Nanaimo City Council to decide on downtown tactical "quick wins"

Monday's Governance and Priorities Committee meeting will be making recommendations on downtown “quick win” tactical interventions. I shared some thoughts…

>Subject: Quick Wins
Date: July 27, 2019 at 3:06:32 PM PDT
To: Mayor&Council@nanaimo.ca

I support the idea of taking high visibility actions now downtown, pop-up, tactical quick wins. It’s said it’s important for an organization to both do good work and to be seen to do good work.

Too, other cities are reporting that this approach results in better public opinion feedback and allows for corrections before being made permanent.

Some of the proposed quick wins I suspect will be easy for you to green light: refreshing crosswalk paint lines, and increasing sweeping and power washing frequency, etc.

Here’s the ones I’d prioritize:

Tactical trials of road diet configurations for Front Street with explanatory signage announcing its upcoming redesign. There will be push-back to be weathered! Let’s make a start.

Eliminate the slip lane to create an enlarged Dallas Square. I’d hope this would include signage announcing an upcoming redesign of this important ceremonial plaza. Include a temporary activation element, a piano perhaps, a basketball hoop, moveable tables and chairs...

Repair the Square! http://www.thesidewalkballet.com/2012/11/repair-square.html

Good to see attention to Robson St footpath to Fitzwilliam. Spend a bit of money here. Quality design, include lighting. An important neighbourhood street for infill uses (as are currently underway).

Green light Tideline park, include some tactical element and signage announcing its coming role in that area’s revitalization.

Unsure what re-configuring pedestrian crossings at Commercial, Wallace Albert and Victoria entails but I’d hope it would include elimination of “beg-buttons” (green light automatically includes “walk” signal) and no right turns on red light.

Access to the waterfront walkway concerns me. The drawings of the current plan show the walkway stops abruptly at the edge of the property. This is of course unavoidable but the important connectivity and continuity of the walkway would not be disrupted to the same degree if it carried on from the waterfront on a pathway at the north edge of the property. The access as configured in the drawings is a mistake. A footpath at the north edge would coherently mirror the footpath around the Cameron Island tower and create a superior walking experience.

I’m not sure a scramble intersection configuration at Bastion and Commercial should be a high priority. Crossings are plentiful now here, and my inclination would be to “take our victory” on Commercial and look to surrounding streets to expand on the kinds of things that have made Commercial a far better street than it was a few years ago. Consider though a test scramble at Front and Bastion and/or Front and Chapel.

Happy deliberations!

— Frank

Many of you may have seen this. Urban Studies Prof Michael von Hausen webinar “Making the Next Great Small to Mid-Size Downtowns." Link to his webinar here : https://youtu.be/pnj7OUc5bBo. There are some good ideas for Nanaimo here...

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