P&Z Passes Controversial MX Zone Changes

The Planning & Zoning Commission passed extensive changes to the code governing the MX zone, opening the door for a planned development on Washington Street and perhaps much more throughout the city.

The Council Chamber was packed with people, many sitting on the floor or watching and listening as best they could on the TV in the City Hall lobby.

The Commission voted 6-0 in favor of text changes championed by the Centerplan Corporation, the Mayor and the Chamber of Commerce, but opposed by neighbors of the planned development and many other citizens.

The Middletown Press says the vote "end[s] weeks of debate", despite the fact that Ed McKeon, leader of the opposition, says neighbors will mount legal challenges to the change. But then, the Press didn't interview him or any of the other scores of concerned citizens who packed the Chamber.

The Patch and Wesleying blogs also covered the meeting, as did TV stations Fox 61 and Channel 3.

More to come later today on The Eye.

New Business On Washington Street

A new business has opened next to Michelle Nail Salon on Washington Street. Former 2 year employee of Michelle Nail Salon, Joe Zhao is the proud new owner/operator of Oriental Massage & Spa Inc. The new business offers foot reflexology and body massage. Joe Zhao is a licensed massage therapist specializing in acupressure massage. Acupressure massage is a form of deep tissue massage- deep tissue massage itself is a type of massage designed to relieve tension in muscles and connective tissue. The Acupressure part focuses on acupuncture points on the body.

I have had massages before by friends. Still this was a new experience and I was quite pleased with the results. As I am sure many other people are finding, this winter has taken its told stress wise on me; I'd like to dub this the week from hell for me also, thank you very much. Deadlines, cold & flus, car troubles, basement flooding etc etc etc, and to top it all off I got stuck in traffic on the Merrit Parkway this morning for 2 hours because of road flooding, and then again on 91 for an hour and a half coming home after the highway was closed. Oh, and to top it all off- I got rear-ended today and missed an important appointment. Lovely. Coming home it was either drop by Preferred Care Walk in Clinic for some sympathy and hopefully a muscle relaxer for wretched neck & back - a pre existing condition aggravated by the jolt I took, or seek another method to console myself. ( I love the people at Preferred Care, Dr. Robinson still remembers giving me weekly allergy shots when I was five.) I did have ice cream at Friendly's on Washington for dinner for my suffering, but that's later. I decided to take a natural approach today just to be different.

For $40 and a 10% off first time client discount I received an amazing 30 min.+ deep tissue massage. $40 is a very reasonable price for a treatment of this quality, and equal to the price of my and many others insurance co-pay amount for a walk in visit & muscle relaxer- that's how I justified the expense. Spas with the emphasis on luxury do not always equate to budget friendly, but this one is & leans towards the therapeutic. I had never really done any alternative "health" treatments so I am pleased to say I am happy with the decision today. So I thought I would share it- especially when new business owners are struggling these days.

I was initially a little wary of the closed curtains at Oriental Spa, at first it seemed very

un-inviting. However, the curtains are necessary to block out the busy street traffic and light, and allow the interior to seem far away from the noisy stretch of road the shop is on; and they do the job. The interior of Oriental Spa not only spotless, but quiet, warm, inviting, and has the level of privacy typically only found at more pricey spas. Dim light and quiet violin music make the shop relaxing immediately. The massage rooms are private, although more like dressing rooms and it was reassuring to know others clients were in the vicinity. Joe Zhao is not only extremely talented, he is exceptionally professional & accommodating. Another thing I enjoyed was not being pressured into more services; there is nothing more annoying listening to a sales pitch for another service while trying to relax. Zhao focused on my back's trouble areas, and customized his technique to my needs. I have to say I started to fall asleep. I thought Zhao had to be using a variety of tools, but the entire massage was done with only hands. Zhao went over the 30 minutes I had paid for because my neck was still a wreck and was able to work the connective tissues with the acupressure technique. Gently forcing the bones of the back and neck apart, in the way that they would bend normally, the therapist is able to work his fingers into the tissues relieving pain and inflammation. The technique is not for the faint at heart; at times the pressure is very intense, but never painful, with the emphasis on deep tissue.

So I would just like to say the experience was great & welcome to the neighborhood Oriental Massage & Spa Inc.!

Check out this new business: Open 7 Days a week, 10 am -9:30 pm, 551 Washington Street. 860 986 6742

Washington Street Scene of Zombie Apocalypse Tonight

(News report/Commentary)

No, not really, but it sure felt like the start of a zombie apocalypse driving home coming off of 91 south eventually onto route 66 Washington Street during the last leg of rush hour this evening. No street lights, no store lights, and cars vying for position to exit the area. An electrical fire at a transformer near CVS caused the power outage. At the intersection of Washington and Boston Post Road, police closed route 66 and directed traffic towards the outskirts of town.

So what is this a picture of? That would be the Home Depot & Price Chopper sign that usually illuminates a good portion of the street. Even the golden arches were out. The landscape along this stretch of road was surreal this evening; few emergency lights loomed from stores, and almost none lit the exterior portions of buildings. Staples' plaza was also completely dark aside from faint emergency lighting coming from buildings. The lights shown brightly from the vacant A&P. How this is possible is sort of shocking and scary to me; by code during a fire emergency lights inside buildings kick in to light signs and provide minimal yet essential lighting for those seeking escape. Why there are not significantly more exterior emergency lights and for if the power were to be cut during a fire I do not know. What is missing here is any lot lights in the vast parking lots along Washington Street- any pedestrians in these lots were at the mercy of drivers who could only see them by headlights.

It is too bad in this situation that store owners have not taken advantage of new technology that's environmentally friendly too; solar lighting. And no, not your Gramma's solar panels, these are hefty enough to power parking lot lights and need no external power to operate the batteries. These babies and others like them do not require line voltage at all and bank collected power. Sidewalk lighting, lot lighting, traffic lights, the possibilities are endless.

New Solar Lot Lights Its ok if people wish to comment how maybe this is not a 100% great idea, and the situations it would not work, but I think you catch my drift the point I am trying to make. Today's technology working for a better community and environment, the public should expect no less from developers & business owners looking to invest in Middletown. Tax breaks & grants should be given to help out business owners in rough times to make better choices too.

Middletown, lets put a few of these on our Christmas list.

WORKSHOP TONIGHT: SHOULD CITY TRANSFER PARKING GARAGE FUNDS TO MELILLI LOT?

Notice provided by Catherine Johnson

Tonight in city hall at 7 pm there will be a workshop to aid the common council in considering transfering funds to design/plan a parking garage from the College/Court St block to Washington/Court. A federal fund of approx $8 million plus the required 20% city match of $1.6 million will pay for the garage construction once designed. A 2007-08 parking study led by a committee headed by Gerry Daley concluded with the decision to use the funds to rebuild the city-owned Arcade over other choices.

Recently hired parking director Tom Hartley has suggested the change of location would be a better use of funds, as the Washington/Court (“Melilli”) block has significantly more retail and commercial space along Main Street than the College/Court (“Arcade”) block. Hartley believes the Arcade is best used as is (can be repaired, paid for by parking fees), and left to a future developer to reconfigure the parking as a future project would deem necessary.

Hartley’s primary interest is to increase parking capacity on the Melilli block, not to advocate a particular location or garage design within that block. His hope is that if funds are transferred, then the ideal design can be figured out. He has made one suggestion of where the garage might be located, so as to not disturb more than a section of the current $900,000+ repaving and regarding of the Melilli lot. The suggestion is to build a 270’ long parking garage along Washington Street, one of the 2007 plans. Some property and business owners have been led to believe this is the purpose of the workshop tonight: that is incorrect. The workshop is only to discuss the benefit or disadvantage of shifting the money to the Melilli block from the Arcade block.

COMMENTARY: How to Kill a Street

By Catherine Johnson

Why building a parking garage along Washington Street is a Bad Idea

I fully support the idea of investing in a garage on the Mellili block instead of rebuilding the Arcade. I believe Tom Hartley’s logic is sound regarding the Arcade: repair it but otherwise leave it as is and reserve it for a deserving future project. It will not help a developer or the city encumbering the site with a recently built but possibly inappropriately designed parking garage on this site. However, the location of where it goes on that block and how it relates to existing surroundings must be done with great care.

In my opinion, it would be a bad idea to use it to build a 4- or 5-story garage along Washington Street.

Washington Street is one of the most important streets in the city and some of its most valuable real estate. A parking garage is a piece of infrastructure, a utility, a storage area. You do not front your most important street with a storage space. If you’re wise, you never front any street with a garage or a lot because parking along a sidewalk is detrimental to retail- and commercial-viability. No one wants to walk next to a garage or a parking lot. No one wants to look at a parking garage. No one wants to live or work next to a parking garage. Even if you put retail on the first floor, no one is going to be fooled into forgetting the 4 upper stories looming above. If you face the front of the building with a façade that looks like a commercial building, people will still know it’s a garage. People can perceive the building as lifeless: it’s level upon level of car. No seemingly clever design can replace the power and energy of human presence. People make a 4- or 5- story building an active place day and night, and in turn create an inviting street where people stop, stay and enjoy the experience.

Many of you may not remember what Court, Broad and College Streets looked like before the office building (now Middle Oak) and parking garage were constructed in the late 1980’s. There was a whole range of buildings 2-4 stories tall, some ornate, others plain, with a mix of styles, uses and occupants. Parking was behind buildings in the center of the block. I would look for any excuse to take a little walk around that block when I went downtown or to the library. These 3 streets had an appealing urban character. I especially liked Court Street with its pair of brownstone buildings: the First Church of Christ and the building across from it, a Victorian with storefronts at street level and an athletic club on the third floor. While different, one secular and dolled up, the other sedate and stolid, they felt like kindred spirits. Together the two buildings framed a great street.

Later, when I studied architecture and urban design, I learned that the qualities that made that street so inviting were the same qualities which make all great streets: human presence, many different buildings, many different activities at all times of day, detailed facades, the play of light, definition, boundaries, variety. But most importantly, the car and its storage do not dominate.

Today College and Court Streets feel very different. All the buildings that gave the street its charm and character were demolished. Beautiful First Church lost its mate across the street. The 11-story office building and 6-level parking garage lurk over the street, creating a permanently oppressive quality. Now across from the church’s Gothic-arched doors and stained glass window is the gaping hole of the parking garage entrance and loading dock. It’s the dumpiest 100 feet downtown. I no longer look forward to walking down this portion of the street, and attempt all other variations of route to avoid the banality. They killed my street.

If you have never thought about this relationship of building and parking before, you may not realize how making a poor choice affects perception and ultimately, real estate values and wealth. Pretty counts. Ugly costs, and often more than just money lost from buildings and businesses. Lifeless, unoccupied buildings ultimately steal people from the street, significantly reducing its safety, its attractiveness and its value. When adjacent streets are affected, aggregate lifelessness can deaden a community.

When the time comes to plan the parking, whatever the location, let’s not make another blunder and kill the street by putting a garage or parking lot next to a sidewalk. Let’s plan for new buildings along the sidewalk and set the parking back about 80 feet. The Washington/Court block is a huge block, about 700 x 720’, so large it can accommodate 750-900 parking spaces and about 350,000 sq ft of development (40 rowhouses, 5 commercial buildings, and can double city hall). There are plenty of options for locating a garage or garages, and for planning in phases.

So I encourage us to use planning this parking garage as the first opportunity to mend and improve the quality of the streets downtown in order to restore and rebuild the place we call home. People aren’t attracted to come downtown because there’s a parking spot waiting for them. They come here because downtown Middletown is a place, a real place with a genuine history and a complexity that comes from generations of building and honoring civic character.

The First Pansies

At least one Middletown gardener has confidence that Spring is here.

This weekend I saw crocuses in bloom, and a pair of robins, but when I saw this intrepid gardener planting pansies near her walk on Washington Street, I knew I no longer had Winter to fear.

One of the advantages of living in an urban environment is that the wealth (?) of concrete and blacktop acts as a heat sink, and mitigates the effects of the cold allowing plants along South facing walls and walks to bloom earlier than their country cousins.