Charleston Daily Mail | New construction planned for part of East End dog park
This is great news for the East End. Infill, mixed-use development is the way to go. Wonderful addition!
I do wish, though, that there would be more renovation and reuse of the existing buildings. You have the New China building and the one across Elizabeth St. vacant as well (although being partially renovated and advertised by CURA). There's other empty buildings, too. The office building next to Tricky Fish is for sale. The DMV records building next to Little India is empty or has little use (although the owner of Little India told me he bought the building and was going to redevelop it, but that was two and a half years ago, I think).
[WARNING: RANT AHEAD]
I'm just saying that there's a great deal of work to be done in that area of the East End. And it is happening, but slowly. It should go much faster, with proximity to the Capitol, but land use between the two is terrible. It's a 5-10 minute walk from the Capitol to Washington/Elizabeth, but you first have to cross Greenbrier (not fun, even with a crosswalk) and then go past six developments all built with cars in mind. This is understandable with all the traffic coming off the interstate, but as a pedestrian, you are walking next to open parking, set back and spaced out buildings, all the while trying not to get hit by cars as they pull in/out of these places (who are too busy looking for other cars so they can pull out and not thinking about pedestrians). That's just poor design.
Example: from Starlings (formerly Frutcake) and the dog park to Sidney St (500 ft), you pass by a total of 15 buildings, all of which come right next to the sidewalk and thus in the pedestrian realm. In the next 500 feet from Sidney to Greenbrier, there's a total of six establishments, mostly set way back from Washington and the sidewalk to accommodate parking, drive thru lanes, gas pumps, or a combination thereof. Now take your experiences with walking in that area. If you're coming from Starlings, the first half is a nice walk, with appropriately-sized buildings and pedestrian accommodations. It feels like a nice, brisk walk. Then you reach Sidney St. After that, everything is more spaced out and it feels more akin to a suburban shopping area. You watch out for cars pulling in, pulling out; it gets hectic. Combine the spacing and the frenzied atmosphere and it feels like it takes much longer to reach Greenbrier, though you've gone the exact same distance.
Now imagine that from the point of view of someone at the Capitol. They first have to cross the Capitol grounds, which are very nice, but they are expansive. Then they have to cross Greenbrier and the vehicular realm (Greenbrier to Sidney) before they reach places like Tricky Fish and the more compact developments. By the time you get to Washington/Elizabeth, you're already a little out of breath, probably somewhat on edge from dodging cars (even just a little), and you're probably going to stay that way until after you eat, when you have to go through it again. Why go through that hassle when you can go downstairs to the cafeteria or bring your own lunch?
Five hundred feet each. The built environment makes so much of a difference.
Some proposals to combat this:
- Planted median in Greenbrier St. which extends just past the crosswalk. This offers a pedestrian refuge/island while crossing.
- Increased pedestrian-scale land- and hardscapes. Light poles, benches, trash cans, planters clearly delineating the pedestrian and vehicular spaces. An unpainted curb at a gas station ingress doesn't cut it.
- More spaces for public art. That's already a good point with some of the murals and lamppost decals, but it can be used as a functional tool to help encourage more pedestrian access/quality.
- Ultimately, the redevelopment of these sites with decreased setbacks and ground-floor retail/entertainment is ideal, obviously.
Also, there's another way to combat this, and I've been bandying it about for the past couple days. Bike share. I think I might end up doing a rough feasibility study here soon to see what it might look like in Charleston (and Huntington). You have so many people at the Capitol. The vast majority drive to work, come early, stay late, and don't have much time for lunch or exercise. What if there was a bike share which people could just rent (costs subject to a whole lot of variables) and head down Washington for lunch. It saves them time, bridges the gap between the pedestrian and vehicle, and gives them a bit of exercise. It makes too much sense, so it probably won't work! But I imagine a few stations around town, with an emphasis on connecting downtown to the statehouse (call it Capitol to Capitol, if you will), ultimately tying into a bigger network of bike routes in town. Anyway, I should end my ramblings...
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