The city is eyeing a facelift for Riverside Avenue, a key downtown gateway that could use a little help – or maybe a lot of help.
Mickey Goldwasser, a Bristol Development Authority commissioner, said that officials want to tie the soon-to-be-expanded Route 72 with the downtown mall property the city hopes to revitalize.
The goal is to make improvements that would enhance the road for people entering downtown, said Jonathan Rosenthal, the city’s economic development director.
The BDA has formed a working group to oversee efforts to improve Riverside Avenue, which includes the New England Carousel Museum and the former J.H. Sessions clock factory on the stretch between Middle and North Main streets.
City Councilor Craig Minor said the mid-1980s effort to bolster Forestville’s center is the model for what the city aims to do along Riverside Avenue.
In a Sept. 10 memorandum to the BDA, Minor laid out his vision for what can be done on Riverside Avenue.
He said that with the Route 72 extension slated to hook up with the eastern end of Riverside Avenue in 2009, “a significant increase in traffic will be directed” along the stretch leading into downtown
“The BDA should capitalize on this moment and create a plan similar to what was done in Forestville 20 years ago,” Minor said in his memo.
Among the idea that Minor suggested the city consider are:
* The realignment of Riverside Avenue, where appropriate, to create a more aesthetic approach to downtown;
* New sidewalks and curbs;
* The possible consolidation of many, small, adjacent business driveways to reduce curb cuts;
* Better landscaping;
* Adding signs and “street furniture.
Minor said a program like the one he envisions “requires the active involvement and participation” of many city departments, including the BDA, public works and planning.
During the Forestville project of the 1980s, Minor said, the city offered façade grants to help business owners improve the appearance of their building, added public parking lots and a traffic island.
It also added new walkways and curbs, he said. Some adjustments in traffic patterns were also made.
Goldwasser said that stepping up to help Riverside Avenue in the same way is an indication the city is trying to be “proactive” as Route 72 is extended from the end of the expressway in Plainville.
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Copyright 2007. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com
9 comments:
The concept is a good one - Riverside Avenue is an embarassment.
Has this been absolutely decided upon or was this just a proposal to BDA from Craig?
Where will the money come from and how much will it cost?
Can it be done in phases if it is too expensive to do at once?
It was an idea brought up years ago by someone speaking to Craig on the matter. Guess Craig that persons idea was great and ran with it on his own!
Typcial Minor.
The person you're thinking of was me. I was the project manager when the BDA did this in Forestville twenty years ago, and I've been pushing the BDA to replicate this program on Riverside Avenue for almost a year. The BDA formally voted to do it earlier this year.
Craig, you responded to the person that was speaking against you but you answer my question at the top.
How much will this cost?
Where is the money coming from?
Can and will it be done in phases?
Craig,
Since I assume we, the Bristol sheep whose hard earned money you spend, are paying for this, apart from aesthetic improvement, what do you expect to realize from this?
Our area is replete with these improvement projects. In Bristol, the West End, Forestville, and the downtown streetscape all come to mind. They were all touted as ways to improve neighborhoods and generate businesses. None have succeeded. What makes you think this will produce different results?
Craig, unless you changed your "parts", I was there when the woman was talking about this concept and you jumped in on the conversation, then took it from there.
So no, it was not you. It was the woman's idea, you ran with.
What's going on with that beautiful, necessary veteran's walkway over the Pequabuck that we absolutely had to have? Didn't the city purchase some property on Riverside Ave for this? Where is the bridge? Again, alot of talk and ideas by politicians, but no real plan and no one to drive the projects. Let's focus on the mall and schools first then worry about a gateway and street furniture. Unbelievable.
The handicapped walkway/bridge (partially funded by DEP) has stalled because there was a secret meeting in a small room between the chairman of the park board, the chairman of the police board, the chairman of the public works board, the supervisor of the Public Works Director, and the chairman of the BDA to kill the project. The room was a phone booth, and there was one person in there: Bill Stortz.
Like every money pit in Bristol, have the State pay for it. It is fantastic when you get spend other people's money.
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