Ugly barricades surrounding construction zones on Sparks Street could become a thing of the past if the downtown shopping district’s merchants succeed in bringing colourful artwork to drab hoarding.
Les Gagne, executive director of the Sparks Street BIA, recently spoke out about his concerns over the current appearance of the street, and suggested cleaning up the ground floor hoarding where bland, grey barriers are situated, with artwork to “better animate” space along the pedestrian commercial strip.
According to a Feb. 25 CFRA report, Gagne said the street is trying to draw people back with festivals and other events, but the barricades from construction are not leaving a good impression.
“Open it to artists so that we can come and depict new stories about Sparks Street or feature some of our festivals or things that make up Sparks Street in what it is today and will be,” he told Centretown News.
The hoarding used by construction companies such as Ashcroft, which is working on a number of projects including 106-110 Sparks and the 18-storey condo development, makes the area look “disgraceful,” says Gagne.
He says he’s giving the company until April 1 to have the hoarding improved, or else BIA officials will do it themselves and send an invoice to the company, before construction begins.
Gagne says his suggestion of adding art to the construction zone “gets our art community involved, it obviously improves the look of the street and it’s a good approach that everybody benefits from.”
Another potential area for artwork would be around the Bank of Canada at 245 Sparks, where Gagne says it leaves an opportunity to create a storyboard that would enhance the location.
“Any time there is future construction on the street — which we know there’s going to be — we want it set up in a way that we can actually bring some of this animation and this artwork to life,” Gagne says.
Though artists will receive some sort of compensation, Gagne says the idea is about artists coming forward and offering to help beautify the street and bring it to life.
“We want Sparks to be a place that artists can come and do their work on the Street,” Gagne says, “It’s a great way to showcase one’s talent.”
Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson says that although the projects on Sparks Street would mainly be under NCC jurisdiction, it would be nice to have something other than grey barricades blocking constructed areas.
“Art of some type, with good taste,” is what Watson says would be nice to have. He even suggested having projects commemorating Canada’s 150th anniversary.
However, not all businesses are interested in having art on the street because the real problem is the endless construction in the area.
Avo Kabakian, owner of The Shoe Box retail shop at 173 Sparks St., says the constant redevelopment along the street means his business is down by at least 75 per cent .
“We are losing lots of money, lots of business and lots of customers,” Kabakian says.
Though he says he’s suffering financially, he says he doesn’t like the idea of having artwork come onto the street.
“No, (I don’t) agree with that,” Kabakian says. “I want the construction to get finished, but it’s going to be long.
“People, they can’t pass from my store to the other one,” says Kabakian, due to construction.
Not having a clear response as to why he does not want the artwork around, Kabakian says he does want stricter rules about how much space construction barriers can take up.
But Andrea Eyre-Carter, an employer at the Hallmark store at 183 Sparks Street, says she likes the idea of artwork, adding that the construction on the street is detrimental to the business, because nobody wants to come on the street.
“It’s a nice street even at night, with the lights, but no one experiences it,” Eyre-Carter says.
David McGee, a downtown resident and creator of Lost Ottawa, a Facebook group that posts images of what Ottawa used to look like, was recently out on Sparks taking photos. He agrees artwork would be a good idea.
“I think they should almost leave it up to the artist community to figure out what would look good,” says McGee.
Even if not everyone likes the art put in place, McGee adds, if it creates some interest and gets people to at least come down and see the work, it might create some sort of business for the street.