It's the second day of the blog and already I've put my re-election in jeopardy by posting on the Facebook in support of controversial, if much-needed updates to Keene's downtown infrastructure. A group of local building owners have put together a "Save the Square" movement, that has convinced people that our city's beloved Central Square is somehow being put at risk. (Spoiler: It's not.) But it's pretty clear to me that the actual concern that's driving this movement is that building owners will no longer having access to as many public parking spots, in their immediate vicinity, as they used to.
There is, of course, abundant parking available in Keene, although many people will tell you different. I have lived in cities with scarce parking: Keene is not one of them. Keene is famous for its parking. It's reputed to have the widest Main Street east of the Mississippi, and most of that space has been turned over for parking. The sidewalks aren't especially wide, and the only bike lanes we have are useless painted "sharrows," but parking we have in abundance. If you can't find parking on Main Street (and, except for a few peak times over the summer, you can) there is way more parking just around the corner on Gilbo Avenue. And this is before people get talking about ideas for a new parking garage.
The new plan - which is proposed as part of a needed project to dig up and replace all the ancient water and sewer pipes underneath the area - calls for closing off the north side of Central Square to traffic and turning it into an open pedestrian plaza. That space could feature things like expanded space for outdoor dining or a small play area for children. You know, the kinds of things that bring people into urban centers these days. You can see a map of the proposed downtown changes in the graphic at the top of this post, which I screenshotted from this project document.
Here is Google Streetview's picture of the 15 parking spots and three lanes of asphalt that are being considered for conversion into prime public gathering and recreational space at the very center of our city.
Lots of people have been very angry about this proposal, which seems unreasonable to me. This is a huge improvement to public space and traffic safety, and it means that people speaking or playing music at events held at the gazebo won't be drowned out by the sound of oversized pickup trucks slamming on the gas behind them.
At any rate, I'm sharing this in the hope that putting some out actual information, not rumors, about the proposed changes will help people understand that this is a project with huge potential benefits to the community. Despite reports to the contrary, this is not some dastardly plan to destroy the square that people need to freak out over. Even for those who don't share my nuanced views concerning the proliferation of automobile-dominated infrastructure in urban environments, it would be nice if we could at least fight about this issue based on facts.