West of Downtown

Paul Irvine 

City Event Meeting Story 

Much debate over the evolution and master plan of Whitman Park see progress as the out come become more evident. The entire downtown area sees a revamp around Union Station, fixing many public works issues and beautification of this area. The entire City of Grand Junction looks at the future of the west end of downtown.  

This area has seen a lot of remodeling between Whitman Park and Union Station. The homeless issue is compounding and with the closure of the park and opening of shelter to help the rehabilitation of this area. The streets needed major repair and in some places the sidewalks needed repaired. The trek for a pedestrian from downtown to Union Station was nearly impossible in a town that boasts the train junction of the Western Slope and gateway to the rest of the world.  

Making this area easy for people to navigate from the Main Street area is critical to the flow of the downtown area. This means people can walk from Union Station to Whitman, then to the downtown area to Main Street. 

“People shouldn’t have to struggle to get from one part of town to another. It should be easy for people to navigate on foot. Repaving the streets and adding bike lanes will help with mitigating people not in cars.” Luther Magtonis said.  

Magtonis sold his house next to Whitman Park to help battle the homelessness and crime problem. The area was filled with drifters, drug addicts, and homeless people who just kind of floated around that area. The area became a big problem for a lot of people and closing the park was the first step in the right direction to solving this crisis. 

The master plan for the park loos great. It accommodates almost everything into a small space. The trees in the park are worth close to one million dollars so keeping as much of that intact will be a big priority. Whitman Park will see a new band stand, kids play park, space for food trailers and restrooms.  

“Downtwon has already seen a lot of changes in the last ten years. It’s come a long way and seeing the changes effect the area is the progression a lot of us were looking for.” said Joe Louis who has lived in Grand Junction all his life. “The changes I am talking about are the lower rate of crime and drug use. It used to be every night something would happen, and it was starting to affect the entire town.” 

Grand Junction City is dictated to revamping the city for development and the downtown area gets a lot of attention. The plan to start rebuilding has already started with the completion of Emmerson Skate Park and the repaving of the streets. 

The beatification project should have a notable effect on the community with the revamping projects. The end goal will be to conncet the West side of downtown to the Main Street.