RIGHT to VOTE |
DEMAND A VOTE !
The notion of turning Kalamazoo's Downtown Mall into a street with vehicular traffic has shown
itself to be quite controversial. If city planners really want to try this, we believe it ought to be put
to a vote.
This is why we think you should vote YES . . .
THE MALL SERVES AS
KALAMAZOO'S TOWN SQUARE
The mall serves as Kalamazoo's center, the heart of our municipal life. The sense of community
the Mall gives us enhances our city's livability. Changing it risks damaging this crucial piece of our
lives. We should be careful when tampering with something that has generated so much positive
community spirit for Kalamazoo.
BUSINESS COULD GAIN VALUABLE FEEDBACK
The Mall brings many shoppers downtown, but business leaders want more. Voting on whether to
allow traffic on the Mall is a way of finding out whether your current and potential customers
support that idea. So far thousands of downtown shoppers have signed informal petitions saying
they DON'T want traffic on the Mall. A wise business-owner would want to take an official count
before they set out to risk alienating so many of their present customers in an attempt to attract
new ones.
IT WOULD REQUIRE PLANS FOR THE MALL
TO BE MADE MORE SPECIFIC
Right now, the Plan does not give very detailed specifications on what kind of street would go in.
The written plan city commissioners approved says traffic would be blocked during certain hours
around midday, but in public planners and politicians have refused to commit themselves, saying
the plan is "only conceptual". Second, these politicians and planners have provided us with a
conceptual drawing showing a one-lane, one-way street. The written Plan itself makes no mention
of this whatsoever. In requiring the issue of traffic on the Mall to go to a vote, we increase the
likelihood planners will have to tell us exactly what they plan to do. Everyone, business-owners
and customers alike will then know what we're getting.
TAXPAYER MONEY IS INVOLVED
When a public project requires the investment of a large amount of taxpayer money, as it does
here, it's democratic to allow those taxpayers to vote on it. IT'S DEMOCRATIC In a democracy,
things central to many peoples' lives get voted on.