Downtown discussion: New bike rack locations and "tiny parks" are popular with readers, although diagonal parking is not

(Downtown Decorah leaders met last week to discuss a variety of issues involving Decorah's business district.  All this week decorahnews.com's Paul Scott has summarized some of the issues raised.  Today, readers share their opinions):

It's not surprising how most people react to the proposal to switch to diagonal parking along Water Street in downtown Decorah--the system was tried several years ago and then cancelled after public complaints.

Kristie stated "There are more pros than cons with this idea," other readers concentrated on the "cons."  Darrell, Angie and Andrea all noted, "With the size of some pickups, vans and Suvs today, it is very difficult to have good visibility when backing out of diagonal places.  The backing out problem is pretty much eliminated with parallel parking."  Several other readers e-mailed their comments in opposition to switching the current parking system.

But readers were much more positive about a proposal to move two bike racks from their current positions to positions in front of T-Bock's and in front of Courtyard & Cellar.  Dale noted, "T-Bocks & the Courtyard seem to be where the bike riders hang out."  Mike e-mailed "Your photo (of an empty bike rack) answers the question...Build it and they will come isn't working for the bike rack issue."

But the most surprising response to our downtown discussion came from the overwhelming praise for the idea of creating "tiny parks" in downtown Decorah.  Sally e-mailed, "I love this idea! Bring on tiny parks."  Lois added, "This would be VERY cool if done right."  Denise said "I say YES to a tiny park, some very impressive tiny parks in that (linked) article!"  Not everyone loved the idea--Priscilla, along with several others, mentioned, "Tiny parks are fine as long as one can find a parking space to utilize the (park)."

There is already a tiny park in the discussion stage in Decorah--keep checking our website for a future news story!

Thanks to everyone who responded!