City Hall yesterday came out to talk about planned improvements to the Lovejoy are, with improvements such as bicycle lanes, lighting, etc for the planned commercial district.
One thing I'm liking thus far, is the fact that bicycle lanes are getting a focus, but primarily that the neighborhood itself was involved in the determination of what to do. Far too often, City Hall has been on it's own when determining the direction a neighborhood should take, or scumbags like Carl Paladino call the shots for whatever might get investment from the City.
The community in Lovejoy wanted to work on their commercial district, so that's where the focus is. Brown also said there's going to be similar projects in Elmwood Village and the Filmore district.
I'm not sure why these areas got priority, I'm sure there was some cronyism involved here, to be sure. Can't have anything done in politics without that. But, if it were me? I'd have slotted Grant St area first, since any improvement there is likely to improve on EV, due only to proximity. In fact, Grant St. is already looking to get spillover from EV. Take a ride down Grant St, between Forest and Ferry. Park your car at Lafayette and Grant, and just watch for a few minutes.
They've got an art gallery, coffee shop, community center, bike share hub, and much more within a 5 minute walk (At most) from Lafayette and Grant.
Now, don't get me wrong, I'm happy for Lovejoy, Fillmore, and the EV; but in the spirit of triage, I just see other areas more in need than EV at this time, which is doing fantastically on it's own.
Now, when will Riverside/Black Rock get some City Hall loving? I'll bet it's close to never, mainly due to a couple of "problems" I see with RS/BR, one of which are far "out-there" ideas for what they want done. The Community groups there are talking about removing the 190 as their first priority. Remove the 190? Come on... Once RS/BR pull their heads out of the clouds, City Hall will take them seriously. The other issue is that voting in those two neighborhoods is dismal. At best, there's a 7% turnout, in a presidential election. The only politician willing to listen to concerns is Golombeck. Nobody else will until more than 7% vote, which would post a threat if the politico didn't listen.
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