I've returned to Winnipeg for a week and during my stay there is a particular restaurant that I would very much like to visit: The Pizzeria Gusto. It only opened a year or so ago, but it has quickly become one of Winnipeg's most popular restaurants, offering the best pizza I have ever had.
Aside from the food, this small restaurant is located on Academy Road, only a few blocks away from our home. Academy Road is a main passageway of the city and has amazing potential for small commercial development. Unfortunately, it is notorious for unsuccessful, poorly organized businesses setting up shop. Quite simply, no one really frequents Academy Road.
A number of different places have set up shop in the past few years that have made the road something more than a vehicular thoroughfare and Pizzeria Gusto is a wonderful addition. Conveniently, a small plot of land exists right beside the restaurant that is currently tended to as a public lawn and the Gusto has applied to place a patio on this property.
It's a terrific idea and would certainly liven up the area a bit. But a few local residents on the adjacent street are less than enthused and have appealed the patio, citing that it would disturb the peace by playing loud music, creating a raucous and would eventually lead to the road turning into the next Corydon Avenue (Corydon is a highly commercialized Winnipeg street full of nightclubs and rarely quiets down until the wee hours of the morning).
The restaurant has responded by claiming the patio would be small, play soft music and would close by 11:00 pm. In addition, the restaurant is fairly pricey, does not serve beer and isn't open on Sundays.
These residents are stuck. They're stuck in the traditional workings of the neighbourhood that is all too common throughout the developed world, where the regions of work, live and play are all distinctly separated and require a vehicle to get from one to another. When I grew up in Winnipeg, we were required to drive to go out for food, go to the movies and most other things because none of these were within walking (or even biking) distance. Only recently has Academy Road put in a decent pub, which somehow struggles on a strip located in one of Winnipeg's most dense and rich neighbourhoods.
Mainstream urban planning should consider the integration of residential and commercial areas to make our neighbourhoods and cities more sociable, less car-dependent, more livable and above all, more enjoyable. Refusing to allow something like Pizzeria Gusto to help in such a transformation is a major step in the wrong direction.
Also, if you're ever in Winnipeg, I highly recommend going to the Pizzeria Gusto.
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