Downtown Pedestrian Mall 2021

Just a really great public space

I think we need to take a second to reflect on how something that people dismissed as impossible 2 years ago (and resisted, hard) is now a treasure for the city that draws people downtown in droves. I live in the area and spend a ton of time just meandering around, especially with my 2-year-old, who loves the freedom of it.

More food trucks

I love the Water Street portion of the Pedestrian Mall, but is it often hard to get seated in a restaurant/deck, especially on a nice evening. The Atlantic Place block of Water Street does not have a high concentration of restaurants, and is a perfect spot to allow for more food trucks, vendor kiosks, picnic tables, etc.

People coming out in all kinds of weather

Having the pedestrian mall open in a solid block means that we got to see how people use it, and I was really impressed by how many people I'd see out there on less-than-ideal days. Obviously not all weather was suitable, but the range is way, way wider than people might have assumed.

I'd love to see the opportunity for local farmers and others to sell fresh produce and products there too!

More mobile vendors

I went down once with my husband and son. We walked around, stopped into a few stores....we were getting a little hungry but didn't want a long wait nor a big restaurant bill for supper. Our thought was some extra mobile food vendors would of been a great option as it would of allowed for some variety of choice for those not wanting a patio dining experience.

Duckworth was a dead zone

It's understandable this route was the only option due to emergency routes, it wasn't worth the bother altogether. Nothing to offer besides a couple of restuarants with patios and a gaming store run by a crank. See what you can do between Prescott and The Sheraton, even if it's the most minor effort.

Accessibility

Please seek outside consultation for accessibility issues. I know you have an inclusion committee but one person representing everyone with a certain disability or race cannot know it all. I would like to see you do engagement specifically on accessibility and how to improve it in the downtown area. Cities much older than St. John's in Europe manage to make themselves accessible, it is not fair to throw your hands up and say we just cannot do it.

Closing duckworth street caused a traffic nightmare

Closing Duckworth street cause incredible traffic congestion every day on the waterfront and on queens road. Queen's road is not equipped with enough crosswalks and it became impossible to walk downtown because of the volume of traffic on that road. All this was to accommodate the baseless complaints of 2 - 3 businesses on Duckworth street and in the end nobody used the closed parts of that street anyway. The idea was a total bust, made no sense in the first place, was against the recommendation of the city planning department, created a traffic mess which was very predictable, and in the end nobody ever used it anyway. Politics got in the way of better judgement here and it was lucky nobody was killed on queens road. I LOVE the pedestrian mall on water street and am 100% behind the idea every year, but closing Duckworth street is a bad idea.

Reduced deck sizes changed the vibe a bit

Between the (excellent and important) change made to not allow decks to block the sidewalk, and the desire to keep decks contained so that they could persist after traffic came back, the ratio of seating space to open space was quite different this year, and sometimes it felt a bit off. Less people-focused and more like a road. I think in the long term we'd do better to extend the season and allow decks to expand beyond the footprint of parking spaces. Maintaining sidewalk access is vital, so this would allow businesses to add more capacity (it was really, really hard to find a seat sometimes!)

Never went there in the whole summer no place to park and not willing to be paying for parking.I think this is not the best idea for me

I visited downtown before more often than with the pedestrian mall

Close the right turn lane on Prescott from Duckworth to Water and use as an accessible link between them

When the pedestrian mall is active, traffic can't use this lane anyhow, and over the course of this summer I took my stroller down the road many times, as it is the only barrier-free connection between Duckworth and Water until you get all the way to McBride's Hill. Many wheeled users did the same. This is especially sensible if Duckworth remains included in the closures, but valuable either way.

Longer timeline

I wish the mall started earlier and ended later in the season. I already miss the road closure!

Work with the province to turn the front of the Supreme Court into a pedestrian space

As long as the Supreme Court is active in that building the lockup will need some vehicle access, but there is no reason to maintain one of the few natural public gathering areas downtown as a parking lot - and removing the parking there will further reduce pedestrian/vehicle conflicts from people entering/exiting. There is a parking garage immediately across the road which could surely be utilized instead.

Hop-on Hop-off transportation

While I recognize the length of the pedestrian mall is less than 1km, I feel like some sort of Hop-on Hop-off transportation that would drive back & forth at a low speed, through the centre of the mall would be attractive to anyone who has mobility issues, young children, etc. I don't necessarily mean a large bus either, I see something smaller, similar to an old street car where stepping on/off might be quick and easy.

Find a mechanism to discourage vacant storefronts

There apper to be a number of landlords on Water Street who are quite happy to have vacant, poorly maintained storefronts on their property. Not sure what levers the city has to discourage this (vacant property tax?) but market forces alone might not be enough to fill in Water Street's missing teeth. This would make the mall feel more complete and fill in the quieter stretches.