Monday, February 21, 2005

A Face Lift for Downtown

Much ado about appearances.

In Chuck Green’s editorial about what ails Pueblo yesterday he mentions how downtown doesn’t look all that pretty from the high ground of I-25.

He has a point. Especially along the stretch of Santa Fe between 6th and 2d Streets to the west of I-25. There are a lot of older buildings housing on-going businesses that could use a face lift. But it costs money to scrub brick and mortar properly. Also to improve signage. Some things that would improve the appearance of the foremost part of downtown that people travelling along I-25 would see, if they bothered to look. And in periods of economic stress, that’s money that does not necessarily translate into an improved bottom line.

Maybe the anwser, from the city’s perspective, would be to apply something of a veil.

Instead of pressuring the business owners to improve their store front appearance, why not put in something that will naturally appear more attractive from the interstate. Trees.

Yes, they take some time and care to grow properly, but as I’ve mentioned before, in another incarnation on the web, there are some trees that very quickly grow to a height and breadth that would do much to improve the appearance of such sections of town. The Globe Willow is what I call ‘almost instant tree’. In only seven years it can have a height of 20’ and a width of about the same. Their only serious problem, as far as I can tell, is they don’t last very long. Twenty years or so, with proper care. But they are lush and provide excellent shade. Like we can’t use shade in Pueblo in the Summer. Eh?

What I’d do, if I were responsible for this activity, would be to plant a number of trees along Santa Fe. Every other tree planted along a stretch would be a Globe Willow. In between each Globe Willow would be a slower growing and longer lasting shade tree such as an Ash or Oak or Maple. In twenty years, when the Globe Willow begin to go bye-bye, the other trees would be tall enough to take up the task of providing shade and a pleasant appearance. And when a Globe Willow is taken out of the system, a slower growing shade tree would be put in its place to continue the work of beautifying downtown.

Maintenance of the trees would be a necessary task, but we already have a group to maintain such trees in our parks. We could use their efforts to maintain the trees in downtown as well.

With this system, in a few short years, we could have an improved frontage along I-25 as well as much needed shade in the Summer and more amicable shopping along Santa Fe. Such changes in the environment might even draw in more diverse businesses to that section of town.