New Haven Independent

Posted by: anon | October 7, 2008 12:12 PM

The key to revitalizing this area, both in terms of retail and transit, economics, property values and everything else, is making it a hundred times more walkable. Here's an example:

http://www2.pps.org/file-storage/view/Copenhagen_retail_street.jpg

Currently, Route 34 is a warzone for pedestrians and cyclists. Ask any of the realtors in the area and let them tell you what the public perception is. The only way to improve walkability is to redesign the streets for people, not cars, e.g., with top speeds of 20 miles per hour, short blocks, reconnected neighborhoods and narrow crossing distances throughout. That includes the area around the Hospital.

The state of CT doesn't want to do any of that, so it's going to take citizens in the area pushing back on this and holding the city administration accountable for pushing back as well. It ultimately comes down to the details, such as the width of the streets.

The fact that everyone's tied to their car has a huge economic impact -- it is the equivalent of taking everyone's money and shipping it directly overseas instead of seeing it invested into local retail, health care or education. In other neighborhoods, people will walk several miles a day to work and back because the streets are pleasant. Retail, safety and quality of life would boom if we did the same thing here.

Posted by: Kevin Ewing | October 7, 2008 12:46 PM

Jerry Poole did not question the need for housing on the corridor. His comment was that the current plan is calling for over 600 units of housing and that, we residents believe, is too dense for the parcels there. The only way to get that density is to build towers. Towers would turn the current 'moat' separating the neighborhoods into a 'wall' doing the same thing.

The justification for the high density was to support the businesses to be added to the corridor. Jerry suggested that those studies did not take into account the folks already living in the area. Right now that is the only difference we have with the city's planning to date and nothing has been decided yet.

I think this session was a good first step and I urge all interested to attend future sessions and to get involved or submit your comments to the city once the site allows for them. There is a group of us in West River who have been working on this for a couple decades and we would love to have your input.

Kevin G. Ewing, President
West River Neighborhood Services Corporation

Posted by: Susmitha Attota | October 7, 2008 3:20 PM

Please note that keeping small businesses and encouraging alternative modes of transportation are already some of the key goals of the plan and were the main topics for discussion at last night's workshop. The first paragraph reads like these were not included in the plan goals earlier and so the residents are pushing for that.

Also, a link has already been created on the City's Route 34 West webpage to post comments. Click below to visit the Route 34 West webpage:
http://www.cityofnewhaven.com/CityPlan/Route34MDP.asp

Posted by: Karyn | October 7, 2008 5:16 PM

Len - Transit, bicyle and pedestrian friendliness have been part of this planning effort since we started it. Small business too. The West River Neighborhood Services Corporation, and other neighborhood organizations have emphasized the need to prepare residents to take part in the new development here, both as patrons, but especially as owners. West River has partnered with the University of New Haven to sponsor entrepreneurship courses and continues to look for ways to enable the development of new locally owned businesses. The workshop covered these topics precisely because these two areas - transit/walkability and small business - are so vital to the sucess of planning to rebuild this new neighborhood in between the already long established ones that surround it.

Posted by: Dawn | October 17, 2008 6:20 AM

As a resident of the West River area, I understand the need for retail establishments and better access through redesigning streets etc. However,something MUST be done with the young adults who have nothing to do and few interests other than hanging around, loitering and generally annoying the crap out of everybody!
This past summer was a nightmare with all the teenagers and young people. I am wondering if retail establishments would help with employment? My only concern with smaller retails is that the prices are generally incredibly over inflated! What would cost $1.00 in a larger store goes to $2.00 at these stores that take advantage of the poor!