Granville Street: More Footfall after the Football
Good news! On July 2, City Council voted to extend the Granville Street Pedestrian Zone that had been created for the recent World Cup activities.
The five block stretch has proven to be extremely popular during the nearly 40 days that the tournament was underway. Closed to motor vehicles, the street was transformed with larger patio seating areas, novel and whimsical seating installations, performance stages, small artistic elements, foozball tables and other games, buskers and vendors.
On the strength of this success, a special meeting of Council was called — wherein staff were directed to extend the Pedestrian Zone pilot through to the end of the Labour Day weekend. Council further authorized expenditures of up to $4 million to implement the extension, including a grant of $500,000 to the Downtown Vancouver Business Improvement Association to support their programming efforts, and a sizeable portion for both engineering costs and policing. Specific details on expenditures are not yet available.
The VPSN supports the focus on pedestrian streets and has long advocated for a network of car-free and car-lite connections in the downtown. Building on the success of the World Cup will be important, but attention to delivering a diversity of programming will be equally critical. With the football tournament now over, the more singular programming focus associated with the games needs to be broadened. A more sustainable financial model, particularly when it comes to engineering and policing costs also needs to be put in place. Should a longer-term transformation (seasonal closures or more) be on the table, then there are also important conversations to be had about land use, retail mix, and more permanent public space improvements.
The recently improved Granville Plan sets out policy aspirations that are at least partially aligned with these ideas – but the Plan is set out a long-term document with a 20 year implementation horizon and an uncertain funding process. If we’re to capitalize off of the current enthusiasm, we need to sure that the ball keeps moving towards the goal. We can score a winner with this one, if we put our minds to it.