Old buildings in an historic district can be exempted from some of the more onerous new codes that make rehab so expensive. The council should begin by conducting an inventory of empty upper stories downtown and finding out why they are vacant, case by specific case. A reinvigorated city planning office reporting to a new mayor should be given this job. Yes folks, we need more density. It is an important distinction.
Streets cluttered with tractor-trailer truck traffic are bad.
Speaking of which, the new city council will have to come to grips with the truck bypass issue . This means getting those goshdarn 18-wheel monsters off our streets. Civitas proposes that while the council works to establish a bypass, the Public Safety department aggressively inspect and, if necessary, ticket for safety infractions those big trucks that are passing through town without stopping here to make deliveries. In the meantime, a municipality has a right to defend itself. Civitas also proposes that the city defy the State DOT by re-establishing diagonal parking on Broadway, which would have the beneficial effects both of calming traffic and providing more Broadway parking spaces.