The Beautification Bug…PART 1.
May 15th, 2008, 10:21 am · 1 Comment · posted by Linda Weller
The Alton Beautification and Clean City Committee recently initiated two more efforts to perk up the city - one will take awhile as it evolves, and the second, smaller one will be more immediate. (More on that one in Part 2, coming soon).
Both depend on the willingness of Altonians to put forth a little effort.
Some creative ideas also will help.
The larger effort is through the committee’s subgroup, BridgeWest Transportation Corridor Beautification Plan Task Force. The 10-member subcommittee is soliciting ideas for beautifying Alton’s riverfront-Downtown entrance along U.S. 67, from the Clark Bridge along Landmarks Boulevard, north on Piasa Street to Ninth Street.
The group held a public meeting and “open house” last month to solicit the public’s ideas. Many citizens predictably wanted to see more fountains, a water wall, more trees planted along the route, reduction of overhead power lines and enforcement of city ordinances regarding unsightly properties. Some people also consider the “arrow” sign (don’t drive off the road) and its accompanying warning to move away from emergency vehicles that greet motorists coming in off the Clark Bridge to be less than welcoming.
At least someone removed the sign that had been there saying police arrest “drunk” (it should read drunken) drivers. Don’t they do that everywhere?
What was especially graphic to me at the first event, the Blue Sky Workshop, was a video tour of the route by Andy Franke of Planning Design Studio of St. Louis. I drive half of that stretch every day coming into work, and so I hadn’t even noticed how ugly it is anymore. The slow-moving tour, though, gave me a fresh look. Starting at the bridge, as someone drives west, there is an unattractive mishmash of various signs indicating points of interest, speed limit, road numbers and more. Some of the signs tilt.
There is an ugly gray electric substation, unsightly views of rears of some buildings, overgrown weeds and eventually the great, gray concrete wall of Alton along Front Street.
Franke said one likely outcome will be an attempt to consolidate signs in a grouping so the route doesn’t look so cluttered.
At the second event, I tossed some ideas to Franke for blog purposes. I told him how much I love driving to St. Louis in the spring along Highway 40 because a city initiative (Operation Brightside) to hire youths in the summer and put them to work planting hundreds of daffodil bulbs. Their colorful result pops up every spring. How lovely it would be to have people working off fines in Alton’s PACUP program, volunteers or city employees dig some holes and drop in bulbs along open areas and hills motorists see when they drive into Alton (such as the hill beneath City Hall?) and in the Route 143 medians (albeit east of the targeted area to be beautified).
Franke said there has to be considerations of mowing and maintenance while planning the improvements. Also, the Illinois Department of Transportation has setback restrictions. “We will decide what we can plant by what makes the most sense,” he said.
Not wanting to offer too much, I did comment that another feature I like seeing in St. Louis is the decorative terra cotta facades on large medians in the middle of some streets and boulevards, such as Kingshighway near the hospital complex and along Forest Park Parkway. Franke, a landscape architect, also has experience with those features. “We did that at the Olive and (Interstate) 270 interchange, which was successful until they got hit and started to look bad. They tend to get hit and destroyed,” he said, to my disappointment. “Large vehicles jump the curbs and hit them before the driver realizes it.”
BridgeWest will meet and discuss citizens’ ideas, and eventually formulate a master plan this year. Chairwoman is Sara McGibany, executive director of Alton Marketplace. It’s still early in the process, so if you have some ideas you want to add to their lists, I’m sure they would welcome them. E-mail Sara at: sara at altonmarketplace.com or call (618) 463-1016. Leave a message if she’s not there.
Next time: Even your neighborhood can get a grant to plant some flowers, a community garden or other “beautifier.”
May 27th, 2008 at 12:12 pm
Following is a response to this blog that a reader typed out (apparently on a typewriter) and mailed to Sara McGibany and me, but did not sign. I did not make any spelling or grammar corrections.:
“Many of us agree that the Alton Downtown needs some uplifting. However, we think that the unique Snyders building should be kept as is and then maybe Tony’s and maybe Riney’s furniture store. For sure we do not want a motel Downtown because it will end up as a flop house just like the last one did on Broadway. Over the years it will not be prevented like the old one did as age creeps up on the building.
Anyway, we have a beautiful old designed hotel on the hill overlooking the river. Which no Downtown motel can do in that location. Also, the existing motel has large picture windows you can use to view the beautiful bridge, the Mississippi River, the boat marina, the dam locks and the new coming park with the new large amphitheatre on the Riverfront Park. We do think that the casino’s colors could be toned down a bit. More subdued may be a better word. Sincerely, Concerned Citizens.”
READERS: Please don’t expect me to retype your comments! It’s just as easy to email them to this site!