Kucharczyk: Beautiful, and no lost parking
Letter to the editor
Thank you, Mayor Kane and the Basalt council members, for supporting the Basalt beautification project. I believe it will put Old Town Basalt on the map as a poster child for many other small towns in Colorado.
I strongly urge the mayor and council to not bend to a few negative opinions from a very vocal minority about the parallel parking on Midland Avenue. The principal idea is to make Old Town Basalt a place where people can sit and eat outside, walk easily and safely in town, and enjoy a tranquil visit while shopping on Midland.
Please do not alter the designed parking because of a few complaints. I live on Midland Spur, and there will be additional and ample parking down our street. It takes me 30 seconds to walk to Butch’s, Heirlooms, Brick Pony, and Tempranillo Restaurant. One block of walking is not going to keep people away.
There will be no, I repeat, no net loss of parking spaces once the project is completed. There will be more angled parking spaces available on Midland Spur and Two Rivers Road than before the project. There will be angled parking in upper Midland Avenue.
Only two blocks of downtown Basalt will be parallel parking to accommodate the ADA accessed wider sidewalks and the central delivery zone. Maintaining the number of existing parking spaces is a done deal in this plan.
I have also heard that some businesses want to be compensated for any loss of revenue because of construction on Midland. As a taxpayer, I voted for this project and am happy to help pay for it. However, I do not want to subsidize businesses because they may lose a little profit while the work is being done.
This project is going to increase their business’s bottom line in the long run and is actually designed so these restaurants and businesses are more accessible. This is a pro-business project and a win-win for everyone on Midland Avenue.
Sandy Kucharczyk
Basalt