A BALCONY VIEW: Take back the streets

By Gary Huerta – Published: Wednesday, September 16, 2009

I’d like to congratulate Gina Puckett on being one of the first residents, besides me, to post something on the Crescenta Valley blog. In her post, she asked if I was going to “serve a media function, or just blog about whatever interests you (sic) and/or the L.A. Times?”

That’s a fair question, Gina, and because my schedule forbids me from attending regular town council meetings, I’m prepared to make Montrose the topic of this week’s column. But in order to end up there, I’ll need to begin in Copenhagen and New York City.

In those two cities, master planners have been closing streets to cars and other vehicles, giving people the ultimate right of way. In the case of New York, they’ve been closing sections of Broadway right in the middle of bustling Times and Herold squares.

The idea was conceived by Janette Sadik-Khan, the city’s transportation commissioner. Her plan was partly inspired by the redevelopment of downtown Copenhagen, which over the past decade has closed off many of its streets and plazas to vehicles. I’d cite inspiration in other parts of Western Europe, but I have only about 400 more words to bring this subject back to Montrose.

Right now, the closures in New York are temporary experiments designed to create a greener, more pedestrian-friendly city.

And while the move has drawn some skepticism, the closures have become a popular gathering place where people sit, gaze, picnic and even draw on the streets with chalk. In short, they’re free to do just about anything they want within reason and without traffic.

Even without the lure of fruits, vegetables and kettle corn, people are taking to these streets in large numbers, toting along whatever they need in preparation for an extended stay.

I was mulling this over Sunday during my half hour at the weekly farmer’s market on Honolulu Avenue. While observing the joy people get out of having full access to the street, I began to wonder, “Why does there have to be an event associated with the street closure? Wouldn’t it be nice to have Honolulu Avenue closed to cars for no real event and just for the heck of it?”

It seems to me we wouldn’t be reinventing the wheel, we’d simply be emulating city planning that has proven to be a social success in other metropolitan areas around the world. I would hope that if a major city like New York could sidestep that problem, our City Council could step up to the plate and do the same.

Personally, I’d love to take a lawn chair and hang out in the middle of Montrose for an afternoon. It would give my kids a safe place to ride bikes and roller blade without having to share the road with texting drivers — my pet peeve as you know. I might even get to meet some interesting people who have other ideas on what I should write about. Frankly, the more I think about it, the less downside I see.

If we made it a regularly occurring event — perhaps every other Saturday for starters — the Honolulu shopping area might become a nice little diversion from Old Town Pasadena and the Americana at Brand. We could see an influx of revenue. We could become the hub of illuminated thought! OK, that might be overselling it. More realistically, we could create something truly unique in Southern California — a place where cars take a back seat to people.

Of course, if my suggestion of creating a social space with two simple barricades doesn’t fly, maybe we could install a gargantuan fountain, pipe in some music and lay some trolley car tracks. And if we do that, let’s not forget to hire security guards to make sure kids don’t skateboard, enforce a rule that dogs be no bigger than a hamster and charge $10 for 30-minute parking. That way, we can be just like the other shopping areas that are popular these days.