Positive Plaza Alternatives

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	Positive Plaza Alternatives What public discussion there has been of the Plaza expansion project has been dominated by half-thought slogans and emotionally charged phrases. These have not encouraged serious thinking about the current Plaza or responsible planning for the expanded one. (For example, consider this strictly negative commentary.) We hope that our site provokes more serious consideration of all the issues. Nevertheless, in deference to those who have only heard the rhetoric of the anti-Plaza crowd, let's take a look at the hollowness of the more common slogans: "It'll cut the City in half!" Umm – for those who don't know their city very well, the current Bridge/Plaza setup already "cuts the city in half". You can't go from downtown to the north city limits without passing beneath either the Plaza or the Bridge. You just don't notice it because it's all going over your head. Think about that for a minute: thousands of passenger cars and millions of dollars of commercial traffic being piped right through the City with barely a chance to benefit us. Can you see why we call the current Plaza setup the second-worst outcome? An expanded Plaza will no more "cut the city in half" than the current one does. It will take a few blocks north and south of current Plaza, but nothing substantial. What it will do is bring the traffic down to ground level and stop it, giving transiting traffic a chance to realize there's a city here. If we get involved in the planning, we can make the Plaza even more city-friendly, so that travelers can tell what we've got, how to get there, and how to get back on the expressway. "It'll take a massive chunk out of Port Huron's north end!" The entire city of Port Huron is about 8 square miles – about 5120 acres. The current Bridge Plaza takes up about 18 acres – 0.3% of the City's area. The most likely Plaza expansion plan – Alternative 4 – would take up about 70 acres – about 1.3% of the City's area. The few blocks of neighborhood taken to the north and south of the current Plaza can be walked around in less than 30 minutes, and driven in less than five. Hardly a "massive chunk". "It'll take millions from City's taxes and destroy entire neighborhoods!" This slogan sounds terrible, but only because it confuses taxable value and tax revenue. The taxable value is the calculated value of a piece of property. Multiplying the taxable value by the tax millage comes up with the tax revenue. What the City would lose would be tax revenue. According to the 2006 tax figures, the total tax revenue that the City would lose for all the residences within the footprint of Alternative 4 is under $100,000 a year. It's a loss, but it's not "millions". As far as neighborhoods being destroyed – a few blocks of some older neighborhoods would be taken: two blocks on both sides of Mansfield west of Pine Grove, about three blocks on the north side of Scott west of Pine Grove, a condominium complex on Riverside, a few houses on 11th and 12th Avenues, and some houses on 10th Avenue, Church, and Hancock streets. About 100 homes and 24 condominiums altogether. Some businesses along Pine Grove to the south and between the Plaza and Hancock to the north – losses, but hardly the gutting of an entire city. Don't take our word for it: go drive around yourself. See how small an area is being considered for the Plaza. "It'll just be a big parking lot in the middle of the City!" Given that the Plaza is designed to handle truck traffic at a major international border crossing, there would be plenty of room to park the trucks so they could be inspected. That's part of what it means to be a border crossing. But which is better: having trucks stopped on the ground, or idling while waiting on the Bridge? Which consumes more fuel and puts more pollution in the air? "It'll leave a big dead zone north of the Plaza!" Dead zone? Or opportunity zone? Depends on what the Plaza becomes, doesn't it? If the Plaza can be designed to net traffic off the Bridge and route it into the City, then the couple blocks along Pine Grove north of Hancock will become a prime area to serve that traffic, won't it? There's plenty of room for facilities to serve both commercial and passenger traffic. Look for yourself. Stand at Pine Grove and Hancock and look north to where I-94 merges in, just in front of the Colonial Shopping Center. Does that look like a bustling business district? Now envision that area filled with businesses that service travelers coming off the Plaza. Restaurants, gas stations, perhaps a local welcome center that could direct people to places of interest within the City and area. A dead zone? Only if we let it stay that way.

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Positive Plaza Alternatives
What public discussion there has been of the Plaza expansion project has been dominated by half-thought slogans and emotionally charged phrases. These have not encouraged serious thinking about the current Plaza or responsible planning for the expanded one. (For example, consider this strictly negative commentary.) We hope that our site provokes more serious consideration of all the issues.

Nevertheless, in deference to those who have only heard the rhetoric of the anti-Plaza crowd, let's take a look at the hollowness of the more common slogans:

"It'll cut the City in half!"

Umm – for those who don't know their city very well, the current Bridge/Plaza setup already "cuts the city in half". You can't go from downtown to the north city limits without passing beneath either the Plaza or the Bridge. You just don't notice it because it's all going over your head.

Think about that for a minute: thousands of passenger cars and millions of dollars of commercial traffic being piped right through the City with barely a chance to benefit us. Can you see why we call the current Plaza setup the second-worst outcome?

An expanded Plaza will no more "cut the city in half" than the current one does. It will take a few blocks north and south of current Plaza, but nothing substantial. What it will do is bring the traffic down to ground level and stop it, giving transiting traffic a chance to realize there's a city here. If we get involved in the planning, we can make the Plaza even more city-friendly, so that travelers can tell what we've got, how to get there, and how to get back on the expressway.

"It'll take a massive chunk out of Port Huron's north end!"

The entire city of Port Huron is about 8 square miles – about 5120 acres. The current Bridge Plaza takes up about 18 acres – 0.3% of the City's area. The most likely Plaza expansion plan – Alternative 4 – would take up about 70 acres – about 1.3% of the City's area. The few blocks of neighborhood taken to the north and south of the current Plaza can be walked around in less than 30 minutes, and driven in less than five. Hardly a "massive chunk".

"It'll take millions from City's taxes and destroy entire neighborhoods!"

This slogan sounds terrible, but only because it confuses taxable value and tax revenue. The taxable value is the calculated value of a piece of property. Multiplying the taxable value by the tax millage comes up with the tax revenue. What the City would lose would be tax revenue.

According to the 2006 tax figures, the total tax revenue that the City would lose for all the residences within the footprint of Alternative 4 is under $100,000 a year. It's a loss, but it's not "millions".

As far as neighborhoods being destroyed – a few blocks of some older neighborhoods would be taken: two blocks on both sides of Mansfield west of Pine Grove, about three blocks on the north side of Scott west of Pine Grove, a condominium complex on Riverside, a few houses on 11th and 12th Avenues, and some houses on 10th Avenue, Church, and Hancock streets. About 100 homes and 24 condominiums altogether. Some businesses along Pine Grove to the south and between the Plaza and Hancock to the north – losses, but hardly the gutting of an entire city.

Don't take our word for it: go drive around yourself. See how small an area is being considered for the Plaza.

"It'll just be a big parking lot in the middle of the City!"

Given that the Plaza is designed to handle truck traffic at a major international border crossing, there would be plenty of room to park the trucks so they could be inspected. That's part of what it means to be a border crossing. But which is better: having trucks stopped on the ground, or idling while waiting on the Bridge? Which consumes more fuel and puts more pollution in the air?

"It'll leave a big dead zone north of the Plaza!"

Dead zone? Or opportunity zone? Depends on what the Plaza becomes, doesn't it? If the Plaza can be designed to net traffic off the Bridge and route it into the City, then the couple blocks along Pine Grove north of Hancock will become a prime area to serve that traffic, won't it? There's plenty of room for facilities to serve both commercial and passenger traffic.

Look for yourself. Stand at Pine Grove and Hancock and look north to where I-94 merges in, just in front of the Colonial Shopping Center. Does that look like a bustling business district?

Now envision that area filled with businesses that service travelers coming off the Plaza. Restaurants, gas stations, perhaps a local welcome center that could direct people to places of interest within the City and area.

A dead zone? Only if we let it stay that way.

Positive Plaza Alternatives
Which would be worse? Port Huron getting stuck with an expanded Bridge Plaza? Or Port Huron getting stuck with an expanded Bridge Plaza while reaping no benefit from it?

"Luck favors the prepared." Edna Mode