Waban resident, Chis Steele, chairman of Newton’s Economic Development Commission and an occasional blogger on this site, published a column in the TAB this week discussing what can and should be done to bring sustainable vitality back to the village centers. Read it and come back and share your thoughts.
The new development in village centers has been discussed ad nauseum for the past 30 + years, but nothing is done to implement it. Recently Newton Centre Task Force worked for 3 years, issued a report with a specific plan, submitted it to the mayor and the aldermen – and it was buried there since 2007. MIT student did their own study – and were paid for it – that was also buried in City Hall.
Similar efforts were wasted on West Newton Center, Chestnut Hill center and Needham Street. The latter brings 40% of all tax revenues to the city, yet they city and the state can’t fix that arguably the worst street in Massachusetts during the past 30 years!
The reason? The NIMBYs, the BANANAs, or whatever these “concerned citizens” are called nowadays. Every time any development comes to their corner of the woods, these obstructionists raise hysterical objections. So, as long as our elected officials obey the NIMBYs, our village centers will languish in stagnation.
Just to follow up on Anatol’s excellent comments… One of the biggest missed opportunities in recent memory, was the public-private-partnership proposal at Centre and Willow streets in Newton Centre, which would have landed the city a new fire headquarters and fire station for $0. [As a disclaimer, both Anatol and I were involved with that proposal to varying degrees].
The City of Newton simply cannot afford to reject what amounted to an $8M gift, because our political leaders lack the courage to take on a few NIMBY’s.
As I have said for years on my website (www.brianyates.org) in the section “The Main Street Program is the Proven Way to revitalize neighborhood business districts” and to every body at City Hall and in the villages who would listen, the Main Street Program of the National Trust for Historic Preservation is the model with a track record of success across the country and next door to us were first Roslindale and eventually across the city of Boston including Brighton and Allston. Mayor Thomas Menino has won national renown for bringing the program to Boston as a City Councillor and expanding it across Boston as Mayor. The Main Street Program requires a lot of work from neighborhood businesses, citizen activists, and public officials to carry out its principles of Organization, Design, Promotion, and Economic Restructuring, but I think the critical mass has been reached in Newton Centre and Newtonville. I urge the leaders of these communities to visit my web site as well as those of the National Trust for Historic Preservation/Main Streets Program and the Boston Main Street Programs to review the record of success and the steps that need to be taken.
I have an item before the Zoning and Planning Committee asking the Planning Department and the Economic Development Commission to develop Main Street Programs in Newtonville and Newton Centre. Maybe the two villages can compete for the honor of being first. I look forward to the successful establishment 0f Main Street Programs in both Villages and in any others that see the need and the potential of the Main Street model for them.
Alderman Brian Yates
http://www.brianyates.org
Alderman Yates is absolutely correct – the Main Street tools are a perfect fit for some of the critical issues we have in the villages. In particular the program’s approach to promotion and organization would likely do us a world of good.
Still, we also need to fix some of the underlying regulatory problems at the same time. Our zoning and parking ordinances are antiquated and not fit for the purpose. The Aldermen have made fixing these a priority and I absolutely appreciate their efforts.
Likewise, the Mayor’s office has begun an excellent process of directly engaging both the village businesses and – critically – the landlords in a dialogue of what works and what does not. Not only is this basic problem solving, but it makes them what they always should have been – integral parts of the Community’s efforts at revitalization. (By the way, this too is a key component of the Main Streets model).
Computer analyst, blogger and citizen activist Bruce Henderson has pointed out the following error in the Main Street section of my website. Until I get a chance to have it fixed, I suggest you just google Main Street and go directly to the sites of the National Trust for Historic Preservation and Boston Main Streets.
“I saw your blog post and went to your site to learn about Main Streets. I found that the link on your site is broken. It should be
http://www.preservationnation.org/main-street/
Note the lower case m and s.”
Sorry for the confusion.
Alderman Brian Yates
Key line from Chris’s op-ed:
Add more people.
There are a slew of structural reasons why retail businesses left, creating a vacuum that banks and salons have been only too happy to fill. Programming and promotion is the outcome, not the problem. We’re not going to level the Mall at Chestnut Hill, the Chestnut Hill Shopping Center, and the soon-to-sap-Newton-Centre-even-more Chestnut Hill Square. Nor are we going to end internet shopping.
Yes, we can improve parking. And, we can fluff up the village centers along the lines of the Main Streets program*. But, fundamentally, if we want to improve the business prospects within our village centers, we need to increase the number of people for whom a village center is a walkable proposition.
Density, Chris. Density.
*I need to do more research, but I’d be willing to bet that Main Streets success requires a minimal level of surrounding density and a lack of other nearby options.
Even if we add density around some or all of our village centers, I doubt that it is realistic to expect that an 80,000 person city can support 14 villages as vibrant retail destinations, as well as the Boylston St. mall complex and Needham St. At some point, we’ve got to give up the dream.
Oh, and one more point: if there is a programming cure, it’s grocery. A grocery-anchored village center does stand a chance.
Sean –
Welcome back!
Sean, 14 villages? Where’s the pub here?
But you’re right on target. Private industry will evolve it’s own village centers. It’s up to gov’t to work with them around transportation, but not necessarily parking. The good example is Boylston Street where certain developers planned ahead and still own expansion rights should parking be an issue. The poor example is the Skipjacks lot proposal. McDonalds wasn’t allowed to provide a convenience of a drive-thru yet a developer next to it wants to do what??