PRESENT
PRESENT HATE AT FIRST SIGHT ‘New downtown’ leaves some taxpayers
< Eddy Contreras OWNER | BUY LOWCOST INSURANCE “We need to grow, right, and so does the attention to certain areas... the changes that they’re making, it’s going to be more pedestrian-friendly...with the new changes, people are going to be walking along more and it’s easier to kind of get an opportunity to go to these hole-in-the-wall places.”
YOUR VOICE
LOCALS’ TAKE ON ‘NEW DOWNTOWN’
Craig Heustis > COUNCILMAN | CITY OF BUCKEYE “We’re trying to make things better for the businesses and for the people...try to get a place that it would be a destination, more restaurants, more businesses down here.”
confused, with buyer’s remorse BY KYLIE WERNER T
HE CITY OF BUCKEYE IN AUGUST completed the first phase of its Downtown Specific Area Plan — a five-stage project meant to transform downtown Buckeye into a place that fosters
The Joslin Building at the corner of Monroe Avenue and 4th Street in downtown was built in 1909 and housed the Buckeye Hotel and Payless Market, a part of the building used as a bud- get grocery and deli. The building, photographed here Sept. 4, is listed as a historical landmark by the Buckeye Valley Historical and Archeological Society.
< Randy Cramer VOLUNTEER | MEALS ON WHEELS “I appreciate the effort, they’re trying...to get things going and revitalized.”
< Crystal Peyser RESIDENT | ESTRELLA VALLEY “It’s very confusing for some of our travelers, and especially now that we have more people in the town...there’s less road space.”
could reduce traffic overall, city planners argue. “There’s really no benefit to the community of traffic that’s just traveling from Phoenix to San Diego just passing through and not stopping at any of the businesses,” Galicia said. “We want, the traffic on Monroe to purely be local traffic.” He noted there were no concerns over emergency responders’ access to the area. Not everyone is buying the argument, though, like Cathy Porter Calvert, who has lived in Buckeye since 1967. “This is just about the dumbest thing I have ever seen,” Calvert said. “Local residents will avoid the downtown area like the plague. That will not help any downtown business, now or ever.” ‘Annoying as hell’ According to the city, the idea was to convert the old lanes into parallel parking spaces to drive business and event tourism and create a pedestrian buffer from the street. A more walkable downtown with better parking is worth the sacrifice. However, the public response has not been positive. One unhappy taxpayer is Ivan Carlson, who settled in Encantada Estates in 2021. Carlson “didn’t really like the idea” when he first saw it, he said. But the final product was
even worse. “It honestly doesn’t even look like the plan that they even put out,” he said. The city posted an educational video in August about the coming changes that garnered 260 comments from displeased and confused residents. “The population here is growing, so why would you restrict traffic?” Carlson asked. “That makes absolutely no sense to me at all. I understand the parking aspect, I totally get that, but we were managing just fine as it was.” Carlson said the street has already become jammed and he feels there wasn’t enough parking added — no more than four spaces to each business. “Even if they had just turned the parking diagonal, where there was a little bit of room to be able to come out and back into the streets,” Carlson said. “That would have made more sense than restricting it down to two lanes.” The Buckeye resident said driving down Monroe Avenue since the restriping has been difficult. “It makes driving down that street a pain,” Carlson said. “Having it to where the lanes are so restricted is causing congestion that makes no sense at all.” The city also reduced the speed on the street
community and economic growth. Phase one restriped Monroe Avenue from four lanes down to two, as it was in the 1950s, with designated left turn lanes at all traffic signals from Miller Road to Narramore Avenue. Buckeye’s population has grown 59-fold since the 1950s, however, and it’s going to nearly triple again in the next 15 years from 114,000 to 300,000. At full buildout, Buckeye will be more than 1.1 million in population, according to Buckeye’s Economic Development Department. More cars, yet fewer lanes downtown as the city works to draw more people there. Now, how does that work? Because Monroe Avenue isn’t meant to be a through street, said Ken Galicia, the planning manager for Buckeye. “Most downtowns, at least the successful ones, all kind of have a certain feel to them,” said Galicia during an Aug. 22 Downtown Buckeye Streetscape meeting, “where you are comfortable walking along the sidewalk, crossing the street, going to another shop over there, crossing back over the street.” The walkability that comes with fewer traffic lanes will attract new businesses to Monroe Avenue and keep unwanted traffic out, which
Davis Deussen > RECREATION SPECIALIST | CITY OF BUCKEYE “I’m looking forward to the Halloween parade... I’m a big fan of Halloween, and I think it’s just gonna be exciting.”
Jackie Redstrom > CO-OWNER | SISTERS N CLIPPERS “I live here, and I work here. Own a business here, so downtown is where my heart is...we understand the progress, and this is going to be a long-term solution to some downtown specific needs.”
< Andrew Heath CO-OWNER | IRIE ART IN INK “I think it’s good for downtown and brings some walking traffic. And I think that overall improvements will be good.”
< Yesenia Rios OWNER | NANA AND TATA’S RESTAURANT AND DESSERTS “I’d love to see more promotion over here for more people coming... from Colorado, different states... more people need to know.”
InBuckeye.com | Fall 2024
Fall 2024 | InBuckeye.com
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