Comment 51206

By myrcurial (registered) - website | Posted November 05, 2010 at 14:53:37

Re-reading my own comment, I find that I'm fixating on the "make our streets look less crappy" and I'm missing some key piece of information...

What is the reason for the preponderance of semi or pseudo vacant first floor commercial / streetwall buildings?

  • Why is so much "conversion" to residential happening in a commercial first floor streetwall?

  • Why are there requirements for street-facing facades in the core (See The Cottage fiasco for details) and not in other obviously commercial districts like Barton from James to Kenilworth

  • If an otherwise rentable property is vacant, we know there is a rebate. What are the requirements for proving that an ongoing attempt to rent the property is happening?

  • How many vacant commercial properties are also toxic waste dumps. Bet it is more than zero.

  • When is it reasonable for the city to step in and put fully serviced land to better use? For example, the old Westinghouse Canada head office building that has been empty and often not sealed against the elements -- it could be fabulous space for creative / engineering / innovative hipster types -- I'd rather have the city become a serious scale landlord than look at that empty building.

Sigh.

I'd love to hear other ideas on what can be done - especially if it's small scale / cheap / not a mega-project.

~~Myrcurial, an Intentional Hamiltonian who hasn't given up yet.

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