How many residents would be happy to proceed with a road-paint treatment (subject to agreeing a pattern) based only on artist's impressions? And how many residents feel uneasy about progressing towards any road-painting without some sort of a trial? We dont have any accurate numbers for this, but the paint-test issue came up as the main concern at the January street meeting.
A paint trial presents itself as a sensible way forward for a number of reasons. It would be useful as well as reassuring to assess how effectively (or not) the whole combination of racks/trees/paint works to create the 'room effect' in the street space.
But before the BCRA were to commit to conducting a paint test though, we'd need to consider this:
1. FUNDING FOR THE TEST. We dont have figures for this yet, but at present there's no existing funding for it from Esme Fairbairn/Sustrans nor from the OCC. Existing funds from both these sources still fall short of the funding we need to pave and kerb the street and install the DIY bits. Additional testing funds will have to be found, and additional volunteer time will need to go into campaigning for this.
2. REMOVABILITY. A worthwhile test, using the exact materials and pattern, could be quite difficult to remove entirely, just as removed grafitti is often hard to completely iradicate. Tennis court paint might prove to be an even more formidable removal challenge. Removal would also incur still more expense, both for materials and labour. Would we as a street prefer a test even if it meant possibly living with the incomplete pattern or a paint 'ghost' until the street was resurfaced?
Just thought I'd get the discussion going...
