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Stephen Ave streetscape improvements kick off in July. Just like the businesses in this article, I too have mixed feelings about the decision to move the patios into the middle of the street.

calgaryherald.com

What's next for Stephen Avenue, downtown Calgary's historic main street?

Changes are in the works for downtown Calgary's original main street, as the city embarks on a long-term beautification of Stephen Avenue.
calgaryherald.com calgaryherald.com
 
The vibrancy used to go pretty late into the night on Friday and Saturdays when the street was completely closed to cars. When Terry Wong became Councillor he pushed to have it reopen to vehicles after 6pm again and it's killed off a lot of that vibrancy again because instead of people hanging out on the street, you just get a bunch of taxis slow cruising for fares that push people up to the edges of the street. It changed the vibe completely.
 
The business owner that mentions the fact that street design isn't the issue it is the open drug use, he's not wrong. Honestly though, no design can fix that and I'm normally on team "there's a design solution".

On a whole other note... And having just visited Europe. It is odd to say but it is interesting to me that we don't have a flagship downtown McDonald's lol. Sometimes I wouldn't mind a McDouble like a Mac for lunch but I don't go because of the state of both the Stephen Ave and Crack Mac's McDonald's. I guess that has a bit to do with the open drug use mentioned by the business owner but it is really more to do with how both locations are undesirable to spend more than a minute in. Goes back to the whole modernization of McDonald's, such a shame.
 
CalgaryTiger said:
The business owner that mentions the fact that street design isn't the issue it is the open drug use, he's not wrong. Honestly though, no design can fix that and I'm normally on team "there's a design solution".

On a whole other note... And having just visited Europe. It is odd to say but it is interesting to me that we don't have a flagship downtown McDonald's lol. Sometimes I wouldn't mind a McDouble like a Mac for lunch but I don't go because of the state of both the Stephen Ave and Crack Mac's McDonald's. I guess that has a bit to do with the open drug use mentioned by the business owner but it is really more to do with how both locations are undesirable to spend more than a minute in. Goes back to the whole modernization of McDonald's, such a shame.
Click to expand...
My guess is that we don't have a flagship McDonald's due to there being a lot of them scattered around the city. In other parts of the world it's common to see MD's in the busier central areas, but not as many in the outer parts of the city.
 
CalgaryTiger said:
The business owner that mentions the fact that street design isn't the issue it is the open drug use, he's not wrong. Honestly though, no design can fix that and I'm normally on team "there's a design solution".
Click to expand...

Yeah the reality is that almost all the "vibrancy" issues in the inner city stem for the drug/homeless problem, and that can't be solved via nicer urban design. No matter how many nice platters, or redesign sidewalks, or pickle ball courts you put in...most people don't want to hang around zombies and skids. There's no quick solution for that by any means (and requires action from many sides), but fix that and I bet that a lot of places suddenly will become a lot more vibrant. There's a reason why University District is thriving, while a place like EV isn't.
 
I noticed a dynamic at the 39th Ave McDonald's where the families and seniors used one half of the seating, and the street people took the other half.
 
DiscoStu said:
Yeah the reality is that almost all the "vibrancy" issues in the inner city stem for the drug/homeless problem, and that can't be solved via nicer urban design. No matter how many nice platters, or redesign sidewalks, or pickle ball courts you put in...most people don't want to hang around zombies and skids. There's no quick solution for that by any means (and requires action from many sides), but fix that and I bet that a lot of places suddenly will become a lot more vibrant. There's a reason why University District is thriving, while a place like EV isn't.
Click to expand...
Unfortunate but true. The homeless/drug issue really needs to be dealt with. Not just here, but for most NA cities.
 
outoftheice said:
Stephen Ave streetscape improvements kick off in July. Just like the businesses in this article, I too have mixed feelings about the decision to move the patios into the middle of the street.

calgaryherald.com

What's next for Stephen Avenue, downtown Calgary's historic main street?

Changes are in the works for downtown Calgary's original main street, as the city embarks on a long-term beautification of Stephen Avenue.
calgaryherald.com calgaryherald.com
Click to expand...
This is pretty common in Europe, where they have created pedestrian streets/plazas, and the al fresco dining areas are in the middle of the street/plaza, rather than being abutted right against the building. It will definitely be something that restaurants and servers will have to get used to.

The main benefit I see is that it should improve traffic/visibility for adjacent retail stores, as it will allow better pedestrian flow, closer to the store fronts. Right now, Stephen Ave is a bit of a mine field of permanent/semi-permanent patios along the edges. To me, this is problematic, because pedestrians have to navigate around the fencing/planters that restaurants have installed, which is a particular waste of space during the winter months, when these patios are not in use. I also think this could provide some flexibility for smaller restaurants to expand their outdoor seating area, as they are likely currently limited to the width of their restaurant frontage.

It's also my impression that restaurants will still be able to have patios in the "edge zone", immediately abutting the building, but I'm guessing that it will have to be more "cafe style" furniture, without a defined fencing/planter boundary.

1747077859997.png
 
adamyyc said:
This is pretty common in Europe, where they have created pedestrian streets/plazas, and the al fresco dining areas are in the middle of the street/plaza, rather than being abutted right against the building. It will definitely be something that restaurants and servers will have to get used to.

The main benefit I see is that it should improve traffic/visibility for adjacent retail stores, as it will allow better pedestrian flow, closer to the store fronts. Right now, Stephen Ave is a bit of a mine field of permanent/semi-permanent patios along the edges. To me, this is problematic, because pedestrians have to navigate around the fencing/planters that restaurants have installed, which is a particular waste of space during the winter months, when these patios are not in use. I also think this could provide some flexibility for smaller restaurants to expand their outdoor seating area, as they are likely currently limited to the width of their restaurant frontage.

It's also my impression that restaurants will still be able to have patios in the "edge zone", immediately abutting the building, but I'm guessing that it will have to be more "cafe style" furniture, without a defined fencing/planter boundary.

View attachment 650847
Click to expand...
I believe as well you're only allowed to serve alcohol with the fencing set up around the patio, which will probably only be able to fit in the central zone
 
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