Making Harmony a one-way street will hurt merchants, police response
By James Pitcherella, Guest Columnist, The Times
Harmony & 3rd Avenue looking west from the Chester County Intermediate Unit parking lot. A proposal before City Council would make the road a one-way street.
Why make another street one way and make it more difficult for retail stores that tough it out in Coatesville?
I believe that most retail store owners will not put up with the daily threat of a gun held to their head in an armed robbery. But we have long time retail store and restaurant owners in Coatesville who do just that. Why make downtown Coatesville more difficult for traffic to maneuver and discourage store and restaurant customers?
The Chester County Intermediate Unit School on Kersey Street in Coatesville is being considered for use by Lincoln University. Why isn’t the parking lot in back of the school being considered as a parking lot for Lincoln University students?
The parking lot for the Chester County Intermediate Unit.
It looks like the lot has room for about 40 cars. You can see by the photos here that the lot is now reserved for the CCIU. I believe that Mr. Sciata who owns the Clock Tower in Coatesville owns the lot and rents it to the CCIU.
You can see the lot in the map link below.
The Coatesville City Council is considering making Harmony Street into a parking lot with access one-way east from 1st Avenue to 3rd Avenue. Harmony Street is now a two way street with parallel parking spaces.
It would have angled spaces.
I don’t think anyone considered the businesses that use Harmony Street or access of police vehicles to the west end of Coatesville by way of 1st Avenue.
Look at this Google Maps link. Look at Harmony Street in back of Chertok’s store. Zoom in to get a close look. Look at the angled parking at the Coatesville City Hall lot. Visually transfer the angled parking spaces to Harmony Street and then imagine a tractor-trailer truck parked behind right them. How much chance would the people parked in those spaces have of moving their vehicles out? It looks like a tractor-trailer truck would have a very tight fit with angled parking.
So with vehicles parked diagonally at least 2 times a week Harmony Street could be impassable for about 2 hours each day. And anyone parked behind Chertok’s store would be stuck there 2 times a week for about 2 hours.
The Coatesville Army Navy Store also has a lot on Harmony Street. Making Harmony one way restricts access to that lot. There is a parking lot in back of the Army Navy store. If someone driving east on Lincoln Highway sees the Army Navy Store, wants to stop there and there are no metered spaces out front, they can now just turn down 3rd Avenue go to Harmony street and the Army and Navy store lot. If Harmony is made one way they will need to go past Harmony Street and make a right turn at either Maple Avenue or Walnut Street, turn right on 1st Avenue and then right again on Harmony Street. That’s if they know how to get back to Harmony Street. Or they might just say screw it I’m going to the Mall.
Making Harmony Street one way would force Coatesville Police to use 3rd Avenue to get to 1st Avenue and Lincoln Highway and Coatesville’s west end or use Maple Avenue to 1st Avenue. Making Harmony Street one way will increase response times to Coatesville’s west end. In a one hour period I once counted 10 police vehicles going what would be the wrong way on Harmony Street.
The idea of making Harmony Street one way with angled parking for Lincoln University Students that might be here someday maybe, is nuts.
You can see three cars parked on Harmony Street in the Google Maps photo. The parking is free. The meters haven’t worked for a decade, they were “fixed” but they still are not functional. Three cars are normally parked on Harmony Street. We might get Lincoln University students but they would probably rather park near the proposed school that we might get that’s 3 blocks away.
It’s hard enough for retail Coatesville businesses to put up with armed robberies. And the constant threat of another armed robbery. If you have a store or restaurant in Coatesville it’s not if you will see an armed robbery. It’s will you survive it.
It would be nice to get Lincoln University here but that’s a possibility. If you make Harmony Street into a parking lot that could be the last straw that gets businesses to leave Coatesville. Making Harmony Street into a parking lot is nuts.
The Harmony Street parking lot is on the agenda for Monday’s Coatesville City Council meeting:
“9.2 Receive and consider First Reading an Ordinance amending Section 218 entitled Vehicles and Traffic of the City of Coatesville’s code, Section 218.46 “Schedule of one- way streets) to amend same to add Harmony Street as a one way street East Bound from First Avenue to Third Avenue”
See:
http://www.coatesville.org/government/city-council/council-agendas
This column was originally published on The Coatesville Democrats’ blog, but was submitted by its author for publication here and is used with permission. We welcome opinion columns from community members on local topics.
