Post on : October 22, 2020
The City of St. John’s has released what it heard from the public engagement process for the Downtown Pedestrian Mall.
Feedback and perspectives were collected from a variety of stakeholders, including:
• businesses within the Mall
• businesses in the Downtown but outside the Mall
• groups impacted by the Mall including the transportation sector and inclusion community
• visitors of the Mall
• people who were aware of the Mall but did not visit
Many tools were used to gather feedback, including virtual stakeholder meetings, online surveys for visitors and business owners, a project page at engagestjohns.ca, social media quick polls, email and telephone options.
The goal was to collect information from a variety of stakeholders that could be used in combination with technical assessments, and feedback from the Special Events Regulatory Committee, to
make recommendations to City Council for future pedestrian mall events.
Highlights of ‘What We Heard’
• Businesses inside the mall and those outside the mall were generally supportive of future pedestrian malls but the location of businesses impacted the level of support.
• The public are very supportive of future Downtown Pedestrian Malls
• More time is required for planning and for inclusion and accessibility considerations
• There are differing views on whether other sections of the Downtown should be included; Extending to Waldegrave St. was a popular suggestion as was including George Street
• There were concerns with parking, primarily related to the use of Duckworth Street on street parking spaces
To read the detailed ‘What We Heard’ document and all feedback collected, go to engagestjohns.ca.
The final report for the Pedestrian Mall will be presented to City Council during a future Committee of the Whole meeting.