Visit to Portland
October 6, 2006
Following my recent entry I am reporting back on a recent visit to Portland and my presentation to the Waterfront Center annual conference. The title of the conference was Celebrating 20 years of Excellence on The Waterfront, and along with a number of other cities, Winnipeg was recognized at the gala dinner event for the two awards it has received from the Waterfront Center over the years – they are The Forks Renewal (stage one), and Assiniboine Riverwalk. The Forks Renewal award focused on The Forks Plaza designed by Cohlmeyer Architects, and the Assiniboine Riverwalk designed by Scatliff & Associates. I was pleased to be in the company of cities like New York, Vancouver and Boston, as well as smaller centers like Bellingham and Duluth. It was clear to me that our project designers can compete with the best in the world and we should be very proud of the contribution they make to our city. (Along with the Waterfront Center awards we have also received design awards for the Prairie Garden, Cohlmeyer Architects, Oodenna Celebration Circle, Hilderman Thomas Frank Cram, and our most recent architectural award for Webbsite condo project on Webb Place, again Cohlmeyer Architects.
It was clear to me that there is great design and architectural work taking place on waterfronts throughout the world and that we can be very proud of what has been accomplished in our community. The Forks is seen by many of the Canadians who attended the conference (Toronto, Halifax, and Vancouver) as an example of excellence in waterfront development. I was approached by a number of our Canadian colleagues who congratulated me on the great work taking place, with the folks from the Port of Montreal wanting more information on the ‘how-to’ of what we have accomplished.
My presentation was well attended by people from across USA and Canada as I told The Forks story as part of a panel discussion under the heading Outmoded Waterfronts Reborn. There was great discussion with a variety of questions to the panelists following our presentations.
The whole experience reinforced my belief that good design and thoughtful planning is essential in the revitalization business.
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