A third community meeting will be held this Saturday for the Tower District Streetscape Master Plan project.

Visioning Workshop to develop design alternatives
Saturday, September 26th
11:00 am – 1:00 pm
The Landmark Restaurant

The first meeting involved a series of group visioning and design exercises led by Mark Steele and Diego Velasco. CSUF professor and practicing design anthropologist Hank Delcore PhD and I, co-wrote a critique of the methods used by M.W. Steele Group.

A few days later was the second meeting M.W. Steele Group presented the conceptual design of the new streetscape. There where strong design moves such as reinforcing an existing pedestrian corridor from Fern between the Post Office and Dollar Tree to the Restaurants on the North end of Fulton. However, what got the most attention and passionate debate were two proposed traffic circles at Wishon & Olive and Van Ness & Olive.

It was Fresno’s Blogosphere that this discussion took place. Find those discussions here:
The Anthro Guys, Gustav’s Groupie, Fresno Beehive, Business Street Online, The Fresnan

From the amount of contentious attention among the community and emails between a Tower committee led by Bill Kuebler, I predict the traffic circles will not be in this second draft of the plan. However, I have not seen any updated designs yet.

Below is the announcement of the 3rd meeting that was emailed out to everyone that had attended one or both of the other meetings.

Now, come see the results of everyone’s efforts and join us in discussions relative to the draft conceptual plan as we focus our attention on the specific elements and details contributing to the creation of an overall final streetscape plan and… implementation!

Saturday, September 26th
11:00 am – 1:00 pm:
Visioning Workshop to develop design alternatives

NEW MEETING LOCATION!
Meeting will take place at The Landmark Restaurant (644 E. Olive Avenue) Located on the southwest corner of the intersection of East Olive Avenue and North Broadway).

For more information,
call 497-8362

The City of Fresno contact for this endeavor is:
Will Tackett, Planner III
Planning and Development Dept.
(559) 621-8063

I encourage all Tower residents and regular visitors to attend this meeting. Your input is valuable. I’m not sure what the format will be this time. However, make sure you focus on the details. What happens at each corner? How is the street furniture placed? How will the proposed changes alter the way you experience the street (i.e. walking, driving, biking, sitting, dining, entertainment)? Look at the boundaries of the project area, how does it connect with the rest of the Tower District? How can the design be improved?

Also the city will be moving forward with a pilot project from this streetscape master plan. Surveying of Olive’s topography has already begun. Be sure to voice what you feel is the best place to start, whether it is the most prototypical and/or will make the greatest impact.

And please report back here for discussion.