Dear Montpelier
Dear Montpelier,
Please - for everyone’s health, safety and prosperity - close the streets!
By that I mean some streets. Close them to cars and open them to people who want to get back outside and downtown.
As we gradually come out of this lockdown and begin to deal with the reality of this pandemic and its impact on our health and economic lives, we must all take steps to acclimate to the new world.
I have lived in and around Montpelier and done business in this wonderful city for 25 years. I want only for it to be a thriving, sustainable place to live and work for everyone.
How do we achieve safety and prosperity simultaneously when the virus requires us to keep our distance?
At the Farmers Market Saturday you saw the farmers getting better at handling money, keeping the walking traffic moving, reducing touch points. Retail shops down were opening slowly with tables inside the front door, hand sanitizer and signs requiring masks to enter.
Food orders in paper bags were set to go in front of restaurants.
Montpelier has what it takes to climb out of this pandemic while protecting public health AND enabling a thriving downtown.
To accomplish the second piece, it is critical to bring people downtown. Our merchants are determined and gritty. They want to come back from this. But they cannot if we don’t help bring people downtown to shop, eat, play and gather. This is doable if we do it smart.
Please consider closing streets in some fashion. Cities from NYC to Cincinnati are doing it. Why? Two reasons. Distance and people.
Walking downtown Saturday made it clear there is not enough room for social distancing. The sidewalks are too small. Especially now, when there are fewer cars in parking spots, let’s give ourselves the room we need to walk downtown and get to stores and restaurants safely.
For the people part, we need to draw people downtown. They will not come if sandwiched on sidewalks, while cars roam the streets rubbernecking and looking for parking.
I’m no traffic engineer. But I know the city Public Works folks and the City Council are up to this task. The virus has rendered the tired debate about downtown parking irrelevant, at least in the short term. We need to get people downtown safely.
At the very least, as a first step - close Langdon Street. It is already a parking nightmare where mirrors are torn off cars by mistake. Langdon has huge potential. With well known stores - the bike shop, antiques, vintage clothing and music. Not to mention a sports bar and a night club.
A closed street means these business can open faster and serve more customers. The sports bar can move tables into the street and serve people six feet apart. Same with the antique shop, which can show its wares in the street.
Merchants and others will spruce up the place with potted trees and art. Chairs and tables will appear. Innovation will happen. Pretty soon if done with innovation and creativity, Langdon can become a small version of Burlington’s Church Street, attracting people from everywhere to walk, shop and gather safely.
I would go farther on street closings. I know the City Council is considering these and other issues. I urge them to take the small step of closing Langdon for the summer now before we lose time to bureaucratic inertia and indecision.
All the research in other cities shows that when you close streets, more people migrate downtown, increasing sales for local businesses. Why would we not do that at a time when we need to revive our local businesses and keep people safe?
And please, City Council, do it now before these merchants and the downtown lose a summer to recover. Don’t let the details of this innovation get in the way of downtown recovery.
