Description
Connecting these empty lots and parking lots (visible on the satellite image) should be a priority.
A new street would activate and provide more window frontage on blocks that are currently far too wide, therefore tremendously increasing the potential for real estate development and new tax revenue for the city.
Models can be found from elsewhere in New Haven, for example, the Temple Street Plaza, which breaks down a large block into a series of pathways connecting College, Chapel, Temple and Crown. What makes cities successful these days are the "nooks and crannies" like these.
Other small streets in New Haven have since disappeared due to urban renewal. For example, Pitkin Plaza, now home to 360 State, used to be a small street.
See here for additional discussion of the idea, recently presented by architect George Knight: http://newhavenindependent.org/archives/2008/02/knight_blaze_ne.php The proposed street should be extended all the way to the Coliseum Site and perhaps tie in, through an indoor arcade, to the Federal Plaza (former Court Street) located just north of Chapel, between Orange and Church.
23 Comments
Mark
Image of possible ground floor plan.
Mark
Photo of current conditions, courtesy NHI: http://www.newhavenindependent.org/archives/2009/09/kresge_grant_si.php
Mark
Green street
Anonymous
A perfect place to build the kind of "cosmopolitan canopies" suggested by preeminent Urban Sociologist Elijah Anderson, author of "Code of the Street" and "Against the Wall: Poor, Black, and Male."
Examples: Public markets such as Reading Terminal; rec centers; urban gardens; interpretative centers; and uses tied to the new Gateway College being built for 10,000 students across the street.
Mark (Guest)
Scale diagram of the area.
Black = Buildings
Green = Park or plaza
Yellow = General area for a new street
Red "P" = Current area used for parking lot or parking garage
Green Star = Non-historic structure that could be repurposed or demolished in order to create increased density along the street.
Mark (Guest)
Another view (axon/aerial).
Yellow = Open parking lots available for new street, new plazas and/or new construction.
Purple = Additional sites recommended for new construction or renovations (see above, non-historic buildings with green stars, currently used as low-capacity parking garages)
Anonymous
helps to name the street first, sometimes.
naming highways the "patriot expressway" or "roosevelt drive" allowed planners in the 1950s to bulldoze entire cities in order to build freeways, because nobody was willing to speak out against a "patriot" highway or a road named after a president.
what are some good names for this?
Doug Hausladen (Guest)
Center City
Doug Hausladen (Guest)
I believe this would create natural mixed-affordability housing, with more affordable being interior in the alleys and also help boost overall property value by improving the walkability and adding more facades.
Brian Tang
If the street had on-street parking (perhaps even on both sides), it could potentially do the job of both a street and a parking lot at the same time.
Anonymous
Good Idea!!!!
Doug Hausladen (Guest)
angled on-street parking please!
Anonymous
please post sketches here of how the buildings and streets might be laid out.
Anonymous
...and parks/plazas too. i think you would want some interior plaza spaces, even if modest like in the ones on the first sketch
Anonymous
This is great.
I am going to forward on to Alex Marathas one of the property developers and see if he will chime in.
Mark
Another meeting next week to discuss. Feel free to write downtownnewhaven (one word) at gmail if interested.
Acknowledged Department of Transportation, Traffic and Parking
Acknowledged By the Department.
Alder Doug Hausladen (D-7)
This Saturday the Downtown-Wooster Square Community Management Team and Wooster Square Watch are sponsoring a community planning meeting.
Results from the 2010 New Haven quality of life survey are now available and will be a terrific indicator of the areas of focus for improving the quality of life in our neighborhood.
Please join us!
Saturday, May 8th
8:30 am -- 12 pm
(coffee and refreshments provided)
Conte Hills School Cafeteria
I hope many of you can make it to think strategically as a group about how we as citizens can make a difference in the neighborhood within our broader mission of safety through awareness and prevention.
See you there!
twitter.com/dwscmt
http://groups.google.com/group/DWSCMT
Mark
I have a feeling this issue will be open for a while, unless the economy gets significantly better. The former Coliseum Site doesn't seem to be moving yet because of holdups at the train station TOD, the legal issues with Northside Development are ongoing, and even Federal Plaza is currently being used for parking.
However, if folks want to contribute better sketches of the area and what it could look like as a new street, we could mount a small public exhibition to help build support for the idea.
Guest (Guest)
How's this one going ???
Do you realize it is actually totally absurd ?
Mark
No progress on this yet, "Guest" - last I heard, some of the properties are still involved in a legal action related to the fire at the site. It might be in the City's best interest to settle that soon, so that this block doesn't continue to look like a giant set of gaping teeth.
It's hardly absurd, given that other towns and cities do things like this all the time.
Mark
Progress:
http://www.newhavenindependent.org/index.php/archives/entry/kresge_grant_settlement/
http://downtownnewhaven.blogspot.com/2008/04/91-church-street-saved.html
This settlement opens the way for a new street and retail / living area to be developed.
Mark
The 1.25 acre parcel is now for sale for an undisclosed price
http://downtownnewhaven.blogspot.com/2008/04/91-church-street-saved.html
Hope the new street will be accommodated.