I agree with Tom Salemi about the vote on River Village at Little: Wow. I, too, am shocked.
While I think that Newbury was rushing headlong into it (considering they didn't yet have permission to use our water/sewer services), it was probably due to expediency of circumstances - and I really thought it would go through, nevertheless.
While I'm not overly fond of developments, this one seemed like a good fit for Rte. 1, which everyone has to admit is not Commonwealth Ave. (Boston).
I agree with commenter (to Tom's post) Dick Monahan - but that's nothing new!
Newburyport is already planning its own development in that area (at least I think we are still), so why not make it one big, happy area? People getting off the train could run over to the shopping area, pick up whatever they need, and head on home without another stop.
With the city trying to lure businesses into our industrial park, what better fly could you use than having affordable housing a hop, skip and jump away? Plus it would tie that area together, which it sorely needs.
Let's face it, everybody and his brother is capitalizing on building near the commuter rail stations, where they can. Why not us? And them (Newbury).
God, I hope this wasn't all about "poor folks" moving to town ...
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
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I'm thinking PI <-> LRV swap .....Unify two areas at once...
But Bubba, we may have to give the Nbpt section of PI (back) to Salisbury, if the ocean breaches where the mouth of the river used to be and the current mouth fills up with sand ... and, you know, when pigs fly.
If the swap takes place then that becomes Newbury's problem - all the more reason to do it...
Oh come on you know you want to live in Newbury.
And I knew you'd criticize Newbury no matter how it voted....
Bubba,
Ah, you know me so well ... If only I could find someone single who understands my mercurial nature!
Didn't I say I wanted someone with horses? Where do they have horses, around here, I wonder?
But I WAS shocked that it didn't pass.
Horses ? I'm thinking West Newbury......
I thought it was going to pass too until I drove by at 8 PM and saw more cars than I had ever seen for a Newbury town meeting....
more development is the solution to everyone's problems...its hasn't worked yet, what makes anyone think it would be beneficial to the city this time?
Ben, While I'm not so much loving the proposed waterfront development, I sort of can see this one flying; but only in conjunction with the industrial park taking off.
Having said that, someone somewhere on some blog has pointed out that the one at Salem Depot is not doing well. It's pretty unattractive.
I think in this day and age, if you had some reasonably-priced housing that close to the industrial park and train station, or maybe even a modest hotel with a nice restaurant, it would attract a big business or two here - with the added concessions, of course.
And let's face it, once you get to the traffic circle, you're out of the "pretty" part of the city, or Newbury, or anywhere.
We don't need yet another grocery store, in my opinion. But if there's going to be development, I like it outside of downtown proper.
Gillian,
The whole point of transit oriented development is to create a self-contained "village" where one can live and shop for the basics (food, pharmacy, dry-cleaning, etc) without having to get in a car and drive somewhere.
I know, Bubba, but I meant also that it would benefit people who park at the train station and live elsewhere.
Dearest blogger Jillian,
Of course it is about the poor people, particularly the urban poor. Beacon built a similar development near the train station in Haverhill, complete with retail, only the retail never did arrive and the housing market being down in the dumps has provided the opportunity for the Section 8 class of people to move into the development, with the politically incorrect yet entirely factual increase in police and social service presences being required.
You see, it is not the receiving of the Section 8 housing that is the issue. No, it is the character traits that lead some people to rely upon Section 8 housing that is the issue, and if Beacon could not fill The Village with attractive yuppies and handsome subcontinental types such as myself they will resort to the Section 8, and with Newbury's affordable housing percentage being under 10%, well, we would all be stuck with some potentially very unattractive neighbors (unlike yourself, dearest blogger Jillian).
We would then discover whether our politically correct attitudes could survive confrontation with reality. I suspect it would not.
Not here! No! I once lived in the fine but not-so fine city of Atlanta Georgia, when I was but freshly off of the airplane from Pakistan. We are living in Heaven compared to Atlanta. The one thing I did enjoy about Atlanta was my friendship with the African American small businessman named T-Bone Jones, who appeared to manage the business careers of several ladies of dubious character. In fact I purchased my fine automobile, my purple and green Cadillac El Dorado, from Mr T-Bone Jones when I left Atlanta. He gave it to me at a good price as a going away present. I think the car is worth more than I paid for it as he kept referring to it as a 'hot car' to wit, quite stylish and fashionable.
- Mahatma Kote
Funny story. Where we lived in the South End of Boston was right next to the Southwest Corridor Park, which is built on top of the Orange Line and is full of lovely gardens. There are fences between the park and the St.Botolph neighborhood because, at the time it was built, the St.Botolph folk did not want "those people" from the run-down South End having easy access to their area.
Now that the South End is highly gentrified and one of the most expensive places in the city to buy, there is constant complaining from the St.Botolph folk about how far they have to walk to get into the park.
The South End of Boston is, BTW, one of the most mixed neighborhoods in the country. On our one-block street, there were people at all levels of income, and of all races. There were million dollar condos, Section 8 apartments, and a group home. Everyone gets along. In fact, they just had their annual street fair. Read all about it at www.cnaboston.org.
Dick, One of the great things I experienced living in Boston all those years was the phoenix-like re-birth of that neighborhood. When I moved to Boston, in 1985, you could still see the beauty of those buildings, even though they were so run down. I worked on St. Botolph St. later, after things had picked up, and I loved walking by that very park (near Back Back station). Thanks for the link ... I wonder if that Mexican place is still there?
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