Small festivals, food vendors part of mayor’s vision for pedestrian street in downtown Mississauga

If Mississauga’s mayor has her way, there will soon be much more for people to do when they walk from city hall across the street to the Living Arts Centre just a few steps to the north in the downtown core.

Mayor Carolyn Parrish told INsauga.com in a recent interview she’d like to eliminate two of the four driving lanes on Princess Royal Drive and then turn the gained space closest to the LAC into a pedestrian street filled with people-centric activities — particularly during the warmer months.

She noted the traffic on that small stretch of Princess Royal Drive, between Living Arts Drive to the west and Duke of York Boulevard to the east, is “non-existent,” so why not turn part of the street into something fun for residents of and visitors to Canada’s seventh-largest city.

“That way, in the summer, you can close it right down like Sparks Street (in Ottawa) and put food vendors (and other activities) there,” the mayor said.

Sparks Street is a pedestrian mall — or street — in the nation’s capital created in 1967, making it the earliest such street/mall in Canada. Prior to its conversion, it was a main street that saw large volumes of vehicle traffic.

Parrish’s vision for the area also extends a half-block or so to the west, where Community Common Park is situated on the northwest corner of Princess Royal Drive and Living Arts Drive.

Mayor Carolyn Parrish has her eye on this part of Community Common Park, just steps west of city hall and the Living Arts Centre. She says getting rid of the small hill would turn the area into a good spot for small festivals and other activities.

She wants to get rid of a small grassy hill on the corner, “take it right down and put a small stage there and have small events there … and during the week, kids can play soccer there.”

The mayor said a transformed park area, which already offers easy access to public washrooms, would be a perfect spot for small festivals that could attract 1,000 to 1,500 visitors.

Creating a pedestrian mall-type area between city hall and the LAC, the city’s largest performing arts venue, is one part of Parrish’s vision for a revitalized City Centre.

Several additional and larger-scale projects the mayor hopes will come to fruition sooner rather than later are also crucial parts of her plan to bring what she says is a badly needed vibrancy to the downtown core.

Dozens of highrises, both condos and offices, tower over Square One, the Mississauga Civic Centre (city hall), Hazel McCallion Central Library, numerous restaurants and the LAC.

Map shows area of Mississauga’s downtown core that includes the Living Arts Centre and city hall. The city’s mayor has visions to revitalize the area.

But something important is missing, Parrish observed earlier as she spoke to INsauga.com about her dream to “fix the downtown” by making it a more welcoming destination.

“The downtown is boring. We have nothing exciting going on here until the festivals start (in spring and summer),” she said last fall. “The City Centre has languished for a very long time; nothing’s happened here.”

Kick-starting a downtown transformation will be a new hotel and convention centre that’ll rise up on three acres of land that wrap around the LAC.

The City of Mississauga is seeking a partner to help it “reimagine the Living Arts Centre and its surrounding lands.” The plan is to redevelop the city’s largest performing arts and culture facility “into a multi-functional hub for the arts, culture, tourism, business and events.”

The city is also moving forward with plans to add some 560 new seats to the Main Auditorium in the Living Arts Centre in an effort to bring bigger and better acts to downtown Mississauga.

As she looks to spearhead a revitalization of the downtown area, Parrish also envisions, among other major projects, a 7,500-seat soccer stadium — at an estimated cost of $32 million — and an urban school that would house kindergarten-to-Grade 8 students in the not-so-distant future.