend anyway. Cross my heart - he does say that!
Today's statistics have it: the demand for larger SUVs/trucks has been increasing steadily, so there!
Now the Co-op's 37 aboveground spaces frequently are full, while its underground-parking - entered/exited only driving east on Vernon - is cumbersome and disliked by customers.
Meaning: aboveground parking is overflowing into the neighborhood. Who would have known! Possibly even onto the just one block away Cedar stretch, now to be turned into fixed-fee commuter-parking.
Wahn's scheme to make downtown parking-spaces shorter and narrower dies quietly with Council's approval of the variance. So - when the current Development Services team talks about a general parking-redo: they are stuck with significant Co-op parking-reverberations in the downtown-core.
Almost 100 parking-spaces gone - thanks to City Hall!
Also see post
Dave Wahn, Prince Variant
4 Mar, 2014
Park This! #2
A price-increase of the seniors' parking-pass is approved by the current Council, without regard for those seniors - 20 Feb, 2017. This creates a s**t-storm of major proportions. Mayor Kozak's comment "Although some seniors live on fixed incomes, others have more money than many young people" is not helpful. A definitive "some" and "many".
Showing the disconnect between City Hall and this rapidly growing segment of Nelson's population. Duly noted and loudly expressed. By seniors. Who promise to remember come election-time.
Also see post
Seniors' Parking-Pass Increase
21 Feb, 2017
Park This! #3
After the sort-of completion of Hall St Phase 1 - the very downtown-core stretch of Hall between Herridge and Vernon has free parking for 42 cars, over the course of about 1 year. Meaning a significant loss of revenue, which could be applied to the same road-repairs the seniors' parking-pass increase supposedly is meant for - but who cares! Not City Hall!
Also meaning: just around the corner from Hall - on Baker and Vernon - people not only have to feed meters: seniors do it with their increase and the general public with an upped to $1.25.
Again see post
Seniors' Parking-Pass Increase
21 Feb, 2017
Park Council
While parking in Nelson has been a - literally - fundamental issue for decades, it has never been acknowledged constructively as that by City Hall and/or any Council. For the sake of future economic viability of the City - with increasing tourism a vital part - this must change consciously: growth on any level necessitates more cars, buses, trucks - and places for them to be left.
When Hall St Phase 2 is presented to Council for approval-or-not - even though the presentation is superficial and incomplete - Council shows few concerns and little interest. Approval of this thing seems yet another foregone conclusion. Until a couple of parking-spaces down there raise their energy-level righteously. They claim those spaces and promptly approve Phase 2!
Everybody happy now?
Yet certainly not these feelgood-lite spaces nor even the 21 on Cedar address current and inevitably larger future transportation concerns - private or commercial.
Our geographic urban constraints demand a parkade downtown - nothing less. With willingness as step one: a vision will coalesce, and the money will follow.
Everything else - no matter how well intended - is just more tweaking of already locked-in-for-good (for-bad, really) circumstances.
Also see post
Park(ade) This!
27 May, 2016
Image Credits -
historygraphicdesign.com
pixabay
Alex Thumm, Planning Analyst
athumm@nelson.ca
Pam Mierau, Development Manager
pmierau@nelson.ca
Deb Kozak,Mayor
dkozak@nelson.ca
City Council
nelsoncouncil@nelson.ca
Kevin Cormack, CAO
kcormack@nelson.ca
"Fifty-two local businesses signed a letter to city council asking to put a pin in its downtown revitalization plans until several issues, including parking congestion, panhandling, drug-use and graffiti, were addressed."
"Competing with online shopping and chain stores is made extra difficult, the letter said "if our customer (1) struggles to find parking, (2) is accosted for money by an aggressive panhandler, (3) trips over people sleeping on the sidewalk and then (4) walks through a cloud of marijuana smoke, all the while observing (5) the general decay of the ambience on their way to a store."
2017's top stories No. 6: Businesses decry downtown plans
Tyler Harper - Nelson Star, Dec. 28, 2017
(6) "We are not indifferent to the plight of marginalized people."
Letter
A Letter to the Mayor, Council and Residents
can be found in the
Star's E-EDITIONS
May 5, 2017
Page 28
Following are thoughts on the 6 salient points above. The rest of the letter goes on and on, with reasonable-us signees - in a roundabout way - blaming the City and customers for all that ails them in their downtown-world. Yet one must wonder how many of them actually read, digested and retained this.
We've had most before in chunks, over time.
Even though 52 may look impressive - a large number of familiar downtown-names are not listed. Neither is the origin of this proclamation - really - stated formally or referred to in the text.
So - even if Mayor, Council and Residents wanted to communicate: what's with this group?
1. Parking - A Human Right
Until all Railtown is turned into a parking-lot, or a parkade is built at Baker/Fall: Deal with it, drivers! There is parking - just not always exactly in front of where you want to go. That you find at the mall!
With shopping/parking often a twin-issue - a rhetorical question: Why doesn't the Nelson & District Chamber of Commerce (NDCC) once-and-for-all get out of its entitlement-mode and promote developing a doable model, instead of just whinge about this age-old fatburger inconvenience.
Parking-yoga at its CP Station? Parking Anonymous? A walk in the park?
2. Aggressive Discrimination
There is no aggressive panhandling! Never has been! Even non-aggressive panhandling - considering social iniquities province-wide - has been minimal and low-key.
The NDCC started this bit of fear-mongering with an initiative hatched by its top-tier decision-makers - not the general membership - promptly followed by Kevin Cormack, CAO, putting a panhandling-bylaw to Council. Without any factual documentation whatsoever from the NDCC/City substantiating a need.
Council rightly shelved such bylaw until - while not questioning its dubious origin and path.
This has never been about panhandling but the CAO's obsessive Euw!!! towards our unndesirables - who don't shop much either, wink-wink - to cleanse Nelson of them by any means.
3. Sidewalk Slumber
None!
This is particularly creepy: A delightful shopping-experience could be marred by the happily spending shopper having to step over some undesirables guilty of not having any money for shopping - or food or shelter.
Speed-bump!!!
Nelson's haves (wanting more!) and have-nots (needing some!).
4. Blowing Smoke...
The rare whiff - from local desirables, too - but no "clouds". And not to forget - today's Nelson is totally based in quite recent, highly lucrative (trickled-down to the same 52) area dope-cultivation.
Marijuana has given this city whatever momentum it has. And clearly is in the process of losing, with no decisive grand vision to propel it forward.
Will the NDCC court marijuana dispensaries to become dues-paying members?
5. Ambient Decay
Are they talking Blade Runner here? Granted: downtown facades and awnings have needed painting and washing for years. But building-owners among the 52 are responsible for that. We are not going to rerun the '80s with all kinds of funny-money!
Signees even admit their own complacency by writing "Without exception every business and person listed below feels that we have let downtown incrementally decay in recent years." Like - thus far have attempted absolutely nothing towards improving the ambience of the area in which they do business. The ambience they are complaining about.
Hyperventilating in numbers now may make them feel good for a while. But ultimately: if everybody is responsible - nobody is responsible. The NDCC clearly is not ready to run the show.
There was an appropriate time for thoughtfully constructive input before the revitalization-plan was given more formal shape.
Where were the intrepid 52 then?
6. We Love Street People! Really!
According to Points 2 - 5 it is obvious that they indeed "are not indifferent to the plight of marginalized people". To the point of largely blaming them elsewhere in this exhausting letter for downtown's "decay".
Now What - So What!
Businesses have reason to be worried about "online shopping and chain stores": thanks to their NDCC still waiting to see profit-margins magically upped, those including their customers' - fools they! - tax-dollars.
Most recent example: the NDCC's disinclination to decisively push downtown shop-owners into a concerted Xmas-cheer effort.
Even though for their own benefit!
None of these businesses are in the business of employing locals and paying taxes. They're in it to make money for themselves. The more successful they are - the more minimum-wage help they need, and the more taxes they pay.
That's how that works!
One hopes Council will remember the NDCC's here at best repetitious and at worst offensive posturing when it comes to next-time funding!
Shop Local?
Reconsider!
Credits:
imagewees
pexels
pixabay
northernsound.ie
insidenova
Tom Thomson, NDCC
tom@discovernelson.com
Deb Kozak, Mayor
dkozak@nelson.ca
City Council
nelsoncouncil.nelson.ca
Kevin Cormack, CAO
kcormack@nelson.ca
Pam Mierau, Development Services
pmierau@nelson.ca
