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Tag: open streets

  • West 29th in Hingetown Set to (Finally) Become an Open Street by Next Year  – Cleveland Scene

    On a recent Tuesday morning, West 29th St. in Ohio City’s Hingetown neighborhood was bustling and buzzing with people carrying coffee from Rising Star Coffee Roasters, pushing baby strollers, or going for a morning jog in the late September sunshine. In the next year, it could also be home to spin and yoga classes, a farmers market, concerts and other activities. That’s because the city of Cleveland has finalized plans to close a portion of the street between Church and Clinton Avenues. 

    It’s part of a larger push by the Bibb administration to create more pedestrian-friendly spaces across the city. Two years ago, the city also closed Market Avenue in Ohio City to cars, allowing people to lounge on lawn furniture and drink their lattes al fresco. At a recent Cleveland Landmarks Commission meeting, city planning director Calley Mersmann told members that creating pedestrian-friendly streets is an important priority for the city. 

    “This is part of Mayor Bibb’s overall push to create more places for people to be in our neighborhoods,” Mersmann said. “The purpose is to create a safe, pedestrianized plaza for people to gather.” 

    Marika Shioiri-Clark, who along with her husband Graham Veysey owns the firehouse building  where Rising Star and Larder are located, is a big supporter of the project. “To me, our neighborhood doesn’t have that many open public spaces, especially spaces that feel safe and welcoming for kids and families in the neighborhood,” she said. “The outdoor seating areas that are already outside the firehouse and Transformer Station are so popular and well used. I see kids and families walking across the street all the time between those two spaces. To me, it seems really natural to expand those spaces together to make a neighborhood-scale plaza.” 

    The street closure, which would extend from the intersection of W. 29th and Church to the southern edge of the Transformer Station property, has been at least two years in the making. A pilot project was rolled out last year using a $100,000 grant from the nonprofit Project for Public Spaces; during that brief two-week span, the street was treated like an outdoor living room. People organized their own dinners, held a bike repair workshop, did chalk drawings, and hosted a concert for kids with local musician Jesse Jukebox. After the 14-day trial, the street was reopened to traffic and organizers sought feedback on how it went. 

    The original plan was to permanently close it this year, but that was before business pushback over lack of notice, rushed planning, and lack of a maintenance plan. “We felt initially the plan was to open it at the end of summer without any announcement, without programming, wayfinding signage, or communication,” said Anne Hartnett, who owns the Vitrolite building on Church Avenue as well as the Harness Collective. “We knew it wouldn’t be successful. They were probably just going to show up one day to close the street, and that was a concern to business owners. The city really heard that, and we had a collaborative meeting at the Vitrolite.” 

    After that meeting, the original timeline was pushed back to next year once Project for Public Spaces okayed the plan. At its recent meeting, landmarks approved the project, albeit with reservations, paving the way for the closure in the spring of next year. 

    “This is a quick build installation we hope to leverage into a long-term investment,” explained Mersmann, citing a plan including Thomas barriers at either end of the street, tree pits, some heavyweight furniture like picnic tables, other moveable furniture, and either a groundcover called SYNlawn – basically fake grass – or painted asphalt (it hasn’t been decided yet). She said the street would also be repaved before closing it to car traffic. “The current potholed street is not sufficient,” she said. 

    At the landmarks meeting, current councilmember Kerry McCormack weighed in with his support. “I appreciate the time spent having additional discussions,” he said. “The feedback I’ve heard from businesses is they want to make sure it’s done right, to ensure we’re thoughtful on maintenance, maintenance funds, and who’s going to ensure that maintenance happens. We need to make sure this project is done well so it’s not seen as something we tried and it didn’t work.”

    Not all of the landmarks members were convinced that the plan to close the street was fully baked. “My concern is that it feels a little bit rushed, and that has to do with the funding mechanism (Project for Public Spaces),” said member Chris Loeser. “There’s a lot of opportunity here, but also a lot that still needs to be resolved in terms of making this feel like an intentional space. SYNlawn is not the right choice; it feels like more of a temporary thing. I like the idea of this being used for public art, but the barriers create roadblocks and don’t necessarily create an inviting space. You should think about removable bollards instead. Allow the space to bleed into the neighborhood rather than being bookended by heavy, not-so-inviting elements.”

    Mersmann replied that the current installation can be considered temporary and just the first phase. “We’re sort of walking the line bearing out the proof of concept before making irreversible changes here,” she said. 

    Shioiri-Clark said allowing additional time for the rollout helps ensure buy-in from businesses. While originally there was discussion about closing the street all the way from Clinton to Detroit, that got scaled back over business concerns. “If it goes well we could theoretically talk about expanding it,” she said. “This is the area where it makes the most sense to start.”

    After getting reassurance from the city that business owners would be part of the planning process, Hartnett organized a letter expressing business support for the project. “I’m an advocate for it but it has to be done well,” she said. Next steps include forming a steering committee of residents and business owners to help shape the rollout. “Now there’s plenty of time,” said Hartnett. “We’re hoping it can be a model through being a collaborative process.” 

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    Lee Chilcote

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  • West 29th in Hingetown to See Trial Run Phase as Open Street

    West 29th in Hingetown to See Trial Run Phase as Open Street

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    Mark Oprea

    West 29th St. in Hingetown is the city’s latest target for an open street, one free of car traffic.

    Cleveland has officially gotten its third open street—a street shut down to car traffic—albeit on a temporary basis.

    Over the weekend, City Hall announced that West 29th St. in Hingetown, from Church to Clinton avenues, will be refashioned as pedestrian-only for two weeks, until at least September 8. No automobiles, just like with East 4th and Market Ave., will be allowed.

    Instead, as has been the intention of the City Planning Commission for at least two years, that roughly 8,000 square feet of space will be transformed into somewhat of an outdoor living room, complete with a pad of green turf, a parklet in front of Rising Star complete with place games, tables and chairs, and bookended by two fixed concrete barriers.

    What will be a test pilot for a more permanent closure of the street comes after months of gathering feedback from the public.

    The overall idea, which has fueled a closure campaign by the city since 2022, follows the spirit of conviviality seen in larger cities like New York and Montreal, where streets dedicated to pedestrians lead to increased property values, more lucrative retail and even a mark as a fresh tourist destination.

    “The goal is for West 29th Street to become a Street for People—a street that is open for public use free of car traffic,” CPC director Joyce Huang said in a statement.

    “Already, there are residents and small businesses organizing family days and community meetups,” she added. “This temporary, two-week open street allows people to test the space and inform how [it] should look and feel.”

    Huang’s pitch to the city at large—that no cars is better than some—includes a series of grassroots-y events, from casual picnics to a Larder Family Friendly Happy Hour and a NASA Glenn show-and-tell. The annual Hingetown Jazz Fest this Saturday will be a good chance to see the space in action.

    These are ideas that may work in favor of the consensus.

    An online survey of 142 mostly Ohio City residents said they generally favored West 29th’s closure, due to its potential for “strong community energy” and Hingetown’s viability already as a “place to bump into friends.”

    Seventy percent of those surveyed went the produce angle, finding a farmers market the best possible usage of that 8,000 square feet. (The West Side Market is about a mile away.) Some wanted games or a movies on the lawn. Thirty-eight percent went for live music.

    Live music best exemplified by the Cleveland Museum of Art’s City Stages, the summer trifecta of outdoor world music concerts that wrapped up in late July. All four blocks were shut down—not just Clinton to Church. Thousands packed Hingetown for nights of dancing, taco trucks, beers in plastic cups — a scene more resemblant of a plaza in Europe.

    But City Stages, some businesses argue, is only three evenings in July. Rarely do other events of scale operate outside of it.

    “Even if the street were shut down, like, six days a week, that’s not 365 days a year,” Dean Rufus, the owner of Dean Rufus’ House of Fun on West 29th, told Scene in a phone call in February, when City Hall first announced its closure. “I’m annoyed by the whole thing.”

    That strip of retail north of Church, which includes the Jukebox, Verbena, Saucy Brew Works and others, is likely why City Hall opted not to shut down the street in front of it. Although many at their feedback session at Larder in April seemed to want both blocks shut down regardless. (The concern: parking spots eliminated.)

    Even in winter, which Jukebox owner Alex Budin balked at on principle.

    “That’s seven to eight month!” he told Scene in February. “I mean, I don’t know if there’s infrastructure to make West 29th hospitable for half that time.”

    All the more reason, City Hall’s pitch goes, for a West 29th trial run.

    Those interested in pitching ideas for activation or for community events, the city said, can email Britany Pabon at [email protected].

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    Mark Oprea

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  • City of Cleveland Eyes Permanently Closing West 29th in Hingetown to Traffic. Businesses Have Concerns

    City of Cleveland Eyes Permanently Closing West 29th in Hingetown to Traffic. Businesses Have Concerns

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    Google Maps

    West 29th Street in an undated photo.

    Last September, following years of political and technical hurdles, the City of Cleveland succeeded in its goal of permanently closing down Market Avenue in Ohio City to car traffic.

    A sigh of relief came came for many: the tiny corridor filled with bars and restaurants would finally become the pedestrian street so many had envisioned it as. For good.

    This week, the city announced its next target: West 29th in Hingetown.

    On Monday, the Project For Public Spaces, a nonprofit based in Brooklyn, New York, revealed that the City Planning Commission was one of 89 applicants nationwide selected to get a $100,000 “placemaking” grant to study Hingetown’s main artery for street closure.

    “As one of the few open public spaces in the neighborhood, this new public space would allow for greater informal interaction between neighbors, greater safety and protection from car traffic,” a statement on its website read, “more robust gathering space for the community to patronize local retail, and the opportunity to increase the tree canopy in a formerly redlined neighborhood that still suffers from a generational lack of trees and greenspace.”

    The city has eyed Hingetown for a serious makeover into an “open street” since at least 2022, when it involved local businesses in the pursuit of amplifying the neighborhood’s potential.

    That is, as PFPS’ Co-Executive Director Nate Storring told Scene in an email, “the potential and local capacity to transform this roadway into a place for the community.”

    Such energy—or at least the vision of what West 29th, between Detroit and Clinton, could be—stems in part from temporary closures that have proved successful, including the Cleveland Museum of Art’s City Stages concerts.

    “But that’s just two concerts in July,” Dean Rufus, the owner of Dean Rufus’ House of Fun on West 29th, told Scene in a phone call. (City Stages used to have four to five shows annually.) “Even if the street were shut down, like, six days a week, that’s not 365 days a year.”

    “I’m annoyed by the whole thing,” he added. “Either way, there’s nothing I can do about it.”

    click to enlarge City Stages' events, as shown here, pack West 29th St. But businesses worry that the event, which occurred just twice in 2023, is insufficient proof for a year-round closure. - Cleveland Museum of Art

    Cleveland Museum of Art

    City Stages’ events, as shown here, pack West 29th St. But businesses worry that the event, which occurred just twice in 2023, is insufficient proof for a year-round closure.

    Alex Budin, the owner of Jukebox up the block, said he was one of the numerous business owners the city reached out to in June of 2022 to gauge locals’ enthusiasm in the project.

    After just hearing about PFPS’ grant “last week,” Budin is still doubtful that, like Market Avenue before it, pedestrianizing West 29th would be overall good for retail. The bulk of those concerns, he said, revolve around exactly what City Planning aims to do away with: the 20 or 30 on-street parking spaces up and down those two blocks.

    Those, Budin argued, that Jukebox patrons, along with delivery trucks and DoorDash drivers, rely on regularly. As do, Budin added, Jukebox’s heated patio he’s sure to use “as early as October and as late as May.”

    “That’s seven to eight months!” he said. “They’re talking about closing the street the whole time. I mean, I don’t know if there’s infrastructure to make West 29th hospitable for even half that time.”

    As for other parking availabilty, the Church + State garage is less than a block off the street.

    Though Budin, along with others in Hingetown feel like they’ve been “leapfrogged” by the city, the bar owner said he’s open to at least entertaining the result of City Planning’s study: “There’s some potential for some goodness there,” Budin said.

    The CPC did not respond to a request for an interview in time for this article. Ohio City Incorporated deferred to City Hall for comment.

    It’s likely that Planning’s eventual analysis of West 29th could follow the same approach as its Mobility Team did with Lorain Avenue to the south, where a two-mile long bike lane might be constructed by the end of the decade. As businesses there also lament, that include losing a quarter to half of the current on-street parking.

    Storring pointed to open street projects in Baltimore, Detroit and New York, to show off perks, with traffic safety being the most obvious winner. And some raised property values, like after 34th Avenue in Queens was shut down to cars.

    “The proof is in the pudding,” Storring said. But, “Of course, West 29th is its own place with its own community.”

    Ironically enough, General Motors was the main sponsor of the grant money the city received.

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    Mark Oprea

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