Comments on: More Info on “Paces Clairemont” Development, Commerce Drive Road Diet Part of Project

By: At Home in Decatur

At Home in Decatur — Thu, 20 Feb 2014 23:34:18 +0000

Has worked fantastically for years in Burlington, Vermont. There’s a lot of similarities between Decatur and Burlington, maybe not enough.

By: Peter in Decatur

Peter in Decatur — Thu, 20 Feb 2014 23:05:43 +0000

Look, I get it. It isn’t popular, so be it. Not a peep more after this. Creating congestion isn’t the goal (though it will continue to increase here until people seek alternatives). Just remember that car-centric people are like the tree people in that they’re impossible to satisfy; appeasing them isn’t always the answer. Good luck with the road diet on Commerce.

By: Geoff

Geoff — Thu, 20 Feb 2014 16:10:07 +0000

Yep. Agreed.

By: brianc

brianc — Thu, 20 Feb 2014 15:06:39 +0000

What about just reducing the number and slowing down the cars on Ponce? More crosswalks, longer lights for pedestrians, things that might discourage people from using Ponce to drive through Decatur? I agree with you that making it a pedestrian plaza is not feasible (as much as I would like it personally), but I do think we could continue to make Ponce more pedestrian friendly.

By: Geoff

Geoff — Thu, 20 Feb 2014 14:59:43 +0000

Dig deeper. We don’t have near large enough downtown population of workers or residents, we have a lot of great independent restaurants, but no true anchor and certainly no anchor retail and the college nearby (ASC) has far too few on campus students to move the needle – and Emory is too far to impact this. Compare our #’s to where these things are successful. I am an urban advocate, I despise the auto-centric built environment. But a pedestrian mall is just not feasible here. A successful American urban/pedestrian environment mixes uses and finds a place for cars, while de-emphasizing them in the traffic hierarchy, but not shutting them out all together. I agree that we should expand the pedestrian/bike infrastructure – maybe even get rid of some of the parking around the Old Courthouse. But we can’t close Ponce to cars – it’s just not smart.

By: Scott

Scott — Thu, 20 Feb 2014 14:48:29 +0000

You think people complain about traffic now, try cutting off one of the city’s three east/west corridors (the other two being Commerce and Trinity) north of the tracks. That volume, at least for the foreseeable future, needs to go somewhere.

In contrast, Decatur’s transportation plan prioritizes an increase in our number of street connections and the development of a network with more choices and, thus, greater capacity. Severing key connections is one of the worst mistakes a city can make unless they’re blessed, in abundance, with certain key attributes (some of which are included within the Chinese menu list you mention).

I agree that Decatur shows signs of moving towards a day when such a dramatic change might be viable but we’re nowhere near there yet. Geoff is right. Our city’s success has been rooted in a restoration of proven historical models of form and development, not emulating failed endeavors from the 70s and 80s. We made our own silly mistakes during that period (severing all the connections around the square, for instance) and they killed downtown for a couple decades.

By: Wacky Sitcom Neighbor

Wacky Sitcom Neighbor — Thu, 20 Feb 2014 12:55:59 +0000

this comment is the message board equivalent of a reality show contestant declaring that they’re “not here to make friends”

By: Wacky Sitcom Neighbor

Wacky Sitcom Neighbor — Thu, 20 Feb 2014 12:55:02 +0000

“non-productive social services” sounds like Ayn Rand-speak for “helping the poors not die”.