davis square mystery

[c011een.livejournal.com]

there is a large brick building with boarded over windows on willow ave between highland and the bike path.  it has a card swipe entry thing on the door but there are no signs and i've never seen anyone or any cars there. 

does anyone know what this building is?  it occupies a large chunk of land, most of which is weeds and broken pavement.  it seems like it would be a nice place for a community garden. 

Comments

[soong.livejournal.com]

I've often seen RCN trucks parked outside it, so I imagine it has something to do with their infrastructure.

[jabad.livejournal.com]

You're right.
Its some sort of trunk center and the somerville 5-0 sits there to encourage folks to respect the crosswalk.

[leafshimmer.livejournal.com]

You're not talking about the doughnut factory, are you? A friend of mine who lives across the street from it says that at certain hours of the day you can go in and buy the fresh-baked doughnuts at a counter. That could account for the presence of RCN trucks.

[maelithil.livejournal.com]

No, the OP's talking about a building that's closer to Davis Sq than the doughnut factory (I'd heard it was an ex-factory, pining for the fjords. Anyone?). It's past Willow, bordering the bike path.

[smileytypepers.livejournal.com]

Ehehehehe...pining for the fjords; rock on with the Python geekness! XD

[icecreamempress.livejournal.com]

Yes, the donut factory has joined the choir invisible. If it were not collapsing into its foundations (http://community.livejournal.com/davis_square/1163821.html), it would be pushing up daisies.

[ron_newman]

Maybe it's open again? The condemnation notices are gone.

[c011een.livejournal.com]

it seems electrical in nature...

[icecreamempress.livejournal.com]

There's an NSTAR electrical substation on Willow Avenue, I know, so I imagine this is it.

These are all automated now, so there's no need for anyone to go in there unless something goes wrong.

[ron_newman]

While NStar surely needs the building and the equipment inside, I like your idea about beautifying the unbuilt section of the property. Could the Somerville Garden Club, the city, and NStar work together on this idea?

[somertricky.livejournal.com]

You're going to have to get that cop car to move...

[kjc.livejournal.com]

It's mighty MIGHTY challenging to get a project approved through the city and coordinated with the right people. We've been working on a portion of the bike path for over six months so far.

What it would need to accomplish that is someone to take point, design the project, and shepherd it through the process. (That's the only reason the bike path project is still alive.)

The Somerville Garden Club (SGC) can provide volunteers to do the work and help with maintenance (especially if there's a faucet available to water any plants - that's a non-starter). But one or two people really need to own it.

The OP, Ron, or anyone who'd like to work on this project should stop by the next SGC meeting THIS Wednesday, 11 June 2008 - starting pretty promptly at 7pm at the Tufts Administration Building (TAB), 167 Holland St., second floor. Wheelchair accessible. Meetings are free. This month's lecture is on Integrated Pest Management (IPM).

(I'm a contributing member of the SGC and the unofficial chief of electronic communication.)

RCN Routing Center

[tomscholfield.livejournal.com]

It is indeed an RCN hub, essentially it is where all the channels come in and subsequently are sent out to RCN customers.