Sparks Street should become Sparks Park
Other cities have succeeded by giving way to green space
Let’s cut to the chase on the latest attempt to “revitalize” the Sparks Street pedestrian mall.
It’s never going to work if the city remains stuck on the idea that all that’s required are more shops and, God help us, governmentorganized entertainment programming.
This is the same failed approach that has been talked about for decades. Let’s look at it logically.
Centretown is a ghost town once the government shuts down for the day. Despite all the prattling about hordes of people moving downtown, hardly anyone does. The population of the central core is only about 12,500 people. That’s bigger than Carleton Place, but not by much. That makes it tough for restaurants and retail shops.
Even if Sparks Street were bustling, retail is struggling everywhere and the federal government isn’t motivated to rent space it owns on Sparks. If it did rent it, the cost would be more than non-chain shops or restaurants could afford.
It’s easy to see why the thinkers and planners at city hall can’t give up the dream of a magical new Sparks Street. How can a pedestrian mall not fit into the exciting and vibrant downtown that they keep talking about? You know, the one where everyone rushes down by LRT to spend the evening doing, well, something.
But wait, isn’t that new NHL hockey rink coming? That seems likely, but even if the condo and rink plan works out, it will only constitute a modest increase in the population and attractiveness of the downtown, if you even consider LeBreton Flats to be downtown.
Sparks Street has to change. We know the status quo is a half-baked nuisance. The city has only two real alternatives.
The simplest plan would be to make Sparks a street again. In planner-speak, they would probably call that something like “reweaving it into the urban fabric.” As my colleague Tyler Dawson pointed out last week, Sparks is by no means the only bad street downtown. Queen, Albert and Slater streets aren’t exactly beauty spots.
Making Sparks a street again is not going to undermine the limited attractiveness of the area. However, I think there is a better alternative. What the city needs for Sparks Street is a fresh new idea that isn’t dependent on things it can’t control, such as the decisions of retailers and restaurateurs or the whims of the federal government.
What I would suggest is converting Sparks Street into Sparks Park. Get rid of the crappy street trees and overextensive hard surfacing and replace it with a linear park, an outdoor garden that would be unlike anything in Ottawa.
There are certainly examples of this succeeding brilliantly elsewhere.
New York’s High Line turned an old rail line into an elevated park that has drawn wide attention and praise and attracts about five million visitors a year. Nice’s Promenade du Paillon is a wonderful linear urban park that replaced an ugly street that featured the local bus station and a parking garage.
It’s a people magnet now, full of fountains, plants and even a play area for children.
Both of these parks have been constructed in the last 10 years. This is the new thinking when it comes to turning an ugly strip into an urban oasis. By contrast, Sparks Street represents the thinking of 1967.
In length, Sparks is somewhat shorter than the High Line and a little longer than the Promenade du Paillon. It would be easy to create a public square mid-block, to provide a home for the festivals that are the only value Sparks provides today.
It’s easy to imagine people naturally gravitating to a Sparks Park. What a great way to get across the downtown and so much more attractive than the congested jungles of Queen, Slater or Albert.
Sparks Park would be an asset and it’s not an overly complicated project. It’s a rare opportunity for Ottawa to create something of beauty downtown. Let’s take it.