This is how you do it .... Penticton

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Rosemary1
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This is how you do it .... Penticton

Post by Rosemary1 »

Some initial small step tat could make downtown more attractive:

How about merchants and owners taking the first step by cleaning up and freshing up the front of their buildings - simple power washing and fresh paint would be a small start. How about some nice vibrant colors to remove the drab old look, Some greenery/ Cleaning up the sidewalk in front of their business? Replacing faded and boring signage.

The city could look at opportunities to plant more zone appropriate trees throughout the downtown area that provide some shadein hot summers . Provide incentives for owners of lots left razed from burnt buildings into inviting green space . Come down hard on the few locals who use such areas for loitering, drinking and littering.
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onestop67
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Re: This is how you do it .... Penticton

Post by onestop67 »

Rosemary1 wrote:Some initial small step tat could make downtown more attractive:

How about merchants and owners taking the first step by cleaning up and freshing up the front of their buildings - simple power washing and fresh paint would be a small start. How about some nice vibrant colors to remove the drab old look, Some greenery/ Cleaning up the sidewalk in front of their business? Replacing faded and boring signage.

The city could look at opportunities to plant more zone appropriate trees throughout the downtown area that provide some shadein hot summers . Provide incentives for owners of lots left razed from burnt buildings into inviting green space . Come down hard on the few locals who use such areas for loitering, drinking and littering.


lmao, I'll bite cause NO one has replied to your post.


2 years ago Penticton won some kind of contest where Benjamin Moore paint

http://www.pentictonwesternnews.com/news/214613221.html

paid to paint and the paint labour for the entire downtown. The 300 to 600 block of main was all repainted. Looks pretty good.

I know the people who own those downtown empty lots. They call the police constantly to get the bums/drunks off their property. Nothing ever happens. They are frustrated, too. They are not going to spend money to clean up their empty lots because it won't change anything but their bank accounts. Those lots are all for sale, but no one wants to buy them. The City is the problem.
Bunnyhop
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Re: This is how you do it .... Penticton

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*removed*
Last edited by ferri on May 19th, 2016, 9:47 am, edited 1 time in total.
Reason: local article from media other than Castanet
twobits
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Re: This is how you do it .... Penticton

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onestop67 wrote:
2 years ago Penticton won some kind of contest where Benjamin Moore paint

http://www.pentictonwesternnews.com/news/214613221.html

paid to paint and the paint labour for the entire downtown. The 300 to 600 block of main was all repainted. Looks pretty good.



New coat of paint. Whoopdeedoo. Twenty five coats of paint on 80 yr old buildings is nothing but lipstick on the pig. Three years of Okanagan sunshine and the pig is a sow again.
Virtually all new developments come with conditions of appropriate design and landscaping to obtain approval and a building permit. If the City wants to be serious about making the downtown a desirable place, conditions should be put on the issuance of any renovation permit in excess of 10k downtown that would require either full restoration of the heritage front or a complete modernization.
Too many building owners downtown are nothing but slum lords.
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southy
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Re: This is how you do it .... Penticton

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Twobits totally agree with you. Simply drive downtown and what do you see. Start in the 500 block - ooops can't name businesses but can say check the right side of the street ... a disgrace. Why??? Because the simply do not give a S$*#! Continue heading north along Main and you will see just how run down this downtown has become. But wait - you don't need the city involved there is the Downtown Penticton Association who have brought you the excitement of ahhh the market. I'm still waiting on this one for someone, anyone to tell me just how this Saturday Social benefits local merchants?? And please, do not say it increases traffic for each and every business, because unless you are in business and are not drinking the DPA koolaid you will know the market is more of a hindrance than a help. But wait there is more to draw people to the beautiful downtown core or as those on the DPA have so eloquently said "the heart of the city" .. the Vancouver Hill waterslide complete with admission tickets having to be paid in U.S. Dollars (just to show our support for our neighbours to the south I guess). Heart of the city - my God get the defibrillator out! And yes folks we have a complete downtown revite occurring as we speak - I'm so excited I wish I was wearing looser pants.

Downtown Penticton is a disgrace and we should be embarrassed. Hell Twobits I've seen better looking pigs without lipstick than downtown. What I really do not understand is that other cities large and small have the ability to seek answers, hire individuals who understand planning and processes and move forward and DO! Just what is Penticton's problem???
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fluffy
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Re: This is how you do it .... Penticton

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The "successful" downtowns I have witnessed around BC are either in towns that offer no "mall" option, or in towns that have adopted a gallery/boutique/restaurant approach. I agree with council's attempts to steer our downtown in the direction of the second example, the first example is lost to us, and simply letting downtown deteriorate into a slum isn't an acceptable choice. The downtown beautification will pave the way for private investment, which will flow as the economy improves.
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southy
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Re: This is how you do it .... Penticton

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fluffy wrote:The "successful" downtowns I have witnessed around BC are either in towns that offer no "mall" option, or in towns that have adopted a gallery/boutique/restaurant approach. I agree with council's attempts to steer our downtown in the direction of the second example, the first example is lost to us, and simply letting downtown deteriorate into a slum isn't an acceptable choice. The downtown beautification will pave the way for private investment, which will flow as the economy improves.


Fluffy is our council really steering our downtown in the direction of your second example? I'm not sure what direction they are steering it. Simply changing the street landscape without investigating and putting into place a vision that incorporates structural thematics will do nothing to change what already is. Downtown was/has been there during good economic times and bad economic times and nothing changed for the better. Also, perhaps you can explain your idea of what a "gallery/boutique/restaurant approach" actually looks like. I moved to Nelson in the late 80's just as their downtown revite was completed. Everyone bought in and that success has been sustained through to today. They continue to move forward. Just one example.
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fluffy
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Re: This is how you do it .... Penticton

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Is some sort of theme necessary? The sort of commercial areas that come to mind with me are places like Fort Langley, or some of the individual neighbourhoods in Vancouver like Kerrisdale, Kitsilano and Gastown, or more recently South Main in the Mount Pleasant area or lower Commercial Drive that are still in transition from their former glory as low rent districts. These places evolved without a set theme and present a nice flavour of eclectic chique if you will, and thrive as retail/hospitality. I think the big thing presently is the economy, tourism is down as disposable income has suffered in areas that supplied a lot of our tourist traffic, particularly Alberta. We have also seen continuing development in Penticton over the last thirty or forty years in the area of big box stores and shopping centers that draw customers away from downtown. The writing has been on the wall since once major outlets like Woodward's and Safeway moved out of the downtown core. Downtown is in transition still, and I can see a "boutiquey" collection of small operations as council's vision for the future even if they haven't done the best job of communicating that to the public. The beachfront work goes to the same purpose, trying to win back the tourist trade.

Realistically, I don't see any other strategy for downtown that will let it survive for starters, and perhaps prosper.
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Re: This is how you do it .... Penticton

Post by pentona »

Fluffy, you better proof read your posts. Woodwards was never in the downtown core, period. They started in 1975 in Cherry Lane Shopping Centre. Perhaps you were thinking of Woolworths; quite different stores.
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fluffy
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Re: This is how you do it .... Penticton

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Sorry, I was thinking about the Bay, formerly at the corner of Main and Wade, who then took over the Woodward's store at Cherry Lane. The Bay downtown was replaced with Zellers, who then made their own exodus some years later.
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fall
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Re: This is how you do it .... Penticton

Post by fall »

Was downtown today at the farmers market before doing my winery visits in Naramata, have to say I like the looks of the street and sidewalks so far. The brick is a nice touch. I even saw the mayor walking around.
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onestop67
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Re: This is how you do it .... Penticton

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twobits wrote:New coat of paint. Whoopdeedoo. Twenty five coats of paint on 80 yr old buildings is nothing but lipstick on the pig. Three years of Okanagan sunshine and the pig is a sow again.
Virtually all new developments come with conditions of appropriate design and landscaping to obtain approval and a building permit. If the City wants to be serious about making the downtown a desirable place, conditions should be put on the issuance of any renovation permit in excess of 10k downtown that would require either full restoration of the heritage front or a complete modernization.
Too many building owners downtown are nothing but slum lords.

Sure, all NEW developments come with conditions for design and landscape.

The people that own these downtown lots aren't applying for building permits, so your blabber is moot.

They see no value in spending money to put up any kind of buildings, that they won't be able to sell or rent. If they did, they would.

Find a buyer who wants to pay anywhere near fair market value for those downtown lots, and I guarantee you the owners of those lots will sell them in a heartbeat.

In the meantime, don't blame the people that own the properties. THEY own it, and can do with it what they want.
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Re: This is how you do it .... Penticton

Post by pentona »

fall wrote:Was downtown today at the farmers market before doing my winery visits in Naramata, have to say I like the looks of the street and sidewalks so far. The brick is a nice touch. I even saw the mayor walking around.


The brick at the intersection of Main and Westminster "looks" nice but it will slow traffic down (its rough); however thats a good thing. What it may not stand up to though, is heavy truck traffic that so often use that route going to and from Naramata.

I would have rather seen standard pavement and use the savings to re-pave Government Street; its a bl@@dy mess!
fall
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Re: This is how you do it .... Penticton

Post by fall »

I was wondering about the longevity or maintenance of the brick also. I am really glad it is not going to look like Martin Street.
twobits
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Re: This is how you do it .... Penticton

Post by twobits »

onestop67 wrote:
Sure, all NEW developments come with conditions for design and landscape.

The people that own these downtown lots aren't applying for building permits, so your blabber is moot.


Blabber? They apply for building permits all the time. It's a requirement of renovation to the interior.
onestop67 wrote:
They see no value in spending money to put up any kind of buildings, that they won't be able to sell or rent. If they did, they would.

Find a buyer who wants to pay anywhere near fair market value for those downtown lots, and I guarantee you the owners of those lots will sell them in a heartbeat.


You make me laugh. The definition of fair market value is what someone or anyone is willing to pay for a piece of property. Fair market value is not what the owner thinks it is worth lol.
onestop67 wrote:
In the meantime, don't blame the people that own the properties. THEY own it, and can do with it what they want.


Here is the first time you are correct. THEY own them and can do what they want with them. And they have, which is pretty much nothing and the problem. It has become abundantly clear to me over the last 30 yrs that too many downtown building owners don't want to put squat for money into improvements to the exteriors of their buildings and are just content to do the minimal interior stuff to maintain required code as long as someone else is paying for their own leasehold improvements and there is a monthly rent check. There is no unity of a majority downtown with a vision they are all willing to buy into. Instead, we have the bloody taxpayers footing fat bills to make the entrance to their crap buildings look reasonable and up their values.
Our downtown died in 1976 when Cherry Lane was built. There has been precious little investment since then. Yet in that time frame, Cherry lane has renovated several times and expanded, the Penticton Plaza has done so as well, and Peach Tree was actually completely torn down and reborn. The difference is single ownership and a plan and vision. They can recognize the need and benefit of doing so. And until the downtown owners can actually act in a unified mutual interest, taxpayers will be revitalizing the downtown again in 20 yrs just to repeat the same failed argument that we are "revitalizing" and making downtown more "vibrant" instead of building owners investing in themselves and making the "market value" higher themselves rather than the taxpayer. Ironically, the best way for downtown to be revitalized would be a collapse in market value. Then you might actually get investment interest from people willing to buy up these properties and actually build something people wanted to go to. That is a well documented result in countless places. Instead, here, we continue to put taxpayer lipstick on the pig.
Do not argue with an idiot. He will drag you down to his level and beat you with experience.

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