The Quarters (Downtown East) will be a vibrant, healthy community comprised of five distinct areas, each with its own character, activities, and feel, structured around a unique linear park system running through the neighbourhood that provides a defining element for the community. ... Streets are improved with limited through traffic, making the streets safe and inviting for pedestrians and bicyclists. ... There is a mix of parks, shops, employment, services, and housing. There is a diversity of ages, incomes, and cultures. Open space is surrounded by businesses and housing, creating a safe and inviting amenity year round. The Quarters is a place where community is important and pride and investment in the neighbourhood is evident.
Great. What about the people who live there now? How do we account for them? Do we just move them out? Or do we provide for them? How? Do we create a fund for them? Does a dollar from every purchase in 'The Quarters' go into the fund?
How 'smart' are we? Remember the smart city concept? The political and business elite put that together. The rationale is to identify and market what 'we' are good at. Medical research, at the University Hospital, is one, or was, until the province disbanded the local health authorities. That's another story.
"They" could have made the movie smarter. Why not an online interactive Lego set. Let us play. Engage our children. Let every school kid, in the region, build 'The Quarters', on line. That could have been an education legacy and 'we' haven't even started, yet!
Change the process. Treat us as investors, partners, contributors, yes tax payers, for the investment subsidy we will provide. Call it a social, or community dividend. Engagement is the method. It's easy to do.
Mr Dub has provided some form. Now comes function. That's where we can be smart. Let's start with zero waste, not just the arena, the entire community. Let's challenge the engineering department, over at the UofA to produce some commercial grade, zero waste, technologies. Let's challenge Stantec and PCL to commercialize them into business systems. Lets build it, the entire community, with smart materials.
Imagine 'The Quarters' as a an energy producer, using solar, wind, and thermal technologies . Look what Los Angeles is doing. Let's challenge Epcor. What's the business model for a community that sells energy, instead of buying it? How does the utility make a return in that environment?
Build 'The Quarters' like that. Create engineering, business, environmental, and financial systems that don't exist. Build it smart, so our kids and theirs inherit an asset.
1 comments:
Great stuff! " THEY " have the internal networking power to get it done right, its a matter of the right leader(s) on the project.
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