(Photo by Will Dendis)
Eight years after a problem-plagued refurbishment project, city officials are giving serious consideration to tearing down the system of porticos covering sidewalks in the Uptown business district.
Should the canopies in Uptown Kingston be torn down?
- Nay (78%, 312 Votes)
- Yea (22%, 89 Votes)
Total Voters: 401
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Typical Kingston logic.
City: Should we tear down the canopies?
Everyone (except a few crusty old business owners): NOOOOOO.
City: Are you sure you don’t want us to tear down the canopies? They require maintenance.
Everyone: No, it makes Kingston unique and shelters us from the rain and snow. Instead, fix the roads.
City: Eh, we’re gonna tear down the canopies.
Instead of tearing down the canopies, make them more user-friendly by enforcing the no-smoking rule. Also, it would be nice to close those streets to traffic and have a pedestrian mall.
[…] For those who were not around during the time of the recent renovation of the Pike Plan, I remember the following article being crafted by Steve Hopkins who at the time (2009) was the current or outgoing editor of the Kingston Times. He did a pretty great job capturing the essence of the feeling then – and it seems appropriate to pull it out with the recent Kingston Time’s POLL: SHOULD THE CANOPIES IN UPTOWN KINGSTON BE TAKEN DOWN? […]
Some historical context. http://www.kingstoncitizens.org/2019/01/uptown-pike-plan-should-it-stay-or-should-it-go-now/
Really? It must be incredibly nice to have enough that the idea of spending millions of dollars maintaining these canopies, so soon after spending millions of dollars to build them, seems a good use of money in this destitute little city.
Of course they should come down. 125,000 dollars to repair a canopy? It literally couldn’t be a bigger no-brainer.
Sounds like you are drugged on ‘GM0’ foods 🙁 …
They came from Europe & Japan to view the Canopies…
I lived on Wall Street in the canopy area for 8 years- through the rebuild. The canopies are termite-ridden, leaky, and rotted. They make the stores and restaurants dark and dim and uninviting. They also provide shelter for the drunks and smokers at night. Experts on urban policy and dynamics have recommended that the canopies be removed, the business owners want the canopies removed. Take them down. Take better care of those poor trees to provide shade in the summer.
I like the unity that the canopy offers, but it certainly isn’t historically accurate. Also repairs are costly and not doing repairs is even costlier. It’s been noted that with the canopy up, spills and (hopefully) animal urine does not get washed away. That’s not friendly. I think that a pergola type canopy would be much more effective. It would not protect from rain, but then isn’t it cool that people would “have to” duck into stores and shop? Drainage would not be necessary and because it’s simple in design and minimal in materials, I can’t imagine that the cost would be too high.