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Study aims to steer buses away from Williams Park

A group says Williams Park should be a spot to relax in the heart of the city but the flow of buses shatters the ambience.

By JON WILSON
Published August 3, 2005

ST. PETERSBURG - As new building projects start changing the dynamic around Williams Park, downtown leaders are wondering what to do about the de facto bus depot enclosing the greensward on three sides.

A $500,000 federal grant is expected to help them figure it out.

It will mean money for a study aimed at finding another place for the buses, said Joe Kubicki, the city's transportation and parking director.

The new location - which likely will remain downtown - could become a combination bus terminal and parking center.

"It doesn't mean Williams Park won't continue to be a bus stop. It just won't be a permanent transit terminal facility with layovers," Kubicki said.

Buses have started and ended their routes at Williams Park for more than a half-century, often laying over for several minutes between runs. The park is a square block, situated between Third and Fourth streets N, bounded by First and Second avenues.

A group looking at Williams Park's future says the buses hurt the park's ambience, adding noise and fumes to what should be a relaxing spot in downtown's heart.

The planning committee, which includes elected and appointed government officials, business people, faith-based organizations and neighborhood leaders, has made what it calls the "bus issue" a priority.

"It's a dumb way to use a park, ring it with buses," said Karl Nurse, an entrepreneur who is president of the Council of Neighborhood Associations and a member of the Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority's board. The PSTA is the countywide bus agency, whose vehicles stop at the park.

Nurse also is part of the Williams Park group, which has met a couple of times since spring. It held a planning session on June 18, when the buses became a topic.

Transportation officials are reacting in a measured way to the talk of moving one of their longtime terminals.

"We're just going to keep working on the issue. It's really in the early, early stages," PSTA spokeswoman Janet Recca said.

The buses are only one of the issues the Williams Park committee is examining.

Homeless people frequenting the park long have been cited by business people as problematic. Discussion continues about what to do with the park's bandstand. So does defining the elements most likely to bring the park back to broad-based popularity.

"One of the problems with the park is that it hasn't had enough active uses," architect and park futurist Tim Clemmons said.

More activity will tend to reduce the perceived problems with some park idlers, Clemmons said.

"If you have 400 people and 40 are homeless, you don't notice. The big trick is getting more people to hang out," he said.

It's almost certain to become an option. Across Third Street N, Progress Energy will establish corporate headquarters. A luxury hotel and condominiums are planned. St. Petersburg College is expanding its presence.

That pocket boom, happening within a downtown already well into an upsurge, is why Williams Park is getting attention.

Downtown Partnership president Don Shea, who is helping lead the Williams Park initiative, said he plans to present a report on the committee's progress to Mayor Rick Baker soon.

Shea is an advocate of reducing the presence of the buses at Williams Park. Besides figuring out where they will go, other planning implications remain.

For example, what about the fat bus lane bordering the park on Fourth Street N? It currently cuts a chunk from the one-way southbound traffic lanes.

"Depending on how many buses actually use Williams Park as a stop, we may need to keep that lane," Shea said.

"What I'm most interested in is not having them idling on First Avenue N."

[Last modified August 3, 2005, 00:36:17]