A resident’s perspective.
I was discussing the redesign with some friends on a google group and sent in my latest comment after some other comments praising the design and others not .Someone suggested we send our ideas to the city too so I have copied and pasted my latest comment below .I feel the present design isolates the public from the rest of the square and would find it not a desirable space to be due to traffic ,noise ,pedestrian crossing issues etc.Business need to be directly connected too -recent comments from the owner of the Capistrano back this up ,and I believe would also be a concern of the new Bon Gusto with their great patio which we find appealing- but would be more so with less traffic.
Hope it helps the decision.
I was hoping that the design would also decrease the speed and volume of traffic through the square and was suggesting (and I believe Gail and Ben were too )that the usable community area be expanded greatly by bumping out one or 2 existing areas instead of isolating one area in the middle .Looking at the image of the square in the latest Tribune ,imagine drawing 2 slightly curved lines directly at the road corners where the entrance to the Quebec st mall intersect the roundabout and the island -eliminating this portion of road.Now without changing anything else see what an amazing space we have as the road is closed to traffic in this area and the space is connected to the mall and restaurant etc without having parked or moving cars to deal with.Traffic flow would decrease due to the curve etc .and safety of pedestrians improved.MD