When I grew up in Cleveland and East Cleveland, Ohio, my primary transportation was walking, biking, a streetcar or the bus. Most of the commercial districts abutted sidewalks and any parking was on the street or behind buildings. In other words, pedestrians were encouraged and drivers were an afterthought.
You can still see this urban design in most downtowns and in many neighborhoods. In Duluth examples include Central Avenue and some parts of Grand Avenue in the west and Superior Street in Lakeside.
Suburban design is creeping in, however. Mt. Royal Center is not pedestrian-friendly. More often than not pedestrians have to walk across parking lots or in the roadways. This is really ironic because there is so much senior housing abutting Mt. Royal. Every Walgreens being built is separated from the sidewalk by a medium-sized parking lot. Many other commercial buildings are far from the sidewalk.
Bluestone Commons is an ambitious project proposed for the Woodland School site. Its vision, as posted at the city of Duluth website, is to “create a mixed-use development comprising new retail, restaurants, student and professional housing components; reuse of the existing school building for possible postsecondary education; housing; (and) medical and office uses.” The vision purports a “Dinkytown-like environment.”
That does sound very interesting and exciting. The report includes many nice pictures of shops on streets and people on sidewalks or at sidewalk cafes. It also includes some pictures of typical, suburban, car-centered structures. I thought all of the pictures might be artists’ renditions, but then I realized I had seen some of the places before. Sure enough, the Excelsior and Grand photo was from St. Louis Park, Minn. I didn’t recognize any of the pictures as being from Dinkytown.
But I nearly went into shock when I saw a map of the proposed development. It was cross-hatched with parking spaces. Only three of seven buildings would have direct pedestrian access to Woodland. I hope the developer will maintain better-painted crosswalks than Mt. Royal Center does; too many drivers drive 20 mph or faster through parking areas.
This is not a “Dinkytown-like environment.” Almost all the shops in Minneapolis’ Dinkytown abut sidewalks, and all the area’s intersections are controlled by traffic lights.
For a better example in Duluth of urban-commercial development, see Carla Blumberg’s proposal for a new building on the northwest corner of Eighth Street and 19th Avenue East. It is planned to abut the sidewalk on East Eighth Street with parking in the rear and a community garden on the east. It is to have offices or apartments on the upper two floors. You can see the plans on the bulletin board of the vestibule of Chester Creek Cafe or here.
If Bluestone Commons is supposed to be student-accessible, I wonder if the Duluth Public Works Department has plans and resources to provide painted crosswalks across Woodland Avenue at all the intersections between St. Marie Street and Kent Road. Only the Clover Street intersection has a painted crosswalk, but there are four other legal crosswalks. Very few drivers stop for pedestrians at these legal crosswalks. Drivers stop for pedestrians in Dinkytown.
Melvyn D. Magree of Duluth is a writer and former computer programmer. Read more of his musings here.
As published in the Duluth News Tribune, April 08, 2012 at http://www.duluthnewstribune.com/event/article/id/227968. I've added two links.
2014-03-26 Update: The City of Duluth or somebody put a traffic signal at the main entrance to Bluestone Commons for both cars and pedestrians. The shops that have pedestrian access from Woodland are occupied or soon to be occupied. Bluestone Commons also keeps its sidewalk frontage clear to the same high standard as UMD does
