reminder: a modest stretch of capitol hill will be closed to traffic today
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“Car-free Sundays” start today in Capitol Hill today in the form of four blocks of 14th Avenue and a stretch of the loop in Volunteer Park being closed to motorists. [times] Although I disagree with the characterization of that street as a “major thoroughfare”, this relatively safe choice for a first attempt at turning a road over to pedestrians, cyclists, and “chalk artists” for a day should make for a nice little free-form festival atmosphere on one of the lingering days of summer. It coincides with a Peace Concert in the park from noon to 6 pm [craigslist].
We can hope that this summer’s experiment is so wildly successful that next time the Mayor will try something bolder, on the scale of Bloomberg’s closure of five miles Park Avenue in NYC on three August Sundays [nyt]. I’m not sure what those streets would be — maybe Broadway, Fairview, or Elliott — any nominations for drastic short-term long-distance closures?
A lot of people didn’t get the memo–they’ve been towing cars for the past three hours. I’m not sure how successful the event will be with people who didn’t check that No Parking sign more closely.
Oh no. Wow. I can’t believe that they’re towing cars away. And now it’s raining on the car-free parade. Not a very auspicious start to this experiment.
The rain seems to have discouraged all the would-be chalk artists, at least judging from what I saw today. Reports of people who couldn’t get their car started, in a race against time and the metermaids…
I was in that area yesterday, and the one thing that no one warned about is that 14th wasn’t the only closed street. I went to visit a friend on Malden (between 14th and 15th) and had to dodge around barricades to get to her house. There were "street closed" signs on Malden, and residents were having to move the barricades to get in and out.
Note to the city: please make the detour info available as well next time you have a Sunday afternoon street closure.