As part of the Re-Imagine Downtown Vancouver initiative, we interviewed a cross-section of people who share a passion for our city’s downtown to feature in our inspiration video.
Reviewing the interview transcripts, we realized that we had recorded a lot of great ideas and stories that didn’t make it into the final cut of the video. To ensure that these ideas and stories didn’t get lost, we will be sharing them with you in a series of posts.
Here is our interview with Erin O’Melinn, the executive director at Hub Cycling.
What does downtown Vancouver mean to you?
Downtown Vancouver is the coming together of people and ideas and experiences to create a buzz. Downtown Vancouver is start-up business’s and parades and running into people you know. Downtown Vancouver is getting here safely and comfortably in whatever mode you want, and there’s a reason for everyone to come and join that buzz.
Downtown Vancouver is getting here safely and comfortably in whatever mode you want.
What excites you about the future of downtown Vancouver?
I’m excited about downtown Vancouver’s future as more of a people place, with more people on foot and on bike coming together to experience the shops as well as each other. I am also excited to see things like public bike share, and public facilities for end of trip where you can shower and leave things and come back at the end of the day and know that they’re there. I’m excited for bigger plazas and places where people can get to know one another.
How do you think the downtown Vancouver experience should look, taste and feel in the future?
Downtown Vancouver should look interesting, with cool architecture, interesting public art and great people watching. It should have diverse types of foods; from restaurants, to food trucks, to picnics happening in parks. The future of downtown Vancouver should be inviting and stimulating, and easy to get here on bike, on foot, on transit. There should be things to be apart of once you get here.