Among business owners, though, it's going to be a tough sell.
Many business folks no longer attend meetings about the corridor. They're still disgruntled about the narrow street, and they don't trust city officials to listen to them.
“We're both hoping that they change the streets back,” said Ford Johnson, who spoke for himself and Ken Thormablen of Ken's Barber Shop. The shop sits near Cedar Street and West Broadway.
Many business owners believe the city didn't listen to them the first time around, and they now refuse to give input. The city held brainstorming sessions last week, but business owners said this week that many members of their constituency were absent.
“Business people don't go to those meetings,” Johnson said.
“I got so angry and disgusted that I quit going,” said Terry Rice, who manages the Sweetheart Bakery.
She'd attended earlier meetings but they weren't worth her while, she said: “They weren't interested in what people had to say. It was a done deal.”
Last year, road workers narrowed a stretch of the arterial because it wasn't safe or easy to cross. The reconfiguration upset some business owners, and the dissension prompted city officials to decide it was time to create a vision for the whole area of town between Orange and Russell streets.
A week ago Wednesday, more than 80 people offered ideas for how to make the corridor a “gateway” to Missoula's downtown. Then, the next night, the group put the best ideas into one grand plan for the corridor. They'd like an upscale area with dense development. They want a place where “young professionals” choose to live. They want to be able to walk to get a cup of coffee and pick up drycleaning.
Outcomes from the session could be years in the making, and people in the business community said this week that their minds are on immediate issues.
Sue Hawk, who works at Big Sky Drive-In, said ever since the lanes were whittled down, traffic moves slowly and backs up. Traffic can bottle up in New York City, she said, but it shouldn't happen in Missoula.
Most of the customers who eat at the Drive-In do, in fact, drive. Now, she said, they have trouble.
“A lot of the problem is getting in and out of here,” Hawk said.
Tonya Foley-Neuman, who owns a hair salon called Majestic Madness, said she doesn't believe West Broadway needs to be an upscale neighborhood.
She described the area as a “ghetto,” but she wasn't complaining. The road serves its purpose, she said. It's an arterial that gets drivers across town.
“This should just be what it was: a thoroughfare,” she said.
She doesn't oppose landscaping or beautification, but first, the road needs to function well.
She doesn't share those opinions at public sessions, though.
“I don't go to any of the meetings anymore,” Foley-Neuman said.
The Missoula Redevelopment Agency helped host the brainstorming meetings last week, and director Ellen Buchanan said she wants the business community's input.
“I know some people who came to earlier meetings and have left the table. We're trying to reach out to them,” Buchanan said.
But she wants people to understand that a conversation about West Broadway can't begin with the road.
“If you start the discussion with what the street is going to look like, you don't have a vision to base that on,” she said.
The discussions can't be limited to engineering models and traffic formulas, she said. They need to start with how people live in the area.
Not everyone is upset with the changes. Among some people who walk and use wheelchairs, the sentiments about the road seem to be different.
“It's easier to cross Broadway,” said Brad Williamson, who lives in the neighborhood and uses a wheelchair. A pedestrian who crossed Broadway on Tuesday with her dog said she likes the new crosswalks.
The vision for the area could clearly benefit some of its existing businesses - or at least not damage them.
Foley-Neuman said her business doesn't rely on walk-ins, but the upscale hair salon surely wouldn't hurt from being surrounded by those “young professionals.” The Drive-In, too, has a picnic table in front, and customers probably wouldn't complain if their view from that table was spruced up.
One area businessman said it's better to be part of the conversation about West Broadway than to complain on the sidelines.
“If they're going to be upset about it, they need to participate,” said Jay Robson, general manager for Dollar Rent a Car.
For now, though, resistance still runs deep, and discussions about the area's future have yet to drown out an angry din from people who work there now.
Reporter Keila Szpaller can be reached at 523-5262 or at Keila.Szpaller@missoulian.com
|
 |
 |
Add your comment now! Write your comment in the form below.
(Email address is for verification only. If you'd like to email a story, look for the link above)