Imagine Canal Park in an Ideal World 

In an ideal world the pros of change should outweigh the cons. With the new plan, you would think traffic flow should improve and emergency vehicles may have an easier time getting to Park Point to save lives. That is a pro. Or is it? If the lanes in Lake Avenue South are blocked due to an emergency in Canal Park, there would be no alternate route to Park Point now that Buchanan Street is closed. People have two routes to the end of Canal Park Drive. They can take Canal Park Drive or turn from Lake Avenue South onto Morse Street. After the closing of Buchanan Street, Lake Avenue South is the only route to Park Point. Think about it, two separate routes to a dead end blocks long and one route to a full community including miles of homes, three hotels, two nursing homes, air port, Coast Guard, RV camping, marinas, boat launch, beach access, vacation rentals and several other businesses. It doesn’t make sense. 

Most everything else ends up on the con side of our scale. Blocks of metered parking for accessibility to local businesses have been lost. This we believe would decrease the number of locals who would venture to Canal Park. It would cause the less mobile segment of the population more hardship than others. We have known many people who have scheduled their Canal Park outings during less busy times to help ensure availability of street parking steps away from the doors of their destinations. They can no longer do that. The loss of street parking significantly decreases the potential number of handicapped parking spaces.
   
As previously mentioned Canal Park Drive is now a dead end. Unless drivers have a full understanding of this, more cars are going to end up where they don’t want to be. Tourists and locals alike should have a way to correct a missed or wrong turn. Buchanan Street provided that opportunity and it has been our observation on an almost daily basis that the tables and chairs placed there have been glaringly vacant. Seating for pedestrians is a good idea but having benches on the sidewalks along Buchanan Street and Canal Park Drive seems a better idea for those pedestrians needing a rest. An additional thought regarding traffic flow would be to keep horse carriages on the Lake Walk and off of Canal Park Drive.

Another con is that heavy pedestrian traffic is inches away from car traffic moving at 30 miles an hour. People have been observed stepping out into the street to capture a photo of the bridge. Now it would be stepping directly into traffic instead of the parking lane. People have also been known to cross the street at any given location. Crossing three lanes in Lake Avenue South instead of two increases the level of concern for the safety of individuals and whole families who attempt this. We have also observed this third lane of traffic being used as a passing lane by impatient drivers. Another safety concern regarding Lake Avenue South would be the sections of sidewalk that are significantly slanted downward toward the traffic.

Canal Park includes some of the biggest tourist attractions in our state. We need to provide adequate parking for those who come to see the Aerial Bridge, Marine Museum and ships from all over the world. Should we take the Lighthouse Parking Lot away when it is adjacent to these well known attractions to create new “attractions” such as buying vegetables and playing outdoor games on astro turf? It seems a more logical venue for these new attractions would be Bayfront Park with its own abundant parking and real grass. Using parking spaces to make ma-made sandboxes when there is a real beach on the other side of the Aerial Bridge also seems a questionable use of valuable real estate.
   
We ask that any permanent change to Canal Park is done for good reason after a great deal of thought has been given to all the possible ramifications. We hope that any change would be respectful of all businesses, residents and visitors and that additions are not made at the expense of destroying Canal Park’s foundation.