What about traffic?
I'm very surprised the no one brought up traffic issues with the new Harbour waterfront project. When Mercy Hospital makes a peep about building something, that is the first issue to come up. Even when The Cloisters neighbors wanted to put in a traffic light, that was the issue, backed up traffic. But with the new waterfront project, which is hoping to bring in thousands of people a day, no one brings up traffic.
We are told that South Bayshore will be widened by a lane and of course SW 27 Avenue is being renovated, but SW 27 is done already in that area and it's a bottle neck into the waterfront area.
Coconut Grove will never be the same once this huge project is complete. The goal should be to keep the current traffic that Scotty's and the other businesses bring to the area now. That does not cause traffic tie-ups and traffic actually flows now.
Another concern is the Center Grove. Why aren't the merchants concerned? As I stated before, some are not even aware of what is going on, but I am going to walk around and take a survey as to their feelings. None will want to speak on the record, but I can gauge a consensus as to whether they feel their businesses will be affected.
I can see it now, the big red buses will stop right at the new chrome and glass structure on the water, by passing the Center Grove, and even if they stop in the Center Grove, who will get off the bus as all the tourists will have already departed on the waterfront.
Will people go to The Harbour and then venture in the Center Grove? For years we have been trying to get all the regatta people to do that. There are dozens of boaters who come into town for regattas for six months a year, most stay on the waterfront and don't venture into the Center Grove. A few years ago, Sail the Grove, a group created to get the regatta visitors to the Center Grove tried everything to get the sailors into the Center Grove. Only a handful came to visit. So what makes us believe that people will drive to The Harbour, have lunch, shop around and they say, let's check out the other part of the Grove. I don't see it.
I do see lots of traffic. Lots. Since the project is in the same line as Mercy Hospital and The Cloisters, it will be a mess. And all you who live along SW 27 Avenue and Bird Avenue, get ready for traffic on your streets. Lots of it.
We are told that South Bayshore will be widened by a lane and of course SW 27 Avenue is being renovated, but SW 27 is done already in that area and it's a bottle neck into the waterfront area.
Coconut Grove will never be the same once this huge project is complete. The goal should be to keep the current traffic that Scotty's and the other businesses bring to the area now. That does not cause traffic tie-ups and traffic actually flows now.
Another concern is the Center Grove. Why aren't the merchants concerned? As I stated before, some are not even aware of what is going on, but I am going to walk around and take a survey as to their feelings. None will want to speak on the record, but I can gauge a consensus as to whether they feel their businesses will be affected.
I can see it now, the big red buses will stop right at the new chrome and glass structure on the water, by passing the Center Grove, and even if they stop in the Center Grove, who will get off the bus as all the tourists will have already departed on the waterfront.
Will people go to The Harbour and then venture in the Center Grove? For years we have been trying to get all the regatta people to do that. There are dozens of boaters who come into town for regattas for six months a year, most stay on the waterfront and don't venture into the Center Grove. A few years ago, Sail the Grove, a group created to get the regatta visitors to the Center Grove tried everything to get the sailors into the Center Grove. Only a handful came to visit. So what makes us believe that people will drive to The Harbour, have lunch, shop around and they say, let's check out the other part of the Grove. I don't see it.
I do see lots of traffic. Lots. Since the project is in the same line as Mercy Hospital and The Cloisters, it will be a mess. And all you who live along SW 27 Avenue and Bird Avenue, get ready for traffic on your streets. Lots of it.
posted by Tom Falco at 10:00 AM
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6 Comments:
Thanks for pointing this out. It has concerned me, but so far I haven't seen the plans for widening South Bayshore. How far will it extend? What will be the impact on property owners along the right of way? What will be the impact on Kennedy Park?
I suppose that any widening project is going to create a huge eminent domain headache. Is that process underway?
We runners, bikers and walkers already take a big risk going down S. Bayshore Drive yet it remains a major route for running , biking and walking. This will just make it ,more dangerous. Great can't wait and thx for pointing this out! We all get to vote in November please everyone vote "NO"!!!!! Build a community center, bike/runner lane and leave our grove alone! (I thought they couldn't expand S. Bayshore?) They always say that when asked by us bikers/runners?
I don't understand why everyone is so against this project. The problem with the Center Grove is the astonishingly high rental rates they are charging. If businesses cannot afford to pay the owner of Cocowalk, why not give them a different place in the Grove to go to?
I've eaten at Chart House numerous times and the food has gone downhill dramatically and while Scotty's is enjoyable it's not amazing. Food is just okay, service is sub par, the only thing it really has going for it is live music and a view. As long as something is put in there with outdoor seating and roughly the same pricing I'm okay with it.
Times are changing and while I love the small town feel of this beautiful village, we need to change with them or it will become a ghost town.
Traffic was the first thing I mentioned to a friend who lives in the Grove. I kiddingly said--you think you have trouble getting down US1 now? You won't be able to get out of your neighborhood if this thing passes.
Good comment about the rents in the Grove. Building owners are very shortsighted with the price of the rents. Empty storefronts aren't particularly profitable.
Us merchants here in the grove are not concerned because if the grove doenst pick up we will break are leases and move shop to the new mall in a heart beat.i speak for us all when i say we are fed up with high rent and no help in bringing people here.parking should have been free long time ago for starters.now there messing with are big events too.NO WAY!!!!!!!!!
Simply put, I think the Grove has bigger problems to solve than this and other questions to ask. Why is it that its so hard for businesses to strive in the Grove? Why is it so hard to get get anything done in the Grove? Why is everyone so bitter about sharing the Grove? We want people to come yet we have all these conditions about who we do and don't want.
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