Visual Identity / Landscape Task Force - Week 1, May 12, 2008

Vision & Values activity and discussion

This group’s emphasis was on the following areas:

Sense of Place / Arts / Identity / Locally Owned Business

• businesses arts and identity all help create a sense of place
• the many arty things in our neighborhood help make Seward a destination
• artists have openings in their homes
• Joan of Art, Cabooze, Northern Clay, Blue Nile, Coastal Seafoods, Bluegrass at 2nd Moon, Hoffman Guitars
• The art crawl is great … more of them? More often?
• Local businesses should line both sides of the Avenue
• No big boxes
• Welna Hardware is a great precedent – anchors its corner with its scale, colors etc.
• Want to be known as a walking community
• We need to think about what our core identity is – is there a verbal reference? A logo?
• Places on Avenue should have character, not be cookie-cutter (like MetroPlace)
• now, our neighborhood is beautiful and has a sense of place … once you leave Franklin
• Extend the outdoor season (eg, blankets at restaurants for outdoor seating, shield wind with trees, etc.)
  

Public Spaces

• Friendly, well-maintained/clean and inviting neighborhood gathering places where people meet, socialize, site and become neighbors
• How do we plan for gathering places?
• Some elements: no litter, artistic trash cans, painted phone poles, drinking fountains for people and dogs

Destinations

• A compelling/alluring place (destination) for people in and outside our community to come for art, food, rest, etc … all thins cultural, green and edible
• Destination requires easy access, including: bike parking, bus service & shelters, car parking, walkability, LRT access, public transportation in general
• Want to fell like a place where you want to go

Trees / Green Spaces / Green Construction / Sustainability

• This is a core value of our community
• Use trees and green spaces to make Franklin more inviting, safer, softer, more comfortable and cleaner for walkers and bikers – so that the community walks in all seasons
• Solar street lights – focus light on sidewalk / pedestrians
• Buffering
• use clumps of small trees (birch?)
• ex – at new co-op, trees between sidewalk and road and between sidewalk and parking lot

Connections / gateways

• visual consistency / continuity throughout the corridor
• use art at both ends of Franklin and throughout
• should not seem forced
• improve pedestrian and retail connections to LRT / LRT bike trail

Consistency

• We don’t want everything to be the same, but we do want it to all be well-maintained