Ironically the song “Let the good times roll” is sung by The Cars, the very machine I am actively advocating against.
Nonetheless, the song’s chorus exemplifies my hearty feelings about the downtown pedestrian mall.
The greatest cities of the world long ago determined that pedestrian density is good for business, for the environment, and for health.
Look internationally and you’ll find entire districts — often reserved for tourists (for whom we should also be designing our city) — forbidding automobiles.
Even in Montreal, the Old Port is reserved solely for bipeds. It also blocks off major transportation arteries for the city’s week-long Mural Festival and its weeks-long Jazz Festival. In the last several months, we have seen in St. John’s what such a creation looks like and how greatly the city prospers.
One need only peer down Water Street on a sunny, bustling Saturday summer afternoon to see the hundreds of people strolling to and fro — all in search of a treat, a meal, a drink, or an opportunity to see other people.
Oh, yes, I forgot about community.
Where else in St. John’s can one find such a concentration of community.
I would argue the St. John's Farmers’ Market is the closest simulacrum, yet it occurs only weekly and is restricted by capacity and access. The pedestrian mall is our city’s answer to the dire need for social interaction — particularly in the COVID-19 era.
It serves as a nesting ground for people from all over the greater St. John's area. Think, prior to the Pedestrian Walk, one would park and traverse the downtown area without any particular purpose or direction — or with only one errand or visit in mind.
Now, we all know where to start; and, we all know where to stay.
The pedestrian mall should also be commended by businesses beyond Water Street — not admonished like I have heard anecdotally.
A suburbanite knowing that they have a place to take their family for a majority of a day enables them to further explore the downtown's confines.
Without a pedestrian destination of entertainment and leisure, families are more likely to take their children elsewhere to parks, playgrounds, or community centres.
Now envision, two years from now, when COVID-19 is hopefully a pandemic of the past: tourists offloading from ferries and airplanes and cruise ships flocking to an exact place (not just George Street) where artists, vendors, entrepreneurs, performers, restaurateurs will all have an immediate stage to perform and demonstrate the wonders of St. John’s.
One need look no further than Toronto’s Kensington Market (that allows vehicles only on weekdays) to see how a pedestrian-only neighbourhood can thrive both for the city and its local constituents.
There is no need to prematurely close the pedestrian mall.
Our precious days of warmth are numbered here as it is.
I plead to the City of St. John’s to do everyone a favour and think with the prognosticative powers of a progressive Canadian city: keep the darn pedestrian mall open and do as The Cars would croon: “Shake it Up.”
Adon Moss
St. John’s