By Emily R. Evans
The Truth Reporter
The City of Toledo, in partnership with Edge Group and Tetra Tech, invited residents to a public input session at 915 Summit Street on September 10, to review and share ideas for potential improvements to Summit Street in the Vistula neighborhood.
Community members were encouraged to stop by, learn about proposed streetscape changes and provide feedback. The session focused on enhancing pedestrian safety and creating inviting, vibrant spaces that will make Summit Street more enjoyable and accessible for residents and visitors.
This was an opportunity for neighbors to share their ideas and have a direct impact on the future of Summit Street according to the press release announcing the session.
The event was in an open space, business casual, and had multiple images of the Summit Street area blown up to create visuals of each proposed project. There were representatives from the city all around the room engaged in deep conversation about the projects. The room buzzed with excitement as ideas were shared and progress was acknowledged.
Brandon Sehlhorst, director of Economic Development for the City of Toledo, said: “ the meeting is public to get the city’s feedback and input about the streetscape project. It’s focused on Toledo’s oldest neighborhood, the Vistula area, from Cherry and Summit down to the I -280 bridge.”
Selhorst noted that when the public sector invests in the public infrastructure, it attracts private sector investments. It has been proven to work many times through similar projects in other neighborhoods. His role is to drive the project by creating a plan, securing funding by obtaining federal and state support for each project.
This project is fairly new and still in the beginning stages and it’s all about hearing from the city residents and what they want to see. As a result of the project, Toledoans should see new sidewalks that are expansive enough to fit outdoor cafes, decorative elements, improved streets, medians down Summit, improved lighting and street trees.
The new work plans’ main objectives are to assist in giving people the opportunity to enjoy the beauty of traveling downtown and to decrease accidents. Past projects have shown this process works and has shown a decrease in vehicular fatalities and injuries. The goal is to slow down traffic, enhance esthetics, create better connectivity from the riverwalk to the neighborhood and to ultimately make the city’s ambiance more attractive. Feedback received from the city residents will be heard and noted.
Selhorst would love for the city residents to get online and take the survey on the City of Toledo’s website. Type in Summit Street and complete a quick survey to give personal input on what you would like to see and how funds should be used pertaining to this project.