T
en years ago, I sat in on a public planning meeting in the city of Beacon. Dia:Beacon had been bringing in a steady stream of tourists for a few years at that point, and the once-faded city was beginning to shine again. Politicians, business owners, artists, and citizens argued about what needed to be done next to make sure the momentum didn’t stall. How could we get more people who come to Dia to visit the rest of the city? How could we make sure that the fruits of the city’s newfound progress were accessible to all? How could we make sure that new development projects being proposed, while badly needed, were done in a way that benefited the long-term interests of the city and those that lived here instead of the shortterm benefits of the developers? The conversation was heated and lasted for several hours. Finally, at the end, an elderly gentleman in the back who had been silent the whole night stood up. “I’m from the City of Poughkeepsie,” he announced. “And quite frankly, we would love to have your problems.” Fast forward to today, and the city of Poughkeepsie is finally in a position to enjoy having those exact problems themselves. It wasn’t an easy road to get there, and it was made harder by the giant one that the city laid down in the 1970s: the Arterial, the combination of Routes 44 and 55 that still run on either side of Main Street. Years of construction made it difficult to get to the heart of the city, and once it was completed, the new highways made it too easy to zip through Poughkeepsie without having to stop there, or even get a good look at what was going on downtown. Even the Main Mall, a project that turned the middle of Main Street into a pedestrian-only thoroughfare, failed to attract a steady flow of customers. In 2001, the city conceded defeat and opened the Main Mall back up to traffic.
Top: “So big, you Cannoli imagine” Lou Strippoli at Caffe Aurora. Bottom: Domenick Diecidue, owner, Main Street Pizza and Cafe. Opposite: Evelyn Bruno at Parthenon at College Park. 7/18 CHRONOGRAM COMMUNITY PAGES 33