I was disappointed to read in The Durango Herald (May 18) that the city will likely put several improvement and reconstruction projects on hold because of rising costs. I hope that the city can find a way to move forward with these already vetted projects.
With that in mind, I am baffled by the Main Avenue redesign project. Main Avenue is a vibrant, pedestrian-friendly zone filled with all types of authentic local shops and restaurants. Do we really need consultants to redesign it? I have visited other pedestrian malls around the country – Pearl Street Mall in Boulder, 16th Street Mall in Denver, the Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica – and, frankly, these places are pretty boring corporate zones dominated by chain retailers, cheesy restaurants and constant panhandling.
Rather than fix a problem that doesn’t exist, I hope the city will focus on completing already approved projects to improve the pedestrian experience and safety in other areas of town, such as the lack of connection from the Animas River Trail to Main Avenue, or improved crosswalks and walkability on North Main Avenue.
Diana Vernazza
Durango
