Space - Downtown's Last Frontier

Our downtown is a fairly large area, yet we have only a few open or public spaces.

We have the small fountain and a few benches at the Main and Links corner, we have the small fountain with a couple benches at Pineapple and Lemon, we have the 5-Points Plaza which may be the largest of the public spaces but is usually vacant and we have the small plaza on Lemon just north of Mattison’s.

None of these provide a place to comfortably sit in the shade - to read a book or watch people. Probably the liveliest place is the Links Ave area, it has nearby stores to get something to drink or read and has lots of people passing by (at least at noon). The other spaces are nearly always vacant. Of course during the Farmers Market the Lemon St plaza is quite lively.

We do have the large public space at the western edge of downtown - between Gulfstream and Bayfront Dr. But there is never anyone there. It has trees, fountains, ponds but no people.

Just across Bayfront Dr (Hwy 41) is Island Park. This is generally quite lively with benches, trees, O’Leary’s "restaurant’, the kid’s fountain, the dolphin fountain and the nice walk around the point, the bay views and water splashing on the shore line.

So why are some of these places great people spaces and others a waste of space? Primarily it is related to the diversity of things happening that in turn draws a diverse crowd of people. While there is a need for small, quiet contemplative places; there is also a need for vibrant, busy places. The key is to include a variety of things to do (think of Island Park on a larger scale and the Links space on a small scale. Both have some degree of success. Of course when Lemon is packed with vendors at the Saturday morning Farmer’s Market, the same thing occurs. Concern for safety is another factor. This may be a factor in the space between Gulfstream and Hwy 41.

We need more lively public spaces in downtown. We need more green space and shade. In our vision for downtown it would seem that more attention needs to be placed on this. Lively downtowns need people on the street. This means public space that people want to be in. Instead of "selling" the publically owned land downtown, we really need to find ways to increase publically owned great places downtown.