Davis Sq Task Force meets Monday 2/11

[ron_newman]

The Davis Square Task Force will meet this Monday, February 11, at 7 pm at the Tufts Administration Building, 167 Holland Street. Here's the agenda:

7-7:05 - Introductions

7:05-7:20 - Neighborhood Groups Update
- Somerville Climate Action/Go Green Davis Square
- Local First Initiative
- Davis Area Resident Business Initiative

7:20-7:55 - CARLI Fence site

7:55-8:25 -Davis Square Development
- Antonia’s Restaurant space: Krista Kranyak from Ten Tables Restaurant
- Property on Highland Ave and Enterprise Lot
- Possible Blue Shirt Café expansion/Dollar Days
- Dover Plaza
- Dahn Yoga studio
- Sushi restaurant opening where La Contessa used to be

8:25-8:50 -Future Search Concept (Vanessa Rule)
“Where does our community want to go?”

8:50-9 - Miscellaneous items and next meeting date

ETA, 2/14: My notes from the meeting are here.

Comments

[dominika-kretek.livejournal.com]

Man, every time I walk past that, I laugh and laugh. Who thought that was a good idea? It evinces a failure of thought in like three different axes at once. I am totally not shocked that it's not selling. This isn't downtown Boston, or even Central Square. Maybe if the housing bubble had kept going for another ten years and the rest of Teele Square had gotten converted to high-rises.

In random other news, I went to Joey's Thai restaurant down by the Subway, where Benjapon used to be, and I am happy to report that the food is pretty decent, fairly inexpensive, and the atmosphere and service is delightfully cheery. Yay!

I don't care so much about this restaurant versus that restaurant, but allow me again to register my dismay at how nightclubby Elm St. between Davis and Cutter Ave feels at night. Remember when the Aquarium got kicked out? Those were the days.

[ron_newman]

I'm not sure what you mean by 'nightclubby', but if people are coming to Davis Square to listen to live music, isn't that a Good Thing?

[dominika-kretek.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure I can define "nightclubby" precisely, but you are right to ask me to try. I am not really talking about bars, even bars with live music in them. Johnny D's has live music, and they are not part of this problem. The Somerville Theater has live music and alcohol both, but I find them a most welcome addition to the square. But there's something about the Bermuda Triangle of the Diva Lounge, Joshua Tree, and the late-night Burren that has made that section of Elm Street very unpleasant to me in a way that I haven't felt since the Aquarium had big bouncers standing outside on weekend nights.

When I talk about a "nightclubby" feeling, I'm not talking about a college bar feel you might get in parts of Harvard Square or Allston, or a yuppie bar feel you might get in the rest of Harvard Square or Central Square. I love that shit! But I mean the super-sketchy, overdressed, velvet-ropes-and-bouncers feel you get on Landsdowne Street or Stuart Street in Boston. Obviously it's not as pronounced as it is in those places. But it's a recent change in the square and I don't like it. I mean, I don't like the super upscale eatery phenomenon very much either, but at least that doesn't affect me while I'm walking down the street. And you know, I have to wonder how much it affects foot traffic on weekend nights to places like Macintyre & Moore or the Boloco location.

Does that make any sense?

[ron_newman]

It makes sense, though I don't really agree with it. I tend to like any activity that puts lots of people on the streets in the evening.

[wallacestreet.livejournal.com]

The big, big difference is that the Aquarium was in very close proximity to residences (just above the ex-Yoga studio, just behind on the odd side of wallace, just across the parking lot on the even side of Wallace, and just across Holland). Elm St., on the other hand, has only businesses, I think, in the entire block between Elm and Holland, and between Elm and Herbert, and about halfway down the long block between Elm and Cottage. I don't yet have an opinion whether the late night atmosphere, which I've noticed too, is good for the square, and I've no idea how it is for the closest neighbors, but the same ambiance at the Aquarium is very different. The folks at Orleans have been quite neighborly, and I hope that continues since a nightclub atmosphere there would have a much greater effect on much nearer neighbors.

[ron_newman]

The worst problem with the Aquarium was that it played loud, live music late into the night, while sharing a party wall with a residential condominiium. The club owners did not seem to care in the least about the condo dweller, who could not sleep and actually had to move out until the Aquarium was shut down.