Thomas MacMillan Photo
Federal employees will no longer be able to use a downtown plaza as a private parking lot — at least, most employees.
Law enforcement personnel and people with disabilities will still be able to park in the federal plaza behind City Hall, amounting to no more than four to six cars there at any one time.
The plaza will also have two new benches, repointed cobblestones, a large new bed of perennials, and no concrete blocks that people can use to climb onto rooftops.
That was the word from Bob Zarnetske, regional administrator for the federal General Services Administration. Zarnetske spoke as part of a 2 p.m. conference call with city and federal officials on the the future of the federal plaza.
The plaza, which features the iconic red lipstick-tube sculpture (pictured below) by Alexander Liberman, has been a bone of some contention for several years. For years it was a car-free zone. Then employees at the federal courthouse on the west side of the plaza began parking there in June 2010, prompting complaints.
This spring, Downtown Alderman Doug Hausladen highlighted another plaza problem: a stack of big concrete blocks that formed a staircase for vandals to access rooftops.
Those blocks have been removed, Zarnetske said. The cars are gone, too — for now.
The plaza’s currently occupied by workers who are repointing the cobblestone paving. The GSA is taking advantage of that planned work to improve the plaza in other ways, said GSA architect Gianne Conard.
Zarnetske said the GSA has been working with the city on how to better “integrate” the plaza into the neighborhood.
After the plaza is repointed, parking will be limited only to disabled people, some law enforcement personnel, and people with “special needs,” he said. The changes will limit parking there to a maximum of four to six cars, down from a high of 40 cars, Zarnetske said.
“We have essentially eliminated the parking that can be eliminated,” he said.
Since the back door of the courthouse is the only acceptable point of entry for people with disabilities, all parking can’t be eliminated, Zarnetske said.
Architect Canard said a 30-foot by 90-foot section of the plaza near the federal building on east side will be converted into a garden area with perennial plants. She said the plans for that installation have not yet been finalized.
New benches will be installed on either side of the sculpture.
All told, the improvements will cost about $750,000 and be completed by mid-October. The dollars are all coming from the federal government and most of them are being spent on the repointing.
Zarnetske said the newly repointed plaza surface will last a decade.
Hausladen, who was not on the conference call, received the news of the perennial planting with enthusiasm. “Yes! That’s awesome!”
“That’s kind of just what we’ve been looking for — some sort of positive programming for that space,” he said. “That sounds like they’ve been listening. That’s great.”
As always, “the proof is in the pudding,” Hausladen added. He said he is looking forward to seeing the finished product.