OVERSOLD & UNDERDELIVERED - COMMERCIAL STREET REALITY

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REIMAGINE NANAIMO — The Pitch, The Promise, The Reality

A routine utility-and-surface job dressed up as “transformation.” The glossy renderings sold one thing; the poured concrete delivered another.

STOP ME IF YOU’VE HEARD THIS ONE BEFORE. A pack of high-energy consultants blows into town with million-dollar graphics and a big idea: “Reimagine Nanaimo.” Bureaucrats lap it up, council signs the cheque, and the machine roars to life—stoked by fresh taxpayer dollars.

Commercial Street rendering from the City's pitch materials

The pretty pitch picture.

Commercial Street one year later, showing pale concrete and standard on-street parking

The one-year-later reality.

What We Were Sold vs. What We Got

  • Scope sold: “Transformational” downtown streetscape.
  • Scope delivered: Replace underground utilities; pour pale concrete roadway and sidewalks; add a bit of brick and furniture. Street width and on-street parking unchanged.
  • Process: Years of “engagement,” renderings, and consultant time for a job any competent civil crew could design and build quickly.
  • Outcome: A near-white surface that already shows oil, grime, and seagull fallout—predictable maintenance headaches baked in.

Commercial Street Delays: The Planter Problem

After killing commerce on Commercial Street for 12 months, it’s baffling that something as simple as the planters is still holding things up. We’re talking basic boxes with irrigation, soil, and plants—work that should be turnkey. Why the delay? Is a subtrade waiting on payment, or is there scope creep no one wants to admit?

The Napkin Test: Strip away the theatre and you’re left with a simple brief: remove old surface, renew water/sewer, pour new surface, reinstall furniture. That’s not a four-year, multi-million-dollar epic.

Presentation should never outrun performance. If the City wants trust, deliver results that match the pitch—and stop burning years and millions on cosmetic rebrands of routine capital work.
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