Off topic..... Ms Sauser, you have awesome teeth!

I am with frogger, who cares about the street. Have the businesses stay open after 5 p.m. A lot of people work days and cannot shop downtown. Even on the weekends they close early. Stay open at night and you might get more business!

I think it's just kind of nutty with 2 "main" streets, both one-ways, and then putting a small section of 2-way in the middle of that. Right . . . no confusion there.

I was driving down West Milwaukee yesterday and something occurred to me....it is currently three lanes, will this plan reduce it to one lane in each direction? The article says there will not be multiple lane options, so I assume that means yes. Without converting Court Street as well I really don't think that one lane total going West through downtown is going to be enough to handle the traffic volume. In addition to that, how can two way traffic start at the Locust and no changes be needed at 5 points? With the left turn lane and two lanes going straight it seems like it would be too close. Either way, I don't think the city has the money to pay for this project at this point and it should be scrapped until then.

I loved the hot dog on toasted bread. For sure the candy isle!
Birds in the basement- loud ones !)

I loved Woolworths! I used to walk there after school and buy a bag of popcorn of which I would feed half of it to the fish. Then I would look at the toys and pets until it was time to catch my bus at the corn exchange. Those were the good old days!

Hey now Woolworths was never brilliant and attractive.

Less lights, less powe costs cost. Free parking, business friendly. Speed bumps - priceless??????

I remember when Janesville's downtown was vibrant and attractive, even with two-way traffic. I remember archways of trees over most of the major thoroughfares. Then the community leaders decided to let the mall developments to occur (K-Mart and others). A few developers made some money. I remember that Dutch elm disease and Japanese beetles decimated most of our urban forest. People stopped going to the downtown to shop. Many citizens voiced their concerns about the consequences of continuing the urban sprawl. Some even predicted the demise of the CBD (central business district) in downtown Janesville. But their concerns went by the wayside over time. "Development is always good for the econonomy" said some leaders. Now, as I look at the "rathole" we call downtown I wonder how much more tax money can we pour into it. It doesn't matter if traffic is one way or two way, I'll pass through it as quickly as I can, without stopping. So why have we arrived at this juncture? What caused the problem? Was it the Dutch, the Japanese, the beetles or developers chasing the almighty buck? Give it some thought the next time you vote. When you're talking politics you're also discoursing economics.

I plan to build some very nice housing projects downtown. Once I'm done we will have plenty of people shopping at the downtown shops. Don't worry everybody, I already bribed the right people.

"and the direct costs to the city in terms of dealing with blighted properties and dealing with delinquent taxes will increase"

true with the city being little "flippers" now.

When will somebody, HEY CITY COUNCIL, If the stores are NOT open other than banking hours WHAT IS THE POINT????

I pay taxes.

Well, let's see, Sigma40. The business provide jobs. The businesses pay property taxes. The businesses bring in sales taxes. The businesses bank locally. The businesses bring income to the community. And so on. What have you done for the community lately?
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On the flip side, if the downtown continues to deteriorate, so will jobs, property values and tax revenues, and the direct costs to the city in terms of dealing with blighted properties and dealing with delinquent taxes will increase. There is no upside in letting the downtown rot.

Ridiculous.

Why is it "what the business owners want"? The streets are public last I knew. How many people pass through there versus how many business owners? I work at a business next to the interstate...can you slow the interstate down here so we will be noticed more?

"'Two-way traffic always tends to slow traffic, even though the volume stays the same,' he said."

If these changes are made, through traffic will further avoid the area by taking Center and Racine streets. So through traffic will diminish, not increase. But maybe that's a good thing.

As far as businesses succeeding in the downtown area, they can if they meet consumer demand from residents in the area, for example, a grocery store to accommodate shoppers on foot. In that case, the less through traffic the better.

Stubby hit the nail on the head. People go through there now because its quick and easy. You slow stuff down....no one will go through there. Duh.

Slow traffic and more congestion. More reasons to avoid downtown.

Products and services that are in demand and price competitive are what brings in customers.

"...businesses west of the river overwhelmingly supported the two-way conversion, Sauser said. Those east of the river did not..."
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I say move the river, it can't be less logical.

Without an 'end game' the downtown will continue to flounder.
It's "let's do this, no let's do that".
It's excuses, like "we can't interfere with the owners of the buildings", as they deteriorate.
Now changing the direction of streets is the answer?
The answer is a cohesive vision of an end product. Without that the downtown will continue as it is, and as it has.

ncc1701: Where did I say not to try????
I said: Maybe the two way on Milwaukee won't work this time but is it a crime to try?
1. I know it is just a proposal.
2. All I was saying was if it was put into effect it may not work but is it a crime to try it?
3. Hope this clarifies it for you.

Janesvillecomment comment about waiting to go downtown after "rush hour" is the funniest thing I've seen on these blogs! "rush hour" in Janesville BAAAAHHHHHAAAA!!!!

For all of those commenting on my parking 3 blocks away statement: It was intended to show that the parking is not that great to begin with. It wasn't that it was not safe to park near the business that I was visiting, but that there was not a place to park. I did not have a problem walking that far as some of you interpreted it as saying, but a lot of people would like to park somewhere near the business in which they are conducting their business. If this is a 2 way street how is this going to improve parking when there are no parking places to be had?

Sometimes I go through downtown only BECAUSE the traffic flow is good. I notice a new shop - and sometimes I stop. If they mess up the flow, I won't even bother going that way. This will drive away business & cost money we don't have. Bad idea.

NCC1701 Can't you just "beam" to the place you want to go?

Wow. Im still in awe that they want to hinder the flow of traffic....and think its a good idea. Not a bad idea, and not a good idea either. Im not for or against it...good call on court st... the hill would have been horrible with people coming down it.

I think this proposal is the best compromise that could be made. For the businesses that are looking for the two way traffic, they will get that. For those that are opposed for both cost and congestion reasons, this plan has the least impact of those presented.

It seems that the people who are strongly opposed to the change are the ones that the plan will affect the least. Granted, the cost will be paid by the city, and thus the taxpayers. However, the property owners in this area all pay taxes as well. This is one of those situations where their taxes are being appropriated in such a way to have a more direct impact on them. It stands to reason, since no one is arguing this plan will hurt the local businesses, that if this plan is implemented it will pay for itself over time. Should business in this area increase, the city would eventually receive more taxes as the properties increase in value.

As far as the inconvenience of having to take Centerway instead of Milwaukee, this is a somewhat futile argument. The city has been actively working at improving the downtown area in an attempt to make the area more inviting. To argue that changing the traffic pattern will make it harder to simply drive through the area reaffirms this to be a good plan.

One thing that will be nice about this plan is when parking increases. If changing the pattern from one way to two way means they reduce the lanes from three to two, changing the parking from parallel to angled seems like the optimal choice. This should allow for another 20 spaces or more.

I still think it needs to be tabled until Janesville's job market and economic status improves. It is not necessary to make this change right now. All nonessential spending should be set aside, council members need to be held accountable and fired (at the next election)if they don't comply.

"He said he doesn't necessarily expect customer traffic to pick up."

SO what is the point of the waste of money then??

I think the real question here is does the city have and extra $120,710 to spend on this project? We're not exactly operating with a budget surplus. Wasn't there just a big discussion about selling off parks or relying on volunteers to maintain them? Whether its the right thing to do at the end of the day is totally irrelevant if there is no money to pay for it. I'm not willing to sacrifice police officers and other city services for a two way street that ultimately benefits very few directly. Come up with some way to pay for it that isn't with money we don't have or at the expense of other services, and you'll have my support.

nscr- SO if you park at Kohls- that is about 1 block away sometimes then HOW to you get to Pennys? That is like three blocks away form Kohls. Do you go to car and park your car again at Kohls?

Janesvillecomments- try the Irish pub as well. GOOD food.

nscr17"I have had to park 3 blocks away from an existing business down there because there just was no parking"

OMG were you okay. Park at Kealy and get a wheel chair. BTW our downtown city blocks are really small also compared to a big city.

Who are you people? You complain about no jobs in this city and yet you lambast and insult those who have taken a chance on opening a business downtown to draw people downtown. They have invested thousands and in return they get spit on. Maybe the two-way on Milwaukee won't work this time but is it a crime to try? As for the drunks that get confused well, they shouldn't be driving in the first place but then it wouldn't make a difference to them if it was one-way or two way. I am sure there is someone out there with a positive outlook, speak up.

If the business owners want it let them pay for it, not the tax payers!

Waste of time and money It will not make a difference as most of the heavy traffic is after downtown store hours.

I hope the change doesn't mess up the parking near Cozy Inn, the only reason I've gone downtown for the last 8 years. I usually go in the evening, after rush hour ☺ although they have a great lunch menu.

Oh and about the parking thing. How can you park when most of the spots are taken up by the business owners and the renters from the apartments above. I have had to park 3 blocks away from an existing business down there because there just was no parking. Unless they promote "double" parking I can not see how that is going to change anything.

IMO this is just a waste of our money. Isn't there something that we can spend this money on that would help the community. This is just asking for trouble. We already have a problem with drivers leaving bars and getting confused, can you imagine the accidents that this change could be causing. To have it for only a short distance on this street is just ridiculous. When is the city going to admit that the downtown business idea is a lost cause. No matter what they do it doesn't seem to be bringing in any new businesses there. When are they going to learn. It is not an attractive area to go and let's use Walgreens as an example here--it is just not that secure as a business aspect. Again this is IMO.

I would imagine that back in the '50s when they converted to 1 way streets there was just as much negativity about that as there is today. But, being only a teenager then, I thought the idea was cool even tho I didn't drive. Now, maybe it is time for a change even if it is only a portion of Milwaukee St. People will always complain about this or that but if we let that be a stopper to progress then guess we would never have cars, (they scared the horses), big box stores drive out small business's and now, here is something that might help those small business's and now people aren't willing to take that chance because it will INCONVIENCE THEM in their mad rush to get somewhere else. Maybe it won't encourage you to stop and shop downtown, but someone else might. We all live in this town not just you or me so we can't speak for everyone on this. Let's give it a chance. Heck, you might even like it eventually and not even know it was a problem.

Buck the trend, drive in reverse.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but the lights on Milwaukee are timed; if you go the posted 25mph speed limit you hit all the lights. So how is converting it to a two way street going to slow anything down? Just curious.

Think about this for a moment, if it's these stores that are the ones who want W. Milwaukee st changed no matter what the cost is they should pay for it! You need to give people a reason to shop downtown and changing streets to two way traffic will not magically make people walk through their doors, if anything less people will go through downtown and this will end up being the downfall of some of them. Locals that are against wasting money on this project will purposely NOT go downtown if this happens. If you want to improve your business pay for these changes if you truly believe it will make a difference you should have no problems making that investment back and locals may even come down and shop there because you showed that you cared enough about all of us to not stick us with the tab for such unnecessary changes to the direction of traffic flowing through the downtown area. Trust me doing this will be bad for everyone, businesses, and taxpayers alike. It will not fix the economy that much I can guarantee.
Why should the city pay for this when there are businesses all over town that are feeling the economic crunch? What about all the businesses on the South Side of Janesville, what are we doing for them? Locally owned just like the downtown businesses, but what has the city done for them? I'll tell you what they have done, NOTHING! If you want to play you have to pay..... This one is really getting to me and it needs to be put to rest once and for all!!!

Is Dave Fleig up to speed on this issue?
Considering that the DDA's amended plan will not affect the intersection near Mr. Fleig's business, I am curious why he is citing the safety issue of icey streets?

But isn't the presence of ice a safety concern no matter what direction a vehicle is facing? Uphill, downhill, no difference.

Isn't Mr. Fleig's vocation focused on safe, inexpensive, convenient and efficient travel?

Janesvillean,
Because i have to go through downtown in order to get someplace else in town i'm a "problem"? If i have to go somewhere else i'm not going to stop downtown because you managed to slow me down. Downtown Janesville is full of specialty shops which are notorious for not drawing large numbers of customers. If someone wants to open one of these stores,thats fine, but don't blame the consumers if it's not what we need.

They should convert it just so people will stop talking about it and wasting council time on it. I don't hear anyone wanting Jackson and Franklin Streets converted back to one-way. Plus, the conversion won't get any cheaper in the future. All the bypasses around the city have reduced the need for one-way streets.

Funny how traffic on Milton Av is 40 MPH and people still stop to shop. Oh ONLY because it is two way- I don't think so.
It is because the darn stores are OPEN!

janesvillean- when will they fix Milwaukee, Chicago and Madison???????
Park then walk to shop- that simple.

". "It's been a one-way street for I don't know how long, and the argument that it will slow down traffic and bring people downtown—I don't buy that.""

Neither do I. It isn't really that hard.
How big is "the downtown" anyway.

In "big" cities the downtowns are large and not 3 blocks and what 12 blocks long????? wide like ours.

If you park at the ramp the WHOLE thing is within walking distance. Still closer that you may get in an ACTUAL big city.


I will add again if all the shops are bankers hours it wont matter anyway!!
Actually ASSociated is open until 7 pm on Friday unlike any shop downtown.
Not to even mention Sundays- I think maybe only Carousel is open on Sunday.

Keep scaling down the project to put the downtown area streets back to 2-ways streets and you will almost certainly guarantee it's failure to meet the objectives...or is that's what some intend?

Traffic slowing down some is the goal. Of course this isn't a magic bullet, but it has been understood for some time that one-way streets hurt downtown businesses. Janesville is not the only city in this predicament.
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This will only be a problem for the folks who like to race through downtown on their way someplace else, and they're the problem we're trying to solve.

Traffic will slow down because people will be trying to figure this mess out.This is better than what we have?

They buy cheap property downtown, then want the tax payer to improve conditions. Will their taxes increase with these improvments?