At Thursday's meeting of the Public Works Board, mayoral aide Justin Weaver reported that pouring the cement for the Second Street stairs has begun.
This morning, Freddy and I headed down to Cross Street to check out the progress and took this picture.
The Second Street stairs are part of "Hudson Streetscapes" (formerly known as "Hudson Connects"), the City's largest DRI (Downtown Revitalization Initiative) project. Just as a reminder, this is how the rebuilt stairs were fantasized in early DRI documents.
Wow! It seems the rendering is way off from what is developing...
ReplyDeleteTheLuckyDog--It's clear you're coming late to this, but the word "fantasized" should have tipped you off. The "Hudson Connects" project has had to be scaled back so much, because the DRI money allocated was not sufficient to finance what was planned, that it's not clear even to those of us who have been following this closely what we will end up with.
DeleteHello Carole. Indeed, late to discover your incredible blog. The only thing that really matters is if they are safe unlike the ones being replaced. :)
DeleteSpeaking about safe, I don't see how these are ADA compliant as the original design are. Perhaps I'm mistaken. Note the strollers and accessible design.
ReplyDeleteThey're not. They gave up the idea of stairs providing universal access long ago. The one improvement with the new stairs is that there's supposed to be a trough on one side, enabling someone to push a bicycle alongside as they ascend or descend the stairs.
DeleteWhat a wasted opportunity. The original plans were quite exciting, It would have created a grand entrance and connection from Hudson's existing grid to a whole new section of the city. While I have no doubt that these steps will be substantially safer than the previous steps, and having uniform steps and risers will be a big improvement. But was this project the smartest use of the limited funds available? I don't think so.
ReplyDeleteA bigger impact, particularly for the underserved 2nd Ward, would have been to replace the stairs that once went from the Charles Williams School at the dead end on 3rd St, to the fields below on Mill St. Restoring the stairs there, would reconnect the 2nd ward (which has almost zero green space) to the area which was once the athletic fields for the school and now includes Charles Williams Park on Mill Street.
As we have seen since the park was created, this park has been severely underutilized. I believe that has more to do with only being accessible down a steep incline (with no sidewalks) on 2nd Street, then up another full block to the Mill Street dead end.
While I'm thrilled to hear of The Spark of Hudson's plan to upgrade and improve Charles Williams Park on Mill St. I hope that The Spark of Hudson will take up the concept of replacing the steps there. Having those steps in place would greatly improve access to the park, since it would deposit people using it, right at the entrance to the park. What good is an upgraded park if no one goes there?
Sadly, Victor, if the mayor and Kearney Realty and Development have their way, any stairs from the end of Third Street will not access Charles Williams Park but rather the back of the proposed housing project known as Mill Street Lofts.
DeleteIndeed, what upgrades are planned for Charles Williams Park on Mill Street by the Spark of Hudson?
DeleteHave the economically, culturally, intellectually and ethnically diverse residents of Mill Street been polled?
There's a seemingly baseless rumor going around that $2 million of Spark of Hudson funding is designated for pickleball courts.
I found this humorous, considering that the City's tennis courts are underutilized and pickleball's popularity was merely a pandemic-era flash in the baking dish... like racquetball in the 70s.
But in the 12534, one can never be too sure.
Relevant cartoon:
https://condenaststore.com/featured/the-pickleball-fad-tim-hamilton.html?srsltid=AfmBOoq4U7Q5gkxbELsgulrEKILbrNnKkBzDa5QiNyy73C7XKGqOIhC7