In Search of a City: Let ‘Em Park!
I have two wishes for 2009 to share in this blog. The second of my two wishes is for the retail cluster at Main and Third to draw lots of customers. It is the most extensive retail cluster in an otherwise lackluster downtown and will soon include 15 diverse businesses.
This area has three key blocks: South Third from Rich to Main; Main from Third to Fourth; and Fourth from Main to Rich. Within this block are three clothing stores (Cj Daniels, T Jazz and Romanoff’s Tuxedo Classics), Zettler Hardware, two salons (Chez D’or and Jacob Neal), Graham Office Supply, Hawk Galleries, Flowers on Orchard Lane, Abeto Tailors, and Grisimer Tires. The Little Palace, a wonderful “hole in the wall” is located here, and Liz Lessner is opening a new restaurant, Dirty Franks.
Outbound commuters provide a huge untapped consumer market for this area. Unfortunately, on-street parking is prohibited during rush hour. This problem is a fatal one for retail and brings me to the first of my two wishes: that the City eliminate its ban on rush-hour parking so retailers have a fighting chance to succeed.
December 30th, 2008 at 11:00 am
I’d love to see Main Street get a two-way conversion similar to Gay Street, all the way from the Riverfront to 71. Give these small business owners a pedestrian-friendly area to help them thrive.
December 30th, 2008 at 11:18 am
Thanks, Cleve, for the shout to our little strip. Dirty Frank’s Hot Dogs is running behind schedule for a number of reasons related to construction but we are working hard to get hot dogs to the Red Brick District as soon as humanly possible! We are really pushing for a January opening, and yes, we hope to see the rush hour ban get lifted. Mary Ellen O’Shaugnessy’s office helped us lift a similar ban on High Street in the Short North, I hope we can do the same downtown.
December 30th, 2008 at 11:27 am
I agree – Let ‘Em Park, but let me build on your wish. Encourage walking & biking as well. Convert Main, Rich, 3rd & 4th to two-way streets, add bicycle parking adjacent to the above named businesses, improve bus stops on Rich & Main. Improve pedestrian route from City Center garage, a now under-utilized parking resource in downtown located only one to two blocks from Main/Third Cluster.
I know, $-$-$, but the long-term ROI for downtown & its business districts will far outweigh the costs. The Weiland Park plan already “proposes” the conversion of 3rd & 4th north of downtown. Why not keep going all the way to Livingston!!
January 2nd, 2009 at 9:14 pm
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January 5th, 2009 at 2:17 pm
While we are on the parking issue, I would love to see all areas of downtown become a little more pedestrian friendly with a nod to the idea that a driver becomes a pedestrian with adequate parking. The downtown street grid is currently very efficient at evacuation of downtown workers at 5pm. A vibrant downtown is about living, staying and shopping here. The current (hopefully dying) mindset is about efficiency for vehicular traffic rather than a healthy urban core. High Street and Broad both doom you to a straight shot through the heart of the city. No turns allowed. How exactly does that service anyone with a downtown destination? I agree with the concept of high-volume feeders, but we have really neglected downtown as a place that actually serves up a reason to be here. If I need to blitz through downtown, I am adequately served by the innerbelt. Vacant streets are a real downer to the casual observer at 2pm on a Tuesday. I’m not proposing an eternal traffic jam, but rather a street grid that serves the people that use it. In other words, let’s slow down the rush so that folks might just stop to use downtown as a city. From the hodgepodge of projects discussed above, perhaps it is time for community input on a new comprehensive plan?