Comments by "" (@jasonreed7522) on "Can you build main streets in the suburbs?" video.

  1. Legally speaking "Mainstreet" is the street city hall is on. But the image i have of Mainstreet is the one in my Hometown of Canton NY, the road is 4 lane total (mainly turning lanes) and is the merger of 310 and Route 11 (i believe they are state and federal respectively but maintenance gets contracted down to the towns). We have several of historic brick buildings that house various buisnesses including restaurants, a movie theater, and small stores. Their is a large park with an "iconic" fountain, and just off Mainstreet is the library and an ice cream stand and a church all of which face the park. The town legally has 6,500 people but has 2 colleges that are walkable to the downtown area. And of course city hall is on it. (The county court house is on court street, i wonder how that got named) and parking is facilitated by metered street edge or a couple lots behind the buildings, one of which serves a strip mall that is now dead. But is still easily walkable to anywhere in "downtown". And nearby is Potsdam where the street that feels like Mainstreet is actually called Market street and Mainstreet is a "L" interection at the end and has the movie theater. (Potsdam has a weird road network)
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  2. Mainstreet is legally/traditionally the street that the town/city hall is on. And organically grown mainstreets would be centered on this important building with other core services like parks, and libraries. And then shops and restaurants would clunp together along this main hub of commerce and eventually would build taller. The classic 3ish story brick buildings could rent out the uper floors for either more shopping, storage for the shops, or apartments. And they act as a pretty good wall to the noise of Mainstreet. For reference my town's Mainstreet is the merger of 2 main roads (US route 11, State Route 68, and the Terminal of State route 310 90's on the end of whats reasonable to call Mainstreet), granted its a small town but even in the park near Mainstreet its not that loud and the park is used to hold farmer's markets and other town events including the "block party" and "dairy princess parade" (its farm country). I suspect Suburbs could be much improved by zoning parallel streets every mile or so as "Mainstreet". (Meaning mixed use commercial with the intent to replicate small town mainstreets, if its walk/bike able to get there even better) this should reduce the volume of car traffic to cities and reduce car dependecy in suburbs.
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