What’s Going on with Mansfield Rising?
By Allie Watson
August 8, 2019
You’re not the only one wondering What’s Going on with Mansfield Rising?
The short answer is, “We’re working on it.”
The long answer is there are meetings upon meetings discussing the nitty-gritty details not found in the 68-page plan. The Mansfield Rising Plan includes overviews of 39 projects and programs to help continue downtown Mansfield’s positive trajectory. The nitty-gritty wasn’t included but is now surfacing.
We’re talking about public art and if you had a big public art display where people walked around to view the pieces, where would you put them, how would you affix them to the ground, how do you keep them safe from graffiti and curious climbers, who paints them, and who pays for them?
We’re talking about the license plate fee funding and where specifically that should be invested in the short-term and long-term, how many trash cans are too many trash cans, where do you put them, how can you improve major corridors into downtown, and who is in charge of improving sidewalks anyway?
We’re talking about downtown housing and could someone renovate the existing beautiful buildings into apartments, condos, or even single-family dwellings, how will the downtown change when it becomes a neighborhood, how many staircases are needed to make a building safe for fire-code, and how do we show investors this is a good idea?
We’re talking about free public Wi-Fi and how something so simple could show that we’re a progressive city willing to take the step into the future, and who owns the Wi-Fi, where do you put the equipment, who fixes it when it breaks, and did you know there’s a company on Orange Street that installs free public Wi-Fi for shopping centers all over the country?
We’re talking about branding and the way we present ourselves as a city, what do we think of ourselves, what do others think of us when they visit Mansfield, what could Mansfield look like if we presented ourselves more positively, and for the love of all that is holy, can we just talk kindly about our amazing city?
Check out the Better Block Project (page 37-38 of Mansfield Rising) happening now for two-weeks on West Fourth Street between Main and Diamond. This is a temporary installation to show the impact of traffic-calming measures on a busy street. The next time you cross Fourth Street from the municipal parking lot to get your doughnuts, haircut, tattoo, or burger notice the accessible ramp (now we ALL have access) leading to the crosswalk which leads to a lighted alley which leads to the Brickyard.
I thought the planning process was the sausage-making: slow, tedious, not pretty, a little awkward. Turns out, the sausage-making continues!
