I spent a couple of afternoons in James Bay looking around. From my first impressions what I saw.
The 60s and 70s were not kind to the area, not only are the buildings tall, they are ugly and do not connect to the street level.
A lot of people are out and walking, much more so than most other neighbourhoods in the city.
The neighbourhood is isolated from the rest of the city - that is obvious - but it is also isolated from the water. On the north side James Bay is hemmed in by hotels, on the west side by Ogden Point and on the south side by Dallas road and the seawall. The neighbourhood focuses people into the centre and not towards the water.
There is a reasonable amount of local shopping for the basics, but for many things you would have to go further afield. There is no place shop for clothes, there is really not enough retail to allow people to stay within walking distance.
James Bay also has no local library, though the downtown Victoria branch is not that far.
For school, as soon as kids are in grade six they have to travel 3km to get to Central Middle School and in grade nine close to 4 km to get to Vic High. This is a reflection of the fact that James Bay is separated from the rest of the city.
For seniors there do seem to the services and support people need in the neighbourhood.
I am reading through some of the online resources for the neighbourhood. There is a good discussion at Vibrant Victoria and the James Bay Beacon is also a good online source
2 comments:
I also find it to be rather sleepy. Nothing happening after 7pm. Beautiful though, plus Emily Carr's house!
Describing James Bay as "cut off" from the ocean, particularly on the Dallas Road side is more than a stretch. I mean, it's a park, with stairs to the beaches and whatnot. Dallas Road itself is hardly the Gardiner Expressway.
Also, in terms of services, based on the criteria of things like retail shopping, only downtown and Oak Bay meet the grade. And it is not exactly debilitating. As someone who works from home, I find that I leave the neighborhood about once every couple weeks, usually for a business meeting. If James Bay had less stuff, I would be forced to get out more!
The presence of downtown a short walk away also cannot be under-sold. A weekend shopping trip is a 10 minute stroll.
Your previous post included a comment from Yule Heibel, who did a good job pointing out the truly bad developments. The high-rises are ugly, but their density serves a purpose. It's the low-rise blocks and their huge surface lots that are a real blot on the street scapes. I wonder what is going to happen to them as they get more and more decrepit over time. Perhaps James Bay will return to its slum-of-Victoria roots.
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