There will be a public meeting tomorrow to discuss the future of John Street, which the city, the local BIA and
The Planning Partnership have all decided should be a cultural centre of some sort.
"It's not a new idea," says
Harold Madi, partner at TPP, which is spearheading the planning and design aspects of the process. "It's been germinating for 20 years so."
The first official mention of what now looks almost certain to be the 3/4km street's future came in the 2001 Waterfront plan, followed up two years later with a similar reference in the city's cultural plan. Both thought John Street should be a sort of cultural corridor, linking, as it does, the AGO, the CBC, the convention centre and the CN Tower.
Though it's been percolating for years, there is now, according to Madi, a sense of urgency about the project, spurred, he says, by two things. "One, there are a lot of developments proposals along John Street, some already under construction, like Bell Lightbox, and when those developments take place, they re-streetscape the block, and this was an opportunity to create a vision for John Street that would inform those developments, so they could streetscape with a common vision."
The other was the Pan Am Games. "The opening and closing ceremonies are right smack dab in the middle of John Street at the Rogers Centre," he says.
To hurry the process along, TPP has put together a presentation, including background research for the various things that could happen to John Street, which they'll be presenting at the public meeting which will be at Metro Hall tomorrow in room 309 at 6pm. They'll also be unveiling their own suggestion of what they figure, all things considered, would be best for the street.
Though no work is expected to start any time soon, Madi says he hopes the entire project will be finished in time for the Pan Am Games in five years.
Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Harold Madi
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