sidewalk solution
Brent Finnegan -- January 10th, 2007
The DNR’s server seems to be falling apart, so this link may not work, but the gist is that the sidewalk beside Finnigan’s Cove (between Water Street and Court Square) will be fixed this spring and reopened this summer. The city is supposed to pay for half of the $200,000 repairs, while Randall See, who owns the old Spanky’s building, would pay the other half.
hburgnews has been tracking the sidewalk saga since July. TM wrote about it again in August and October, when unknown individuals took it upon themselves to reopen the sidewalk to pedestrians. It’s been closed for nine months already, and since it’s not supposed to be re-opened until summer, that makes for a total of 14 months without a walkway there.
This solution comes not a moment too soon, considering that several businesses in that area recently received facade enhancement grants from the Harrisonburg Downtown Renaissance (whose website also seems to be down this week).
-finnegan
It’s about damn time.
In somewhat related news, going back to those old hburgnews posts, I noticed that the contractors redoing the Water St. parking garage were on a fixed time contract with an end date of Nov. 17th. I’m pretty sure they were still (are still?) working on it at that point. Guess they’ll be paying the penalty?
Drove by the deck today and it looks like all work is done. I can’t say whether they were working on it after Nov. 17th though. Looking forward to a shorter walk around DT… once the weather warms up.
So is everyone who works downtown. Mayor Eagle called it “a hindrance” and city manager Roger Baker said “we’ve become pretty dependent on it.”
I’m sure the folks at the Downtown Renaissance were getting frustrated, too.
As for the parking deck, ever since the construction started, I’ve gotten in the habit of parking on Court Square, or in the lot off of Newman, so I haven’t noticed.
I heard this evening that the deck is not really finished. Apparently they are going to have to close Water Street one more time as things are being done in sections. Hope that’s not true, but I wouldn’t be shocked. Looking forward to both being done so that nearby businesses are not impacted and so I can get to the farmer’s market this spring!
It’s open and beau t ful ! (Kai, I am upset that you crossed it first. I was 30 minutes behind the times).