VIRGINIA STREET CLOSING OFF THE TABLE
Other streetscape projects are scrapped, too

After all the going back and forth and heated arguments and even a petition going around town against it, the controversial plan to close Virginia Street at one end and turn it into a plaza has been killed. A big sigh of relief has been heard all around the Grove this morning.

At last night's Village of Center Grove (VOCG) meeting, held at the Sailing Club, District 2 Commissioner Marc Sarnoff told the group that the proposed closing of Virginia Street permanantly, will not happen. "It's off the table," repeated Sue McConnell, president of VOCG. Most residents and businesses were against this, feeling that Virginia Street is a main artery in and out of the Center Grove.

There was talk, and a meeting recently to discuss putting in a traffic circle at the corner of Mary and Grand, that is off the table and the large proposed streetscape change, is also not happening. All of these projects, which had people concerned for such a long time are not to be now, which is a big relief to many. One major project had the major streets like Grand Avenue and Main Highway being turned into one way streets, which would have made it quite difficult to navigate the Center Grove. This proposal was brought before the public almost a year ago and many have been concerned about the weird traffic pattern changes, which would affect the Center Grove in a big way.

Traffic would be rerouted and one way streets would be hard on auto traffic, while being a good thing for pedestrians. But in auto-heavy South Florida, this could have caused major traffic back ups. It would just turn the Grove into something strange.

So all the major projects that were brought up in the past six months will not happen. Most residents don't want them and the County doesn't feel most are worth funding. It was a lot of stress on a lot of people for nothing. We're still not sure why it was all necessary -- any of it.

Part of the big project was to widen sidewalks and the BID (Business Improvement District) is talking about doing that still, which would remove 18 parking spaces, to allow for more pedestrian friendly sidewalks -- the sidewalks would be widened into where the parking spaces are. They want to do this at Greenstreets, Lulu's, American Apparel and Main Highway, near Le Bouchon. This will allow for easier foot traffic. David Collins of the BID said that they will replace the parking spaces in other areas, through other methods.

Some new projects planned, which have nothing to do with the streetscape are the addition of new work-out equipment at Kennedy Park and also at Myers Park, which will be installed right after the Coconut Grove Arts Festival, which is February 19-21. There was talk of turning Myers Park into a year-long sculpture garden, that could still happen even with the work-out equipment, but that is probably years down the road anyway.