Coolest Street in the World
Ottawa Councillors, BIAs and the NCC should take a field trip to Montréal's rue Wellington
So many lessons. So close to home.
In Ottawa, we have a challenge with pedestrianizing streets.
We have the poor experience of Sparks Street — largely due to its high share of government buildings with little of interest at street-level.
And then we have people who have never experienced what could be. People whose frame of reference is to see pedestrianization as nothing more than a closed road.
The good news is that some of the best pedestrianization in the world can be found only two hours away.
We’re calling on all Ottawa City councillors, business improvement areas, and staff from the National Capital Commission, to take a field trip to Montréal, and rue Wellington in particular, to see first hand what pedestrianization and excellence in city building can look like.
Field trip!
Last week, the team at Parkways for People did exactly that. We took a field trip to Montréal.
La vie est Well
We spent most of our time on rue Wellington in Verdun, which Time Out Magazine has called the coolest street in the world.
The borough of Verdun is not particularly central. It’s about 5km from the city centre and off the beaten track, although easy enough to get to by car, métro or bike.
Verdun is historically one of the poorer neighbourhoods of Montréal. That’s changing as the neighbourhood attracts more creative types.
The street remains very affordable. Some upmarket cafés have moved in. As have boutiques. But Wellington still has its share of dollar stores and thrift shops.
It also has a lot of affordable places to eat. That’s really important for street life. Patios on Wellington are not just a special occasion outing, or only for the well-to-do. There are options for all income levels.
We were shown around rue Wellington by Diane Vallée of the borough of Verdun and Patrick Mainville of the local business association.
Here are some of the lessons we learned.
1. Pedestrianization is good for business
During the pedestrian season - July to September - rue Wellington gets about 19,000 daily visitors on the weekend, and 11,000 during the week. The street gets 2 million trips throughout the season.
Business vacancies don’t seem to be a big issue. We didn’t ask about the specifics, but we know that Boulevard Mont-Royal in Montréal went from a 15% vacancy rate to 6% after pedestrianizing the street.
The business association has created a pop-up shop experience, designed to allow merchants to test out the street before signing a lease. The association has a proactive outreach strategy, including using out-of-town trade shows, to introduce potential merchants to the street.
2. A partnership that works
The street belongs to the City. But the City, or more specifically the administrative Borough of Verdun, have turned to the Societé de développement commercial Wellington (the SDG, equivalent to a BIA) to bring the street to life. The SDG builds and installs the structures, organizes the special events, and even manages the music piped into the street.
As a private organization, the SDG can move nimbly and quickly. Like last year, when they were able to add a “Welcome Back Foo Fighters” to that Wellington banner, and miraculously convince the superband to return to the Verdun Auditorium (capacity: 3,650) — thirty years after lead singer Dave Grohl had last played there with Nirvana.
The City plays an active role in the success of the street. City officials (or more specifically, borough officials) are able to bring the full force of the City, and its culture department, to improve the street. Borough officials work closely to ensure alignment between the street furniture that the SDG provides and the patios established by merchants. City of Montréal teams are out on the street, running activities and events.
The two partners work together on the pedestrianized experience, including to make sure the needs of merchants are met. Removable bollards allow for deliveries before 11:30am. Garbage collection takes place on Wednesdays.
3. A place people want to be
Wellington is clearly a place that people want to be.
Locals go there to hang out. In the seating, in the swings, in the free wi-fi zones.
Same for visitors from other parts of the city, or out of town.
Montréal has run surveys of all its pedestrian streets. A common finding across all the streets is that people visit more often, stay longer and spend more money. This applies equally to rue Wellington.
One feature we really appreciated on a hot summer day was benches right in the street, with trees to provide shade. Those trees are in large planters and get stored elsewhere for the winter.
To be continued …
This post has too many pictures for one email. So keep an eye out for next week’s edition of the 613, where I’ll talk more about what we learned from rue Wellington, and some thoughts for Ottawa.