The last thing we want to do is flatten more buildings for parking. But there is a lot of parking space that we could turn into a multilevel parking deck.

I've thought about this long and hard for a while, and it's in my belief that for Conway to attract more people and investment downtown we need an outdoor pedestrian street.

This sounds kind of radical in America since they're rare here, so please here me out (Brandson, MO has one along the water), but they're common in many European, Asian, and Australian cities. Google image search British high streets and you can see an example of how they're universally found there in both big cities and small towns.

Basically, a 'pedestrian zone', 'pedestrian mall', or 'high street' is a street that is closed off to private vehicles.

Exceptions are made for emergency vehicles, and after hours (e.g. 7pm until 8am) for delivery and construction vehicles.

Generally the road is paved with brick from building front to building front, and there are fountains, benches, and trees in the middle instead of cars driving past.

There are many reasons why I think a pedestrian mall would be perfect in Conway;

1. 1. It defines a retail and/or cultural 'core' for the city. When people think about heading into Conway, this will be the first place they think about. (Just as most people go to Hot Springs because of downtown Hot Springs.)
2. 2. It's a great tourist pull. Especially if we have a downtown hotel in the future. "Within walking distance of Front Street Mall!" would be a selling point.

   They're also fairly unique in America - that alone will pull people from around Arkansas into Conway.

3. 3. We can increase city revenue. Property values (and property taxes as a result) generally soar on and in the vicinity of the pedestrian mall, because it becomes the go to spot for visitors and shopping, and that creates demand for retailers to build there.
4. 4. We'll get renewed investment downtown. I'll be the go to spot for visitors and shoppers, and because there's demand for retailers to build there we will get downtown investment from fast food chains, department stores, specialty shops, local stores, hotels. This investment means a lot of older buildings will be fixed up and renovated, and some extended or replaced.
5. 5. If we want to attract new businesses and (both national and international) talent into Conway, we need a vibrant active downtown. It will help make our city unique and increase the variety of the shopping and dining experience here.
6. 6. Local businesses downtown will experience a lot more business. Instead of those forgotten about shops that people generally drive past, there's now going to be people spread out across the entire street every day discovering these 'forgotten gems' and making an effort to visit them.
7. 7. We can increase safety. Pedestrian zones encourage a constant presence of eyes on the street, and that's a great deterrent to petty crime. The removal of cars makes it a family safe place to go shopping, as kids can run out across the street without parents worrying that they'll get ran over.
8. 8. It can make the city feel more vibrant and alive. The suddenly empty middle of the road (due to closing it off to vehicles) can be rented out for street performers.

   Magicians giving a free performance to a crowd walking past;
   

   Local musicians can playing their guitar in the street;
   

   You can regulate street performers by requiring a license so the street does not feel too crowded.

9. 9. Pedestrian malls generally are very dense and offer dozens, if not hundreds, of choices for lunch. This makes it attractive for businesses to invest in opening an office within a few blocks so their employees can simply walk to lunch.
10. 10. Conway has a lot of university students. Students love these sorts of vibrant, alive places where they can hang out. Especially since many of then don't drive, our universities could run a shuttle bus downtown and the students would appreciate having a lively downtown and every amenity within walking distance.
11. 11. Having a dense lively downtown makes public transit more viable in the future, since there's a destination you could take it to and spend the entire day out there. (No one is going to waste time to take a bus to Wal-Mart, then a bus to Best Buy, then a bus to Kroger.)
12. 12. We're trying to make downtown Conway a place for people to live, work, and play. People that live in urban areas do so because they love to have restaurants, bars, shops, places of employment within walking distance. A pedestrian mall will make downtown more attractive than ever since it targets this lifestyle and people that want to live there.

    

13. 13. It can easily and cheaply be patrolled - you don't need to use an expensive patrol vehicle - a police office walking up and down the street on foot will do.
14. 14. There's also the health benefit of encouraging people to get out and walk around outside.

I agree that without parking or transit, it will be very difficult to accommodate getting people downtown. I think it is important that we get some form of parking deck downtown. Perhaps one day a department store, downtown indoor mall, or hotel will open up and provide their own underground parking or parking deck, but that seems unlikely our Conway today, so our best effort would be to replace some of the ground parking with a parking deck.

My first idea was to pedestrianize West Oak Street, but it's used as a major thoroughfare and turns into a highway (East Oak Street) so that would disrupt traffic. Instead Front Street would be a perfect candidate because of many reasons;

1. 1. It's a major downtown street with a lot of small businesses already there. By pedestrianizing it, we already have businesses we can walk to.
2. 2. It's a narrow street. This is good because wide streets tend to be pedestrian unfriendly.
3. 3. It's within walking distance of W Oak Street.
4. 4. It's not a major thoroughfare. Some cars drive down there, but we could easily reroute them without causing a major disruption.
5. 5. It connects with the park and stage downtown.
6. 6. It's a longish street (longer than W Oak Street). A little under half a mile if we pedestrianize all of Front Street between Mill Street and Main Street. This would make it a notable pedestrian zone in American terms, while still only being a 5 minute stroll from one end to the other (you must remember that without traffic, there would be no traffic crossings - so it's faster than walking down a normal street.)
7. 7. There's plenty of low-density development on the northern end of the street that could cheaply be acquired by a major department store or hotel that wants to invest downtown.

I have drawn up a map of my proposed pedestrian mall in Conway, which I would call 'Front Street Mall';

The orange area is where I recommend we close off access to vehicles. I've left a small opening where Front Street and W Oak Street intersect to allow traffic to continue to flow through, so we don't disrupt the flow of traffic connecting to the highway. You can see that I've also pedestrianized a 300 foot section of Van Rookle Street (otherwise it would lead to a dead end.)

The blue areas are places currently used for surface parking but would make fantastic locations for parking decks, without having to knock down any existing buildings.

I've indicated low density areas in red that are fantastic locations for future development - say a hotel or department store that wants to open downtown.

There are many criticism of pedestrian malls, a lot of them are valid, and I would love to hear and address more of them. The main ones I have heard are;

1. 1. "It would be expensive." Any sort of renovation is expensive. Building a parking deck is expensive (but we're going to be doing that anyway), and installing fountains, benches, and repaving the street is expensive. But if we are already going to build a parking deck downtown, we don't really need any of the extra stuff (benches, fountains, repaving) straight away. We can simply do what many cities do in the start and just put up cones that say "no through access." This makes it a very cheap 'renovation'. The long term benefits in revenue from property taxes and sales taxes will outweigh the costs.
2. 2. "It never worked when city x tried it." An example often given was when it was tried in Little Rock in the 1970s.
   

   It failed because they tried to use a very wide pedestrian unfriendly road. Instead of shops, they were mostly blank office walls (not shop fronts) that are uninteresting to pedestrians, and wondered why not many people shopped there or used that space. Front Street in Conway doesn't have either of these problems - it's narrow and there are plenty of shops already there.

3. 3. "It'll create too much crime." It's actually a lot easier to patrol, since it'll be dense development in a limited area that can be patrolled close up via foot. Keeping a constant flow of eyes on the street from passersbys has been found to reduce petty crimes (shop lifting, mugging, etc.)
4. 4. "I'm afraid customers won't find my business since they can't drive past me anymore." This is popular valid concern, and I understand the initial fear that you may be cutting a lot of customers off. Pedestrian malls are a long term investment, and if we're able to get anchor tenants that pull people there (high end specialty stores, a department store, or plenty of great dining), then the small businesses on the street will be getting more foot traffic in the door than ever before. Instead of just being a small business that is often overlooked by the occasional person that drives by, these 'hidden gems' will be
   rediscovered as foot traffic spreads out across the entire street.
5. 5. "It'll create too much foot traffic for my business." This is silly and a reverse of the above. Why would you not like more customers? If for some reason you are forced to close down, the increase in property value will make it more attractive to sell your business.
6. 6. "It's not for me. I like my quiet areas." Pedestrian malls have the potential to bring a lot of people and businesses in downtown, and that benefits both businesses and consumers and creates a vibrant, lively downtown, but there will always be those that prefer their quieter shops in the suburbs. You can still do that, nobody's forcing you to stop shopping at WalMart, BestBuy, Kroeger, etc. They'll still be there, and you'll still benefit from the increased revenue the city gets from the pedestrian mall even if you never go there.
7. 7. "It'll create too much vehicle traffic." It's true that a pedestrian mall will bring more people downtown, and we'll have to accommodation for that by building parking decks. However, people will not be driving shop to shop. Pedestrian malls encourage you to drive downtown and park once, and then spend the entire day shopping and exploring downtown on foot.

   This also makes it an incredibly attractive destination for university shuttle buses, day trips from surrounding towns on Jefferson Lines buses, and potentially transit in the future - all of these will remove cars from the road and help with the traffic issues in Conway as we grow.

8. 8. "Conway is too small." I'm often frustrated at the number of people that say Conway is too small. This may be true if we only had 500 people, but we're a city of 60,000 now. This is a significant size, and pedestrian malls have successfully worked in cities that are much smaller than ours.

   Branson, MO has only 10,000 people;
   

   Barnstaple, England has only 20,000 people;
   

   Cumberland, MD also has only 20,000 people;
   

9. 9. "It's a European thing that doesn't work here." Yes, it's true that they're relatively rare in the United States, but that'll just help make Conway unique, and make us more attractive to tourists and business talent. Despite being rare, there are many successful pedestrian malls throughout the country - The Grove in Los Angeles, the Branson Landing in Branson, and the downtown mall in Charlottesville. There's currently none in Arkansas.

So in conclusion, once we get a parking deck downtown, we should seriously consider the benefits of pedestrianizing a part of downtown Conway.

WE DON'T NEED PARKING!!! WE NEED A GATEWAY ARCH!!!111!!!