OPINION: St. Johns Avenue is gonna look great, but not without a few speed bumps

First, the good news: The St. Johns Avenue Streetscape Project that has been in the planning stages since 2017 officially began Monday. When it is done — sometime toward the end of next year, according to the city — I fully expect it to look fabulous… and finally be drivable because, whoa mama, those potholes.

Palatka Project Manager Marcia Ganoe said the current construction marks the start of “phase one” of the project.

St. Johns Avenue intersections at Third Street through 11th Street, with the exception of Ninth Street, will all be resurfaced with permeable pavers that will reduce flooding during storms. Crosswalks will also become handicap accessible.

Ganoe told Palatka Daily News Reporter Daniel Egitto this week that this part of the project will end by March 29. At that point, the city plans to move into the project’s next phase, during which contractors will repave St. Johns Avenue, plant more trees, install more benches and otherwise improve the area’s appearance and quality.

This should be a major celebratory moment for the city of Palatka. The project is monumentally needed, both for the residents that traverse that road and the shop owners who do business on it — which brings me to the bad news.

The project crews put up barricades Monday at the intersection of St. Johns Avenue and Seventh Street and there they shall remain for about a month, or until that intersection is complete, according to the city.

In other words, shops on at least the 700 block of St. Johns Avenue will likely see more stifled foot traffic during some of the busiest shopping days of the year.

“It’s absolutely killing us,” Sherri Granger, owner of the downtown business Urban Farmhouse, told Egitto. Based on the first two days, Granger said she fears her holiday sales season “is going to be awful.”

Certainly, Granger has a logical concern. Small retail businesses often depend on the holiday season for a good portion of their annual profits. Drivers who see barricades blocking a street up ahead are more likely to turn around and find an easier business to access.

I decided to wander downtown after the sun began to set Tuesday evening to see for myself what the area by the construction site looked like.

While there were signs stating, “sidewalk closed” alongside the barricades, those signs were placed off to the side of the sidewalk. While those sidewalks may have been blocked while crews were working earlier in the day, as long as those signs remain out of the way of foot traffic, potential customers still are able to park in the Ameris Bank parking lot or along St. Johns Avenue or side streets in other areas and walk to those stores.

But from afar, it’s not easy to see if the walkways are open or not. That makes me (as a typical lazy driver who normally would not choose to hoof-it too far) a little hesitant to keep driving closer to a barricade.

In any case, the project has begun. It is sorely needed and because out-of-towners are the most unlikely to bother with this traffic nightmare we Palatka and Putnam County residents need to do two things right now.

First: Over the course of the holiday season, find time to visit several St. Johns Avenue shops — especially those who might be a little more difficult to get to. If you’ve got a holiday shopping list, bring it with you and patronize your local businesses. They could use your help.

Two: Impress upon your city the need for improved, more timely communication.

Let’s be clear about the enemy we face here: It’s not the city. It’s not the contractor and it’s not the businesses. It’s confusion.

While the timing of this project stinks, it may have been unavoidable. Even so, the goal going forward — for this project and any other project that impacts businesses and residents — should be to get information out, as soon as possible, that allows people to better deal with changes to their environment.

It’s not just common courtesy, it makes good business sense — and it makes for good government.

Casmira Harrison is the editor of the Palatka Daily News. She can be reached at charrison@palatkadailynews.com.