Post details: Ypsilanti WAS Walkable
Ypsilanti WAS Walkable
I just saw this Ann Arbor News article at Ypsidixit and am absolutely infuriated by it.
Apparently some time last week, the executive director of Walkable Communities, Inc., sponsored by the Cool Cities Initiative, walked through Ypsilanti and made a number of ridiculous recommendations.
"One of (Burden's) suggestions was to design a pontoon walkway system that can rise and fall with the water level," Goulet said. "It's a creative system to get people across Michigan Avenue or under the bridge." - A floating walkway over the Huron would be useless. Not only is there nothing on the other side of the river to walk to, but if the DNR allowed the city to put it in, I doubt it would fair well over the winter. The city is not able to keep the trees trimmed in the parks and recently appointed a Blue Ribbon Commission to look for ways to cut the budget further. The last thing we need is another useless thing to maintain.
Factors such as sidewalk width, traffic speeds and handicap accessibility were taken into consideration - Having a community that is walkable from parking spaces to stores isn't what Richard Florida had in mind. A walkable community is defined as one in which you can get the majority of needed services within 1/8th of a mile of your residence. Ypsilanti is missing the "services" part of this equation.
Transformer boxes that hang on posts two feet above the ground could be obstacles for blind people using canes to feel their way along the sidewalk. "A simple solution is to put a pot of flowers under it." - How much money will we spend on the 2 blind people walking around town? Again, the city is not able to keep the trees trimmed. At the last city council meeting, several people from Bell and Casler streets came to beg for gutters and curbs on their street... they didn't even ask for sidewalks. Ypsilanti should be ashamed to have two streets so close to the central business district without sidewalks.
New benches to provide a resting spot for pedestrians and adding wheelchair ramps are other small additions that the DDA will explore. - Again, there has to be a place to walk to. It's nice that this group was able to take a stroll around town, but the rest of us are walking for transportation. We don't have time to sit around on a bench (unless it's at a bus stop) and the flowers are one more thing to maintain that you can't chain a bike to.
Burden also suggested reducing Huron and Hamilton streets to two lanes by adding angle parking, thereby slowing traffic and encouraging people to park their cars and walk through the city. - This takes the cake. Not only will MDOT never approve Huron or Hamilton (trunkline) lane reductions, but rows of cars in-front of businesses hinders walkablility. Cars parked on the street make crossing dangerous by obscuring the view of pedestrians and drivers. Parking belongs behind buildings.
Dan Burden doesn't know the first thing about Ypsilanti and has no business evaluating our city after one pleasure stroll through town. Every public participation event Steve and I have been to has resulted in the city going along with the recommendations of an out-of-town consultant (or public university) against the wishes of citizens at the meeting. Steve asked for financing information for the Water Street Project months ago and the city blew him off. Others have started to ask questions and aren't doing much better. We also asked the city who decided to change the original plan from commercial units on Michigan Avenue to residential. They have not responded. Ironically, some of the ground on the site is heavily contaminated and may not be salable as residential. The solution: Spot zone it for commercial!
