Making Pittston more walkable
PITTSTON, LUZERNE COUNTY (WBRE/WYOU) — “Go take a walk:” That’s the word in the city of Pittston. The city has seen a rebirth over the last decade, and now, they want to make the area more walking-friendly.
“The whole walkable thing, you know, we started about a year and a half ago,” said Pittston Mayor Michael Lombardo.
The Mayor said Monday the city is in a data collection phase, assembled a committee and taking input from the public on how to make the city more walkable.
“If you move around the city you’ll see there are a couple of signs in businesses, there is a survey. It’s not about what we think it’s about what the users think,” Mayor Lombardo added.
The city has made recent headway by adding streetlamps, fixing the sidewalks, and interconnecting the downtown area and surrounding area with walking paths and trails.
“We live in a society. It’s pretty much been built over the last 40 years for automobiles, which isn’t the best thing for downtown and cities so I think we’re trying to reverse some of that trend,” Mayor Lombardo continued.
People walking around Pittston Monday afternoon say they can see the benefits of making the city a better place for pedestrians
“I don’t think a lot of foot traffic used to be seen around here, but I think lately people are coming out. There’s some more festivals and art walks and restaurants so I think that helps a lot,” said Pittston resident Jane Armitage.
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One thing the mayor mentioned to make the streets more walkable is adding more street signs to help people move around more easily on the streets of Pittston.
“When you’re talking about walk capability is wayfinding and that’s the physical signage that really guide you to important places you know be at his physical places like City Hall or the library police station the fire station, but also then, places of interest,” Mayor Lombardo added.
According to the mayor, the city has other initiatives which include increasing the number of restaurants downtown, which goes hand and hand with the plan to get more people walking around Pittston.
“As we continue to grow our restaurant downtown even if you’re a traditional Italian, you don’t spend four hours at the table, so you want to get out and you want to do something afterwards,” Mayor Lombardo stated.
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