Downtown Belleville....The Good, The Bad & The Ugly

Enough of my cheerleader approach to downtown Belleville. Let's talk dirt.




Parking sucks.

Hours of operation sucks.

Prostitutes are down here.

The drug induced element is here.

Not enough points of interest exist.

Basically just hell down here if you listen to some people talk.

There, I think I've captured most of what people are fearful of or up in arms over when coming to the downtown issue.

So now what?

Here we sit. The gateway to some of the most beautiful area in the country. Over the Bay Bridge awaits entry to fabulous wine country, pristine beaches and unique vistas and shoppes.

All around us world class golf courses exists.

And here we sit.

From the conversations I have been privy to, people speak of downtown in embarrassed tones. Like its some dirty little secret that one should just forget about and/or ignore.

As a 'gateway' neighborhood, the core has an opportunity to be a show piece that indicates what the rest of the region has to offer. As visitors pass through, what do you suppose is their perception? What are prospective developers thinking when they drive down Front?

Is this what we want? Visitors judging and condemning Belleville as a wreck? Are we just ok to sit and let this be the commentary that goes out to the rest of the world?

Yes, issues concerning downtown do exist.

For those of you that have had the great privilege of travelling outside of this wonderful country, what has been your experience?

The first thing you may have noticed is that downtowns are everywhere. You may have also noticed that they too experience their own set of downtown issues and in some cases much greater than ours here.

I have personally visited some downtowns that make Belleville's look like Palm Beach or Beverly Hills.

In any downtown core there will always be certain people that are attracted to the urban element of life there. It's no different in Toronto, Kingston, Montreal, Hong Kong, Amsterdam, Athens or the thousands of other cities around the world.

By Belleville standards I'm an outsider. I wasn't born here and I didn't grow up or go to school here. However, I do have a strong affiliation and liking for this city. I'm not blind or ignorant to its challenges but I can see a wonderful vision for this place. I know there are scores of people out there that feel the same.

So much complaining and condemnation goes on about the downtown issue. Much talking, meetings and feasibility reports have been conducted. Are we any further ahead? Is there an opportunity to move further ahead in the future? Can't say.

What I will say is that from an 'outsider's' viewpoint, this place is worth saving. It's worth saving because we are lucky compared to other societies in the world that don't have what we have here. Lucky to have the ability to do something even when those that could don't.

Let's keep the conversation and hope alive for Downtown Belleville! It's worth it. It's where we live.

Link to Saturday's Downtown Gal's Intell article - Downtown Belleville Secrets