The Concept Of Lansdowne Doesn’t Work

So how can the city hope to improve Lansdowne with Lansdowne 2?

What magic formula is there to turn a bad idea into a good idea?

We had a marketing guy at the Citizen for many years who was very good at what he did. I’d ask him what’s the best way to find out if something sells? He’d say sell it. If nobody buys it, it doesn’t sell.

Well we’ve sold Lansdowne for a number of years now and people aren’t buying. The fundamental idea behind it is wrong. A shopping centre in the Glebe doesn’t work. No parking for people to come to it and people in the suburbs have many of the same stores but don’t have to pay for parking. Why come downtown when you’ve got the same or better in Orleans, Kanata or Barrhaven.

THE WATSONIC YEARS: Failed Ottawa: DOUCET

Lansdowne didn’t help itself by conducting a “competition” for the site that angered people in the Glebe. Those are the people you want to walk to your store.

Furthermore, the trendoids in the Glebe want funky, not chain store. Businesses do well on Bank Street because they offer things to residents they want.

So how do you fix something that is fundamentally wrong? You don’t. You can’t. So this is basically a real estate deal for the private “partners” funded by taxpayers. Some day that shopping centre will have to be torn down and replaced by something people need or want. Until then, it will continue to be a sinkhole for taxpayers. Lansdowne 2 will work as well as Lansdowne 1 because the folks there are selling things people don’t want.

And all the poured concrete? People don’t move to the Glebe to see more poured concrete. People don’t drive to the Glebe to see more poured concrete. The architecture is brutalism. You can’t hug poured concrete.

Lansdowne 2 or not, there’s no way to fix this. It’s a bad idea that’s not getting better. It’s a sinkhole for taxpayers.

Lansdowne 1 has been a sinkhole for taxpayers and Lansdowne 2 will be a sinkhole for taxpayers.

Lansdowne 1 was a bad idea and Lansdowne 2 just compounds the errors of Lansdowne 1.

It won’t work and taxpayers are stupid if they let city hall pour more tax money into it.

Stop Lansdowne 2 before the city loses even more money.

Ken Gray

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