Comment 64059

By Mr. Meister (anonymous) | Posted May 27, 2011 at 01:07:28 in reply to Comment 64055

Your post explains it all. You lived within a short walk of everything. In Dublin because it is so small, only 10% of the area of Hamilton, everything is close. In Hamilton not so much. The key to making a pedestrian only area work is getting people there and back home. There is no point of a pedestrian zone if it is difficult for people to get there and then to return home. Imagine all of Hamilton's citizens living between the harbour and the escarpment and between the university and Kenilworth. That approximates the size of Dublin. Then imagine another million people living in the immediate environs. Before you are done using your imagination, imagine Hamilton being the most populace city in the whole country. Not just the most populace city in the country but having almost a quarter of the country's population. That gives you a pretty good idea of how Hamilton relates to Dublin. Does that not paint the whole comparison in a totally different light? Like so many other things that European cities do so well it all about area and density. That is why Dublin has 3 fairly large pedestrian Zones and will probably have more in the near future.

That being said I think that Gore Park and the South Branch of King is one of the very few places that could and should be a pedestrian only zone. But still allowing all the north south streets to continue to go through. The other one that comes to mind off hand is Hess Street between King and Main and George Street between Queen and Caroline (it already is from Queen to Hess.)

I have some concerns about how Gore park would turn out with so much poverty and and so many undesirables in the area. But on the other hand it is within walking distance of some nicer apartments, condos and office buildings. It certainly already has a transit presence. I think it would take some work and a fair amount of policing but the end results, if it is done correctly, might be worth it. I can imagine a police presence on horseback being a frequent occurrence and a draw in its own right. (I am a really big fan of the police horses) I do not know how long it would take to get real shopping there and that would be a real boon to making it work. Dollar stores and pawn shops just will not make it work well. If the Connaught were to be renovated into apartments or condos that would be a really big step in the right direction. Maybe, just maybe, having that kind of pedestrian zone at its doorstep might be just the spark it takes for that to happen.

There are so many bars in the Hess Street area that I would like to see them institute some kind of shuttle bus system between them to bring customers to the area and return them home. At least one other bar downtown already does that to bring customers in but not necessarily to get them home. I know we have transit but that is not always the best solution for a bunch of drunks and the last bus to get drinkers back to the university leaves shortly after 1 and the bars are open a lot later than that. Things like that done in conjunction with a pedestrian only zone would go a long way to making it work.

In the end with the needed investment being so small I think we should make it happen.

I really appreciate your noting the Luas Red Line tram operating with a profit without being subsidized. The next transit system in North America that operates at a profit will be the first one to do so.

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