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Downtown's Big Problems

grock

By grock
in Greater Hartford

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grock Whistle-Stop

grock

Posted
Posted

1. Parking. Some of the meters ban parking from 3:30PM to 6PM. New signs are being put up this week. Why? So people can leave the city more quickly. This must be stopped. It discourages shoppers, diners, tourists. Also, event rates. Who is going to pay $12 to come to dinner. Go hourly 24-7.

2. Sidewalks. Many are cracked, dangerous, and too narrow.

3. Littering. The bus stops are vandalized, and littered with trash.

4. One ways/No left turns. These streets are confusing to visitors. It is hard to go around a block.

5. Vacant lots. Too much surface parking and it is poorly landscaped.

Feel free to add to the list

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HartfordTycoon Town

HartfordTycoon

Posted
Posted

1. Parking. Some of the meters ban parking from 3:30PM to 6PM. New signs are being put up this week. Why? So people can leave the city more quickly. This must be stopped. It discourages shoppers, diners, tourists. Also, event rates. Who is going to pay $12 to come to dinner. Go hourly 24-7.

2. Sidewalks. Many are cracked, dangerous, and too narrow.

3. Littering. The bus stops are vandalized, and littered with trash.

4. One ways/No left turns. These streets are confusing to visitors. It is hard to go around a block.

5. Vacant lots. Too much surface parking and it is poorly landscaped.

Feel free to add to the list

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MadVlad Town

MadVlad

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Posted

I agree with these above and will add:

6. Poor Street Signage. Poeple like overhead signs like in most other major cities so you can see if your street is coming up and don't have to look for a tiny sign at the corner that more often than not you can't really see.

7. North of 84. The city basically stops for 2-3 blocks and then resumes in the North End. I know from vast experience that the areas of the North End directly abutting downtown are reasonably safe generally speaking. We need new buildings with uses that can link the North End to Downtown the way the South End and Even Asylum Hill connect to it.

Hopefully the BID improves the litter situation, although I've never been to a major city without it's fair share and most are worse than Hartford, and the run down Bus Stops, street signs, etc.

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jcrc Hamlet

jcrc

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The problem with littering is the people who littered. There are trash cans all over the place yet some just throw their garbages anywhere that pleases them. Instead of writing parking tickets, I bet Hartford can collect just as much by fining the litterbugs.

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Luca Brasi Hamlet

Luca Brasi

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Hartford needs another municipal parking garage somewhere west of Main St. Undercut the lots on price and make it less attractive to knock down buildings for surface parking.

Hartford needs to tax surface lots and abandoned properties at a higher rate than other properties. It will encourage people to develop these properties or sell them to people who will.

Better police presence downtown. It is completely inexcusable that people who have their car broken into can't get the police to show up. The entire HPD needs cleaning up.

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redbaron Whistle-Stop

redbaron

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Hartford needs another municipal parking garage somewhere west of Main St. Undercut the lots on price and make it less attractive to knock down buildings for surface parking.

Hartford needs to tax surface lots and abandoned properties at a higher rate than other properties. It will encourage people to develop these properties or sell them to people who will.

Better police presence downtown. It is completely inexcusable that people who have their car broken into can't get the police to show up. The entire HPD needs cleaning up.

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Luca Brasi Hamlet

Luca Brasi

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I don't think parking is that bad, ever try New York? Or any other city for that matter, Hartford isn't that happening at night that it is impossible to find parking in the city. People keep complaining about all the open lots, park in one... C'mon over a hundred thousand people drive into the city during the day and leave at night, how is parking that bad. Go to a lot pay your seven bucks for the night and enjoy...
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redbaron Whistle-Stop

redbaron

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You completely misunderstood me. I'm not saying to build more parking because there is a shortage, I'm saying the city should build another municipal garage with inexpensive rates to make surface lots less attractive to own and use. Hartford actually needs LESS parking lots.
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mikel Hamlet

mikel

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Posted

I agree with these above and will add:

6. Poor Street Signage. Poeple like overhead signs like in most other major cities so you can see if your street is coming up and don't have to look for a tiny sign at the corner that more often than not you can't really see.

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mikel Hamlet

mikel

Posted
Posted

1. Parking. Some of the meters ban parking from 3:30PM to 6PM. New signs are being put up this week. Why? So people can leave the city more quickly. This must be stopped. It discourages shoppers, diners, tourists. Also, event rates. Who is going to pay $12 to come to dinner. Go hourly 24-7.
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HartfordTycoon Town

HartfordTycoon

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You are delusional if you think overhead signs don't belong in cities. I haven't been to a city that DOESN'T have overhead signs. Try visiting New York, Boston, Chicago, LA or any other major city. Heck, for that matter, my small home town in New Jersey has overhead signs on the main roads. It prevents visitors from getting lost and it also stops lost people from taking their eyes off the road and searching for a sign on the edge of the road.
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mikel Hamlet

mikel

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Just because the great cities of New Jersey do it, it does not mean it's good for Hartford. It doesn't fit into the character of the city, and would only make people drive faster. Horrible idea, and they would be eyesores. You would never see something that obstentacious in Europe, and it only works in New York because the roads are wide and straight. Horrible and useless idea, no offence, but it's completely unnecessary.

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HartfordTycoon Town

HartfordTycoon

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Just because the great cities of New Jersey do it, it does not mean it's good for Hartford. It doesn't fit into the character of the city, and would only make people drive faster. Horrible idea, and they would be eyesores. You would never see something that obstentacious in Europe, and it only works in New York because the roads are wide and straight. Horrible and useless idea, no offence, but it's completely unnecessary.
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ctman987 Hamlet

ctman987

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Getting rid of the surface parking lots and using them for public or private investment (buildings, parks, etc.) should be key. To deal with the parking issue that would occur from the closure of the surface parking lots, a new garage could be built downtown.

Getting rid of the surface parking lots would the image one gets of the city for one thing. Imagine a building at Asylum and Main by Joe Black's (where the Westin was supposed to be) or how bout a building on the old Parkview Hilton Site or filling in some of the lots by Union Station/Coachs/Bourbon St North and Metro Center.

In NYC there are many surface parking lots around Times Square....although they squeeze cars in there, which actually make the size of the lots smaller then those in Hartford. In other areas of the city, there are much fewer lots (Upper East and West Sides, Chinatown/Little Italy, etc).

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