Locke Street South — Competing Visions
Panel Discussion and Public Visioning Session

Meeting Report
March 20, 2006

This forum was co-hosted by Councillor McHattie and Melrose United Church. The purpose of the forum was to create a vision of the Locke Street South of the future.

The visioning evening was divided into three parts:

• Filming of Independent America: The Two Lane Search for Mom & Pop
• Panel
• Participant brainstorming

The Film
Independent America is a documentary about the impact of corporate chain stores on independent businesses (Mom and Pop stores) and communities across the USA.
See www.independentamerica.net/main_movie.html for more information.

The Panel
Following the film, a panel spoke about their vision of Locke Street:

• Bill Manson – Historian
• Mike Jacks – Locke Street business owner (Goodness Me)
• Christine Castle – South West resident

Participant Brainstorming
Meeting participants were then asked to answer the following questions about Locke Street now and in the future. Pam Hubbard, a South West resident facilitated this part of the meeting.

1. What do you like about Locke Street – i.e what would you want to preserve

• Manageable, human scale shops
• Community- based
• Variety of stores/goods available
• Fun strip of stores
• Restaurants
• High volume of pedestria n traffic
• Sense of community
• Small town independent merchants
• Local flavour of the businesses
• Street festival
• Heritage buildings
• The buildings
• Style of life
• Benches on the street
• Architecture
• 2-way slow traffic
• Free parking
• Authenticity (not fake)
• Mixed use business and residential
• Coordinated lights at Christmas
• Bike racks
• Night life
• Merchants, goods, services on street – feels like a marketplace
• Artistic element – music, artists
• Interaction with neighbours and merchants (informal)
• Breakfast
• Buildings kept up, streets clean, good property maintenance
• New architecture fits into street
• Low key – not hyped like Hess or Westdale

2. What don't you like about Locke Street now – ie. what would you want to see changed

• Parking
• Central parking site
• Missing stores: hardware, bookstore, review theatre
• Don't like the library – hours of opening, too small
• Some redevelopment doesn't fit into street architecture
• Opening times of stores need to be coordinated; signs showing hours would help
• Businesses need to have consistent hours
• Not much available for children
• Need physical identification for area
• Need landscaping/greenery, parkettes/benches, household services, gathering areas
• Existing concentration of services – ie. several of each type
• Not enough street festivals
• More services such as banking, post office
• No bike path connection to Bayfront or Downtown

3. How do you see Locke Street 10 years from now? Describe it using one word (ie. vibrant, prosperous, etc.)

• Friendly
• Unique
• Interesting meeting place when shopping
• Ability to get to know neighbours
• Eclipsed
• Convenient/walkable
• Renaissance of community
• Flourishing
• Diverse
• Landscaped and green
• Interconnected with other area (walkways), ie. Blanchard alley
• Self-sustaining
• High standards of residential/commercial
• Upgraded dining
• Quiet
• Identifiable as the South West
• Has a heart
• Not too trendy

Have your say!!