Close Main Street for a trial run

I read Danette Goulet’s column with pleasure. I was the city traffic

engineer for the city of Huntington Beach from July 1990 to December 1997. I tried for years to get Main Street closed off as a pedestrian

mall.

I always thought that closing Main Street between Pacific Coast

Highway and Orange Avenue would revitalize Main Street for the very

reasons she gave: the sidewalks are way too congested to allow people

to stroll downtown a la the Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica.

The reason people drive on Main Street is to go to the post office

or cruise Main Street in their monster truck, hot rod, custom car or

Harley. I even suggested a trial closure between Memorial Day and

Labor Day. This period of time would encompass the three busiest

holiday periods of the year for the downtown area (including

Independence Day). I think the downtown area would flourish.

Keep the Main Street parking structure open and put up the

necessary signs to direct traffic to the structure from 1st and 2nd

streets. The downtown businesses fought this. I still think they

should try this experiment. A short-term experiment could be

conducted between now and midnight, Sept. 1 (the end of the Labor Day

weekend). It would only cost the labor to deploy the temporary

barricades.

So much for my two cents. I hope more people express some interest

in closing Main Street between Pacific Coact Highway and Orange to

vehicular traffic. I truly believe Main Street merchants and the

residents of Huntington Beach would benefit.

* JAMES D. OTTERSON is a Huntington Beach resident. To contribute

to “Sounding Off” e-mail us at [email protected] or fax us at (714)

9657174.