Planning in the Time of COVID

On Wednesday, Arterial and Street Plans, the two urban design groups that are part of the team collaborating on the "Complete Streets" improvements for the part of the city below Second Street, held two events: a walking tour "to provide an opportunity for attendees to evaluate the safety, accessibility, and beauty of the streets in the study area," and a workshop, where attendees engaged in a planning exercise. About 25 people turned out for the walking tour. The group divided into two, with 15 touring the area north of Warren Street and 10 the area south of Warren Street. At the workshop, which took place at Hudson Hall, where the performance space was set up with 50 chairs positioned at appropriate distance from each other, there were about 10 people present.

Gossips passed on the walking tour, deciding instead to attend the workshop. It wasn't clear how many, if any, of those present at the workshop had also participated in the walking tour. After presenting the background information the BRIDGE District and the DRI (Downtown Revitalization Initiative) funding, Dave Lustberg of Arterial led that group through a planning exercise that involved each person marking, on maps of the BRIDGE District, key destinations they walk to, their routes to those destinations, their ideal routes to those same destinations, and problem areas. 

The planning process going forward involves a second workshop to take place sometime in August, which may be presented jointly with Starr Whitehouse, the group working on the renovation of the entrance to Promenade Hill, and a demonstration project, before moving on to a pilot, an interim design, and finally long-term alterations. Although $4 million of the $10 million of the DRI award is going to this project, now being called "Hudson Connects," the point was made that the challenge of the project is that the aspirations are high, beyond what can be paid for with $4 million, and it will be necessary to prioritize improvements.
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