George,

In your recent posting "Urban Planning: A Park Wanes on Sixth Street", [Dave Sagarin states] that "Once, a few years ago, a park was 'hoped for' on the stub of Sixth Street off Market, near City Hall. Grant funding was sought for a package of municipal improvements that included the little park. The street was closed to traffic, and blocked off by large planters. But the money didn't come through. The planters are still there, and you can't go from Court Square to Market Street without going west on Jefferson."

This clearly shows that you (and many others in the Charlottesville Albemarle community) believe that to go somewhere, you have to get there by automobile. This sort of thinking will surely diminish the quality of life in downtown Charlottesville.

I go between Court Square and Market Street several times a day on foot or by bicycle without any difficulty. In fact, I hope others in the community will join me in encouraging the City to make this a park and put this land in the hands of the Parks and Recreation Department. The existing pavement could easily be removed and a brick path, some benches and park tables installed and some plantings installed to provide some much needed shade, without breaking the City's budget.

The walkway crossing East Market Street from the parking garage crosses directly in line with the closed section of Sixth St. NE. Extending this walkway through a newly installed pocket park would make an excellent pedestrian connection between Court Sq. and the City Hall area.

The City could indicate that it is truly interested in a pedestrian friendly downtown, and that it believes in the TJPDC Sustainability Accords it adopted several years ago. Development of this parcel as a pocket park would be a great improvement in promoting a pedestrian friendly downtown and providing easy and safe access between Court Square and the east end of the Downtown Mall.

Peter Kleeman (May 16, 2002)

Editor's Note: As many of my readers know, I am an advocate for an automobile free downtown district and would prefer to take personal traffic off of West Main Street.

I am also a fan of pocket parks.

While Peter Kleeman and I may disagree on a multitude of transportation issues, including Meadowcreek Parkway, I believe we are in one accord on making the Charlottesville downtown area more pedestrian friendly.

Dave Sagarin was the author of the article referred to by Peter Kleeman, while I was the photographer. I have not asked Dave what his thoughts are on these matters.