Submitted by Maria Platsis
Ladies and Gentlemen –
Please vote YES TO REJECT the proposed alterations to the intersection of Arch Street and Greenwich Avenue. The plans destroy a relatively large portion of a historical landmark park and either remove or risk damage to BEAUTIFUL trees, which we should be working to preserve – particularly if we are interested in protecting our environment. The plans will disrupt the flow of traffic and pedestrians and take much needed parking spaces away from the Avenue itself, making it MORE difficult for our citizens to access our downtown.
The increased complexity of the traffic flow, I believe, will increase the dangers of that intersection. I say this because, in my experience, similar changes to the Elm Street intersection have DRAMATICALLY DECREASED visibility of pedestrian traffic and, in my opinion, made it MORE dangerous for pedestrians.
We should do everything we can to maintain open space, and therefore visibility, around our intersections to ensure that those walking in the downtown area can be easily seen by the drivers of cars on the Avenue. The bump outs at Elm Street, which includes huge planters, SIGNFICANTLY obstruct (almost to the point of fully blocking) the view of pedestrians AND cars at that intersection, as they protrude WELL INTO the intersection. In my opinion, this approach should NOT be replicated further down the Avenue. And I would go further to say that the changes at Elm Street should be undone.
I do not understand what is motivating this proposed change, but I would hope that we, as a town, would think logically about how this will impact us and how it will detract from the historical beauty that is Greenwich.
Please protect our beautiful town from this change, which appears to be just for change’s sake.
Maria Platsis