Council to consider closing Victoria Street walkways

Several Victoria Street walkways allowing access into Westside neighborhoods from the busy thoroughfare may be closed.

City staff says residents near the openings feel they are “attracting undesired attention,” namely drug use, alcohol consumption, public urination, graffiti and sleeping transients. Residents also contend that the walkways help apartment tenants park on their streets because the nearby complexes don’t have enough spots.

City Hall is proposing to close access points onto Victoria from Raleigh and Wallace avenues, Meyer Place and Miner Street. It also is looking to close entrances near 827 Victoria and another near the Victoria Manor apartments at 989 Victoria.

The City Council will consider the closures Tuesday.

City staff sent surveys to households near the openings to gauge opinions. A majority of respondents at each of the six spots was in favor of closing the walls.

Staff noted that the opening near Victoria Manor is heavily used by Victoria Elementary School, whose principal and PTA president were against its closure.

An additional closure is proposed for an opening into Dorset Lane from Fairview Road in Mesa North. Nineteen of 21 respondents there said they want the wall closed.

Each wall closure is expected to cost about $16,000.

No funding is allocated for the work, but “some of the residents have come forth and offered to participate financially in order to close some of the wall openings,” according to city staff.

Should more Victoria access points close, it would be the second time the council approved such a move in less than a year. In July, the body unanimously approved closing three points along Victoria, at Puente, Raleigh and Sterling avenues.