A new way to see the city: St. Catharines downtown receives an 'arts lift'
Katherine Gottli
Issue date: 6/9/09 Section: News
St. Catharines is in transition - though some believe the perception residents have of the city will be hard to change.
On May 22, 2009 it was announced that the federal and provincial government were joining to contribute $36 million for the construction of a new Niagara Centre for the Arts and recital hall in downtown St. Catharines, adjacent to the Marilyn I. Walker School of Performing Arts.
According to the announcement on the Brock University Web site, the investment was made in hopes of attracting more skilled workers and tourism to the region, as well as to create new jobs - an area where St. Catharines has recently had a deficit.
Five days earlier, Niagara Regional Police (NRP) was dispatched to the St. Catharines General Hospital where three men had been admitted with stab wounds. According to the press release issued by the NRP, the three men had been attending Brown Sugar Eatery on St. Paul Street in in downtown St. Catharines.
The altercation between the three men began inside the bar, but once the men were removed from the bar by security the altercation continued outside of the club when the three victims, who are said to know each other, were stabbed.
While crime may still exist in downtown, the city is taking a step in the right direction by promoting redevelopment of the area. According to Brock University Geography professor Chris Fullerton, however, the way that individuals perceive a city is a difficult thing to change.
Fullerton believes that many residents, as well as out-of-towners, view the downtown core of the city in a negative way - riddled with crime and deteriorated, vacant buildings, as well as populated by intoxicated students in the evening - yet, he assures that these concerns are not far off of the concerns of other communities.
He also adds that this perception is more than likely based on old information from residents and others who have not visited the downtown in some time.
"A city's identity - in terms of both how its own residents see it and how outsiders see it - plays a critical role in shaping people's perceptions of that place, their levels of attachment to it, and their concern for its future," Fullerton said. "And yet, it is very difficult to change this identity, considering that such a thing is formed over years and years […] People need to see changes actually happening and need to buy into the changes that are happening. That's why the construction of the Niagara Centre for the Arts, for example, will be so important to the future of the downtown."
Tisha Polocko, the General Manager of the St. Catharines Downtown Association believes that while there are changes happening, they are certainly not for the worse.
"'It is not like it used to be' is one [comment] that I do hear a lot, but I don't know if that is so bad," she said. "The downtown will never been the 'way it was'.Times have changed, shopping has changed and people come downtown for different reasons now than they did in the "good old days" when you only had the downtown to draw from for just about everything."
The changes to the downtown core are in effort to develop the area as an "arts hub" for the community, which would be a drastic change from the "manufacturing town" image that the city once had.
To echo Jack Lightstone's comments when expressing his praise to the federal and provincial government's donation, it will be incredible to see how out community will benefit when we all work together.
On May 22, 2009 it was announced that the federal and provincial government were joining to contribute $36 million for the construction of a new Niagara Centre for the Arts and recital hall in downtown St. Catharines, adjacent to the Marilyn I. Walker School of Performing Arts.
According to the announcement on the Brock University Web site, the investment was made in hopes of attracting more skilled workers and tourism to the region, as well as to create new jobs - an area where St. Catharines has recently had a deficit.
Five days earlier, Niagara Regional Police (NRP) was dispatched to the St. Catharines General Hospital where three men had been admitted with stab wounds. According to the press release issued by the NRP, the three men had been attending Brown Sugar Eatery on St. Paul Street in in downtown St. Catharines.
The altercation between the three men began inside the bar, but once the men were removed from the bar by security the altercation continued outside of the club when the three victims, who are said to know each other, were stabbed.
While crime may still exist in downtown, the city is taking a step in the right direction by promoting redevelopment of the area. According to Brock University Geography professor Chris Fullerton, however, the way that individuals perceive a city is a difficult thing to change.
Fullerton believes that many residents, as well as out-of-towners, view the downtown core of the city in a negative way - riddled with crime and deteriorated, vacant buildings, as well as populated by intoxicated students in the evening - yet, he assures that these concerns are not far off of the concerns of other communities.
He also adds that this perception is more than likely based on old information from residents and others who have not visited the downtown in some time.
"A city's identity - in terms of both how its own residents see it and how outsiders see it - plays a critical role in shaping people's perceptions of that place, their levels of attachment to it, and their concern for its future," Fullerton said. "And yet, it is very difficult to change this identity, considering that such a thing is formed over years and years […] People need to see changes actually happening and need to buy into the changes that are happening. That's why the construction of the Niagara Centre for the Arts, for example, will be so important to the future of the downtown."
Tisha Polocko, the General Manager of the St. Catharines Downtown Association believes that while there are changes happening, they are certainly not for the worse.
"'It is not like it used to be' is one [comment] that I do hear a lot, but I don't know if that is so bad," she said. "The downtown will never been the 'way it was'.Times have changed, shopping has changed and people come downtown for different reasons now than they did in the "good old days" when you only had the downtown to draw from for just about everything."
The changes to the downtown core are in effort to develop the area as an "arts hub" for the community, which would be a drastic change from the "manufacturing town" image that the city once had.
To echo Jack Lightstone's comments when expressing his praise to the federal and provincial government's donation, it will be incredible to see how out community will benefit when we all work together.
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