Bringing Life to Main Street in Springfield

[iloveionia]

Everyone needs to remember that the design of Main street was the result of thousands of hours over many, many years of hard work to get it done at all.  It is perhaps not the best design, but as Main Street is a State Highway, and we needed federal and State funds to get it done ever, this is what we had to have.  The bike lanes were given up in order to have ANY on street parking.  Complaining about the design is self defeating.  It ain;t gonna change any time soon.  In fact, good or bad design, we also got all new infrastructure including the electrical moved to the alleys.  If we hadn't done the street at all, things like a street car would most likely be less likely due to the extra costs involved.  So, our best bet is to just deal with it.

Frankly, the complaints about the design seem to more stem from it's lack of drivability rather than walkability issies.  You can only turn left every fourth street.  One Springfield resident complained that her property was harder to get to (by car). I have heard that it might effect funding if the project is too hard to drive to.

Then of course, you have to walk an extra block or so to cross the street.  You either have to go to a light or walk the mid-median walk throughs.

Here, I thought what we wanted was a walkable commercial corridor. 

It is true that the idea of a state highway is to move cars, but that is the hand we have been dealt.

So , it seems to me we need ideas to market the walkability of Main Street.  You do not have to worry about as many cars turning left through the walking traffic.  You can set up smaller parking Parks to encourage people to park and walk rather than like at 3rd and main which actually encourages park, eat and drive. If banks don't understand the concept of walking to the stores and restaurants then we need to teach them.  Use what most see as issues with Main Street as the benefits.

+2
He is right.  We have to deal with the hand that was dealt.
No offense to our few existing businesses, but if the vacant store fronts had life, the medians et. al would not be that big of a deal, meaning it could be overlooked. 


And Stephen, thanks for your offer.  You bet.     

[thelakelander]

I think Lakeland's Dixieland Historic District would be a good example for Springfield's Main Street.  Dixieland is split by Florida Avenue (SR 37), which happens to be that city's main north/south spine.  The highway through Dixieland is a narrow five lane facility with heavy traffic.  Historically, it had been a three lane road with parallel parking.  To facilitate redevelopment, parking is located in the rear for commercial buildings and accessed with alleys.  The commercial strip happens to be a CRA and has been a hot spot for revitalization over the past couple of years, despite no streetscape improvements.

http://www.lakelandgov.net/commdev/cra/dixieland.html












Parking located behind buildings.

One thing that stands out about Dixieland to me is its diverse range of businesses.  It has a little something for everyone, from pawn shops, convenience stores and gas stations to art galleries, locksmiths, office condominiums and wine shops.

[iloveionia]

Good stuff Lake.
You hit the nail on the head "a little something for everyone." 

[uptowngirl]

Mid median walk through? We are usually hustling our rear ends across four lanes of traffic and giant median of half dead plants and bushes in the dark to get from the East to West side of Springfield (remember Christmas Carrolling???!!!) There was discussion around cutting walkthroughs at each corner, but I have not seen anything happen. Besides the State Highway difference, San Marco and St. Johns both have directional  parking, lots of it. It is a sad fact, but most people do not know how to parallel park. 

Want to promote walkabilty of Main St. ? Keep the vacant lots and buildings clean of trash and overgrowth, put in some metal benches to sit on, some decent trash cans, some landscaping (not scrub palms), and perhaps some seasonal decorations? Some color can go a long way. Just hanging some flower pots from the light poles or painting the buildings vibrant colors would make a HUGE difference in the look of Main St. (and would not cost a lot). The one building painted green with the black and white tiles is a real standout now!

What is going on with the apartments/commercial space Van Horn redid? It looks gorgeous but has been vacant since I have been here (six years!). Is it in ownership limbo or is it just too damn high?

[thelakelander]

What apartments/commercial?  11th & Silver?

[ChriswUfGator]

Everyone needs to remember that the design of Main street was the result of thousands of hours over many, many years of hard work to get it done at all.  It is perhaps not the best design, but as Main Street is a State Highway, and we needed federal and State funds to get it done ever, this is what we had to have.  The bike lanes were given up in order to have ANY on street parking.  Complaining about the design is self defeating.  It ain;t gonna change any time soon.  In fact, good or bad design, we also got all new infrastructure including the electrical moved to the alleys.  If we hadn't done the street at all, things like a street car would most likely be less likely due to the extra costs involved.  So, our best bet is to just deal with it.

Frankly, the complaints about the design seem to more stem from it's lack of drivability rather than walkability issies.  You can only turn left every fourth street.  One Springfield resident complained that her property was harder to get to (by car). I have heard that it might effect funding if the project is too hard to drive to.

Then of course, you have to walk an extra block or so to cross the street.  You either have to go to a light or walk the mid-median walk throughs.

Here, I thought what we wanted was a walkable commercial corridor.  

It is true that the idea of a state highway is to move cars, but that is the hand we have been dealt.

So , it seems to me we need ideas to market the walkability of Main Street.  You do not have to worry about as many cars turning left through the walking traffic.  You can set up smaller parking Parks to encourage people to park and walk rather than like at 3rd and main which actually encourages park, eat and drive. If banks don't understand the concept of walking to the stores and restaurants then we need to teach them.  Use what most see as issues with Main Street as the benefits.

Marketing something that doesn't exist just makes everyone look silly. Main street is not walkable in its present form, and you won't have the storefronts filled until it becomes walkable again, or at least drivable. Not only is it not walkable but it's not even drivable in that you have to drive up four blocks out of your way and cut a dangerous U-turn across two lanes of oncoming traffic just to get to a business.

Frankly, this new street design did far more harm than good, and everyone would have been far better off with the old street layout even if that meant sacrificing a couple of pretty palm trees. Just saying "it's here now there's nothing to be done about it" isn't an option because the street is going to stay dead until the problem is fixed. There need to be pedestrian walkways cut through those horrible medians, car turn lanes need to be put back in, hell ideally the medians should just come back out entirely.

That is entirely possible, by the way. Having been born and raised in Florida I'm very familiar with the state's multiple redesigns of state highway A1A to add in these horrible medians, only to have businesses and municipalities complain and then they came right back out again. This is no different. And a new group needs to replace SPAR when it comes to giving input on these types of planning decisions, because asinine "let's design it to get rid of the darkies" motives wind up costing everyone.

Stephen Dare remembers some of the planning sessions, and can confirm that the current design of Main Street was deliberately intended to be unfriendly to pedestrians. Unfortunately there is no way to make a street unfriendly to low income pedestrians and friendly to the rest, so the outcome was predictably disastrous for everyone. It needs to be undone or I can't see Main having any chance of success. This street design would kill Avondale or San Marco dead if it were implemented there, let alone an area that already lacks a commercial base and is trying to get off the ground.

[ChriswUfGator]

Also Main street may technically be a state highway, but nobody uses it for that purpose anymore. The state recognizes this and lets you designate enterprise zones that get exempted from the median requirements and lack of crosswalks and car turn lanes. This went deliberately unexplored because SPAR was set on intentionally making the new design pedestrian unfriendly. Then they went a step further and even removed all the bus stops. It's a travesty. If you look at what those idiots did, they traded the commercial viability of the whole street for some palm trees. Brilliant.

[uptowngirl]

I think they are at 6th and Main. On the corner, really pretty but empty forever...last I heardVan horn owned them. I think there are people living upstairs (I see lights and cars parked in back).

[ricker]

NOTICE the Rail line... . IS this to the S-Line through Gateway, into Sprinfield, DT, sports complex and Jax Terminal?

Jacksonville International Airport:

A model of what the airport will look like when built out.




Space still UC (recently remodeled)




The above photo seen from the plane:


Haskell gallery had some interesting art:






One of many food spots, the food court in the concourse with Sbarro, Freshens, and Quizno's.


One of the new concourses:


Planes at the airport:

connections will bring life back to the core.
In the model,
which rail line is this? HSR? Street car? monorail?

[thelakelander]

I think they are at 6th and Main. On the corner, really pretty but empty forever...last I heardVan horn owned them. I think there are people living upstairs (I see lights and cars parked in back).

My place is at 6th & Main, across from Shantytown.  There are two townhouse style loft units.  One is leased and has always been leased since it was completed.  The second was constructed as a shell about a year ago to take advantage of lower construction costs, depsite the fact that the market was still pretty bad.  Right now, I'm contemplating building it out and moving into it myself.  There's room for two more units but market conditions aren't right to justify the financial investment.

[iloveionia]

On the north-west corner of 7th and Main there are lovely remodeled units in an all brick building with apartments above.  The lease signs say "Cord Butler"  I called in July and at that time he stated everything was leased.  I'll bet they are still empty (the storefronts.)  Uptown, is this the building?

[thelakelander]

That's the Goffin Building.  That never was CVH's.  I can't remember his name right now but Stephendare knows the owner pretty well.

[uptowngirl]

That is the one Ionia! Yep they are still completely vacant (the stores on the first floor).

[iloveionia]

WOW.  WOW.  WOW.
We need Kevin Gay on the side of Springfield.
That's a lot of property.  A lot of lots.  A lot of vacancy.

[iloveionia]

Hoo Rah.
Cool.
I'm gonna make me a new friend.
Kevin Gay, here I come.