Wrong Ivan certainly has the right name, since his comment is more than wrong, it is offensive. Same for Basil Fawlty's ill-informed comment. Artists generate enormous social and economic benefit with their usually grossly underpaid work, and the KAS deserves full support for working out a viable plan for this building - one that, because of its heritage nature, does not easily lend itself to other uses. Fortunately, artists have the creativity to work with what they have, even when that is cute but cramped heritage spaces.
I agree that the Cogswell/Rainnie/Trollope intersection is one of the most dangerous in the city right now, for pedestrians as well as for motorists. And the current design of Cunard/Agricola encourages cars to cruise from Cunard onto North Park Street as if on a freeway, very bad for pedestrians crossing at Cornwallis. I'm open to the possibility that each intersection would be better with a roundabout. And enough of this "it works in Europe because they are smarter/different/better drivers/used to them. Let's build some - then we'll get used to them. And car-based infrastructure is not going to go away - it would help if it were better designed. My two cents worth, as a pedestrian who lives on the Commons.
I'd be happier if they had not "wrapped" the new hybrids in all-over vinyl graphics. These are theoretically "see-through" but in the daytime, riding in a wrapped bus is like being inside a grey curtain and at night it is impossible for a passenger to read street signs or to get one's bearings. Do the people responsible for wrapping the buses in ads ever ride the buses themselves, to experience what a dismal experience it is to ride in a wrapped bus? It does not help to encourage mass-transit use.
I would have more sympathy with pablojackhorner's complaint about "conservatives that don't want to move, touch or disrupt anything" if he didn't label them with the homophobic derogative "pansies". While stick-in-the-mud attitudes can be a problem, they arise from a deep frustration about the kind of development that does happen and the lack of meaningful community input. And concerts do not disrupt the Commons for "2 days" but for weeks at a time, with giant trucks and fields of mud. I'm one of those who lives right beside the Commons and my concern is for a humane space usable for multiple purposes.
Also, I question the idea that wider paths for police vehicles makes the Commons safer. Police foot patrols would be much more effective, I believe. As a regular user of the Commons at all hours, I find that motor vehicles on the Commons dehumanise the space and make me, for one, feel less safe.
Why don't we focus on using the abundant talents of the local "creative class" to make a good selection? We have an architecture school, an art college and lots of local expertise in visual culture. HRM now has policies in place for the operation of professional selection committees for public art, so we have models for running an architectural competition. I hope that the competition casts a wide (national, international) net for the winning proposal, but do we need to hire consultants from away to manage the competition itself?
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Also, I question the idea that wider paths for police vehicles makes the Commons safer. Police foot patrols would be much more effective, I believe. As a regular user of the Commons at all hours, I find that motor vehicles on the Commons dehumanise the space and make me, for one, feel less safe.