This article appears in Dec 6-12, 2007.
Barrington Street Blues
So what’s driving all the businesses out of Barrington Street? Could it be that some of these specialty shops have bitten off more than they can chew? Or that the rents are too fucking high? What’s going to attract the tourists now? The bums on every
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They need to bring in a strip joint and increase the club times and lower the cost of booze. Tourism will sour then.Oh, and it doesn’t help the stores having a mega mall that sells all the shit you would want in one convient place. And it doesn’t help that they can’t plunk down a REAL mall in the busy part of town.
Ever watch City Council on Ch. 10? It is the most disgusting display of infantile and self-serving behavior that I’ve ever seen. To think these people run our city is more than fucking depressing. Barrington Street will remain a black pit of drunks and bums until those bozos from City can find a way to personally benefit.
Above last sentence should read:Barrington Street will remain a black pit of drunks and bums until those bozos from City Hall can find a way to personally benefit from any revitalization.
Free parking would definitely help the downtown….
Yep, it’s official. City Hall doesn’t care about urban anything. They cater to the lowest common denominator of everything – so in this, to their rural and suburban tax payers, who pay the least (percentage wise), and the urban core pays the most.Here’s an idea – Tax the suburbs a little higher than downtown. This includes the big 2 acre lot homes with their 3.5 SUV’s and city services. And the business parks and malls. Everything that’s sucked the life out of Downtown.Then lower the taxes downtown. We all want to spur growth, don’t we? How come the city won’t put it’s money where it’s mouth is?
Free parking? Are you high? Ever heard of global warming? I think cars are a contributor to this small problem about to destroy civilisation as we know it and you want free parking so more rich suburbanites can drive their big gas guzzlers downtown and park for free? What would really help the downtown is public transit that’s affordable, convenient and timely.As for lowering taxes, that’s really worked well for most Canadians for the last 20 years hasn’t it? We now have way less municipal, provincial and federal social services and lots of even richer CEOs. Not to mention lots of companies offering tons of jobs that pay really well and treat their employees with the respect they deserve – NOT!!! Oh, and yeah, I forgot, I have an extra 20 dollars in my pocket every year. Wooooohooooo!
Edson,If you’d read my artcile, I’d hope you would infer that I was talking about property taxes – not consumption or income tax. I’m not talking about charging less income tax or HST to people downtown. Since that’s not possible, it’s a Federal and provincial jurisdiction. I was referring to property taxes, the only revenue source for the city we live in. If they lowered PROPERTY taxes downtown, but raised them elsewhere in the city, this would spur development, and make it more affordable and desirable to have a business or home downtown, versus in a mall or in a business park or in a suburb.An perhaps with that money that we rake in by charging suburbanites what their fair share is, perhaps there will be some left over to improve our horrid transit system.
yeah we should tax the suburban higher… wait a second we already pay the same as the urban core but don’t enjoy things like sewerage, or city water (well this is more of a plus, I’ve tasted city water)… or bus services.. or sidewalks… taxis..city police service (again probably better off) basically anything at all.. our children have a 45 minute ride to school.. all because we don’t want to live in a condo (read apartment, hear our neighbors every movement and not let our children play outside due to the drunken crowds mugging the shit out out of anybody who walks down the street or the strange smelling guy who eyes my kids every time we use the elevator. Nope, I’ll sit on my back deck and listen to the kids play in the back yard, watch the birds come and go on the feeder, every now and then make some noise to scare away that one deer that seems to come around, go out to the local coffee shop (not a crap factory mega-chain) and sit down and enjoy a lazy chat with a few people from the community. Nope not going to move into a cramped apartment with a gazillion other people in my building, getting woken up every hour with cop cars blaring down the street, getting drunk with buddies, claiming it’s part of the life, part of the charm of the city, it gives me creativity.. it was for my art… I gave that shit up when I grew up. If I could go back would I do it again… yes.. would I move back now… not on my life.
Shoes – You’re talking about rural, thats different. I’m not talking about ecum secum or anything, I’m talking about cole harbour and clayton park – they have water, sewer, school etc. that is suburban isnt it? The people in HRM that don’t have city sewer and water etc. already pay much less tax than everyone else – that shouldn’t change!
Step 1: Get rid of the professional bums and street people. It may suck but this is the only downtown we have.Step 2: Stop excessive downtown violenceStep 3: Follow the market. Stop living in a fantasy world of creating some sort of retail heaven without looking at facts and numbers. Decorative planters and coats of paint won’t solve anything.Step 4: Give political power back to the city and stop catering to the rural vote.Step 5: Build. Do NOT let people coming into the downtown urban market with new ideas and money to spend get destroyed by historic preservation grannies or unrealistic and childish environmental initiatives like closing all of the streets to cars. If we want employment, growth and a healthy downtown then follow the path many other cities have taken and tell the world we are open for business. That doesn’t mean at the expense fo all else but the current atmosphere is ridiculous.