Cincinnati losing some of its Skywalks

[monsoon]

This is a good writeup on the demise of street life caused by the broken comcept of skywalks. 2 removed skywalks out of 22 is a start. Will they have the nerve to take down the rest?

Cities' enthusiasm for skywalks fades

[Minneapolitan]

"While skywalks remain popular in some cold-weather cities such as Des Moines, Iowa, an increasing number of cities have started tearing down some of their walkways or would like to remove them. Planners and others in cities such as Cincinnati, Baltimore, Charlotte, N.C., Hartford, Conn., and Kansas City, Mo., now believe increasing street-level pedestrian traffic will lead to more downtown homes, shops and entertainment."

It takes a lot more than just removing skyways. Downtown areas have to be able to attract people and store franchises in order for them to commit to opening a store or purchasing a home. Being we're still living in a suburban nation, it's almost impossible to keep workers in our downtowns. Those that do stay are the ones who can afford to do so and there aren't enough of them to keep descent stores open. Others stick around for a sporting event, but head back to the burbs after the game ends. Restaurants and clubs will open, but most close after two or three years. I'll end my rant now.

[PghUSA]

Street level traffic is nice, but for the sake of not bottlenecking downtown keep some of the skywalks The concept in downtown Indianapolis was nice with the interior downtown mall, though that was about 5 years ago when I was down there.