On June 5th, the Burnaby Newsleader printed an article asking readers for their ideas to make Burnaby a better place. Many readers responded with a variety of ideas that ranged from making the city more hospitable for the homeless to creating pedestrian-only corridors linking various neighbourhoods. Both the article and the resulting responses from readers got me thinking about the area that is the subject of this blog.
The improvement of Brentwood Town Centre needs to involve a neighbourhood-focused approach that considers, among many things, the following elements:
- appealing sidewalks that encourage walking to amenities within the area as well as to amenities located outside the area
- cycling-friendly design of roads where cyclists can feel safe, and cycling-friendly design of sidewalks where bicycles can be conveniently locked
- diversity of street-level businesses that brings out locals and provide an entertainment destination for those living outside the area
- better-designed, smaller parks dispersed throughout the area to serve locals and that have facilities to accommodate the playing of a
variety of different sports including basketball, ball and inline hockey, lacrosse and soccer
- traffic calming measures and enforced speed limits on residential side-streets to discourage speeding by non-locals that are just speeding through
- local community police "box" staffed 24 hours by foot patrol or bicycle police officers that are accessible to the public to create a rapport with the community.
Over the next several posts, I will go into details about how such elements can be brought into the area and their potential impacts.
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