The whole thing about restaurants - at least The Barking Dog - in Amesbury being perhaps more willing to serve up "trendy" drinks reminds me of something someone said to me at the open studio.
"It was like moving to Ohio."
She was describing her move from Newburyport to Amesbury. Considering that if there wasn't a river there, Amesbury and Newburyport would be right on top of one another, that was quite a declaration.
I'm actually amazed that Amesbury did not "take off" before Newburyport did. OK, they aren't in such close proximity to the ocean and the downtown is not right on the river, but they have (sort of) better highway access. You have to drive a ways from I-95 to get to downtown Newburyport and it's kind of hard to find downtown once you're actually there but you don't know that because it's downtown residential.
Then, of course, you get to the main street (State St.) but it's one way coming at you and by then you've already passed the one-way street that is the one you should have gone down in the first place. That's why the mayor is proposing reversing the directions of Green and State streets.
And Amesbury's "part" of the river could arguably be said to be more beautiful.
Adding to my confusion is the two mayors. I'm not knocking our mayor; I'm more heaping praise on Thatcher Kezer, the mayor of Amesbury. He is more of a cut-and-dried kind of guy. You know exactly where he stands, he doesn't seem to back down that often, and he does not give a shit if everyone likes him or not.
When I was writing for the Amesbury News (also owned by Community Newspaper Co./Gatehouse Media) and covering Town Hall, I came in frequent contact with Kezer. I went to a "press conference" a couple of times (these involved DN Amesbury correspondent Katie Farrell and me, or just me in one case). Kezer would make his opening statement and we were supposed to, I guess, jump all over what he had just said.
I would just look at him and smile. And not just because he's a cutie. It was hard to find fault with his logic (although a lot of people in Amesbury would not agree, I know).
Saturday, May 3, 2008
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7 comments:
Hi Gillian,
When did the Mayor propose switching direction of State Street? Did I miss something?
The Barking Dog does a robust business every day they are open. The food is good and priced fairly, the service is always friendly, the owner comes to your table and chats you up, and the ambiance is comfy and unpretentious. Its well worth the grueling six mile trip.
James Shanley
How about some expansion of that "moving to Ohio" crack? I have lived in Cleveland, and traveled extensively in Ohio and, while some of it is quite nice, it is certainly not like Amesbury. I'm curious about what the speaker was thinking.
James,
It was in the DN, January 28. Tried to link to article in a reply but link did not come through. "City looking at reversing direction of State, Green streets" is the title of the piece. I'm not sure if it was in the print edition since I only read the DN on line.
Dick,
I took her comment to mean what I went on to say in the post - that Newburyport has kind of "taken off" while Amesbury has not (yet) and the two communities are so close yet so different.
You know, as in she might as well have moved as far away as Ohio, that's how different the two places are. I don't think she was making a direct comparison between Amesbury and Ohio.
The link to the Daily News story is here, but your facts are slightly off Gillian as the mayor never proposed a direction reversal; the Chamber's Economic Development Committee considered it, and of course the mayor was at that meeting.
Sorry, all, mia culpa. James and Ari are correct; the mayor has not proposed anything of the sort. I should have written "is investigating."
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