We just want to make one more point concerning the proposed bumpouts for downtown Albert Lea.

Who doesn’t take the side streets already when they need to get from one end of downtown to the other? Making Broadway Avenue more friendly to motorists will not enhance, beautify or better the downtown shopping experience. Making it more friendly to pedestrians will.

Need to travel from the Albert Lea hospital to the Freeborn County Courthouse? Smart drivers prefer either Washington Avenue or Newton Avenue because there are fewer stoplights and fewer cars backing out of and pulling in to parking spots. The side streets get drivers there faster without having to speed.

Furthermore, the bumpouts do not strip away all parking. The convenience of get-in-and-get-out will remain. Drivers will lose some right-turn conveniences, but they will gain time by getting rid of those ill-timed stoplights. Who hasn’t been sitting at a downtown stoplight when no one else was coming and thought, “Why wouldn’t a stop sign suffice here?”