I am relieved. One of my many concerns about Newburyport’s 40R Smart Growth District (SGD) around the Traffic Circle is that the goal is to make the area pedestrian friendly, and it is one of the most dangerous, if not the most dangerous area for any pedestrian in the city. There is no safe way […]
This is what distresses me about the Smart Growth 40R Process. By sinabeet on Flickr, “Hand say Hand Listen,” Creative Commons License The problem is with the citizens of Newburyport who are not paying attention, not with the elected officials and folks on volunteer boards who made the Smart Growth 40R District happen. 1) This […]
When Newburyport’s 40R Smart Growth District passed on the second reading by the Newburyport City Council on Monday night, I had sort of a sinking feeling, a slight feeling of foreboding. Not necessarily because I think it might not work, and that really smart people, who care a great deal about our city, did their […]
Here is a link to the application that the City of Newburyport made for the proposed 40R Smart Growth District (It has all kinds of links and information on it), it can be found here. Here is a photo of the proposed Minco building (it is now in the public domain), which is the cornerstone […]
It is really hard to find a place to rent in Newburyport these days. If you go to Zillow and look for rentals in Newburyport, it’s very depressing. That is why the city is so hopeful about the proposed 40R, which is a real effort to bring back rental units back to Newburyport. Here is […]
This is one of the things that concerns me about the proposed 40R Smart Growth District around the traffic circle. Eventually the traffic circle will need to be refigured. I can imagine that highway engineers might recommend something like the drawing above. A light with turning lanes where Route 1 and State Street meet, and […]
Editor’s note: The Minco Building, the image, as of June 19, 2015, is now in the public domain. I cannot put an image up of the proposed Minco building because of copyright issues, but you can see it if you press here. (Editor’s note, it is now included in the post because the image, as […]
I’ve been trying to pinpoint what it is about Newburyport that I love so much. What keeps me longing to stay here despite a winter like the one we’ve just had. Jerry Mullins in his blog post uses the word “romance” in connection to Newburyport, and it is an adjective that describes this small New […]
I’ve seen the first draft of the new 40R Smart Growth District around the train station. The proposed 40R District (see previous post) would allow for mixed use buildings near the train station, traffic circle, parts of Rt 1 and the area on lower State Street between Lunt and Kelly and the edge of the […]
Newburyport is beginning the process of thinking about rezoning the area around the train station, so that there can be a mix of residential units and businesses. This is called a 40R Smart Growth District. This is nothing new, the city has been talking about this since 2004. “Chapter 40R, encourages communities to create dense […]
Last year I worked on a national level to save the Affordable Care Act (ACA) from Republican repeal efforts. It was fascinating and not unlike local politics. And my experience in local politics helped me emotionally navigate this new political terrain. I joined up online with a bunch of folks at Vox.com, the group is […]
There is a local Newburyport election coming up on Tuesday, November 3, 2015 for Newburyport City Councilors at Large, and City Councilors in Ward 1 and Ward 4, as well as Newburyport City School Committee members (for a list of candidates please press here). There are a number of issues on people’s minds — the […]
Yesterday when I looked on Zillow, I counted 23 properties above a million dollars for sale in Newburyport, most of them significantly above a million dollars and one for 3.2 million dollars. I think that it is safe to say that Newburyport is now in full-blown gentrification and is going beyond “high end” to what […]
I’m going to pass on what I’ve learned about the proposed development by Newbury on Route 1 as I learn more about it. * Newbury’s financial situation has been described to me as being “desperate” and “in peril.” * Newbury has almost no income from commercial or industrial business to help support expenses. * Taxes […]