State Street Overhaul Moves Ahead

Holy separated bike lanes, Batman! This is awesome! Will be a MAJOR boon to State Street!

We need traffic calming on Orange St. Speed tables and curb bump outs at Canner, Lawrence and Humphrey please.

We do not need anything on Orange. You can't drive fast on Orange at any place. It's too narrow and it's one of the few streets with bikers on it.

I’m looking forward to this project.

I believe the project is a good candidate for using tax increment financing to complement the state funding. TIF is premised on the idea that infrastructure investments in an area can prompt development and increased tax revenue there. TIF can be misused. But in this case, the affected area is currently generating minimal tax revenues. While the city’s plans are optimistic, it is reasonable to believe that the redo will in fact increase tax revenue. The incremental revenue can be earmarked, e.g., for maintaining the trees that will be planted in the project. Or it can be used to back TIF bonds used to pay for the initial infrastructure investments.

Using TIF bonds to substitute for some or all of the city General Obligation bonding would free up GO bonding for other city capital needs, such as street or parks repair.

If Church, Elm, and Grove eventually become two-way streets then I think Orange should actually become a one-way between Grove and Elm. (With a two-way bicycle track)

Orange Street don't really need any traffic calming because it's not as heavily traveled as the other streets that I have mentioned.

However, if a two block stretch of Orange was to become a one-way then it probably would be sensible for a stop sign to be put on Orange when approaching Wall Street.

I trust the city is working in good faith. But if the 20% affordability requirement becomes an issue, I believe the city could sell land to a third party, who in turn could sell it to a housing developer. This would reduce the affordability requirement to 10%. (In any case, an additional 5% of the units would be designated for Section 8 tenants, although I fear this provision is unworkable.)

This is very ambitious. Trying to knit together neighborhoods that the failed midcentury "redevelopment" scheme destroyed should be interesting to watch. Can't wait to see it come true!

“This is going to knit downtown, East Rock and Wooster Square together,”

No it's not. The latter is separated by train tracks.

Truthfully, I believe the best way for Downtown and Wooster Square to be even more connected is if the city actually decides to build over the train tracks..

It would be good if the area had more greenspace for the public to enjoy.. So maybe an elevated linear park could possibly be what ultimately "knit" the two areas together.

I like the idea of narrowing State St and adding mixed income housing and street level businesses and shops. Eliminating the portion that runs behind the Knights of Columbus meaning is a good idea, as is adding bike lanes and bike left turn boxes to both sides. But please make sure you add shade trees that are low allergy and lots of flowers and other plantings around this corridor.

As a resident of State Street, it’s nice to think about the street being transformed.

But I can’t help but ask myself—is this equitable?

SIX MILLION DOLLARS to improve a downtown street, when we have neighborhoods like Dixwell, Newhallville, Fair Haven that already have working families living there, but have potholes, missing signs, broken lights, and worse?

SIX MILLION DOLLARS to fix a downtown street where hundreds of higher income people already live when there are areas of the city — entire neighborhoods — that don’t get a fraction of that for basic needs?

I think this administration has lost sight of equity. They say they expect 200 housing units that would be subject to the same requirements for affordable housing as housing built anywhere else in the city. SIX MILLION DOLLARS for that?

It’s time we looked at equity with huge public investments like this. For an investment like this, at least 100 DEEPLY AFFORDABLE — not AMI affordable — should be guaranteed to be built.

Otherwise this is SIX MILLION DOLLARS of our money, going to support one of the wealthiest areas of the city, in support of greater profits for developers in the long run. Where’s the equity in that?

Alex, fair questions. But this is not a beautification project that will primarily benefit neighborhood residents. Rather, it is designed to increase the supply affordable housing and the city's tax base.