Why was it important to open Whyte Ave to pedestrians?
An Interview with Cherie Klassen, Executive Director, Old Strathcona Business Association
On June 25, 2020, the Old Strathcona Business Association opened Whyte Ave to pedestrians. This is a major breakthrough for the use of public space in one of the most important mains streets in Edmonton.
In this interview we talked with Cherie Klassen, Executive Director, Old Strathcona Business Association, to know more about the story behind this initiative.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
Urban Narratifs: Why was it important to open Whyte Ave to pedestrians?
Cherie Klassen: In the midst of the COVID 19 pandemic, we became really aware of how many people were starting to come to Whyte Avenue when we started to reopen and we were concerned about crowding as one of our first priorities. But we also saw a real benefit in creating a more walkable and enhanced space that would be more welcoming for people to come back. At the end of the day, as the Business Association our main motivation is to support businesses and to support them in surviving and we know from tons of research across the world that when you make an inviting public space and you make more space for pedestrians that more people will be attracted to your area and ultimately spend more money and more time. So we looked at it with two lenses ‘public safety’ first and foremost meaning wider sidewalks so people can physically distance but also just creating a ‘welcoming space’ having some tables for people to sit at so that they could linger, hang out, and feel welcomed to come back.
We know from tons of research across the world that when you make an inviting public space and you make more space for pedestrians that more people will be attracted to your area and ultimately spend more money and more time.
UN: How did this idea come about?
CK: It was really our idea at the Business Association, but it was not an original idea. We looked at how other main streets and interesting cities with big commercial districts and a lot of walkability were adapting during the COVID 19 pandemic. We really just took the page from other cities across the world. We saw that these cities were closing down their main streets and making them open for pedestrians meaning more space for patios. So it came from some of those ideas and also to the City's expanded sidewalk patios permits.
We worked with the City and advocated to relax patio permits so that our businesses could have more space outside. Our businesses are operating at less capacity, so expanding out the sidewalks onto the roadways is another way to also support them. So it was kind of a dual purpose we created extra space for patrons in public but also created extra space for businesses so it was a win-win. We've always known that having more space for people in a highly walkable pedestrian-focused area it's good for business.
UN: What has been the reception of this idea so far?
CK: When we first launched the expanded sidewalks for May long weekend we were really concerned about the high traffic volumes and wanted to have more people to have more space. At that time it was just an empty space. It actually didn't take off very well when we first executed it because we just had this extra lane with nothing on it and people didn’t know what to do.
As soon as we put down tables and spaces for people and beautified it and made it really obvious that this was a space for people and not cars within five minutes of putting down our patio tables people were like ‘Can I sit here?’ ‘Can I eat my ice cream here?’ It was an immediate change in behaviour, so we've heard a pretty overwhelming positive response. It quickly shifted from ‘you reduced parking, reduced traffic and created congestion’ to ‘oh this is a great interesting space’ and we even won over some of our businesses that were skeptical about it. It has really shifted everyone's mindset where spaces for people create spaces that become way more attractive and welcoming. It has been way more positive since we made that shift.
We've always known that having more space for people in a highly walkable pedestrian-focused area it's good for business.
UN: What needs to happen next?
CK: I think we need to make it permanent. *Laughs* So we are having these discussions now with our board and with some of our businesses on how can we make this permanent. I’ve already planted the seed with the City and said ‘I think we need to start talking about how we can make this permanent and make it bigger’ those are the next steps I think.
The other piece, from our businesses and our board perspective, is that we need to pandemic-proof our area. Having more space for people so that they can spread out is going to be really important for the revitalization of our businesses. We need to make it attractive, we know that people feel safer outside and so all of these urban planning principles that we've known for years seem to be really heightened and present. For us, it's about the survival of our Business District and revitalization and coming back after the pandemic.
We need to make the area really attractive so that we can recover at the end of the day and make this space really attractive to people. So the next steps are that we need to make it permanent we need to make more of it. We plan to do a few more pilot projects and we want to use the pandemic as an opportunity to test things that we wanted for years and prove the case that we can actually do this.
We want to use the pandemic as an opportunity to test things that we wanted for years and prove the case that we can actually do this.
I’ve had a handful of businesses already saying ‘This can’t go away, we need to keep this permanent, and how do we reimagine these spaces in the winter’ ‘how do we reimagine streets that largely tend to be close down in the summertime for festivals in 83rd Avenue?’ A lot of people have started to talk about how do we make public spaces like McIntyre Park that we are in today more attractive, more welcoming for people. All of these things are back on the table again and I just want to test as many of them as possible so that we can prove to all of our stakeholders that this is what we need permanently.
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