Over one hundred people including citizens, the mayor and a deputy housing minister, and professionals gathered this evening in an auditorium on the outskirts of Kiryat Shmona to begin a five day charrette process that may help determine a new direction for this city’s downtown. I was surprised at how successful the evening went and how hopeful people were for the future of their city.
Kiryat Shmona is set within the beautiful Galilee valley with a high mountain slope rising directly to the west of the site. It reminds me a bit of downtown Aspen where Ajax rises directly out of the streets of the town and indeed ski slopes are located just 25 kilometers north of this Israeli town.
The town itself is set on terraces that step down into the valley. Major streets run north south. The main street of the city has been recently rebuilt from a two lane main street into a major divided highway.
Given the constant but fairly low traffic volumes on the street (15,000 trips a day) it seems hard to understand how the leaders of this town allowed their downtown to be severed in two until one hears the explanation; national defense. The troops need to move quickly one way along the divided highway, presumably north, and the population the other. Such are things and hopefully these types of things will never be again – one can only hope.
The promenade that results is nice but remember, this used to be a main street which was totaly lost in the process. To compensate for this rather dubious form of redevelopment, the City has gradually been developing a more internalized downtown that meanders along a broken and non-continuous pedestrian path that runs parallel and to the west of the major highway. At its north end is a traditional open air market covered with steel-formed barrel vaults clad in polygal and open two days a week.
As one walks south from the market you can duck in and out of a variety of building types and open spaces including small lawns, a gas station, a bus station, two shopping malls that are enclosed and dark, parking courtyards and a mostly abandoned town plaza that is surrounded by a theater and abandoned town hall in addition to a lot of vacant storefronts.
While the photos make it look somewhat compelling, photos lie and a sense of abandonment, struggle to survive and neglect permeates it all. Compounding the myriad problems are a lack of linkage to surrounding residential communities, the new main highway which is very difficult to cross, and a scattershot approach to new development where each new project seems to be separate unto itself compounding the lack of synergy within the place as a whole. This is probably one of the most challenged so-called downtowns I have ever experienced and while one can imagine many tactics and strategies for its recovery, it is difficult to imagine that its revitalization will be swift. Into this setting come the professional experts including myself and I hope that most of us are scratching our heads after walking through this place. Yet a place it is.
The views from Kiryat Shmona are great. This is one of the greenest (literally in the sense of the color) places in Israel. It is one of the wettest places here too and a brook ones right through the middle of the city. The town is surrounded by a rich agricultural region; wine country. The area is famous for its cuisine. There are four distinct seasons and by all accounts the region is a popular tourist attraction for Israeli’s. There is the beginnings of a second home market in the surrounding country side and most curiously, we are told that the area is full of artists and in need of galleries.
While I have not seen the artists I imagine that there is probably a correlation between the sense that much of the place feels opnly partially occupied and the burgeoning presence of creative people. While a few creative types were present at the evening’s meeting, most of people were regular folks, shop owners, students, home makers, etc. and with few exceptions they presented a vision of their city when asked that could not possibly have been voiced through the dry analytic techniques of experts.
What I heard was that people needed basics. Streets and sidewalks cleaned, night-time lighting, places for people to go both young and old, active as well as passive recreation, and an orientation of the downtown towards the people that both love here as well as visit here. There was nothing that unusual about the hopes and dreams expressed. What was remarkable was how focused I sensed the range of ideas was, heavy on the management, and how much consensus there was, at least at the beginning of this process.
Unlike Southern California where every workshop brings out vocalized differences of opinion, in this setting, in this room and on this evening there was a sense of unity. No doubt there are other voices out there that most likely were not represented. Still, one had the sense that the constituency for this particular slice of the central city of Kiryat Shmona was well represented and diverse by the people who came.
Tomorrow the group of visitors and experts will start sorting through all the ideas and come up with a range of approaches, social, economic, development and design approaches to address the range of concerns and ideas expressed. Meanwhile there is a sense of expectancy. After many failed attempts at revitalizing a downtown that once was lively, another attempt is underway. Perhaps this one will both learn from the voices on the ground and achieve what other attempts have failed at, to create a stable center for this northern Israeli city.
