Red Deer Reality Rant #61 - The Revitalization of Downtown
Hello fellow Red Deerians. I hope everyone had a great weekend. We finally got the rain we’ve been wishing for in abundance! We are not the ones who need it the most, but at least the city fire ban has been lifted and we may be able to enjoy some campfires in time for the weekend.
As you may very well know, this blog is usually about Red Deer, and today’s post is on a theme often talked about in this blog and by people in Red Deer in general, our downtown. As a longtime resident of downtown I am happy to be living here and can’t really imagine living anywhere else. I believe it’s a unique community and I love being close to local shops, restaurants and businesses here in downtown. Plus the prices for rent are right.
Downtown Red Deer has an infamous reputation, but I don’t believe that’s entirely well deserved. I do not feel unsafe here, and know that our community has a lot to offer. Recently they have been developing the Capstone area, and more recently the city has released a PDF of their new venture, the Downtown Activation Playbook.
If you’re not into reading it, here are my key takeaways from the document: The city has plans for safe and accessible streets, better alley lighting, free and/or affordable parking, a technology ready downtown possibly with fibre optics telecommunications infrastructure, pop up shops in the vacant buildings and areas, and are building a committee, the Downtown Community Association who will work with existing community members, and hopefully some new ones on this project.
Some of these are issues that have been covered in this blog, so I am excited for these ideas to come to fruition. The Downtown Activation Playbook is full of great ideas set out over five years with it’s goals and visions achieved in twenty years. Here are some links to some topics related to downtown on this blog as well as the link to the Downtown Activation Playbook on the City of Red Deer website:
Red Deer Reality Rant:
Ten Ideas for improvement in Red Deer
Centrefest and Meet the Street
City of Red Deer PDF:
###