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Post by "The Freq" on Aug 3, 2015 9:09:55 GMT -5
There seems to be a "lull" in the Queenstown battle but here's a quick update. If I got this right, someone suggested the Queenstown Association be rebuilt with changes. Get this, some of those changes include lowering the fees but also expanding the QTA's reach to the waterfront area. ?? Really? Let's get this straight... With the big buck the QTA also bleeds out of the Queen street businesses they couldn't get it right after what, 3 decades and now, they want to expand the area yet lower the fee. How in simple math terms to you expect that to work if you couldn't make is work on Queen street alone? If you can't do your job in the original area you were set up for, how can you possibly think you can make it work by expanding the area. That's just retarded. In any case, there is a silence with the news of the QTA. The more I look into this little club the more I'm glad that I never had my business on Queen street. Sadly, the QTA has not made the Queen Street area inviting to businesses. The look of Queen street is starting to lose it's luster. Even the pavement is far from good. It's sad that the mom and pop stores are gone and Walmart and it's clones have killed all competition. Most crap you buy at Walmart is not worth spit anyways. I would love to see tons of cool mom and pop businesses open on Queen street. Unique businesses that don't involve banking or phones or major franchises. I'd also like to see canopies back along queen street so you can shop in the rain and also signs coming off the buildings like in the old days so you can easily see the signs while driving rather than having them flat on the buildings. Whoever thought that up was clueless. So, we'll see what happens in the next with the QTA. It should be folded but there are some out there that just want to flog a dead horse if you know what I mean. The mall is starting to look very uninviting as well. Who wants to go to the mall see 7 phone companies set up there, a now huge ugly food court with ugly shields surrounding it and other stores that are about as interesting as watching paint dry. There is nothing creative there. It's a dull mall that you've seen in every big city in Canada.
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Post by "The Freq" on Aug 14, 2015 21:17:08 GMT -5
Well well well.. The Queenstown Association escapes extinction. Apparently there are some that admire the downtown area looking ratty and empty. Those that chose this wonderful look of vacancy will have to live with their vote. To most of us, it doesn't affect us in the least because the simple fact is....the lack of interesting shops on Queen street left us years ago and there is no reason for us to venture there. If you like bars, banks and corporate buildings that you have no clue what their purpose is, then you're going to feel warm and fuzzy inside because that's what's on Queen Street. As for the concerts, again, it means nothing to me because the music for the most part that has been showcased for years is not my taste or most people's taste. Of course no one listens to we "other" musicians in town in what we'd like to hear. They just shove this crap down our throats while chewing on local businesses money. So really, I see much of the same old same old happening on Queen Street. There is no word if they dumped the personnel that make up the Queenstown Association and no word if anyone new will be involved but being that they almost killed the damn thing with "lack of creativity" for Queen Street, I do hope we get fresh blood involved.
So what's the outlook? Well let's see. The QTA will still take a fee. Whether they lower this fee remains to be seen. Truth is, they didn't do much to add spark to Queen Street for the past 2 decades so if they take less or keep it the same, what will change? I predict.......NOTHING will change. ;-) If you think Ruscio has given up... think again. He's the loser in this because of the size of his property. Nothing really benefits him so I see why he started the petition. Personally, I didn't take sides but I do know I've not liked the way Queen Street has been the past 10 years. As a kid, I loved going shopping with my mom or friends on Queen Street. They had movie theatres, stuff for kids, you name it, they had it. Most gone now. For me, the music stores and Algoma Bicycles are the only things that interests me. And really only Northland Music. The other music stores have "nothing" except lessons. I think the members of the Queenstown Association are probably in a little room somewhere having a good old egotistical chuckle knowing that they get to continue sucking money out of small businesses on Queen and spending it... somewhere. We never really found out where the money goes. Judging from some of the comments I've heard from members, I'm sure this is the case. The little club or clique as some are calling it, can start breathing again for maybe another year and then I'm sure their heads will once again be put on the chopping block. You can bet on it. ;-)
So once again, you won't see businesses rushing to open on Queen street knowing that the Queenstown Association gets their monthly or yearly cut for doing pretty much nothing. I had a friend who just returned from overseas and he was showing me photos of some of the downtown areas there. It would make your head spin. Our downtown area looks like a wasteland in comparison. The buildings there are painted in bright colours.. the signs are so creative, there is music at every block, there are great food places everywhere. There are places that sell custom clothing and trinkets like jewelry, figurines and movie memorabilia. None of the shops look abandoned. The sidewalks are covered with canopies that run off the buildings so you can shop in the rain. They also close off one lane of traffic to have street shows. Traffic still moves in one lane but it allows both to work smoothly. Will this happen here? HA! In one block near Lop Lops but the entire Queen Street? Not a chance. The clique won't allow it. The other thing that these places overseas have is shops are open late. Closing at 5pm on Queenstreet these days is a death sentence really. If you work 9 to 5 Queenstown is really redundant. You just can't shop if your own work hours of you job are the same as shop hours on Queen. That has to change. Queen Street needs an evening life between 5 and 9 pm. There's no two ways about it. Not this midnight madness crap. It needs a steady flow of new shops open until 9pm every night of the week.
That's it folks. It was fun listening to both sides of this little war. "The Clique" wins for now. I'm not sure what the vote percentage was but I'm sure some of the businesses were scared to go against the QTA. I've heard they can be ruthless pricks. haha. That's word of mouth but I can see it. It's only fair that people shit on you after they take your money right? :-) We'll see if the QTA downhill trend continues. Maybe some business owners will wake up and contribute to new ideas. I've given a few of mine. ;-)
Freq Out!
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