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Other Press

October 16; 1981

Page 9

 

by Rob Anthony

The old, forgotten shops
along Front Street that have
long hidden beneath the
shadow of the concrete
parking ramp have been
exposed to a new problem,
redevelopment.

Last week I decided to
search into this matter and
gather information from
City Hall and the store
owners about the proposed
redevelopment.

My first stop ‘was City
Hall, where, upon request-
ing an interview, I was
ushered before a town
planner, who from behind
his large teak desk confi-
dently sized me up.

After introducing myself I
besieged the once smiling
man with a flurry of quest-
ions to which answers were
immediately fired back.

‘How many condominiums.
are going to be built?’

‘Twelve hundred.’

‘Is the parkade over Front

4 St. slated for demolition?’

‘No, it will be extended
over the railroad tracks to
form a wall which will
absorb the noise and vibrat-
ions from the passing
trains.’

‘When does constrution
start on the condominiums
along Front street?’

At this question an .
uneasy look crossed his
face. After a silence, he
answered,‘When the market
swings upward.’

We discussed that state-
ment and I concluded that
although construction would
be started they would not
build living quarters along
Front Street until people

 

   

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had
them.
‘How long will that be?
‘One year, two years or
ten years.
The first shadow of doubt

_ crossed my mind.
After asking my questions |

I struck out for the Answer
Centre. a building designat-

- ed--especially~for~inquiries

about the redevelopment of
New Westminster. On the
corner of Lorne and Carnar-
van Streets it stood, an old
red brick building with the
words ANSWER CENTRE
posted on its front.

Upon entering the build-
ing ‘i was surrounded by
walls of facts and intricate
models. On one wall there
stood pictures of New
Westminster as it looks
today. The pictures were
taken in the dead of winter
and were in black and
white. They presented a
dreary scene, obviously

the money to: build™

( NEW WEST REDEVELOPMENT

The Fate of Front Street St.

taken on a dismal Sunday
afternoon,as the whole
downtown was totally
deserted. Directly beside
the se photos were real life
drawings of the waterfront
after the proposed transfor-
mation. The scene was of
blue skies, sparkling white
buildings, bustling people
anda blue Fraser River. I
couldn’t help but grin in
amusement at the distort-
ment,

I browsed around until I
was accosted by the head
man, a younger man who
wore a suit and tie and
talked hurriedly.

‘All the information you
could possibly want is on
those notice boards and in
those models.’

With that he scurried out
the door and left me alone
in the building, surrounded
by facts, models and
promises. All the answers
were there. A lot of
questions were answered in

DESIGN CONCEPT for the New Westminster core revitalization program. |

 

that building. All the angles
seemed covered, and the
development looked like a
bold, promising step
forward.

I left that building to
complete the last stage of
my fact gathering;inter-
views with the store owners
on_ Front Street.I left with
the-opinion that -only good
could come of the redev-
elopment and that no one
could have valid criticisms
of the. project.

Within an hour I had a
different opinion.

The first store owner I
interviewedon Front Street
was a neatly dressed mon in
his mid-fifties named Jack,
who, between his father and
himself, had run the busi-
ness for sixty years. ~

He thought the project
was a great idea, but he
didn’t have much faith in
City Hall and its capabilities

in pulling the redevelop-
ment off smoothly.When I
asked him how the project
would affect him, he answ-
ered, ‘The plans to block off
all the side streets are what
is going to hurt the most
with all the traffic blocked
off from Front Street the
businesses are bound to
suffer badly in revenue
lost.’’ It seemed a valid
point. Jack pointed out that,
although City Hall had
made massive plans, they
had not considered the fate
of Front Street. businesses.
When I asked him if he
thought the project would
be a success, he answered

‘Sure, but not for twenty
years down the road.’’ He
also added that he planned
to stay on'Front Street and
that nothing would make
him leave.

oa

Planned southern extension of Sixth Street

runs over Front Street, then steps
gracefully down towards the waterfront,
where it opens out into a broad public
open space - part of the new public
esplanade

After leaving the deter-

moned owner, I strolled
along in search of another
opinion. I found it in a man
named Ben, who had been
in business for twenty years
on Front Street. He also
stressed the damage that
the closure of the streets
would do to the businesses
along Front Street. On the
subject of the parkade, he
stated, ‘‘Even if they extend
the _parkade over ‘the rail-
road tracks, it will still never
be able to absorb all the
noise and vibrations from
the trains. There is just no
way.’” he said.

He then pointed out that
there was only fifty feet of
land between the railway
tracks and the River, which
made me stop and wonder
how the developers would
fit in both living quarters
and an esplanade along this
narrow strip of land. The
project was beginning to
look less feasible than be-
fore.

As for Front Street, it
doesn’t look good for future
business. -The redevelop-
ment seems likely to pro-
ceed without consideration
of the consequence to the
store owners on. Front St..
Add to this rising rental and
leasing rates, and you have
the ingredients for a bleek
future for Front Street mer-
chants. But first they have
to survive the construction
period. The only bright spot
lies in the fact that-construc-

tion will probably not com-

mence for quite some time,
due to an unstable real
estate market and an un-
stable economy.

ag