(Read our statement from 2021 and let us know your thoughts about the needs of Five Points)
Our Vision. A safe, attractive, inviting, and accessible retail business area (stores and offices) in Five Points, which remains vital and resilient by serving the changing product and service needs of its resident neighbors and the larger community.
Our Purpose. The purpose of the Five Points Development Association (FPDA), as stated in its By Laws (incorporated in January 1986), is to promote the economic vitality of the business area in El Paso, Texas known as Five Points.
Our Method. We don’t intend to speculate, predict, nor dictate how Five Points will/should grow, what it will/should become, what it will/should look like. In short, we don’t intend to design or redesign it, primarily because of the inevitability of unpre-dictable change. Instead, we intend to protect the business area for the Quality of Life of its customer-neighbors (and the investment of its business and property stakeholders) by opposing any measure, which will likely hinder its ability to survive and prosper, and by supporting those measures, which will clearly help it to develop and prosper on its own for the foreseeable future. Our adopted motto remains: First, do no harm! So far, Five Points remains safe and accessible, if not sufficiently inviting, attractive and prosperous.
History of Cooperation. Since its incorporation in 1986, FPDA has worked with the city on several important core projects: relocating the headquarters of the El Paso Police Dept. to the then-vacant Sears Store; suggesting the location of the Five Points Transit Terminal at Montana between Cedar and Birch streets and formally dedicating it to the memory of Robert E. McKee; and, suggesting/promoting the railroad Quiet Zone. Unfortunately, it has also been necessary for us to oppose the city on several occasions when the wants of a few threatened the needs of the rest: defeating dedicated bike lanes on Piedras St. in 2003; the imposition of mandatory comprehensive Smart Codes in Five Points in 2013; the barricading of four streets between Piedras St. and Rosewood; the City Council approved 2016 Bike Plan; and the recently proposed narrowing of Piedras St. as part of Build 2020. Now, as efforts begin to update the subject Master Plan, we look forward to working with the city, and would like the following information about Five Points and Central El Paso to be known and taken into account by city planners. We regret that we were not included in the original Dover-Kohl Plan for El Paso.
BACKGROUND
Beginnings. The eastern-most city limits were extended to Piedras St. in 1891, about 130 years ago when there were only about 30,000 El Pasoans – and no zoning ordinances! Ten years later the rail line between El Paso and Tucumcari, NM was installed to distribute the products of local mining operations. In addition to mining, two other factors contributed to the initial success of Five Points: the military and the railroads. While we are fairly sure that there are some older buildings in Five Points, several remaining buildings on Piedras St. date back to the early 1920s, like the Stevens Bldg. at 801 N. Piedras, built in 1921, and the older one at 812 N. Piedras St.
Traditional Layout. Much of Five Points was developed in a traditional manner before formal zoning: rectangular city blocks, sidewalks, alleys, relatively wide, paved streets, zero to short (15 ft.) front setbacks, etc. Unfortunately, that original, desirable, traditional zoning did not prevent the decline of Five Points and its loss of families and businesses.
Blanket Rezoning. Then, for some unknown reason, sometime during the 1950s, the City Council shortsightedly rezoned most of Five Points (business properties and many homes!) to C-4 (heavy commercial) using conventional, suburban zoning rules!This blanket rezoning affected the character of the Five Points business area for the worse, and is responsible for the inappropriate and out-of-character metal building recently built at 2851 Pershing Drive and another further north at 2815 North Piedras.
Hollowing Out. While the City of El Paso has been growing, spreading, and increasing in population by about, but seldom exceeding, 2-percent per year for the last 60 years, Central El Paso, including Five Points, has been losing population at an average rate in excess of 1-percent per year! The household income of the remaining residents has also declined.
Loss of Schools. As proof of this hollowing out, we offer the fact that in the last ten years the El Paso Independent School District has threatened to close five area elementary schools: Alta Vista, Beall, Douglass, Houston, and Zavala, all within about one mile of Five Points! At least two, Alta Vista and Beall, have been closed or repurposed (Houston – twice) already. How will young families rebuild Central El Paso without schools?
Modes of Decline. Once-prominent, successful families began relocating to the Westside and Eastside in search of more space, peace, quiet, health, comfort, and less home maintenance; other families moved to newer homes, schools, churches and stores mostly on the growing Westside and Eastside; and, when other earlier family heads died, their families seldom returned. Much of the area had lost its attractiveness, if not its charm. Apparently, Five Points had gone from a good place to be to a good place to be from.
Migration. During and following the Chamizal Treaty between the U.S. and Mexico in the mid-1960s and the attendant net loss of about 600 acres of land (and thousands of homes!) to Mexico; those thousands of Chamizal area homeowners moved en masse into neighborhoods in and around Five Points with bags full of federal cash (they were paid replacement and relocation costs!) and easily purchased the newer, more expensive homes of the more successful sellers who, like birds of a feather, decided to follow their flock, sold and migrated, primarily to the Westside.
Businesses Followed. Eventually businesses left and followed their fleeing, wealthier resident-customers. Five Points’ economic prosperity probably peaked in the late 1950s. It was no longer vibrant in the mid-1960s. Some of the key businesses that left Five Points are: Sears, Montgomery Ward, Gunning-Casteel Drugstore, the Pershing Theater, The Peoples’ Emporium, The Second Hand Bookstore, Pat Goff’s Furniture and Appliances, Magnolia Coca Cola Bottling Co., Vista Market, Ashley’s Restaurant, Gillespie’s Steak House, the Empire Club, Cappetto’s Italian Restaurant, Price’s Ice Cream Shop, Kentucky Fried Chicken, and Baskin & Robbins.
Conversion Continues. To this day, single family homes continue to be converted to offices (primarily lawyers, accountants and government), retail stores (primarily bars and restaurants), residential rentals, and even a few wholesale businesses; Five Points and Central El Paso continue to be hollowed out.
Center of Five Points. While Five Points took its name from the intersection of Piedras St., Pershing Drive, and Elm St. (now closed), the nominal center of Five Points today is the intersection of its two most prominent streets, Montana Ave. and Piedras St.
CURRENT STATUS
Scope. Five Points is part of Central El Paso; it is not a remote island, separate, apart and unlike the rest of Central El Paso. It is a business area necessarily embedded in the surrounding residential neighborhoods, and sharing the several E-W avenues and Piedras St., one of the three main N-S streets (Cotton, Piedras and Copia).
Demarcation. While it may be difficult to plan all of Central El Paso, it may also be inappropriate to plan just the Five Points Business Area. It would seem to be more appropriate to address the impact of the larger area, an area we would like to call the Greater Five Points Community, or East Central, which could be defined as the area bounded by Altura Ave. on the north, I-10 on the south, Cotton on the west, and Copia on the east. We were tempted to include the area south to Texas-Alameda or Paisano, but the combination of I-10 and the UP railyards is just too much of an impenetrable barrier to communication and organization. Instead, perhaps it should be expanded to US 54 on the east and north to Fort Blvd. Surely, the total traffic network around and serving Five Points in every direction must be considered.
Land Use. In this proposed Greater Five Points Community there is a wide variety of activities and development from residential to retail, from heavy commercial to industrial dating from about 1900. Yet it is not truly a healthy community: it’s no longer family-friendly; it has only two elementary schools, a middle school (near Cotton), and no high school; it has very few, active, vibrant mainstream churches, and it probably does not meet 80 to 90-percent of the retail needs of its neighbors. Expanding its boundaries might help balance its character and usefulness.
Residential. The area north of the UP railroad tracks is almost entirely residential and contains four EPISD schools: Moreno and Crockett Elementary, Armendariz Middle School, and Raymond Telles Academy (formerly Houston Elementary). The area south of the railroad tracks is still predominantly residential (60 to 70%), but it continues to give way to commercial and office use. Wyoming and Tularosa streets are almost exclusively residential east of San Marcial. While residents enjoy the convenience of neighborhood shopping, they sometimes don’t appreciate the increased traffic, on-street parking, and after-hour noise generated by commerce, especially entertainment.
Retail/Office. There are three major retail areas located at the intersection of each of the three major N-S streets and Montana Ave. Piedras is unique among the three in that in Five Points some commercial properties face Piedras St. rather than Montana Ave. or another E-W street like Yandell or Wyoming. Montana Avenue is predominantly retail with only a few residences left. Retail stores dominate at its three key intersections (Cotton, Piedras and Copia), whereas numerous law offices, like Tanzy and Borrego, tax consultants, and accountants, like Romero’s Tax Service, prevail between these three major intersections. Piedras Street is predominantly residential north of the UP RR, including the Manhattan Heights Historic District, with only a few businesses like Gussie’s Bakery and the House of Pizza near Altura. Pershing Drive is populated with retail firms almost exclusively at Piedras and Copia, like the new ACE Hardware and up to two streets east, including the Pershing Inn, Dollar Tree, Italian Kitchen, and the Love Buzz.
Heavy Commercial. The majority of the wholesale and industrial businesses are located in the southwest quadrant of the area along Missouri and Wyoming avenues and include Price’s Dairies, Nova and Tecma. These types of businesses are valuable to the neighborhood for jobs; but, since they need very little walk-in traffic, they tend to be uninterested in community improvement or economic redevelopment.
Five Points Business Area (UP RR to I-10; San Marcial to Rosewood). Within its boundaries are a relatively few homes and many businesses, mostly retail stores and offices. Most of its businesses are located on Montana Avenue and Piedras St. Most of its homes are located in the southeast corner east of Raynor St., along Tularosa, Wyoming Ave, and Missouri Ave, and Yandell Dr. east of Cebada.
BENEFITS/STRENGTHS
Important Advantages. Five Points – and most of Central El Paso – enjoy several advantages that provide some vitality, resilience, and a glimmer of hope for future economic redevelopment. First, the area is centrally and conveniently located near major lines of communication: I-10 and U.S. 54. Second, it is conveniently situated equidistant from Downtown, the airport, Fort Bliss, the Zoo, UTEP, EPCC, Pill Hill, and the Medical Center of the Americas. Third, relatively low property values and rents make it affordable to start-up entrepreneurs. Finally, it remains relatively accessible to residents and customers via its ample E-W and adequate N-S streets.
CONCERNS/WEAKNESSES
Primary Concerns. In support of our purpose/mission, we have these primary concerns:
Change. In his 1925 Plan for El Paso (actually written before he died in 1923 (only a couple of years after the end of the 1918 Influenza Pandemic)), renowned landscape architect and city planner George Kessler could neither have anticipated nor predicted the technical, economic and social changes that were to come (superstores, nationalization, globalization, the internet, etc.), nor even those that happened in the next 25-years, before 1950: The Great Depression, WWII, television, and the exploding, liberating effects of the modern automobile on personal and economic freedom and mobility. Here are some other specific examples/effects of change, which make us wary of the success of any long-term plan.
Growth. While growth is a healthy thing for cities, it comes with a built-in poison pill: it can leave economic stagnation and blight in its wake. Unless a city has planned to build upward, like Manhattan, growth causes a wave of outward expansion fueled by the demand of both indigenous locals and new arrivals. Increased economic activity tends to accompany new growth at the city’s periphery, but at the expense of once-prosperous areas in the city’s inner core. Growth represents a cost for all city residents for new municipal infrastructure and services, unless municipal impact fees confine the cost to developers and their buyers, primarily. Sadly, this has been the fate of many inner city neighborhoods nationwide, including Central El Paso and Five Points.
Lifestyle/Migration. Westward, northeastward and primarily eastward expansion attracted the younger generations of Central El Paso families seeking new manufacturing jobs further east, peace, quiet, and more space in new, single-level, slab rambler homes, new air-conditioned schools and churches, and shopping malls were attractive to young families and returning WWII and Korean Conflict veterans and their spouses.
Greater Mobility. Residents were aided in their flight to the city’s expanding perimeter by the personal freedom and new-found mobility, reliability and comfort of the modern automobile, not the horse-drawn buggies, streetcars, buses, and jalopies used by their parents and grandparents. The new interstate highway system, namely I-10, arrived in the mid-60s and contributed immensely to the outward migration by making distant newly developing regions of El Paso easily accessible.
School Closings. Without schools to attract young families with children, all of Central El Paso could remain impervious to redevelopment efforts.
Businesses Leave. When the earlier, more successful families left Central El Paso, Five Points, and the neighborhoods to the north, east and west, the retail businesses eventually followed them, proving that poorer, follow-on replacement families could not support them as their predecessors once had done. It’s not an economically healthy sign when an area eventually attracts several versions of “Dollar” stores and thrift stores.
Rise of Superstores. It must be said that, in addition to the automobile, a great deal of the decline in neighborhood retail stores was due to another nationwide phenomenon: the rise of the large, national superstores like Sears, K-Mart, Gibson’s, Furrows, Cashway, Safeway, and later Walmart, Costco, Home Depot, Lowe’s, and Albertson’s. Neighborhood stores could not, and cannot, compete with their greater variety and lower prices. Furthermore, national stores, like Dean Foods (formerly locally-owned Price’s), Walgreens, O’Reilly Auto Parts, McDonald’s, and Burger King are growing in number and economic activity. Unfortunately for neighborhood organizations like FPDA, national stores are much less interested in neighborhood planning and development.
Growth of the Internet. The growing popularity of working from home and on-line shopping threatens the future of brick and mortar retail stores and offices. Still relatively safe at this time are places of entertainment (bars and restaurants), personal care facilities (beauty parlors, barber shops, massage and tattoo parlors, and medical offices), and a few other facilities like drugstores, and grocery stores. But, many other small retail stores can’t compete against Amazon and others in today’s shop on-line environment.
Declining Economic Health. Business is dependent upon customers. The declining economic health of its resident-neighbors, on which Five Points businesses are heavily dependent, is momentous. If the future of Five Points depends solely on its immediate neighbors, it may not survive, let alone prosper. Five Points needs a wealthier clientele drawn from a wider area, e.g., all of Central El Paso or most of El Paso.
Safety and Security. The continuing loss of residents threatens the safety and security of the business area and the surrounding neighborhoods, specifically the personal safety and property security of residents, employees and customers. Without residents’ “eyes on the streets” during and after business hours, people and property are more vulnerable to the criminal acts of strangers, especially gangs.
Attractiveness. Through a combination of quality, variety, prices, and customer service, i.e., value, Five Points businesses must attract, satisfy and retain neighborhood and regional customers. Furthermore, those same customers must not be turned off, or turned away, by unsafe conditions, unattractive visual clutter, uncomfortable surroundings (hot and unshaded), congestion, or lack of convenient parking.
Accessibility. Access refers to the ease and speed in getting to a place. It’s characterized by lack of interruptions, delays, and hassles. On the other hand, traffic congestion, frequent stops, and long traffic lines at lights and grade-level railroad crossings hinder accessibility. In order to be attractive any business area must remain accessible to customers, residents, employees, and service personnel arriving via all modes of transportation, with absolute priority (for the foreseeable future) to motorists arriving via cars, light trucks, and larger delivery trucks, and then only becoming pedestrians when they exit their vehicles.
Vehicle Parking. We should point out that restaurants, medical offices, drugstores, grocery stores, and bars with entertainment require more parking spaces than other retail establishments. Part of accessibility is sufficient, convenient parking spaces for arriving motorists. It seems clear that, off-street parking is most convenient and safe; and, on-street parking tends to be less safe, slows traffic, and limits traffic throughput (volume). Parallel parking seems the least safe, followed by traditional (back-out) angle parking, and, less-problematic reverse (back-in) angle parking.
Dedicated Bike Lanes. We strongly object to the conversion of shared (“Every Lane is a Bicycle Lane!”) vehicle traffic and parking lanes to dedicated (Bicycles Only!) bike lanes, which accommodate only those few cyclists exercising/recreating on the weekend, while restricting the use of streets, especially heavily trafficked streets, by working motorists for the entire week. Such conversions might reasonably be argued are a “taking” of the benefits and property value of residents and business and property owners.
PREPARATIONS
Prior to updating the Master Plan for Five Points, we request that city planners review and take into account the following studies/information/data:
Street Infrastructure/Traffic Survey. It appears to us that Cotton, Piedras and Copia streets are all about 50 to 60 feet wide (curb-to-curb) with 10 foot sidewalks/parkways, use five traffic lanes (one of which is a left turn lane), generally don’t allow on-street parking, have posted speed limits of 30 mph (same as residential streets!), and have traffic lights at every intersection (Copia has about one-half as many). Montana generally conforms to these characteristics, but has far fewer traffic lights, no left-turn lanes, and allows parallel parking on each side. Surprisingly, the speed limit on Arizona, Rio Grande and Grant, all residential streets, is 35 mph! It would be very helpful if planners researched, verified and presented street profiles, street ROW widths, numbers and types of traffic lanes, lane widths, sidewalk widths, speed limits, and the location of street lights and stop signs on major streets throughout the study area.
Traffic Volume Data. We sense that traffic volumes (vehicles per hour) have increased in recent years. Due to the COVID restrictions and their reduction on traffic, now is not the time to collect accurate traffic volume data, but it might be prudent to obtain and evaluate the most recent data for Cotton St., Copia St., Piedras St, Montana Ave., Pershing Drive, and Raynor St., in that order, before making decisions that will affect accessibility to Five Points businesses and resident neighborhoods to the north and south.
Accident Data. CID personnel obtained traffic accident data from EPPD for Piedras Street in conjunction with their proposal to reduce Piedras St. from five lanes to three between Missouri Ave. and Pershing Drive. Their presentation only showed two “hot spots” at Yandell Drive and Pershing Drive, not accident data, without reporting likely causes, e.g. speeding, DUI, inattention, etc. We think more data are needed to draw accurate conclusions about vehicle and pedestrian safety of Piedras St. in its current, long-term configuration. Any significant street profile modifications (like “street diets”) to Piedras St. (or Cotton and Copia) will likely alter traffic patterns in Central El Paso, and should be done reluctantly and with great care.
On-Street Parking Study. A parking study for Five Points was conducted by the Planning Dept. within the last several years. The result of that study was that some parallel parking spaces should be converted to diagonal (angle) parking on some side streets in order to increase on-street parking spaces in Five Points by 275 spaces. That study should be reviewed and considered.
Sun Metro brio Plan. Sun Metro intends that the Robert E. McKee Five Points Transit Terminal will be the hub for three brio express bus lines: Dyer, Montana, and Alameda. Their 60-foot-long, articulated buses will use Pershing Drive, Montana Ave., Tularosa Ave., Yandell Drive, Raynor St., and Piedras St.
2016 Bicycle Plan. The City Council approved a surreptitious and uncoordinated, but very comprehensive, Bicycle Plan in August 2016 that promises adverse ramifications for Cotton, Piedras and Copia Streets and every East-West street in Central El Paso and Five Points. FPDA was not consulted in the discussions that led-up to the approval of the Bike Plan; it was passed without our knowledge, discussion or support. If we had known about the Bike Plan we would surely have opposed much, if not all, of it.
Street Diet: Piedras St. (Build 2020). As indicated earlier, we are not all convinced that narrowing Piedras St. from five traffic lanes to three, with two parallel parking lanes (one on each side), is a prudent change that will improve the economic vitality and safety of Five Points and preserve the accessibility of our resident-neighbors to the north. Piedras St. traffic is already controlled by a 30 mph speed limit and seven traffic lights (one at every cross street!) in the less than one-half-mile stretch between the UP RR tracks and I-10. Without sufficient justification, only colorful photos of reported successes elsewhere, and without our support, CID has requested federal funding for this project. We are on record with the Dept. of Transportation as opposing the project until we are convinced that traffic to and through Five Points will not be adversely affected. In the absence of relevant traffic data we proposed conducting a one-month test of CID’s proposed new, narrowed street profile by artificially narrowing Piedras St. using barricades as outlined in the City’s recently announced Sun City Safe Pilot Program.
Widening I-10 Downtown (Build 2020). TxDOT plans to widen I-10 Downtown from three to five lanes each way and to create high-speed multi-modal frontage roads (at least on the north side of I-10). The sum of these measures will tend to shift the I-10 ROW north by at least 50 feet and appears to require the acquisition of private properties on Missouri Ave. and Gateway Blvd. West from Downtown to Copia, and perhaps beyond. If true, the effect of this project will be to narrow Five Points by 120 feet (depth of lots) and remove dozens of properties from tax-paying, commercial roles.
The Union Pacific Iron Curtain. With the creation of the Union Pacific Railroad Quiet Zone in 2013, and the closing/barricading of all N-S streets between Piedras St. and Rosewood St., an iron curtain descended over Five Points separating its residents north of the rail line from bus lines and the business area. The city should not have closed those streets! In order to qualify as a federally-recognized Quiet Zone it was totally unnecessary, by Federal Railroad Administration requirements, to close any streets to through traffic, let alone erect an anti-personnel fence on its north side. The city caved to pressure from the UP Railroad in order to acquire UP land Downtown needed to build the ballpark. We were not consulted about the final form of the Quiet Zone. That 6’ fence should come down before the UP demands that razor wire be added to the top of it!
Live-Work Flex Units. It was a mistake in 2008 for the city to allow commercial building owners to live in their buildings when they are in a commercial zone, and then encourage them to expect the benefits of peace and quiet enjoyed by those living in a residential area! If such owners choose to live in their commercial buildings they should not retain the privilege of complaining about the noises, smells and lights characteristic of commercial zones, especially those with entertainment venues.
RECOMMENDATIONS
Rezone Five Points with a business-friendly hybrid overlay that approaches Smart Codes, but makes allowances for its as-built improvements, street-widths, lack of off-street parking and landscaping, etc. Such an overlay has been delayed since City Council directed that Five Points stakeholders be offered a hybrid overlay within 90 days of our objection to the imposition of Smart Codes at City Council back in June 2013.
Optimize Traffic and Parking. Using the traffic data discussed above, and/or the proposed test of narrowing Piedras St., and in coordination with the Street Dept., city planners should attempt to optimize traffic flow and parking, and improve traffic safety in Five Points, and the larger study area proposed earlier. Following these efforts, it might be possible to address several of our concerns:
Revisit the 2016 Bike Plan in Central El Paso. It is unjust to withdraw vehicular traffic and parking lanes from businesses and residents and convert them to dedicated recreational use solely by transient, non-resident, weekend bikers. The only justification presented for the approved Bike Plan is that the affected streets did not yet have dedicated bike lanes, not that they were needed. The presence of bikers in Central El Paso below Grant Avenue remains rare – even on weekends.
Justify the Street Diet on Piedras St. The city should either justify its proposal with relevant data and information, conduct the one-month street narrowing test we suggested in our letter to the DOT, or withdraw its request for applying a “street diet” to Piedras St. and creating a three-lane “bottleneck” from Missouri Ave. to Pershing Drive. The City has presented no convincing evidence that narrowing the street will improve economic vitality nor improve safety. Right before and during WWII, Piedras St. had parking on at least its west side, but it was removed in about 1945 to reduce traffic congestion. Without convincing evidence, we will not support narrowing Piedras St. again.
Municipal Parking Garage. We have expressed the view to the City for the past several years that the Five Points Business Area needs more parking and that a municipal parking garage similar to the one at Glory Road and Oregon St. should be built to replace the two-story EPPD parking garage that has just been demolished. As the dirt work nears completion to convert the land to a ground-level parking lot, we repeat our request supported by the conviction that the Sun Metro Five Points Transit Terminal, the hub for three brio lines, could benefit from a Park and Ride facility. And, we see no reason why privately owned retail stores would not be feasible on the ground floor of such a facility.
EPPD Headquarters and Maintenance Facility. With the decision to relocate EPPD Headquarters and nearby Maintenance Facility on either side of Raynor at Montana Avenue, the City must determine how to dispose of its buildings and land parcels. There are several local firms, like RJL and MIMCO, which surely have a better informed opinion of their highest and best use, level of risk, and current and future value than either we or City planners have. Regardless of their final use, we would prefer ownership by a private commercial entity with personal “skin in the game” rather than public ownership. If feasible, a quality grocery store would be high on our list of needed retail stores.
Other Infrastructure Improvements. In order to make Five Points more attractive and inviting and improve its Quality of Life, we recommend the following improvements.
Street Trees. Install street trees on key streets for the environment, shade and aesthetics. Five Points streets remain mostly void of any natural materials like trees, plants and shrubs that absorb CO2, shade, cool and soften the hard, regular man-made lines of buildings, road signs, and overhead utility lines. If the current sidewalks are not wide enough to accommodate trees, we might entertain the idea of widening them by up to four (4) feet on each side. Once established, drought-resistant trees could be watered by grate-covered, curb cuts at each tree well for their long-term survival.
Install Vintage Lighting. Install decorative, dark-sky, vintage lighting on key streets like Piedras and Montana.
Identify Five Points. Identify the Five Points Business Area with arches, freeway frontage road signs, and street monuments at appropriate intersections.
Install Sidewalk Safety Barriers. To enhance the safety of pedestrian and outside diners, especially on Piedras St, we recommend installing attractive concrete planters between street trees rather than by converting traffic lanes to parallel parking lanes.
Bury Utility Lines. If the City determines that it must widen sidewalks to install street trees, we request that overhead utility lines be buried under the street or sidewalk in order to greatly reduce the visual clutter that has accumulated for 100+ years.
Fund Property Facelifts. Several buildings on Piedras St. appear just as they did when they were built a century ago. We request that the city locate and provide funds for facelifts for commercial properties in Five Points, beginning with the building that houses Coconuts and Deweys at 812 N. Piedras St. In addition, the rusting, rat-infested Magnolia Coca Cola Bottling Plant at 2701 Wyoming should be registered as a Vacant Building, made safe and secure, and either improved for imminent commercial activity, or the city should encourage the owner to sell or lease the building to someone who will use it.
Convert Yandell Drive from One-Way West to Two-Way: Birch to Cotton streets. One-way streets do not serve retail businesses well; they make it more difficult for customers to find their destination. When we questioned the Street Dept. about this conversion about 15 years ago, we were told that it would be too costly in terms of signage and striping; yet, a one-block portion of Yandell Dr. was converted to two-way to allow brio buses access to Piedras Street from Birch! Furthermore, Monroe and Van Buren streets were recently converted to two-way between Piedras St. and Dyer St. without bankrupting the city. Apparently it depends on who asks.
Convert Grant Avenue from One-Way East to Two-Way: Piedras to Rosewood. Southbound motorists on Piedras St. have no easy option of getting to I-10 when a train is crossing Piedras St. If Grant Avenue were converted from one-way east to two-way between Piedras and Rosewood (about one-half mile), then southbound Piedras traffic could access Arizona at Rosewood via Grant Avenue.
Tear Down That Wall! Or at least open it up and allow pedestrian traffic through it! Even though there are no through streets further east (between Piedras and Copia St.), neither is there an ugly fence. In addition to at least opening the fence at every street, the city should rebuild sidewalks across UP RR tracks at four closed streets to provide walkability and wheel chair access between Five Points and its resident neighbors to the north.
Temper Live-Work Flex Unit Expectations. Those owners of commercial buildings who choose to live in their building for security or convenience or whatever must not be allowed, or encouraged, to expect to enjoy the peace and quiet and comfort of living in a residential area. Revise appropriate city ordinances to reflect that reality.