There’s been plenty of talk lately about Parker Harding Plaza.
Should we add more green space next to the Saugatuck River? Or is keeping parking paramount?
Access to the river was an afterthought in the 1950s, when town official Emerson Parker and landscape architect Evan Harding devised a plan to use landfill to create a couple of hundred spots for shoppers, behind Main Street.
Up to then, the river lapped up against the backs of stores on the west side.
(Their sewage was dumped directly into the water — but that’s a different story.)
But Parker and Harding did provide access to the Saugatuck.
(Photo courtesy of Christopher Maroc)
Today, those steps are overgrown. The view below is from Parker Harding; the pedestrian bridge (left in the photo above) is closed.
(Photo/Dan Woog)
Reclaim the steps! Open the river! Access for all!
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