Sparks Street: Stop talking and act
The revitalization of Sparks Street has been an exercise in futility for half a century. It remains one of the greatest failures of urban vision in Ottawa, and one hopes Mayor Jim Watson’s vow to transform the pedestrian mall is not just more talk.
As part of the mall’s 50th anniversary, the city is teaming up with the federal government to seek proposals on how to revive what has become a dead zone. Watson is promising a “hands-on” role in this new effort, and it remains to be seen whether this is a good thing or bad. “I want to see this place animated all of the time. … You need to have a better mix of stores and you need some animation on the street,” he said. “I don’t think that takes a lot of money. It takes a lot of imagination.” It makes you wonder where the city has been all these years as the mall lurched from one design fiasco to another.
Cities large and small in North America and elsewhere have managed to transform their pedestrian streets into eclectic and vibrant places where locals and tourists alike converge. Think of New York City’s Times Square, the Pearl Street mall in Boulder, Colo.; Church Street Marketplace in Burlington, Vt., or Istiklal Street in Istanbul, Turkey, which is about the same length as Sparks.
Obviously, streets differ, but what other cities have done is find solutions to their unique problems, turning dead streets into lively gathering places. But not Ottawa. For the last 50 years, Sparks Street’s revitalization has become a recurring nightmare. There is indeed an abject lack of imagination on what to do with this 1.6-kilometre stretch of famed concrete and asphalt in the heart of the city.
For the last 50 years, Sparks Street’s revitalization has become a recurring nightmare.
Plans have been developed and abandoned with dizzying frequency. Some demanded building height restrictions to keep the sun shining on mall patrons. Others called for more cafés, bars and restaurants to draw people in during the night, while still others worried about creating another ByWard Market environment in the shadow of Parliament. Pavilions dubbed “green monsters” were built to house cafés and restaurants, only to be taken down later. Buskers were invited in, then sent packing. Loud demands for cars to be restored to the street were met with equally vociferous opposition by those who wanted it to remain pedestrian.
So it went for years. Plans were even floated to bring back streetcars that would attract people to the mall and link with a future downtown light rail, but those went nowhere. Building more condos to create something of a residential neighbourhood gained a lot of traction, but without corresponding decreases in rent and leases to attract more businesses, merchants felt the problems would continue. Nearly everyone agreed the mall needed sparkle and vitality, but how to get there confounded the best planning minds in the city.
This is what yours truly wrote in the Ottawa Citizen 10 years ago: “The history of Sparks Street rejuvenation is one of failed plans, designs and visions going back to 1967 when the three-block mall opened and cars were banished. … The pedestrian mall was popular for a time, but as urban sprawl drew people and shoppers to the suburbs and Rideau Centre and ByWard Market began to offer stiffer competition, it began to suffer. … Assorted beautification and design plans were tried but nothing seemed to work.”
This is as true today as it was a decade ago. A lot of people blame the National Capital Commission for the failure, but in truth, most of the blame lies with the city and the federal Public Works Department. Public Works — not the NCC — is the biggest landlord on the mall, while the city owns the street.
The fundamental problem is that there has never been a serious, well-thought, long-term plan or strategy for Sparks Street from the two big players: the city and Public Works. When Watson talks revitalization, let us hope this time he has something more than words to offer.