By Stacey Lolacher
You know, I could have made this my top 100 wishlist, lol! I love living in downtown Regina, but there are a few things that I really hope for…
1.) A pedestrian crossing light at the corner of 14th and Albert St. Crossing at this corner is not dissimilar to taking your life in your hands. Numerous complaints have been made, but I think this is one of those situations like the reconstruction of ’suicide pass’ in B.C. – Regina will have to host the Olympics before this one is fixed!!
2.) A Piano/Blues/Jazz club. I’m going to have to side with Greg on this one. How on earth do we have a lack of this type of establishment?? Am I alone on this one? It’s a tragedy!! I implore someone reading this to take the plunge and open one up… I would put your kids through college!
3.) A decent hardware store!! Really, now, lol… how does Downtown Regina not have a decent hardware store? And what if, like myself, you don’t have a car? Where is the nearest decent store to serve your needs?
4.) A band on all trees – and hopefully it would make a difference! Have you ever walked the gauntlet? I’m talking about those thoroughly annoying tree worms that come every summer. And you never notice them until you’ve already walked into a whole web of them… nasty! It’s always right when I’m so enjoying the trees too… how ironic!
5.) For the City to stop using the term “Downtown Revitalization Project”. I was living in Downtown Regina when this project started, and I’m still living downtown. This would be a worthwhile project if it ever produced something other than more parking lots and condos. The jig is up!! Stop trying to mislead us!
By Greg Hluska
Yesterday, I talked about my five favourite places in Dowtown Regina. Today, I want to talk about five things that I wish we had down here…
1. A Jazz/Blues Club:
The city lost something grand when Cafe 97 closed down – that club brought in some amazing talent and was the scene of some of the funnest nights of my young life. Since then, there has been a void in Downtown Regina. What do you do if you want to hear a trumpet at 10 o’clock on a Friday night? Download Miles Davis…
2. One New Building:
Nothing is more exciting than living in a city with cranes on the horizon – new construction is a sign of progress and watching new buildings take shape is a wonderful hobby. We already have an amazing skyline, one more showcase building would be icing on the cake.
3. Urban Litter Patrol/Clean Mob:
Here is the concept – at a previously appointed time, a group of people descend upon a small area and remove all the litter. Nothing makes me sadder than walking around this beautiful city and finding it littered with trash.
4. Year round hotdog vendors:
Oh great and noble hotdog vendors, why do you torture us so? Show up for the summer, get us addicted to your hotdoggy goodness and then close up shop the moment it starts getting cold. Stop being teases – you have barbecues, use them for heat when it is minus forty…;-)
5. Affordable rental accomodation:
I saved the best and most important for last. Every truly great neighborhood in the world is accessible to people from all classes. Accessibility keeps a neighborhood fresh – it attracts newcomers with new ideas and different experiences. Moreover, it gives students and people just starting careers the chance to live in the centre of a city’s cultural and financial scenes.