Gauging interest

A group of restaurant owners in the city’s north core is proposing to turn a section of Red River Road into a one-way street.

Although still in its early stages, the proposal would make the section of Red River Road from Algoma Street to Cumberland Street into a one-way. Parking would then become angled on one side of the road and the sidewalks would be extended in order for restaurants to have patios.

The concept is similar to what happened to St. Paul Street last year.

Foundry Pub head chef Derek Lankinen, who is helping to spearhead the proposal, said they want to make the area more community friendly and have the same kind of feeling found in the Bay Street and Algoma Street area.

“We’ve seen what other larger cities have and we want that,” he said. “We think it is a good idea and we hope the community thinks it is a good idea as well. We’re not engineers and we’re not city planners. We’re cooks, chefs, bartenders, managers. We just want to know if this is something the city wants and if we can actually do it.”

He said the various restaurants will have to flesh out the idea more before heading to city council. The plan could change to have the one-way go from St. Paul to Algoma.

Lankinen suspects that the city will charge them more taxes if this plan were to move ahead.  In terms of parking downtown, he said that the nearby parkade is never full and could easily take some vehicles.

Although other restaurants appear onboard with the plan, Lankinen said they have yet to speak to the banks that are located on Red River.

“It’s still very early,” he said. “We’re just trying to gauge interest. We don’t know what all the issues are. This is not what we do for a living but we think it is a great idea. A little bit more green space isn’t going to hurt anybody.”

Red River Coun. Brian McKinnon said with an idea like this, all the businesses that could be impacted have to be spoken to.

“I think it is worth looking at,” he said. “There seems to be a real development going on particularly between Cumberland and Court Street. I don’t think that it would negatively impact a lot of traffic. There are possibilities there.”

McKinnon added they have to make sure that everyone can be accommodated if the plan were to move forward.

“There’s also the possibility that we could try it for a while,” he said. “Maybe take a month in the summer or two weeks and see how it works out. There’s lots of possibilities.”