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

[ron_newman]

What's at 1188 Broadway?

[surrealestate.livejournal.com]

A condo box replaced the VFW and a couple of stores. From everything I've read, there wasn't much community input and it happens to be listed by Bob's old office. I'd love to hear more about the whole thing, especially with the development being proposed on Endicott.

On the single up side I can think of, there is space for one street-facing business, so I'm glad for that.

[ron_newman]

What is proposed on Endicott?

[ron_newman]

Also, what do you dislike about this development?

[somertricky.livejournal.com]

Completely out of scale for the neighborhood comes to mind. Were there tradeoffs for providing affordable units? I have no other idea how they were able to build four floors.

Also, all of the units appear to be two bedrooms. Way to identify a niche, then totally flood the market, guys.

The piece de resistance is the cheesy disinformation on the website: click on "Neighborhood" and you get an image of *Davis* Square and the description "Only steps from shops, restaurants and the T. All the best of what city life has to offer."

How about some truth in advertising, here. "Closer to the Foodmaster than to the T."

[surrealestate.livejournal.com]

As far as I know, there were two affordable units as per city requirements, which I believe have already been sold.

[ron_newman]

Everyone has a different definition of walking distance, but to me, this is close enough to be considered the outer edge of Greater Davis Square. I would almost always walk from Davis to there, rather than taking a bus.

Nothing of great value to the neighborhood was lost in order to build this. The Logan VFW's membership had dwindled to the point where they could not afford to remain open. I assume the remaining members joined Dilboy.

A modest increse in density, in a neighborhood well served by public transit, seems to me a net win for the environment.

[somertricky.livejournal.com]

Walking distance, it's a stretch to call this "steps from Davis Square". How far can you go in other directions and be as close to the T as 1188? On Beyond Powderhouse? Well down Yerxa Road in Cambridge, almost to the railroad tracks? The Porter Square Shaw's?

I do like the "Greater Davis Square" concept, though. It seems like something that should come after the fact, though, and not forced as it seems to me in the marketing/website.

-

True that nothing of great value was lost. I'd argue a modest increase in density would have been three floors, but anyhow. I'm still trying to figure something of this (perceptual) scale gets built halfway to the Arlington Line, but One Davis Square runs into massing problems.

[ron_newman]

Walking distance to me is about a half-mile -- 10 minutes at normal human walking speed. Some subjective factors weigh in as well, such as how pleasant the walk is, and what you see along the way. Most people would rather walk for 10 minutes along Holland Street than 5 minutes on McGrath Highway.

Porter Square Shaw's is about a 10 minute walk in the other direction.

Somerville has a citywide height limit of 4 stories or 50 feet. The Teele Square development doesn't violate this, but the original proposal for One Davis Square would have.

[surrealestate.livejournal.com]

I don't know, I think it could be argued that getting rid of a community center (the VFW) to build a condo development that (unless I am mistaken) has no community space whatsoever is a net loss.

It bothers me that this city does not seem to have any standards for developers as far as maintaining and/or creating community space and/or green space. Somerville isn't this dense because it's a major urban center -- it's this dense because we have less green/open space than just about any city in the country, and I think addressing that should be a bigger priority than it is.

[chumbolly.livejournal.com]

Are you suggesting that Mr. Trane did something underhanded in connection with the construction of this building? Or merely that he should have been more assertive in making the developer build something more to your liking?

I'm not an expert on Somerville zoning, but if the developer didn't have to receive a variance, or even a special permit, then the developer would have been able to build as a matter of right with no public input, and no involvement by the Board of Aldermen. I think sometimes people forget that if you own property, and you stay within the existing rules, you can do what you please with the property, be damned the views of the Neighborhood Development Liberation Front.

[surrealestate.livejournal.com]

Honestly, I don't know what happened -- I was just repeating what I gathered from some anti-Trane campaign flyers and I'd love to know more about it all.

But as for the permitting process, I can't say whether or not 1188 might have needed a variance or two, but I cannot imagine they could have built that without a special permit. I believe anything with more than three units requires a special permit.

[witzwurst.livejournal.com]

New condo development, with first floor retail. http://www.eleven88broadway.com/ (http://www.eleven88broadway.com/) for the glossy developer's site.

Not sure if I'd consider it a monstrosity, but for those who do, take comfort in the fact that it's apparently not selling well.

[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.