Who uses Honesdale’s Cliff Street steps?

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HONESDALE, PA — As the Honesdale Borough Council considers its potential future plans for the steps leading from Riverside Drive to Cliff Street, members of the community have voiced their support for the steps to remain. 

The stairs exist in two parts, one connecting Cliff Street to Cottage Avenue, the next connecting Cottage Avenue to Riverside Drive. A pedestrian bridge near the steps connects Riverside Drive to downtown Honesdale over the Lackawaxen River. 

"Losing these stairs, especially those from Riverside Drive to Cottage Avenue, would feel like being cut off from downtown, and from the rest of our community," said Trey Talley, speaking at a February 24 borough council meeting. 

Talley and Peggy Jones, who also spoke at the meeting, have a family in the neighborhood. Both said they regularly use the stairs—Jones said she used the stairs daily to go to work—and they regularly see other people using the stairs. 

"About 50% of the time when I'm on them I see other people on them, and it's mostly children and teens," said Jones. She said many people in the neighborhood may not be aware of plans to remove the steps, and that she wanted children in the neighborhood to have safe options for getting around. 

Talley urged councilors to try and walk the long way around, which would be the only way of pedestrian travel were the steps to be removed. "There's no reasonable alternative pedestrian infrastructure for Cottage Avenue," he said. 

Another area resident, Catherine Smith-Jones, advocated for the importance of the stairs in a letter to the editor published in the February 27 issue of the River Reporter. 

"I use these steps on a daily basis as a grandmother providing child care for my young grandchildren, and I can personally attest to the fact that it is difficult to access the community by car," Smith-Jones wrote. (See the full letter at riverreporter.com/stories/steps,185058.) 

The borough council is still awaiting estimates on how much it would cost to replace or remove the steps. 

Council member William McAllister said he favored removing the steps from Cliff Street to Cottage Avenue, but keeping and improving the steps from Cottage Avenue to Riverside Drive. 

Mayor Derek Williams expressed his support for the steps, talking about the importance and rarity of public pedestrian infrastructure. 

"It's not a unique situation for us to be in to be questioning whether or not to invest in [walkable infrastructure], but it is a unique situation that we have steps at all, and it would be even more unique if we decided to keep them," Williams said.