GSSD on FaceBookLocal planner Howard Blackson of Placemakers and architect Michael Stepner, former city architect, now with the New School of Architecture and Design, have floated a plan for the Plaza de Panama via social media sites. (click to enlarge)
The Blackson-Stepner Plan. Photo courtesy of Howard Blackson.
The beauty of this plan is that it can be done now – we can try it out, at very little cost and no construction. Try it. See if we like it. See if it works. Get community feedback. Tweak it. Refine it. And if all goes well, then make it permanent.
Try it first on low traffic days during the week. If that works, try it out on weekends. Move a few planters around, put up some orange cones, and Voila!
The worst that could happen is that we find out that it doesn’t work, and that the only plan that will work is the Jacobs Plan. If that happens there will be a whole lot of mea culpa’s around the City, but at least we will have tried alternative plans before spending $40 million to build something permanent.
GSSD has proposed a plan that is very similar to the Blackson-Stepner plan. The only difference is creating a free ADA valet instead of ADA parking on the plaza, and making the El Prado Drive a shared space, instead of separated by different travel modes. (click to enlarge)
GSSD Proposed Plan for Plaza de Panama
Trying the Blackson-Stepner Plan first can tell us if we want to refine El Prado into a shared space, or if we want ADA parking off the plaza. But if we don’t try it, we will never know. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.
Just Try It! Tell Balboa Park and City Hall we want to try it out – now. Time is wasting before 2015.
-Walter Chambers
GSSD
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I should like to see a managed traffic plan where the Cabrillo Bridge is closed during the day perhaps from 6:00 AM until 6:00 PM. Evening motorized traffic would be allowed so that patrons can access the Old Globe Theatres. During the day, the Plaza de California could be peacefully enjoyed by pedestrians who could even have refreshments at cafe tables so they could admire the architecture of the Museum of Man. That is one part of the Jacob’s plan I liked, the pedestrianisation of the Plaza de California. It would be wonderful if there was a way to accommodate ADA needs off the Plaza de Panama. That way, there would be no motor vehicle traffic in the grand Plaza, much like there is none in St Marks in Venice. (I think the Plaza de Panama could compare very well to St Marks if it is reclaimed for pedestrians). Finally, I’d love to see the Alcazar meadow restored so that the gardens would again connect to Palm Canyon. This would produce a big increase in peaceful, auto free park space.
Many low cost, less intrusive and highly implementable alternatives such as this could be tried in lieu of a grading project on a massive scale, and large overpass project that would, according to many groups such as the Committee of 100, The California State Parks Office of Historic Preservation, would inextricably alter the historic integrity of the Cabrillo Bridge and the Western gateway to the Park as originally envisioned. ALso, While all agreed that the plazas could and should be returned to the pedestrians to create more public gathering space and that the paltry number of parking spaces that now dominate them should be located elsewhere, and the traffic careening through them could be diverted, it was HOW to achieve those goals, intrusively and “top-down” or perhaps more integrative and more “bottom-up” with more design input from the “owners” of Balboa Park, the public!
Because of the Old Globe et. al. theater locations, and because most performances are at night, and for emergency ambulance egress, any road thru the park really needs to be a two way road. Departing Patrons (especially senior and elderly patrons) of the theater need unloading and loading zones that are reasonably close to the theater exits. Departing patrons who live to the West or North of Balboa Park would need to mouse maze their way out of the park East and South and through downtown; for there to be less traffic through the park, and for convenience sake, a more direct route for those theater patrons is to exit the park westbound and over the bridge. But in particular an ambulance that needs to exit the park to get to UCSD or Scripps Mercy hospital would need to go west out of the park and over the bridge. The two way traffic that is in the original Precise Plan needs to be at least tried first. No approvals , no discussions are needed as this existing Precise Plan has already been approved by City Council – it just needs to be implemented, and it will cost very very little to implement.