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Show Page A14 Thursday, March 26, 1987 Park Record Sflneirmmaini City: take lead with RDA by J. P. Max At the Park City Council work session last Thursday new City Planning Director Myles Rademan said, "Downtowns should be for lovers and friends." Rademan didn't make that up. He was quoting Lewis Mumford. Rademan was making the point that Park City's downtown is not especially geared towards people meeting in public spaces. Instead, people dodge traffic in the street and one another on the crowded crowd-ed sidewalks. Rademan is often quoting this or that, dropping anecdotes, tidbits of philosophy when he talks. Some of these seemingly have very little to do with planning with millions of dollars in Redevelopment Redevelop-ment Agency funds, parking garages, repaying Swede Alley... But there is a connection somewhere to Rademan. While some visions of planners seem too narrow with shortsighted goals, Rademan's does not. While some planners envision grandiose dnwinuwn revitalization schemes: people movers, domed amusement parks, cultural centers that could double as ice rinks again, Rademan doesn't. Rademan's philosophy is largely pragmatic with a hefty dose of creativity to keep things lively. live-ly. Looking at the same thing everybody else does and seeing something different defines creativity for him. So, again interest is focused on the historic downtown of Park City, which gives this ski resort town a hint of a unique past. Every few years people peo-ple wonder what, if anything, can be done to spiff up Old Town. What to do with derelict buildings on Main Street? How to sort out the parking confusion in Swede Alley? What to do with the gaps between buildings where structures have been torn down leaving mud and debris standing testament to pro- Editorial perty owners' and city officials inability to remedy the situation? . Solutions get proposed, some action is taken, money runs out, ends are left loose. Rademan and other members of the planning department have made some proposals to the city council about revitalizing the "blighted" downtown. The proposals are multi-faceted, vibrant, practical and expensive. However, the expense is almost irrelevant because the city has $2.5 million worth of RDA funds that have to be spent on revitalizing downtown before November 1989 otherwise they lose the money. A couple million dollars can be chewed up fairly quickly in ashphalt, paint, flower boxes and re-bars, re-bars, but the planning commission's point is to spend the money wisely. In a nutshell the proposals call for beautifica-tion, beautifica-tion, improving entry ways, cleaning up Swede Alley, creating a Main Street plaza, miniature parks and getting monies to historic property owners so old buildings can be repaired. These improvements im-provements are scheduled for the first year, leaving leav-ing the building of parking structures and more involved in-volved projects for the second and third years. The idea behind this is to make some high visible visi-ble improvements immediately, which do not cost much to maintain. Without getting into specific project proposals (see RDA story) we applaud the planning department's depart-ment's recommendations for spending the RDA funds. We hope the city council will accept them and then take the lead in implementation. With plans guided by friendship and love what can you lose? lPairk Record Id. I'.ii. KV. ' prtl l M'. hi I H Ol. i (nil ili-dii-it Hrrklv liv I In- Ni'iu Ki'i lint I'nliltstiilu; ( .1 tin Si-i imif 1 l.ixs misI,ii m I'jrK t il l'l K isl ll K vvini dOili. 1 luni--. lo I he I'.iik K11 mil ll.'ll lliiiuiij I li . Suilr JtiJ V ( 1 Hi' UMI I'.n ( il 1 1 T K4lH.ll I ill. inl Js si 1 1 11. 1 i l.i iii.iili'i M.i, J 1 l'l"" ..1 1 1 11 (ni-l i.llii i' 111 Ciik I ilv . I I tl-WMI iiiiili i 1 hi- i I ill Mjn li I. IH'I" t'ulililii'it I'vi'H lhuisiij Staff Publisher Peter Bernhard Business Manager -nK Bernhard Editor Tori Comes Staff writers Jennifer Madgic, Sena Taylor, Heidi West Neal Palumho Contributing writers Ruk Brough, ohn Kinch Bettma Moench Dooley, Bea Kummer, Djvid Hampshire, Robin Moench, Tom Clyde Office manager Susan Davis Circulation manager Pamela Hainsworth Classified manager Linda Martin Distribution Tim Ogden Advertising sales BiH Dickson, Dixie Ceisdorf, Pamela Hainsworth Production and photography Neal Palumbo Graphics Sacha Baumann, Jdcquee Gillespie Cartoonist I P. Max Deadlines Add Some Class, Bulletin Board: Classified advertising: Display advertising (no proof): I egal notic es I e'vrs to the r rl'tor N if hi Music : I'ersunal Parag'dphs: Prt'ss releases Note: Deadlines may be altered during holiday weeks. Please deliver typewritten, double-spaced information in paragraph form by hand or by mail to The Park Record, 1670 Bonanza Dr., Prospector Square. P.O. Box 3688, Park City, UT 84060. Errors The Park Record makes every effort to insure the au utiicy ot the information it publishes. If you have a correc tion, please tall the editor at 649-9014. Office hours Business hours die Monddv through fruldv Irom 8: fo a.m. to 5 p m. Closed Saturdays, Sundays and holidays. Monday 5 p.m. Mondav 5 p.m. Fridd Noon. Monday Noon. Monday Mondav Friday Mi iiuldy .Morulas : p.m. i p.m. 5 p.m. S p.m. 5 p.m. Thumbs Up, Thumbs Down THUMBS UP - for the latest ruling saying the proposed Cable Decency Law was silly, or did they say unconstitutional ? Now that the state has spent nearly $1 million pushing the issue do think they could concentrate on something really substanitive for a change? 5 THUMBS UP - to the fun folks at ParkWest who decided to go ahead with the furniture race even though there was no Winter Carnival Car-nival this year. It could rank up there with the air band contest as a proper rite of spring for a ski town." P7 THUMBS DOWN - to the county for not having hav-ing an effective method of dealing with bothersome animals of woods (i.e. the case of the Deer Valley porcupine) . EFaDD0 tlUnce I&cbcwiM Do you think the recent drug busts will make a difference in drug trafficking in Park City? 9k iri r , - Ann MacQuoid Park City Council Member Chris Johnson Jack Nadel, Inc. employee Yes. A big difference. Peo- No. Because it has never pie will understand that'even made a difference in the street sales are important past, and the police are not just after big dealers. Jamie Duis Tour guide Not in my life. f J J Kr. Ami . - - if -rid,, j S 1 IS A i s A . r 1 4 ' Doug Stevens Park Plaza employee I doubt it. It's a tourist town. Drugs will always be here. It's up to the people to control it. i'ft , ' '' lr' f v i ' ' : - l . . , , t 1 Sean Baze Deer Valley employee No. I think they'll keep coming in with the tourists. Perry Saarela Ski bum No. If people want it, there will always be people there to supply it. The street-level dealers are getting caught but the people really supplying the stuff aren't getting caught. |