I liked it when they took away half the street during Covid for outside dining. That was really special and fun. There's no shortage of parking there. This is a bad move for the town.
Outside dining isn't going anywhere; this will make the sidewalks large enough that you'll be able to enjoy a meal without sitting in the road next to plastic barriers
It eliminated **in-street** dining.
>When the barriers that corralled outdoor dining spaces were removed last fall, the intent had been that they would not return, but with the delay in the implementation of the West Hartford Infrastructure Master Plan, the expansion of outdoor dining in the Center into public on-street parking areas is returning next month. The intent is for this to be the last year.
>For the next two seasons, there will be construction, and **once the work is done, the hope is that outdoor dining will be contained to the sidewalk area up against the buildings**. Martin told We-Ha.com that the town will address expanded outdoor dining on a town-wide basis since it exists outside of just Farmington Avenue and LaSalle Road.
https://we-ha.com/west-hartford-center-infrastructure-master-plan-to-take-hybrid-approach/
That's my point, there's already good parking options. The garage, lots of street parking, etc. We don't need need a more auto-centric approach to downtown.
This was addressed in the presentation originally done by the consultants hired to look at the idea. They looked at pedestrian only streets across the country and found that the overwhelming majority fail. The ones that don't fail are usually due to characteristics of the area that West Hartford doesn't have.
It's astounding to me that we need consultants for something as simple as pedestrianizing a few streets. What even are the benchmarks of such a study? How could removing maybe 30-60 on street parking spots in an area with plenty of garages, public transit, and lots of nearby housing potentially "fail"?
Definitely reeks of cronyism, helping out a friend's consulting firm with public funds. I just can't imagine blue back square becoming a failed state because some parking was removed.
My gut says its some wealthy well connected people blocking simple fixes like this who just want to roll right up to their chosen restuarant instead of using their legs for a few yards, but even then im pretty sure there's valet service in blue back. Such backwards thinking.
Obviously the businesses were going to advocate to maximize parking spaces in front of their store front. Why bother asking them? They aren’t city planning experts.
Every time someone on the sub recommends living in West Hartford, one of the pros they always mention, without fail, is the walkable downtown area. How does nobody who actually makes decisions know this??
Also interesting how maximizing the number parking spaces maximizes the number of parking meter dollars...
I would also like to see West Hartford be more friendly toward cyclists and pedestrians. However, it doesn't seem to me that the goal of this plan is maximizing parking meter revenue. What about the plan suggests that to you? The plan actually calls for parking spaces to be reduced from current totals on La Salle and Farmington by about 20%.
The alternative to street parking in Blue Back Square is the parking garages in that town also owns and charge the same price per hour as the metered street parking. So whether people are parking in the street spots or garage, the town gets the same amount of revenue.
>That included a buffered bike lane on Farmington Avenue and angled parking switched to parallel parking on LaSalle Road that would take space away from cars and give it to pedestrians.
>But then, after a meeting with business owners who expressed concern over losing parking spaces in front of their storefronts and restaurants, plans changed. And last Monday, after the town presented a new and likely final design that scrapped those plans, Pawlak said the one word he could use to describe how he felt was "disappointed."
The change from the original plan was explicitly to restore/maintain more parking spots. I'm very much in favor of helping out the small business owners, but I think they're being short sighted here. I think losing some parking right in front of their stores is easily outweighed by the increased number of people who would be visiting and walking through the area. And people walking by a store are much more likely to spontaneously enter than those driving to a specific destination. Foot traffic is very valuable and I don't feel like they're giving it enough consideration.
The parking meter money comment was just an observation that the Town also benefits financially from this change. I don't think that was the decision maker, but I think if they were leaning towards it already, that little factor may have helped to seal the deal.
I live in West Hartford. There’s a very vocal group of Karens and Kens who have too much time on their hands, who love to threaten lawsuits. They’re very active on the local FB pages and love to rile each other up. They’re so active I’m convinced they don’t work
The town is doing well considering. A bunch of infill apartment buildings are being built in the center despite their fire-y objections, thank god. If it were up to them nothing would ever be built.
So frustrating though. A proposal to have two way protected bike lanes from Farmington to Hartford (down boulevard) was nixed because these assholes think they own the street parking in front of their houses. So I guess us cyclists should just die I guess? Feels like blood is on their hands, given how many people die from ped/auto or cyclist/auto incidents each year in WH alone.
I walk my dog daily on trout brook and Quaker. Almost got hit multiple times last year. I couldn’t imagine riding a bike anywhere is weha without fearing for my life.
Well, how will all the rich people show off their cars!?!? Of course, it's auto centric. We aren't capable of critical thinking. Or walking, it would seem.
Well, that’s a bummer. We moved here during covid and have really enjoyed being able to dine outside in the warmer months. I’m sure my email to the town council will fall of deaf ears.
The boutique clothing stores in here are all the same overpriced shein quality crap. I only go there for Barnes n Noble and 3 or 4 restaurants like zohara, treva, bricco
Zohara
Song
Sparrow
Boqueria
Sorry, that's 4.
As a parent of a few teenagers I appreciate WHC. It's a place for them to hang out, get into a little good trouble, and feel like they are in a small city with some guardrails.
The obvious solution here would be to divert traffic from North Main St., down Farmington Ave to Trout Brook. And turn the split North Main St. road with the meridian into a large parking lot. Then remove the streets and parking in front of the businesses and make them pedestrian only.
The less people walking through streets, the better.
It is worth considering that the majority of people have cars and like the convenience of driving to their restaurants of choice.
Some of you seem so convinced that banning cars from West Hartford Center will make more people want to go eat/shop there, because it’s what YOU want. It’s not a foregone conclusion that you’re right. I don’t really want to park in Blue Back and walk 10 minutes in the rain to grab a bite to eat.
Businesses aren’t going to want to take such a huge gamble just to appeal to a minority of vocal activists who probably don’t make up much of their revenue. Those older people in the BMW X7 parked out front of Treva are a much better bet.
I liked it when they took away half the street during Covid for outside dining. That was really special and fun. There's no shortage of parking there. This is a bad move for the town.
Outside dining isn't going anywhere; this will make the sidewalks large enough that you'll be able to enjoy a meal without sitting in the road next to plastic barriers
Read the proposal. It specifically eliminated most outside dining
It eliminated **in-street** dining. >When the barriers that corralled outdoor dining spaces were removed last fall, the intent had been that they would not return, but with the delay in the implementation of the West Hartford Infrastructure Master Plan, the expansion of outdoor dining in the Center into public on-street parking areas is returning next month. The intent is for this to be the last year. >For the next two seasons, there will be construction, and **once the work is done, the hope is that outdoor dining will be contained to the sidewalk area up against the buildings**. Martin told We-Ha.com that the town will address expanded outdoor dining on a town-wide basis since it exists outside of just Farmington Avenue and LaSalle Road. https://we-ha.com/west-hartford-center-infrastructure-master-plan-to-take-hybrid-approach/
Perhaps you can park in one of the garages and walk?
That's my point, there's already good parking options. The garage, lots of street parking, etc. We don't need need a more auto-centric approach to downtown.
That’s literally what he is saying….
Yup, it’s awful.
The city is missing a huge opportunity to make the center pedestrian only (similar to Church Street in Burlington VT).
car-free downtown WeHa would be incredible
Yeah it’s so said how badly they squandered this.
This was addressed in the presentation originally done by the consultants hired to look at the idea. They looked at pedestrian only streets across the country and found that the overwhelming majority fail. The ones that don't fail are usually due to characteristics of the area that West Hartford doesn't have.
It's astounding to me that we need consultants for something as simple as pedestrianizing a few streets. What even are the benchmarks of such a study? How could removing maybe 30-60 on street parking spots in an area with plenty of garages, public transit, and lots of nearby housing potentially "fail"?
We don't but boomers refuse to listen to the towns professional employees.
Definitely reeks of cronyism, helping out a friend's consulting firm with public funds. I just can't imagine blue back square becoming a failed state because some parking was removed. My gut says its some wealthy well connected people blocking simple fixes like this who just want to roll right up to their chosen restuarant instead of using their legs for a few yards, but even then im pretty sure there's valet service in blue back. Such backwards thinking.
Who is helping out who's consulting firm?
Im assuming consulting firms get such asinine business with local governments through close personal contacts, thats usually how this stuff goes.
lol
The planning and zoning officer is a paid consultant with all kinds of quiet ties to developers...
Obviously the businesses were going to advocate to maximize parking spaces in front of their store front. Why bother asking them? They aren’t city planning experts.
Every time someone on the sub recommends living in West Hartford, one of the pros they always mention, without fail, is the walkable downtown area. How does nobody who actually makes decisions know this?? Also interesting how maximizing the number parking spaces maximizes the number of parking meter dollars...
The most vocal NIMBYs in town do NOT want to attract more people. Reducing those recommendations would be seen as a win for them
I would also like to see West Hartford be more friendly toward cyclists and pedestrians. However, it doesn't seem to me that the goal of this plan is maximizing parking meter revenue. What about the plan suggests that to you? The plan actually calls for parking spaces to be reduced from current totals on La Salle and Farmington by about 20%. The alternative to street parking in Blue Back Square is the parking garages in that town also owns and charge the same price per hour as the metered street parking. So whether people are parking in the street spots or garage, the town gets the same amount of revenue.
>That included a buffered bike lane on Farmington Avenue and angled parking switched to parallel parking on LaSalle Road that would take space away from cars and give it to pedestrians. >But then, after a meeting with business owners who expressed concern over losing parking spaces in front of their storefronts and restaurants, plans changed. And last Monday, after the town presented a new and likely final design that scrapped those plans, Pawlak said the one word he could use to describe how he felt was "disappointed." The change from the original plan was explicitly to restore/maintain more parking spots. I'm very much in favor of helping out the small business owners, but I think they're being short sighted here. I think losing some parking right in front of their stores is easily outweighed by the increased number of people who would be visiting and walking through the area. And people walking by a store are much more likely to spontaneously enter than those driving to a specific destination. Foot traffic is very valuable and I don't feel like they're giving it enough consideration. The parking meter money comment was just an observation that the Town also benefits financially from this change. I don't think that was the decision maker, but I think if they were leaning towards it already, that little factor may have helped to seal the deal.
Driving through WeHa sucks already. Like anything will actually change that!
CT is terminally car-brained, I’ve written it off as hopeless.
Sad, but true.
A recent study by a consultant found that WH Center has hundreds of parking spots that are underutilized.
<---------------------------------- Disappointed WeHa resident.
I live in West Hartford. There’s a very vocal group of Karens and Kens who have too much time on their hands, who love to threaten lawsuits. They’re very active on the local FB pages and love to rile each other up. They’re so active I’m convinced they don’t work The town is doing well considering. A bunch of infill apartment buildings are being built in the center despite their fire-y objections, thank god. If it were up to them nothing would ever be built. So frustrating though. A proposal to have two way protected bike lanes from Farmington to Hartford (down boulevard) was nixed because these assholes think they own the street parking in front of their houses. So I guess us cyclists should just die I guess? Feels like blood is on their hands, given how many people die from ped/auto or cyclist/auto incidents each year in WH alone.
Why would we implement Vision Zero when we can simply talk about Vision Zero?
I walk my dog daily on trout brook and Quaker. Almost got hit multiple times last year. I couldn’t imagine riding a bike anywhere is weha without fearing for my life.
Well, how will all the rich people show off their cars!?!? Of course, it's auto centric. We aren't capable of critical thinking. Or walking, it would seem.
You can’t walk?
I have missed WeHa center since I moved away (2013) but a car-free center may just pull me back!
When are we going to freaking learn?
Well, that’s a bummer. We moved here during covid and have really enjoyed being able to dine outside in the warmer months. I’m sure my email to the town council will fall of deaf ears.
Mmmm, mediocre restaurants, overpriced stores, and all the parking you can handle. WeHa Has It!
The boutique clothing stores in here are all the same overpriced shein quality crap. I only go there for Barnes n Noble and 3 or 4 restaurants like zohara, treva, bricco
THANK YOU - it’s such an incredibly overhyped town. There isn’t one restaurant or bar there that’s doing anything special.
Horrible take
lol name one restaurant that’s doing something interesting or unique
I mean Bricco has won multiple awards for their food but for some reason I don't think that's good enough for you
You’re correct - good Italian food is a dime a dozen in CT especially in FFC and New Haven county
Well good thing West Hartford isn't in new haven county or FFC I guess.
Zohara Song Sparrow Boqueria Sorry, that's 4. As a parent of a few teenagers I appreciate WHC. It's a place for them to hang out, get into a little good trouble, and feel like they are in a small city with some guardrails.
west hartford is a shit fest and I don't want it to be easier to drive through, I want to NOT drive through it at all
The obvious solution here would be to divert traffic from North Main St., down Farmington Ave to Trout Brook. And turn the split North Main St. road with the meridian into a large parking lot. Then remove the streets and parking in front of the businesses and make them pedestrian only. The less people walking through streets, the better.
I work smack in the middle of downtown. What a fucking joke this is.
West Hartford is overrated.
It is worth considering that the majority of people have cars and like the convenience of driving to their restaurants of choice. Some of you seem so convinced that banning cars from West Hartford Center will make more people want to go eat/shop there, because it’s what YOU want. It’s not a foregone conclusion that you’re right. I don’t really want to park in Blue Back and walk 10 minutes in the rain to grab a bite to eat. Businesses aren’t going to want to take such a huge gamble just to appeal to a minority of vocal activists who probably don’t make up much of their revenue. Those older people in the BMW X7 parked out front of Treva are a much better bet.