Quote:
Originally Posted by Crawford
Unless Google maps is a mirage, this isn't true. Bellevue has pre-automobile built form along Main Street, and this is the backbone of its development. It has a real downtown that predates the sprawl era.
Southfield has nothing of the sort, and this is why it can't piggyback pedestrian/transit growth on its built form. It can't work in a vacuum.
|
Main Street in Bellevue started out pre-WWII and has grown since then but the majority of development and the area most people seem to call downtown Bellevue is further to the NE. The "downtown" is neither centered on, nor does it seem to be an organic extension of the main street area.
Their proximity to each other may have been mutually beneficial, although I suspect that the main street area benefitted more from the new downtown area than vice versa.