Quote:
Originally Posted by Coldrsx
We hosted a panel event to discuss how to get more interest and from that we have 3-4 more developers interested and are now being connected to the right folks. The Quarters are within my boundary and it is a priority for me to get it moving.
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Per my comments at the open house last night (not made for the first time):
1. 96 Street needs to remain open to traffic IN BOTH DIRECTIONS all the way from Jasper Avenue to 103A Ave. That includes removing the bollards at Jasper Avenue even if that means 101A Avenue has to "dead end" at a cul-de sac or the lane to keep that intersection functional. This would also help the Hyatt Place immensely as getting to it now other than west bound on Jasper Avenue is awkward/problematic at best. If you need to limit access to Jasper, open the street and close the lane.
2. Where the street narrows in front of the park, take the bike traffic from the west/street side of the park to the east/lane side of the park if widening the street to provide two lanes of traffic through that block is no longer an option.
3. 1 and 2 will provide more visibility to and increase the traffic in front of the desired lane oriented retail fronting the east side of the park.
Adding eyes on the streets at this stage of the Quarters redevelopment is paramount, as is the provision of intuitive access that accommodates cars as well as pedestrians and bikes.
Selling the area to developers and lenders and tenants and customers - particularly for the first time - requires simple, direct and easy access if you want to show it off to those whom you want to buy in. As long as the Quarters stays hidden and disconnected and sequestered, it will continue to struggle no matter how nice some of the public elements you can't get to. Somewhere along the line the fact 96th Street is a street seems to have been lost. Even the new standards for "complete streets", continues to accommodate and not banish cars.