Two blocks of West Cherry Street have been closed to traffic, painted bright blue with big red and small yellow polka dots, and enhanced with picnic tables, planters, and a community mural. A few blocks away, Transit Columbus’s third parklet is installed in a parking space in front of Café Brioso, and just got approval from the city to remain two months longer than planned — until September — because it’s been so successful.
“Our organization fully understands the importance of improved public spaces, streets being not only for all modes of transportation but destinations as well,” says Mathews. While most of Transit Columbus’ work focuses on expanding public transportation options, the group’s Placemakes initiative is all about activating streets as public space. “Streets are a huge asset for every city that I think goes unrecognized or are not always fully used to their potential.”
That’s in part because a lot of people don’t see them as public space — even though many argue we should count them as such. “[People] think of public spaces and they think of parks or beaches, and not necessarily streets,” says Mathews. “So we try to broaden their minds on that.”
The West Cherry Project may be the first in Columbus to close off a street to create a pedestrian plaza. Technically, it’s temporary, a two-month public engagement process that kicked off last week. But Mathews says the city is already in talks about keeping the space longer, and possibly extending it. West Cherry Street is just four blocks of downtown Columbus, closed to through traffic on one end and feeding into a riverside park on the other. If it were permanently preserved as a pedestrian space, it could serve a vital role in connecting the Scioto River to the High Street commercial corridor.
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