BCTed said:
I don't think that OVG is in the business of purchasing shopping malls.
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I wouldn't think they would buy it to run it as a mall.

They could gut it and turn it into another wing of the convention centre. Maybe build extra floors.

Or redevelop the roof area into a modern, first class outdoor space associated with the arena like to see with new arenas like Edmontons.
 
Jackson Square will not be bought. It basically can’t be. Yale owns the Jackson Square complex, but the city owns the land. That’s part of why Yale hasn’t put much effort into it. But If the city ever ceded the asset, it’s fiscal situation would probably go down the drain overnight.

You could maybe take over Yale’s lease, but without an insane offer, they’re also stubborn enough to hold onto it.
 
Sunnyside said:
Jackson Square will not be bought. It basically can’t be. Yale owns the Jackson Square complex, but the city owns the land. That’s part of why Yale hasn’t put much effort into it. But If the city ever ceded the asset, it’s fiscal situation would probably go down the drain overnight.

You could maybe take over Yale’s lease, but without an insane offer, they’re also stubborn enough to hold onto it.
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I'm not so sure.

The city has clearly demonstrated it's willing to sell land if the buyer will invest in the downtown. They did this with the parking garage and a few other properties in exchange for the arena renovation.

I'm also not sure Jackson Square is any sort of crown jewel in Yales portfolio it would be unwilling to part with.

Whether OVG / HUPEG takes over the lease or outright buys the land, I don't see this as some sort of impossible deal.

Unless Yale sees the value of Jackson Square increasing once York is redeveloped, even then, there's been lots of new developments close to JS over the last 15 years and Yale hasn't been compelled to do much in the way of investing in JS. Not sure a couple more residential apartments on York will tip the scales.
 
New sign:
1000045988.jpg
 
I walked a lap by myself around the arena yesterday. And it was really hard to accept the crazy number of crackheads everywhere in the area (not just on York). I actually felt a bit uncomfortable on the Jackson Square rooftop, where a few different groups were hanging out. I got stuck in that narrow passage at the south side of the arena and had to pass by a crazy on the oncoming side who was looking straight at me and mimicking vomiting.

I really want this arena and city to succeed. And anyone who is in denial about there being a problem is kidding themselves. Eff this! I don't know how it has come to this, but there has to be some way of cleaning this up.
 
BCTed said:
I walked a lap by myself around the arena yesterday. And it was really hard to accept the crazy number of crackheads everywhere in the area (not just on York). I actually felt a bit uncomfortable on the Jackson Square rooftop, where a few different groups were hanging out. I got stuck in that narrow passage at the south side of the arena and had to pass by a crazy on the oncoming side who was looking straight at me and mimicking vomiting.

I really want this arena and city to succeed. And anyone who is in denial about there being a problem is kidding themselves. Eff this! I don't know how it has come to this, but there has to be some way of cleaning this up.
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Agree 100%

I will say though that I expect on event nights there will be a good police / security presence.

I also think that "dilution is the solution" to a degree. Meaning when 10k non-crackheads show up for an event, it sorta disperses the crackheads.

There's also a safety in numbers aspect as the crowds tend to head to the arena at the same time, so most people will be walking with a large group.
 
Yorken Bay said:
Agree 100%

I will say though that I expect on event nights there will be a good police / security presence.

I also think that "dilution is the solution" to a degree. Meaning when 10k non-crackheads show up for an event, it sorta disperses the crackheads.

There's also a safety in numbers aspect as the crowds tend to head to the arena at the same time, so most people will be walking with a large group.
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All true.

I still would like to be able to walk around on non-event days without feeling uncomfortable. As things stand right now, the north side of York and the west side of Park are absolute no-go zones. And the Jackson Square rooftop is pretty close to being that. And other areas are close too.

Boooooo!
 
Agreed. And it shouldn't be up to private security to do the jobs that the City should be doing. Yet that's exactly what we have today - private security at SJM, Jackson, the transit terminal. And the places without private security get taken over. Just to the left of the photo I posted this morning was a small encampment of 4-6 people in the parking lot of the shawarma place. There were tents behind me at SJM. Garbage everywhere from people digging through trash cans and dumpsters looking for things.
 
I don’t think 100 cops patrolling the Philpott and Salvation Army is a good use of time or resources. All It would do is add friction with the law, when It’s the social disorder here, not rampant criminality, that we need out of the commons.

It isn’t a moral quandry either; until someone does something illegal, you aren’t arresting them. So I have a hard time seeing 4 blocks filled with cops closely watching increasingly-irate homeless people being more inviting.

What everybody wants is to move these resources elsewhere. That must be a cheaper option in the long run, so somebody please just put up the money.
 
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