Friday, June 12, 2020
Get Ready to Share Warren Street
If you are not among the 226 people who have already viewed yesterday's virtual town hall meeting on the topic of Hudson Shared Summer Streets, you can view the meeting here.
What's most important to remember is that next weekend--June 19 through June 21--will be the trial/rehearsal weekend for the shared streets plan. From 10 a.m. on Friday, June 19, until 10 p.m. on Sunday, June 21, Warren Street, from Front Street to Seventh Street, will be closed to through vehicular traffic to allow restaurants and shops to expand out into the parking lane and allow patrons to stay outdoors and maintain an appropriate distance by walking in the street. If necessary, a car can venture onto a block of Warren Street, but it must do so slowly, mindful that the street is being shared with pedestrians.
The trial/rehearsal weekend will be followed by a month of gathering feedback and making improvements and adjustments. If it all works out, the shared streets program will continue through October.
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I was one of the 226 folks that viewed the townhall yesterday on Shared Summer Streets. Thank you to The Mayor, Peter, Tammy, Kaja & Sage for putting this together. It was one of the most engaging hours I've spent on a zoom call. I watched it all and didn't even have the urge to multitask.
ReplyDeleteI am so excited this is happening and so impressed how fast this has come together.
I also HAPPILY give up parking in the 200 block of Warren Street where we live, for this project. It's not even a trade off. It's the least I can do as a resident of the 200 block of Warren Street to show my support for this project; the strategy to bring main street back to small cities and towns and to help be part of the restart of Hudson.
I urge all of my fellow First Ward residents to support this program too. This is a so important right now for the future economy of our city.
It shouldn't take a month to gather and effectuate changes brought about by the feedback. The businesses NEED the summer months if they're going to make a living this year. I urge the whomever is managing this process to move faster than government generally does -- time is of the essence.
ReplyDeleteJohn--I am quite sure they are going to be tweaking it as they go along. I don't think it's the case that they will do the trial/rehearsal weekend and then suspend everything for a month while they analyze the feedback. I may be wrong, but that's what I believe the plan is.
DeleteI have seen the U-Tube video and although I had some trouble with the sound I could see the slides and so I appreciate the concept and look forward to see the plans implemented. Thanks to Peter Spears and the Opera House and all those who have worked on this and I do believe it to be viable. Lets hope for good weather. Even in colder weather these kind of streets work well in Europe with heaters and blankets at most of the restaurants at least. Hats off to the Mayor for supporting this.
ReplyDeleteOn behalf of the team that put this together, I wanted to post an update. Late yesterday evening, we decided to change the date of the Hudson Shared Summer Streets program trial weekend.
ReplyDeleteWe now propose the trial weekend to be:
Friday, June 26th to Sunday, June 28th
10am to 10pm.
We think this will allow us to refine the permitting process, while giving us time to communicate with businesses and community members about the plan and the shared street concept.
If you have any questions or concerns, please let me know and, if you haven't already, please complete our survey:
https://futurehudson.typeform.com/to/rayIaQ
Thank you.
Peter
So the people in this meeting were academics, politicians and non-profits. We’re an retail business owners in Hudson ever consulted about what they thought about this? (I’ve heard that they were not). How incredibly arrogant to make these kinds of decisions without ever actually consulting with the people who operate businesses on Warren.
ReplyDeleteJohn A.--Your premise is not really true. The Hudson Business Coalition has been involved in the planning, and the trial weekend has been postponed for a week--until June 26-28--to communicate with businesses and the community about the concept.
DeleteI am part of the team that has developed this proposal.
ReplyDeleteI am a resident of Hudson who has been advocating for real urban planning & design for a couple years now through the FUTURE HUDSON series of events.
I am responsible for the Hudson Safe campaign, and for bringing the professional expertise of the Design for Six Feet team into an already ongoing process of how to open Warren Street.
In both cases, my intention was to help the City of Hudson by developing creative solutions to problems it simply does not have the resources or expertise to address.
I agree with every piece of criticism I have heard in the last couple of days. I share every concern.
But I do not have any experience with a situation like this.
In my conversations, I find that we have failed to communicate two things:
First, our proposal is an invitation to participate in a process.
We have sought a solution that is (relatively) simple, (relatively) easy to implement, and that is flexible and can respond to community input.
This would allow the City to move fast and adapt in response to very rapidly changing (and completely unprecedented) circumstances.
Second, this is a proposal. It has not been approved.
The town hall was not an announcement, but a way of getting the attention of the City quickly.
I sincerely welcome your input.
Peter Spear
Peterbspear@gmail.com
518.610.0198