Yuppie dream or urban nightmare?
Calgary's East Village is turning into a gentrified dream, but critics call the project "socially bankrupt
For decades, the East Village has been the forgotten back alley of Calgary’s downtown core, but a massive and controversial urban renewal project is going to transform the area into a teeming hub of gentrified businesses and high-level residential condos.
The project has worked its way through city administration over the past several years, and after a contentious public hearing in July, was approved by council just before the October 2001 civic election. But the development, in the area between City Hall and Fort Calgary, has generated some fierce opposition outside City Hall, and even some critics within it.
The scale of the development is unprecedented – $1.5-billion over 10 years, the largest such project in North America. It will include condominiums, retail space, pathways and perhaps even a canal, but the number of contentious issues surrounding it is almost as staggering.
Almost everyone agrees that the East Village is in need of a facelift. There is little activity during most days. Homeless people congregate near the Salvation Army Centre of Hope. Late afternoons and evenings sees music fans trickle into the King Edward Hotel’s blues bar. Trains rumble down the tracks parallel to 9th Avenue. At night the area becomes more active, but much of that activity revolves around crime.
Despite the agreement that redevelopment is required, there are major concerns about the project approved by council. Setbacks from the river, the height of the buildings, the amount of retail space, the future of existing neighbourhood amenities, homelessness, the impact on current residents, the city’s partnership with developers, and public input into the project have all raised concerns among community leaders and residents.
River setbacks
During much of the planning of the East Village redevelopment, the city looked to Calgary’s other high profile riverside urban project, Eau Claire, for guidance. One of the most beloved aspects of Eau Claire is the pathway system winding along the riverside and into Prince’s Island Park.
A similar pathway system is envisioned in the East Village, but some argue the project’s plans have already chipped away at what makes Eau Claire so successful.
Bill Morrison, as part of the city’s River Valleys Committee, pushed the city to keep developments like retail stores, restaurants and residences far enough away from the riverbank to create a healthy and useable space for the public, a large part of which is a viable pathway system. However, Morrison says the committee’s recommendations were largely ignored, and Calgarians as a whole will suffer because of that.
"We have grave concerns about the setbacks from the river," Morrison says.
There are informal river setback requirements throughout most of the city – in most areas, a 35-metre setback is enforced. In the East Village, the River Valleys Committee asked for a larger setback of 60 metres, but the city approved a smaller setback of 20 metres.
Proponents of the plan say a smaller setback will create a more vibrant riverbank, similar to the Eau Claire area, but Morrison says such a small setback will leave little space for traffic on the East Village river pathways, which are bound to become clogged with walkers, joggers, cyclists and skaters.
Eau Claire has parallel pathways both on Prince’s Island and across the river to ease congestion – even so, on busy days it’s sometimes impossible to walk the river pathway because it is so crowded.
In the East Village, Morrison says there will be fewer pathways to accommodate a population three times the size of Eau Claire and with four times as much commercial development – all in an era when per capita use of Calgary’s pathway system is skyrocketing.
"You’re going to be inviting in another 34,000 people per week to keep those businesses alive... and you’re talking about cutting the corridor space in half here? And saying that, based on the Eau Claire experience, that will be okay?" Morrison says. "We have stakeholder groups that won’t use the Eau Claire pathway now. They say it’s too crowded."
Morrison says the riverbank is a key to the whole development, and if it becomes unable to cope with the number of people in the East Village, it will be wasted or, worse, overused and abused.
He says the best thing the city could do with the riverbank is create a whole park-like atmosphere that would have plenty of space for a growing city and could be used for festivals and events.
"(Develop) the equivalent of a land-based Prince’s Island on the East side. You don’t think people would have wanted to build their houses and their business along there? You’re darn right they would have," Morrison says.
"They are greatly limiting what that riverbank will do in the future."
Heritage and urban renewal
Ten years from now, the East Village will look almost nothing like it does today. While some argue that is a good thing – the area is currently ripe with prostitutes, crime and decrepit infrastructure – others worry the development will destroy any heritage that remains in the area.
The East Village is literally the heart of Calgary. More than 125 years ago, a North West Mounted Police fort was erected on the edge of what is now known as the East Village, and, based on a name suggested by Col. James MacLeod, Calgary was born.
Today, the area contains five buildings considered potential heritage sites by the city, including the St. Louis Hotel, the Simmons Building and the King Edward Hotel, the latter of which is already slated for demolition to make way for a road.
Aside from the buildings and architecture, however, community activist Harvey Cohen worries that the intangible heritage of the area is about to be sacrificed in favour of slick condominiums and generic retail shops.
"There’s a lot more than just a building here and there," he explains. "There’s the whole feel to the area."
Cohen says the proposed development will have no ties to the traditional communities to the east (Inglewood) or south (Victoria Park) – both of which are undergoing more natural gentrification that promises to better maintain their heritage.
"The architecture of what they’re doing – there’s absolutely no reason for it to be there," he says. "There’s nothing of that style around. It’s not taking anything into account at all."
In the early 20th century, the area was a bustling Jewish community, which included a number of kosher shops and a synagogue. Already, according to the Calgary Jewish Historical Society, most of that heritage is gone, except for a plaque the group is hoping to erect on the current site of Bow Valley College.
But two other buildings that have been fixtures in the East Village for generations are slated for removal to make room for the redevelopment: the Calgary Hostel and the Calgary Multicultural Centre. Although the city has vague plans to help both institutions relocate elsewhere in the East Village, Multicultural Centre President Vettivelu Nallainayagam says losing the building will be a blow to the city.
"I don’t know why they have to pull (the Multicultural Centre) down," he says. "It needs renovations, but it was a nice building."
Nallainayagam says the building was once owned by the Boys and Girls Club, and since the society took over in 1984, it has given the city a venue to promote multiculturalism like no other. It also offers an affordable community gathering place for local seniors, and is often rented out to local concert promoters to stage all-ages music shows.
"We are talking with the city and hopefully the city will help us (relocate), but the Multicultural Centre and multiculturalism is an important part of society, especially after September 11," Nallainayagam says.
Cohen doesn’t deny the area has a seedier side, and isn’t against redevelopment, but he worries Calgary’s oldest community is going to be sacrificed for an unremarkable proliferation of ultra-modern condos.
"It’s not that I expect them to restore that kind of place to the way it was in the ’50s, ’30s, or the turn of the century, but what’s surprising is they’re going totally in the other direction," he says.
"The idea these guys have is to build and sell a yuppie fantasy and get out, so I can’t imagine any kind of mixing.
"Socially, I think it’s bankrupt." |
