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Death of Clubland (aka: Is Adam Vaughan trying to kill the Club District?)

I was at the Scotiabank Theatre on Monday night to see a movie, and I was very surprised to see a long lineup for a club across the street containing many ladies in tiny skirts freezing their luscious legs off. Friday and Saturday yes, but on a Monday??
 
MetroMan said:
I've been getting increasingly more work in the new club district -- King West -- so I haven't been to the Entertainment District at night in almost 2 months. Last night I had a gig there and I couldn't believe how visibly reduced pedestrian traffic was after 2am.

Police presence was also noticeably smaller on Richmond and larger on King West.

Several new clubs have opened on King and existing pubs and restaurants are catering more to the club/bar crowd that has been pushed West.

The only thing Vaughan has accomplished was to give Pantalone his property and business tax gold mine.
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Could the reduced pedestrian activity be due to the fact it's not summer anymore?
 
It's not just Vaughan. This is a general problem in the downtown.

The city is moving to cool development in another downtown strip – this time West Queen West, which in the space of a few years went from seedy to smoking, raising the hackles and disturbing the sleep of area residents in the process.

Adam Giambrone, the local city councillor, said restrictions virtually identical to those placed on Ossington Avenue last month will address residents' concerns by curbing the proliferation of rowdy bars and restaurants while ensuring a mix of more desirable establishments on the narrow strip – the four blocks between Dovercourt Road and Gladstone Avenue that fall within his ward.
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http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news...fends-move-to-quiet-queen-west/article1411128


The club district should be combined with the red light district, and restricted to an area where there are no residents, if we can find one in Toronto now with the proliferation of condos. People have a right to live in the centre of the city without excessive noise, let alone the more unsavoury activities such as public urination, and hard drug dealing.
 
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This is new news to me.
Keep them out of my city,” Councillor Adam Vaughan declared in 2008, ridiculously suggesting that because the show has hunting equipment on display it encourages a gun culture. “I don’t want them anywhere near here.”

The leftists were successful in blocking it from the CNE grounds but were less than successful in forcing it out of the city as Vaughan had hope for. In fact, not only is the show still here, starting today, it will be right downtown at the province-owned Toronto Convention Centre, where this is no such silly ban. And the irony for Vaughan is not only is the show not out of the city but it is now smack, dab in the centre of his Trinity-Spadina ward.

More............http://www.torontosun.com/news/columnists/2010/03/16/13254876.html
 
unsavoury activities such as public urination, and hard drug dealing.
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Never saw drug dealing when I went to the clubs, but yes, public urination was a huge problem. I agree that residents should not have to put up with that......but then again, no one told them to move into a condo next to a club! This is not a Soviet command economy, people choose to live where they want to. It's the height of arrogance to move to a condo advertised as "in the heart of the Entertainment District" and then complain about the entertainment!
 
gristle said:
You're wrong.

Whether you like him or not, Vaughan has put plenty of emphasis on trying to enlarge the range of businesses and residences in the area. But councillors don't develop, they work with developers on trying to enable the best additions being proposed in a given neighbourhood. Councillors also listen to constituents who live in the area.



As I've pointed out, city councillors can't summarily close a club. The venue has to be a persistent problem before it gets closed. While the AGCO may act quickly on violations, the MLS is generally asleep at the wheel when it comes to clubs and enforcing city by-laws.

As for any balance, I guess you probably don't care that the Hotel Le Germain was losing customers due to the noise coming from a club across the street? Should that business suffer because of the excesses of another?

The neighbourhood is changing, and the number of clubs will be reduced. But it is also quite likely that some well-run venues will remain open.
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I have absolutely no problem with bringing a greater diversity of land uses and establishments to this area. The problem I (and I'm sure others) have with Vaughn is that this is a personal battle. He has made numerous comments about how he doesn't like clubs and doesn't agree with them as a form of entertainment. On top of that hes' made numerous comments stereotyping the thousands of patrons who use these clubs. Much of what he wants to do makes sense, but unfortunately he has too much of a personal bias for me to trust his judgement.
 
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Well, he's been pretty successful in what he set out to do. When he took over as Councillor, Richmond and Peter was a bustling commercial crossroads with people coming from all over the GTA and beyond to spend money here. Today, all the clubs on this intersection are either closed or closing and an overpriced homeless shelter is opening in its place. The remaining clubs in the area are having a hard time keeping their doors open because the new destination is now King West.
 
MetroMan said:
When he took over as Councillor, Richmond and Peter was a bustling commercial crossroads with people coming from all over the GTA and beyond to spend money here.
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Yeah, but what kinds of people?

jersey-shore-1228jpg-014069a13b34befb_large.jpg
 
Hey, I don't discriminate who spends money there, as long as they have a wallet attached. The kind of people you depicted above usually save up all their pennies for their nightlife persona. Those white shoes don't come cheap and buying a hottie enough drinks to get her to go home with you costs just about as much.. ok maybe not if she looks like Snookie.
 
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