The city will hold a Newtonville Village day on September 29th in which they will shut down Walnut Street along the shopping district. This promises to be great fun and, hopefully, a boost for the businesses there. According to the article in the TAB, it will include a jazz band, sidewalk dining and a number of other street fair-like elements.
It’s an enormous undertaking, a 12-hour event (10am to 10pm):
Between 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Village Day will feature live jazz courtesy of New England Jazz Productions, rides, face painting, craft booths, theatre and much more. In the evening, Walnut Street will close to traffic for outdoor dining, live music and dancing
If you are interested in helping out, or have questions, you can contact Ana Gonzalez at 617-796-1100, or [email protected].
I love things like this as it brings life to the village and, hopefully, brings out people who wouldn’t normally come. But I’m wondering if we can start planning now for something more permanent and radical, something that would truly test some theories we have about Newton.
What if, for every weekend during June, July and August of 2013, we eliminate parking on Walnut street, put up barriers, and let the stores spill out onto the streets? Maybe even allow temporary vendors to set up tables or food trucks to use some of the spaces (gasp!).
We can give each store right of first refusal for the spot in front of their establishment. Restaurants and cafes can put out more than just 2 tables and really encourage outdoor dining. Stores can have regular sidewalk sales, bringing their wares to the people rather than the other way around. Banks can…. well… I have no idea.
By eliminating parking we can leave the street open to through-traffic but still allow for a more lively downtown area. Perhaps we can even bring in some of the parking space-sized bike locks that have popped up around Cambridge and Somerville.
The Austin Street lot offers ample space and is free on the weekends (even as people pay the meters on Walnut Street). It would allow Newton to have a regular place where people can experience a more urban lifestyle, but not on a one-off, come-and-celebrate kind of way, but in a way that tests the viability of long-term changes that can make the city a more livable, walkable and interesting environment.
I don’t think I knew the Austin lot was free on weekends. Good to know. But that’s where they want to build something, right? So it wouldn’t be forever.
Before we get too far ahead of ourselves, I’d say let’s see how this first one goes.
It does strike me that every effort should be made to include as many of the innovative ideas as possible into this first test.
@Dan, I agree that we should try to include various ideas, but the problem is in traffic. It’s one thing to have a one-off day with lots of promotion, it’s another to create a sustained program to test its effectiveness over time. A restaurant may open outdoor seating and not many people opt for it at first, but eventually begin to love it. Alternatively, people may think it’s fun, at first, to have all the vendors, but eventually tire of them and wander off. It’s not a question of “what is possible” but “what are long-term solutions.”
True enough, Chuck, but if the first one is a bust, there won’t be much opportunity for more.