Featured Guest
You’ll find this guest among our growing roll of Urban Champions.
Thierry Lindor
Co-founder, Happly.Ai
Sadhu Aufochs Johnston
Former City Manager of Vancouver
Puneeta McBryan
Executive Director, Edmonton Downtown Business Association
What are local governments and downtown business associations doing to recover, and what support and policy changes are needed to support them? How can we rethink land-uses, building configurations, public space, ground floor retail, zoning rules and taxes to strengthen our downtowns?
Full Panel Transcript
Note to readers: This video session was transcribed using auto-transcribing software. Manual editing was undertaken in an effort to improve readability and clarity. Questions or concerns with the transcription can be directed to events@canurb.org with “transcription” in the subject line.
Full Audience Chatroom Transcript
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From Canadian Urban Institute: You can find transcripts and recordings of today’s and all our webinars at https://canurb.org/citytalk
Canadian Urban Institute:COMING UP: Local Government Approaches to Downtown Recovery (12:30 – 1:15pm ET) with Tobias Novogrodsky, Director, Business Growth Services Economic Development & Culture, City of Toronto; Christopher Glaisek, Chief Planning and Design Officer, Waterfront Toronto; Josh Neubauer, Principal, Urban Strategies; Puneeta McBryan, Executive Director, Edmonton Downtown Business Association; Thom Mahler, Director, Downtown Strategy, City of Calgary; Tom Girvan, Manager, Strategic Investment, City of Edmonton and Sadhu Johnston, former City Manager, City of Vancouver This Summit would have not been possible without the incredible support of our partners and sponsors. Please visit www.canurb.org/citysummit for the full list of sponsors. 00:54:02 Mark van Elsberg: And as automobile drivers don’t pay their fair share to maintain roads, we need the same for all modes. And should be considered the same as pavement, funded the same way. 00:54:17 Annie MacInnis: Hello from Kensington Calgary. Forgot to sign in but listening avidly! 00:54:55 Lisa Chong: hello Annie! Joining from Calgary also 00:56:46 Maria Bravo: Bonjour from Montréal! 00:56:59 Canadian Urban Institute: Sadhu was the City Manager at the City of Vancouver between 2016 and 2021. During his tenure, he supported Council in making Vancouver an even more vibrant and sustainable community. In his role, Sadhu has helped to solve a long-standing challenge with the purchase of the Arbutus Greenway, thereby creating an 11 km greenway across the city. He has received support from Council to replace the aged viaducts accessing Downtown with a road network and revitalized neighborhood. Prior to serving in this role, Sadhu served for seven years as the deputy city manager, where he helped to oversee the development and implementation of Vancouver’s Greenest City Action Plan, which builds off of Vancouver’s successes in building a green city. Vancouver’s greenhouse gas emissions are currently 6% below 1990 levels despite a growth in population of 30% and an increase in jobs of over 20%. 00:57:16 Canadian Urban Institute: Josh Neubauer is an urban planner with experience with complex planning and infrastructure projects in Canada, the US, and in the UK. Development strategies and master planning are a core part of Josh’s work. He is currently the project manager for the master planning and municipal approvals for the Stelco employment site in Hamilton, Ontario, and is the project manager on major projects in the GTA including the 2280 Dundas West mixed use development in Toronto and several policy and development approvals for Oxford Properties’ lands in Downtown Mississauga. 00:57:20 Cherie Klassen: Edmonton BIAs represent! Yay Puneeta! 00:57:31 Canadian Urban Institute: Thom Mahler is the Manager of Urban Initiatives with the City of Calgary where he is responsible for leading teams and projects in strategic growth areas of the City. He is also currently serving as the Program Lead for the City’s new Downtown Strategy in collaboration with Calgary Economic Development, the Calgary Municipal Land Corporation and Downtown Business Improvement Areas. Thom has over 30 years of experience in city planning and has worked in the areas of development review, urban design, policy planning and economic development. In addition to his 15 years of experience with the City of Calgary, he has also practiced in Southwestern Ontario and the Lower Mainland of British Columbia. He holds a Master of Urban and Regional Planning degree from Queen’s University and a Bachelor of Arts, Honours degree in geography from the University of Manitoba. 00:57:45 Canadian Urban Institute: Chris Glaisek is the Chief Planning and Design Officer at Waterfront Toronto and is a passionate advocate for design excellence in the public realm. He is a strong promoter of sustainable city building and making great urban neighborhoods come to life. He is responsible for conceiving planning and design initiatives and managing detailed design for Waterfront Toronto projects in the 2,000-acre Designated Waterfront Area and strives to ensure high standards are achieved in development of parks and public realm, new buildings, streetscapes and infrastructure. Under Chris’s stewardship, Waterfront Toronto has received more than 60 national and international design awards and nominations for its master plans, parks, and streetscape designs. 00:57:57 Canadian Urban Institute: Puneeta McBryan is Executive Director of the Edmonton Downtown Business Association, where she is working hard to secure the ongoing and renewed vibrancy of Downtown Edmonton, having taken on the role in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic as downtowns across North America grappled with the new realities and challenges ahead. Prior to joining the EDBA, she served public and private sector clients across Alberta as a marketing & communications consultant and business strategist. A transformational leader and a connector by nature, Puneeta is working to support Edmonton’s economic recovery and transformation through innovative new initiatives & community collaborations with downtown stakeholders, the business community, and all three levels of government. 00:58:11 Canadian Urban Institute: Tom Girvan is Manager, Strategic Investment for the City of Edmonton, a role focused on the Downtown Vibrancy Strategy. As someone with a love of Edmonton’s downtown having lived and worked there for nearly a decade, one of the most exciting parts of this work is the opportunity to develop relationships with people, businesses and organizations with a vested interest in the future of downtown Edmonton. 00:58:28 Ralph Cipolla: Ralph cipolla joining from the sunshine city Orillia Ontario…great presentations thank you 01:00:06 Judith Cox: Hi Ralph, lots of fabulous information !! 01:00:08 Meg Marshall: CafeTO is a wonderful program! And is getting better every year! 01:00:19 Meg Marshall: I helped 4 neighbrouhoods set theirs up 01:00:23 Terry Guiel: Will AGCO continue to be flexible with patio’s? 01:00:42 Meg Marshall: We have provided a lot of feedback to ensure it gets better every year :0 01:00:45 Meg Marshall: