Is Ottawa the City that Fun Forgot?

[Urbanarchit]

Don't quite get this sentiment. It sounds a lot like the old "the place is so crowded, no one goes anymore". The Market is crowded exactly because it is interesting and pleasant to walk through.

Are you sure about that? Are you sure that it's full of locals or perhaps mostly by tourists? I find that off-seasons the ByWard Market is sparsely populated. On Tuesday last week I went with a friend to a restaurant on Dalhousie and at around 15h30 we were walking from Rideau to York through the Market on a day that was sunny and not too cold, and there were few people there (a nice day and no one was there).

If it's interesting and pleasant to walk through, I'd expect more locals would be out and about there, but sadly off-season the Market is quite empty save for a few people walking around.

I don't disagree with your idea for more pedestrianization, but it's not like the whole place needs to be drastically changed. The proof is in its popularity. On one hand we are complaining about the lack of energy and buzz in the city, and in the next breath we are saying an area that clearly has energy and buzz is too crowded.

Who says the Market is too crowded? I find that any buzz there is because of the tourists.

No and no. There is pretty much as a big concentration of good restaurants as you will find anywhere, as well as a tonne of great patios, great sports bars etc. Locals make up the vast majority of people visiting.

I disagree. Many of those restaurants are owned by the same people have offer crap that duped tourists eat because they don't know any better. There are still some good restaurants, but there are few that are actually worthwhile. If someone were to ask me about restaurants to go to in Ottawa, I don't point them to the ByWard Market.

Vendor stalls remind you of developing countries? They remind me of farmers' markets.

What markets do you know of that stay open later than that? You have to be a bit realistic about the hours people are likely to shop at markets. And in any event, the Market is working on changing that.

I'm not talking just about the vendor stalls, nor was I talking about them not staying open late. The stores beside the malls closed at around 6 on a weekday during the summer, and the garage doors and not-well maintained buildings coupled with the dirty stalls and cars parked willy-nilly along them looked right out of a slum. A closed Parkdale Market looked much more pleasant than what I saw.

A bit drastic I would say. I've never heard this sentiment expressed, either by locals or visitors that I'm showing around town. On the other hand, I've heard countless positive comments on that area of the city.

Before demanding drastic change, I think we have to take an honest look at the positives we have to work with.

I don't see too many positives in the market, to be honest. All that it is is car-filled, full of some old buildings and either ugly/ tacky others or vacant lots where buildings were torn down, tourist trap with few attractive things to do and many trucks, aggressive homeless people, drunk or high people.

The market only has a few gems, but most of it requires a lot of work that should happen.