Tuesday, June 19, 2012

Making Harmony Street into a parking lot that’s impassable at least twice a week.


The Coatesville City Council is considering making Harmony Street into a parking lot with access one-way east from 1st Avenue to 3rd Avenue. Harmony Street is now a two way street with parallel parking spaces. 

It would have angled spaces.

I don’t think anyone considered the businesses that use Harmony Street or access of police vehicles to the west end of Coatesville by way of 1st Avenue.

About twice a week a tractor-trailer truck parks in back of Chertok’s Furniture Store on Harmony Street to deliver furniture.

Look at this Google Maps link. Look at Harmony Street in back of Chertok's store. Zoom in to get a close look.  Look at the angled parking at the Coatesville City Hall lot. Visually transfer the angled parking spaces to Harmony Street and then imagine a tractor-trailer truck parked behind right them.
How much chance would the people parked in those spaces have of moving their vehicles out? It looks like a tractor-trailer truck would have a very tight fit with angled parking.

So with vehicles parked diagonally at least 2 times a week Harmony Street could be impassable for about 2 hours each day. And anyone parked behind Chertok's store would be stuck there 2 times a week for about 2 hours. 

The Coatesville Army Navy Store also has a lot on Harmony Street. Making Harmony one way restricts access to that lot.

Making Harmony Street one way would force Coatesville Police to use 3rd Avenue to get to 1st Avenue and Lincoln Highway and Coatesville’s west end. In a one hour period I once counted 10 police vehicles going what would be the wrong way on Harmony Street. 

The idea of making Harmony Street one way with angled parking for Lincoln University Students that might be here someday maybe, is nuts.

You can see three cars parked on Harmony Street in the Google Maps photo. The parking is free. The
meters haven't worked for a decade. Three cars are normally parked on Harmony Street. We might get Lincoln University students but they would probably rather park near the proposed school we might get that's 3 blocks away.

And there is also a lot at the southeast corner of 3rd Avenue and Harmony Street that I believe has not been considered.

It's hard enough for retail Coatesville businesses to put up with armed robberies. And the constant threat of another armed robbery.  It would be nice to get Lincoln University here but that's a possibility. If you make Harmony Street into a parking lot that could be the last straw that gets businesses to leave Coatesville. Making Harmony Street into a parking lot is nuts.  

1 comment:

  1. The question for retail store owners in Coatesville is not wether you will be robbed at gunpoint, it's wether you will live through it. Don't make it harder to have a store in Coatesville!

    ReplyDelete

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