A wish-list of improvements has been released by the city for Stephen Avenue, Olympic Plaza and MacLeod Trail.
City council is talking about making downtown Calgary more attractive, especially after business hours when people drift away and tend not to return.
Council has 10 recommendations to improve the downtown and attract more people.
The first is an ambitious plan to extend the pedestrian-friendly zone on Stephen Avenue all the way to 11th Street S.W. at Mewata Armouries and Shaw Millennium Park. It would also extend east of city hall to Fort Calgary near Inglewood.
A second idea is to turn the downtown portion of MacLeod Trail into a ceremonial boulevard similar to Buckingham Palace Mall in London or the Champs Elysees in Paris. It would become a walking and cycling corridor from the Bow River to the Elbow River.
Both of these ideas include encouraging more pedestrian-friendly businesses and more street furniture for people to stop and enjoy the walk.
Central to the improvements is a revamping of Olympic Plaza, which has not had a major facelift since it was built for the 1988 Olympics. The city aims to turn it into the cultural heart of the city.
