About five years ago, a handful of like-minded GNV folks came up with the idea of developing a Sweetwater Greenway Loop through the heart of our city.
We had multiple objectives in mind:
Revival of GNV’s first creek (Sweetwater) that had been abused and neglected for decades.
Giving downtown’s little used Sweetwater Branch Park a new purpose in life.
And creating a six-mile urban multi-use trail that would begin downtown, skirt the Duck Pond and neighborhoods to the north and swing west to connect with the 6th Street Greenway – which would deliver users to Depot Park and back downtown.
Eventually our little idea began to gain currency. The mayor came aboard. GNV’s Downtown Strategic Plan included the loop on its “great ideas” list. And it eventually ended up as a City Wild Spaces priority.
Recently I went to a workshop on the City’s plan to develop the Sweetwater Loop.
Staff rolled out a lot of impressive visuals presenting options for what the trail might look like, how it would interact with neighborhoods, how the now demolished Thelma Bolton Center might rise again to become a loop trailhead and so on.
It was informative. But I left feeling rather disappointed.
And not just because there is no money behind the project – other than what’s earmarked specifically to turn the old Thelma Bolton site into a trailhead.
No, what let me down is the City’s plan for a more truncated – and I would argue less user-friendly – version of the trail than we envisioned five years ago.
The City’s version would begin at Thelma Bolton, run north through the Duck Pond and then cross Main Street at NW 10th Ave. to connect with the 6th Street Trail.
What’s wrong with that? A couple of things.
First, I can’t think of a worse traffic-infested corridor to run a connecting multi-use trail through. Crossing at 10th will oblige trail users to negotiate car traffic coming from a busy Publix shopping plaza on one side and a couple of in-and-out fast food restaurants on the other side.
Second, ending the loop at that point cuts out several blocks of the 6th Street Trail to the north, along with several trailside businesses that might appreciate an opportunity to attract more customers.
And it leaves out GNV’s Tom Petty Park, with all of its recent improvements, as a trail destination.
In our original plan the loop would continue to run north past the Duck Pond via neighborhood streets to connect with Tom Petty Park.
Doing so would make 16th Ave the Main Street loop crossing. Why is that better than crossing at 10th?
First, Tom Petty Park – which already has very nice trails – is just a block away from Main Street.
Second, once you cross Main Street, the northern terminus of the 6th Street Trail is also just one block distant.
Oh, and users wouldn’t have to interact with NW 16th at all.
This because what links Tom Petty Park and the 6th Street Trail is a wide, grassy public right-of-way on the east side of 16th that seems ideal for a two block multi-use trail.
So why not cross at 16th? I’m just spitballing here.
Maybe its because the right-of-way in question is under the jurisdiction of Alachua County, not the City of Gainesville.
And running a multi-use trail for two blocks in order to complete the loop would require a degree of City-County cooperation that…I hate to say it…runs counter to the us-against-them culture of both bureaucracies.
BTW, if you think I’m being paranoid here, recall that the City demolished Thelma Bolton right after the county commission requested a temporary reprieve to consider plans to save the building.
These two governments do not like to play nice.
I suppose a truncated trail is better than none. But a loop that sacrifices public safety to avoid the necessity of city-county cooperation for the common good seems rather short sighted.
