Green Street

3/17/15

                This week, our outing was slightly closer to home. We ventured down to campus town and walked down Green Street, as we discussed the many changed that have occurred on one of the most popular spots on campus. Filled with bars, food, and shopping, Green Street seems almost essential to student survival, so it’s weird to think that it hasn’t always been the student friendly place it is today.

                What started off Green Street’s transformation was the flooding issue that the area had. The Boneyard creek had the nasty habit of overflowing and flooding the surrounding neighborhood. This started the interest in the area.

                A group of students and a faculty member began to take notice of the Green street area and began coming up with ways to improve it. They realized that this space had much more potential that could be used to improve students’ lives on campus. So they began to lobby for making Green Street a place for students; less of a transitional place and more of a place to exist.

                Slowly, Green St became a place people were actually willing to go. The awnings got smaller, the streets narrower, and the sidewalks wider. Soon, people began erecting apartments to house students, as they realized that they could charge much more in rent for a lot less.

                This is the perfect example of a space changing to suit its environment. Green Street could have become a place intended for vehicular travel, but it was instead taken in the opposite direction, and transformed into a place for pedestrian student life. Green Street became the place we know today: a place to eat, drink, and have a good time.