By Theresa Goffredo
Herald Writer
EVERETT — Now that the buses and benches are gone, the future plans for Everett’s downtown parking garage and former transit depot are far from being set, but one thing is definite: There will be more places for people to park downtown.
Over time, about 22 parking spaces will open up — most of them with 90-minute time limits — around the old bus stops at Hoyt and Hewitt avenues. Transit buses have moved to the city’s new main terminal at Everett Station on Smith Avenue.
That’s the practical change. As for the more creative, those ideas range from a simple paint and pressure-washing job to turning the 500-car Everpark garage into a city art project complete with murals or creating a community pea patch or perhaps a combination of both concepts.
"The concept is of an art exterior as part of what we can do to enhance the visual aesthetic of that area," Everett’s executive administrator Paul Kaftanski said. "We’re at the brainstorming component of this, and what’s important now that buses and benches are gone is for us to look at what opportunities we have to redefine and recreate the area."
The canopies around Everpark garage will remain, but Everett Transit’s old 400-square-foot information office will eventually be rented out.
And much more could change.
City leaders are working with Everpark’s managing agent, the Downtown Everett Association, and a group called the Downtown Everett Action Committee to help determine what changes might be in store and to promote the use of the garage to put that money back into the downtown area, Kaftanski said.
Downtown property owners paid to have the garage built 30 years ago by agreeing to be taxed through a property levy. Everpark makes about $330,000 a year in rental fees and spends about $170,000 for maintenance of the garage. In past contracts, about 56 percent of what’s left over has been put into a city reserve account for capital improvements.
Leita Hermanson serves as the volunteer communications director for the Downtown Everett Action Committee, a 20-member group that works with property owners to help promote the downtown core.
Hermanson founded Upside Down in December 2000. She calls her business an idea/invention company that serves as a catalyst for business and community growth. She views the parking garage and former bus depot as an artist would look at a blank canvas.
She recalled one scenario about a subway stop in Manhattan, plagued by prostitution and drug dealers. In that instance, a group of private citizens rallied and convinced vendors to open kiosks nearby.
"That really brightened up the area and it was totally transformed," Hermanson said. "It’s an example of people getting together."
At Everpark, Hermanson said she’d like to bring together artists, landscape designers to work with the empty patches of dirt, and, of course, youths, including troubled teen-agers who still hang out at Hoyt and Hewitt.
"It needs something in that corner that reaches out to the community," Hermanson said. "Those kids are feeling like nobody sees them, and they want people to know they are here on this Earth, and art can be a way to do this.
"I really want to make a difference," she said. "I don’t have a lot money, but I have energy and ideas, and I can rally support."
You can call Herald Writer Theresa Goffredo at 425-339-3097
or send e-mail to goffredo@heraldnet.com.
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