Hoping to bring the area back to what it used to be, city officials are asking citizens to assist in redesigning Philosopher’s Grove.

“There’s been a lot of newspaper headlines about this area,” Rebecca Cnare from the city’s planning division said. “Philosopher’s Grove is right at the top of State Street, on one of the busiest intersections in the city. We are looking for ways to make the top of State Street a great place again.”

With the help of a design team, the city wants to open up the area again to what it was 10 years ago, Cnare said.

The Downtown Coordinating Committee held a public design workshop Thursday, which Cnare said was for the city to listen to feedback and ideas from the public about how to handle the problems in the Philosopher’s Grove area.

Philosopher’s Grove used to be a city street that intersected with State Street that cars could drive on, but then it was turned into a plaza space. The area was meant to be a place where people could spend time out of the pedestrian traffic, Bill Fruhling, principal planner from the city’s planning division, said.

Fruhling said the area had concrete planters that blocked off the space and made it dark and hidden until it was reconstructed again in the early 2000s.

“We still wanted to provide a shaded, quieter and more contemplative area for people,” Fruhling said. “You could see all the way through the area and we wanted to incorporate public art.”

Cnare said artist Jill Sebastian designed the groupings of bronze and stone for the area. Fruhling said at first after the redesign, the area was a huge success. It was well used, widely enjoyed and there were no complaints until two or three years ago.

“There were reports of harassment issues, as well as complaints of people taking ownership of the area. We decided to take another look at the area to ensure that this remains a great place in the community,” Fruhling said.

In response to the issues, Cnare said the city wanted to take the situation to the public. There is no real timeline for the redevelopment yet, but the city is hoping for implementation of changes starting in the spring of next year.

Cnare said the city needed to be open-minded and make sure they were listening to the opinions of the multitude of business, home and property owners nearby before coming to a conclusion.

The city as a whole needs to make sure that they are separating the idea of people causing issues and the homeless, Cnare said.

“This isn’t a problem with the homeless. The problem is with the crime,” resident Dan Milsted said during the workshop.

An overwhelming response from the public during the workshop suggested opening the space up, increasing lighting and adding amenities such as an extension of the farmers market, a ticket booth, additional seating for the surrounding restaurants, a taxi stand, a bike path or a reflecting pool.

Cnare said in the past the city has tried to help the issues by adding twinkle lights, interactive chalkboards and even increased police presence.

“This is just the opening dialogue,” Fruhling said. “We want to hear what the public’s current perception of the space is, and we just want people to feel like it’s a safe environment.”