Jackson Street Information Group: Karen Faster's statement for neighborhood email list

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Link to neighborhood association post and comments (added September 7, 2014)

September 4, 2014

Thank you to everyone who wrote to the city planning and traffic engineering staff and to alder Marsha Rummel in response to the flier distributed by the Jackson Street Information Group.

  1. Anyone wanting to add her or his voice should contact:
  2. Planning unit: Rebecca Cnare, rcnare@cityofmadison.com, 263-3881
  3. Traffic engineering: Mark Winter, mwinter@cityofmadison.com, 266-6543
  4. Mayor’s office: mayor@cityofmadison.com
  5. District 6 alder: Marsha Rummel, district6@cityofmadison.com

The Jackson Street Information Group has collected information here: http://ohioavenue.com/jacksonstreet.html , and we are delighted to receive copies of your comments via jacksonstreet [* ] ohioavenue.c o m.

For the record, I oppose closing Jackson Street permanently, and I support public discussion about creating a permanent plaza or other gathering place somewhere along the Atwood Avenue corridor.

Also, I want to say I appreciate the opportunity to think about what an intersection, of all things, means to me. I am thankful we have the privilege of undertaking these discussions and experiments.

To my mind, an authority “making” a “place” suggests that area was somehow not a place to begin with. However, for many of us who live north of Atwood Avenue, the block of Jackson Street between Atwood and St. Paul avenues has been the gateway entrance to our neighborhood, to our homes. Indeed, many of us drive our cars on that block of Jackson Street because we believe we are less likely to collide with a bicyclist, pedestrian or another car there compared to the block of Ohio Avenue between Atwood and St. Paul.

For myself, the closure of Jackson Street has been a loss. That block is where I transitioned out of work mode by entering my neighborhood and ending my bike commute home. Crossing the bike path at Jackson Street into the calm, open verdant space of the grassy hill and the gardens to reach St. Paul Avenue and home on Ohio Avenue is when I could relax, safe from the crowds of commuters on the bike paths and roads.

For others, the Jackson Street plaza created by the street closure has been a boon of community and creativity, as noted in some of the comments copied to jacksonstreet@ohioavenue.com.

Space to gather is essential for healthy neighborhoods, as is an environment in which people are encouraged to share to their perspectives and ideas. In future endeavors, I hope city officials and volunteers will not apply the “lighter quicker cheaper” aspects of placemaking to public input and vision-sharing. Process is important, especially when erecting barricades. If residents and city officials move forward with creating a public gathering space near the intersection of Jackson Street and Atwood Avenue, I hope they will go beyond reliance on subscription-based email newsletters to announce meetings and invite comment. Old-fashioned post cards and fliers left in screen doors can help ensure people are empowered to attend meetings, share their insights and lend their support.

Rethinking that green space between Jackson and Dunning streets along Atwood Avenue, and perhaps shrinking the cul-de-sac where St. Paul Avenue ends, could be an exciting, inclusive process. Clever landscaping could divert children from darting into the bike path and entice adults to not stand in the street while eating their ice cream. Even something as simple as a couple of park benches could transform that space into a spot where people on their way home from work stop to chat with a friend they see sitting there.

I look forward to the discussion.

Karen Faster
Ohio Avenue

 

Who we are: The Jackson Street Information Group

The volunteers who wrote and distributed the flier with information about who to contact at the city to comment about the closure of Jackson Street live on Ohio Avenue, Dunning Street and Talmadage Street north of St. Paul Avenue. They have lived in the neighborhood for more than 10 years. As of August 22, 2014, they have distributed the flier to every household on Talmadge, Bashford and Jackson streets, and on Ohio, St. Paul and La Follette avenues, with plans to cover all or part of Corry Street as of August 30. The group continutes to contribute information to this web page, and encourages other neighbors to share their thoughts with us. We are:

Kathryn Ackley, Talmadge Street
Sandy Anton, Dunning Street
Karen Faster, Ohio Avenue
Jenna Hansen, Talmadge Street
Jan Piper, Talmadge Street
Megan Schliesman, Ohio Avenue
Kim Wilson, Ohio Avenue

 

first posted September 2, 2014