I’m going to go out on a limb here, and nominate an entire group of Westporters as this week’s Unsung Heroes:
Everyone who slowed the runaway train that (to mix a metaphor) looked like it was ready to turn part of Jesup Green into a parking lot.
The final plan for downtown is still to be determined. There are studies to be done, plans to be made, votes to be taken regarding Parker Harding Plaza, the Imperial Avenue lot, Taylor Place, perhaps even a deck on the Elm Street Baldwin lot.
But — thanks to a decisive vote by the Representative Town Meeting last week –there will be no further consideration of parking on historic, and very green, Jesup Green.
Saved! (Photo/Rowene Weems Photography)
Reasonable people can disagree on next steps. (And they will. Probably even in the Comments section on this very story.)
But many reasonable people stepped up in the days preceding last week’s RTM vote, and ensured that as our town moves forward to figure out its parking problem, we did not do what Joni Mitchell despaired over, more than 50 years ago.
We did not pave paradise, and put up a parking lot.
(Unsung Hero is a weekly “06880” feature. To nominate a hero, email 06880blog@gmail.com. To support our work, please click here. Thank you!)