Talk:1979 Downtown Master Plan
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Pedestrian plaza
- Is this the plan that made them add planters along 3rd Avenue North and 19th Street North? The planters pushed the bus stop back to the Alabama Theatre entrance, which at the time had no exterior doors, so people thought behind the box office was a good place to pee while waiting for the bus. Plus they installed pipes for some sort of fountain that could be turned on in the middle of the 3rd & 19th intersection. There were gates installed on the roads leading into the intersection so that it could be shut down and pedestrians would be allowed to roam the area without traffic. That was all in place already in the mid-1980s when I started volunteering. I could go on, but those were the highlights. Birmingham Landmarks asked for most of it to be undone after they assumed the Alabama's mortgage, but I think it was when the McWane Center moved in that things actually happened. --Lkseitz (talk) 11:01, 11 October 2017 (PDT)
- I don't think any of those details were part of the Costa/Demetriou Master Plan except that there was a general recommendation to replicate Birmingham Green on 19th. Instead the details were developed by Costa & Head as part of their specific renovation plan for 19th Street (which, of course, would be considered to be part of the work of implementing the Master Plan), and has been seen generally as a mistake. --Dystopos (talk) 11:22, 11 October 2017 (PDT)
- I was in Birmingham last week and noticed that the supports for the gates to block the streets are still present in places, although the actual gate arms have been removed. (I believe they double as light poles, so it's probably too much trouble to needlessly replace them.) I know I saw one on the west side of 19th Street North as I was driving south. It was at either 4th or 5th Avenue North. I believe I saw at least one other, but can't remember the location. There have been lots of changes at 3rd Avenue North and 18th Street, so there's no longer any evidence of the plan there. --Lkseitz (talk) 05:31, 24 January 2018 (PST)
- I don't think any of those details were part of the Costa/Demetriou Master Plan except that there was a general recommendation to replicate Birmingham Green on 19th. Instead the details were developed by Costa & Head as part of their specific renovation plan for 19th Street (which, of course, would be considered to be part of the work of implementing the Master Plan), and has been seen generally as a mistake. --Dystopos (talk) 11:22, 11 October 2017 (PDT)