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Originally Posted by ThreeHundred
I don't mean to hijack but owell.
Riverside could very well have a downtown that could resemble Pasadena but alot of the city planners are retarded. The Main Street Promenade is devoid of any sort of retail sans a Tamale Factory and some weird novetly stores that sells medievl crap. In a ideal world, they would convert those empty buildings into some sort of SOMETHING. This is what Main Street SHOULD look like:
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I definitely agree, the mall is horridly underused. The main problem is, the City Council and Planning Division are basically accused of totalitarianism by the misguided individuals who would like to see Downtown remain a hodgepodge of antiques stores and empty storefronts.
An effort needs to be made to maintain the current eclectic retailers that rent on Main, but we need national, big retail - coupled with the coming housing - to breathe life into DT Rside.
Just this week, Council approved plans to renovate the pedestrian mall to include a civic plaza, seasonal ice rink, updated landscaping, actually coherent paving, decorative bollards, statues, and a whole slew of new stuff, basically the only things that will stay where they are the statues and trees.
So change is in the works in more places than are evident.
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One other problem I have with downtown Riverside is the Metrolink station. There is so much area to build more restraunts, and even some condo units. There is a Applebees, and down the way sits a Spagetti Factory and a few other restraunts.
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Though they're still in very, very conceptual stations, two rather large TOD's are in the works at both of Riverside's Metrolink stations, the larger and more intensive of which is Downtown - it basically includes the whole Marketplace plus some of the ghetto around Hunter Park, very exciting, trust. Those old depots and huge packinghouse? The city wants to see those converted into live/work lofts. When I get back to the office Monday, I'll snag some renderings and put them up and hope I don't get fired. haha.
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But Downtown Riverside is starting to change for the better. On the north side of downtown where old auto repair shops and long empty houses once sat are going to make way for Raincross Promenade. Raincross Promenade will have 250 units on 2 blocks.
Down the street, m'sole is underway with 125 units:
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Very true. Dirt is moving for Raincross Promenade, and m solé pads are being poured for phase I.
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And yet to break ground is the massive Fox Plaza with 500 units, 130 room hotel, and 65,000 square feet of retail:
And the 10 story Regency Tower is under construction (or near construction):
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Fox Plaza is not yet approve, but that's only because they had to do an Environmental Impact Report because it's so large.
Regency Tower is approved and currently in parcel assembly, expect excavation by fall.
There you have it, for the two people who care about Riverside on this thread
Also:
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Originally Posted by Easy
I don't really know what obtaining a subterranean ROW entails, but does the fact that our subway tunnels generally follow publicly owned land, like underneath Wilshire Blvd., help at all?
Personally I love mass transit, but I detest freeway lines. They are terrible places to wait for a train. They are uncomfortably loud and usually too far from destinations. I don't know what the decibel level is, but I'm sure that it's over 85dB which is the level where OSHA would require workers to wear earplugs. I wouldn't think that we would want to subject passengers to such conditions unless there were no other options.
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Correct, it is publicly owned land... but that's the thing - every utility of any kind that shares that right of way is owned by various public agencies, which are even harder to navigate. Every line - water, sewage, electricity, telephone, fiber optic, you name it, not to mention any underground aquifers or other natural features - is managed by a different agency at any given level (local, county, etc.) that would probably require extensive impact reports, lengthy comment periods, generous notification, and so on.
Bureaucracy at it's best.
Don't get me wrong. I think the Wilshire Boulevard extension is GREAT, that will probably turn out to be one of the most well-used lines in the country.
I just think that if that subway line can be done, than practically ANYTHING is possible as far as transit goes. Simply because of the hugeness of that project, less complicated ones would seem... well, less complicated. Even more doable. You know.
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