Letters to the Editor for Wednesday, May 8

Bottleneck downtown will endanger safety

I guess the city has decided to take down the wrought iron fence to allow one lane of traffic each way and parallel parking. You are making a very huge mistake. Let me explain.

Merging into one lane will bottleneck traffic and cars will go a different direction, Stewart Street most likely. Many people do not know how to parallel park and this will cause more backed up traffic. After parking, which might be across from where they plan to go, the people will cross the street from where they parked. That means they run across and hope cars stop. Another delay ... and possibly they will get hit by a car.

For all the many times that I have been downtown to eat, gamble or visit the farmers market I have never had a problem finding a parking space. I like it the way it is now, and when the first person gets hit by a car I will say, “I told you so.” Good luck with your poor decision.

Pam Perondi

Carson City

Test narrower street before taking action

Twenty eight years ago when my husband and I moved to Carson City, I learned never to drive down Carson Street because of the number of cars traveling through the downtown corridor. I understand what various business groups and the Board of Supervisors are trying to accomplish, to create a welcoming area where pedestrians can safely walk and shop. Sounds like a great idea, but I’m not sure it’s going to happen.

The city should not do anything until the bypass is complete. Why not create a pedestrian mall through a portion of the downtown corridor? If we created an inner city bypass, say by using Stewart Street to divert cars and actually bricked in the street starting from Fifth Street to the Nugget, you could have a pedestrian mall that could feature outdoor areas, cafes, etc. Drivers wouldn’t have to be concerned about pedestrians crossing the streets without looking. We would need one or two high-rise parking structures on either side of Carson Street for parking. Government will have to add incentives to small businesses to open downtown.

Why don’t we run an experiment before doing anything? Close off two lanes without parking and see what happens? Now imagine people stopping traffic to parallel park.

I would love to have Carson City change into a downtown that invites people in, gives us a place to socialize and shop. I hope that our city fathers will spend some time investigating the notions before jumping into spending money we don’t have!

Ilona Strull

Carson City