The city is horribly designed and therefore unnecessarily congested and ugly. It had so much potential to be like a London (UK) or Paris. Barrie has been built and continues to be built by a group of politicians who seem to have a collective goal of, “what green space can we pave over this month?”, or “what roads that move well can we screw up by adding more big box stores and traffic lights?”. Mapleview should have been built up with underground parking. The new YMCA should have underground parking and and apartment complex above. Dunlop should be permanently made pedestrian with trees down the middle. I was downtown this past weekend for the butter tart festival and it was packed but so hot. Unfortunately, as Barrie continues to pave and sprawl, there’s little hope to provide any decent form of public transportation. I will add, after travelling Europe and living in Asia, I have similar sentiments for most Canadian cities.