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http://thenewsdispatch.com/main.asp?Sectio...ArticleID=23140

City to scale back upgrades to Franklin

Laurie Wink
The News-Dispatch

MICHIGAN CITY - The Michigan City Redevelopment Commission opted Monday to scale back repairs in Franklin Square, but voted to pay for plants to beautify the area.

City planning director John Pugh recommended a previously discussed Franklin Square "face lift," as he called it, be restricted to between $200,000 and $250,000 because of "financial considerations." He requested Tim Haas of Haas and Associates revise engineering plans to include only the area from Fourth to Ninth streets, and to put milling and paving work on hold for another year.

Haas was asked to revise the plan he prepared for Monday's meeting and come back to the June 8 commission meeting. It will address repairing curbing and sidewalks, tree grates and making the area comply with Americans with Disabilities Act requirements.

In April, Pugh said conditions on Franklin Square were deteriorating and should not be put off. They were postponed last year while Haas & Associates made a study of options for converting Franklin Square from one-way to two-way traffic. The decision was tabled when cost estimates came in at $619,000.

Now, Haas said, the costs of basic repairs on Franklin Square has jumped some $60,000 to $369,000 because of increased paving costs.

Commissioners Mike Kniola and Lynn Kaser wanted to table all repairs until the traffic flow issue is resolved.

"We should address the 500-pound gorilla in the room before we do any further work on Franklin," Kniola said.

Kaser agreed Franklin Street repairs should not be considered until a final traffic-flow decision is made. But commission President Ken Behrendt said by not doing milling and paving, the decision on traffic flow remains open-ended.

"I think consideration of Franklin Street (traffic flow) will be part of the master development," Behrendt said.

Kaser disagreed.

While the Franklin Square traffic flow issue goes back and forth, the Redevelopment Commission agreed to give $52,400 to the Michigan City Preservation and Education Foundation to revitalize downtown planters. The allocation covers the costs of enhancing the soil, selecting and placing a mix of perennials and annuals and maintaining them.

Foundation board members Tim Bietry and Jim Jaksa asked commissioners for a one-time payment to jump-start the project with Lakeshore Landscaping, Valparaiso. The company will guarantee the plants for two years.

Bietry said Lakeshore Landscaping already maintains city planters from 11th Street to Coolspring Avenue, as well as the Horizon Bank location on Fifth Street.

He said previous efforts to have Mainstreet Association businesses maintain the planters has not been successful. Under the current plan, downtown businesses would pay a share of the annual cost of $11,000 for Lakeshore Landscaping to maintain the planters.

Commission member Ed Bigda was concerned about awarding a contract without getting bids, and said a lot of money already has been put into the planters.

"Way over $100,000 has been spent in the 10 years I've been (on the board)," Bigda said. He agreed to the payment because the foundation agreed to take over after the initial investment is made.

Bietry said the contractor was ready to go once a formal meeting is held with downtown merchants.

Bietry said the impetus for the downtown planting project came from last year's visit by the America in Bloom judges. The problem was, the plants were put in for the judges, then not maintained. This time, he says, "They'll be very colorful and splashy."

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Contact Laurie Wink at lwink@thenewsdispatch.com.

[Homey]

Too bad the merchants can't find it in their hearts to maintain the planters. Reminds me of our civic pride issues again!

I hope the leaders stop chasing after their tails and get with the program. The public has spoken, the studies have been studied, and here we still sit. Poop or get off the pot!!!

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http://thenewsdispatch.com/main.asp?Sectio...ArticleID=23157

Franklin Square
Redesign is needed

Editorial

Reconstructing Franklin Square every so many years has been a favorite sport of Michigan City government leaders. First a pedestrian mall was tried in the 1970s, after the downtown retail district had succumbed to Marquette Mall.

That didn't help generate foot traffic, and city leaders figured they'd reopen the street to vehicles and see if that solved the dormancy. It was an improvement, but Franklin Square - the area from Fifth to Ninth streets, remains somewhat charming but largely underused and underdeveloped.

The Michigan City Redevelopment Commission, which is in charge of finding a solution to Franklin Square's woes every generation or so, has been rethinking this four-block stretch of street. Members have found a lot wrong with the configuration of the reopened Franklin Street, with its one-way-north traffic pattern, angle parking, and irregular curb, meant to add to the area's charm.

But the charm wore off quickly and the reaction to the second iteration of Franklin Square was a stifled yawn, interrupted, if you were driving, by the occasional "rumble strip" of decorative bricks across the street.

So here we are some 40 years later, and the Redevelopment Commission is still seeking the elusive key to returning Franklin Square to a hustle and bustle anything remotely resembling the excitement of downtown Michigan City in the 1950s and 1960s.

But rebuilding Franklin Street could take anywhere from $200,000 for a face lift to more than $600,000 to return it to two-way traffic, and the Commission isn't leaping ahead with either idea just yet.

Nor should it. And it probably ought to save the $52,000 it's going to spend on planters this year and put the money toward the major renovation that needs to come.

Four decades later, these officials should be completely sure that the next redesign of Franklin Square is one for the ages.

Our Opinion:
The Issue:

Franklin Square hasn't been rejuvenated despite various ideas.

Our Opinion:

Let's be sure the next redesign is for the ages.