How are our downtowns doing?
Pandemic highlighted need for accessibility, stakeholders say not enough progress
During the first wave of the pandemic, articles and opinion pieces with titles like “Downtowns Dying” were printed en masse.
Then, in 2021, urban planners, business owners and city councillors started announcing that downtowns were “bouncing back.”
Still, a recent Leger360 survey says 45 per cent of Canadians have reported seeing a decline in the downtowns of their cities in 2022.
So, what’s the truth for the Atlantic Canadian downtowns and what is being measured?
For most surveys, the gauge is the opening and shutting of businesses, but Atlantic Canadian downtowns during the pandemic also saw changes in accessible and active transportation.
BETTER BIKE LANES NEEDED
Peter Zimmer, chair of the Cycling Coalition of Halifax, is no stranger to the concept of active transportation. A co-founder of Caresharehfx, Zimmer retired from that in 2014 after growing the company to include more than 1,000 members and 25 cars.
Zimmer’s been a cyclist in Halifax since 1969, and he’s been sitting on boards for decades.
“I have a long, long view. I’ve been a part of proposals for networks and lanes for a long time. And I have to say, it’s hard here in Halifax,” he says.
"Montreal is leading the charge, and Toronto and Vancouver are improving at prioritizing cyclists and pedestrians. Edmonton sees changes, but Halifax has been embarrassingly slow.”
Zimmer points out COVID-19 did
give cycling a boost.
“There’s been an increase in bikers, more demand for bikes,” he says.
The problem, says Zimmer, is Halifax seems content to give cyclists halfmeasures instead of actual action.
“There are supposed bike lanes downtown now. There are some green barriers and lots of paint, but paint is not infrastructure; it’s a suggestion,” he points out.
“There’s also a supposed one-metre rule now, but it doesn’t seem to be enforced, and it’s just for the left side. What about the right side?"
Bikers, he points out, are getting hurt.
“There are new well-meaning gestures in the downtown areas; there are a few signs that things are getting slightly better, but it’s not enough.”
WALKABILITY IN ALL SEASONS
St. John’s had a seemingly dramatic innovation with the opening of its downtown pedestrian mall in 2020, which has returned each summer since opening.
But Elizabeth Yeoman, writer, accessible and active transportation activist, and retired Memorial University professor, says more work needs to be done.
“Anything that opens things up for pedestrians is good, but it’s discouraging that the city called the pedestrian mall an ‘event’ rather than conceptualizing it as something that could be bigger, part of a network, or longer lasting,” she says.
“Still, the fact that it has been so popular and successful might help to change attitudes.”
Yeoman says the biggest failure in the downtown area of St. John’s is the lack of sidewalk snow clearing - a major impediment during the long winter season in Newfoundland.
“Mobility is a basic human right, and without clear sidewalks, many people are denied those rights in the winter,” she points out.
Snow clearing continues to be an issue in Halifax, too.
“It’s not uncommon for snowplows to block bike lanes with snow. The snow gets pushed right into those lanes. It’s not safe,” Zimmer says.
HOW TO IMPROVE
So, what does a thriving downtown look like?
For Yeoman, it would be a walkable, wheelable and cyclable neighborhood with an affordable public transit system.
“I think we forget how much public space cars take away from us, especially how much they take away from children,” she says.
In a way, she says, COVID did shine a light on one aspect of the issue.
“We became more aware of the value of socializing outdoors," she says.
“In larger cities where many people use public transit, many people switched to walking, wheeling, and cycling. But in St. John’s, we are secondclass citizens until pedestrians have the same safe access to the city as car drivers.”