Urban Planning gone wrong

[m00n.livejournal.com]

While we are on the topic of community development, does anyone have an explanation for there now being a third convenience store in Teele Square within view of the other two?



Beyond the fact that I don't feel like these stores contribute much (if anything) to the community, I'm kind of wondering how it is that this neighborhood can even support three of them (four if you count the Indian market down the street that sells pretty much all the same stuff).

I don't mean to be such a community troll about these things, but I live in that neighborhood and it is starting to get a little depressing...

Comments

[turil.livejournal.com]

You don't think the market is free in Davis?

[m00n.livejournal.com]

It is right now, but back when the T station first opened and Davis Square was, as my mother described it, "A pretty crummy neighborhood," local residents went out of their way to attract businesses that would make Davis Square a destination for people from other neighborhoods. You can bet this did not include convenience stores and generic pizza places...

[turil.livejournal.com]

I'd say that encouraging more interesting stores to David is using the free market, not bending it. The goal of the free market is to give people what they want/need. So all you need to do is to convince the free market that what you want/need in Teele is...

Well, what do you want in Teele?

[m00n.livejournal.com]

Something...*anything*...that I can't find an exact duplicate of anywhere else. For example, I wouldn't even mind the convenience stores necessarily if there were anything about them that made them decidedly one of a kind. More restaurants would be nice. I generally like restaurants precisely because they tend to each have their own unique appeal. But the sky is basically the limit.

How about a bike store? Or a store specializing only in different kinds of bread? Or an art gallery? Or how about a full blown produce market that specializes in hard to find fruits, vegetables, and fungi? We don't really have one of those anywhere in the city outside of Whole Foods. It's only limited by one's imagination really...well, and what the market is willing to bear.

[turil.livejournal.com]

I think that you'll notice is that what the market is willing to bear is lots of junk food (including pizza), cigarettes, alcohol, porn, lottery tickets, and other cheap forms of drugs that dull one into not noticing how crappy the world is doing these days. I'm with you on all of those options you suggest, but you might need to wait until the economy gets better for any of them to happen. Most people don't have the excess money to spend on specialty fruits, veggies, and fungi, at least not enough to keep a whole store in business (the farmers market requires much lower overhead). Most people aren't buying art nowadays. Most people aren't spending their money on specialty breads, or lots of fancy bike parts. Thus, no business owner in their right mind is going to open up a place that sells that kind of thing.

We're lucky to have a few people who aren't in their right minds who at least offer us some of creative, useful places that we do have.

[m00n.livejournal.com]

Just because a store is unique doesn't mean it has to be expensive.

Also if this is going to be a time of major upheaval for the Teele Square area (and I'm not quite convinced we're quite as affected by the recession as a lot of the state), then I think it's time to be extra careful not to let the square become overwhelmed with the kinds of businesses are are going to drive down the local property values.

[ron_newman]

Teele Square (at least 'greater Teele Square') does have an art gallery.

[m00n.livejournal.com]

*More* art galleries!

[m00n.livejournal.com]

But admittedly I'd rather have more of something we don't have, so your point is well taken.

[ron_newman]

While I obviously like bicycle stores, Somerville and Cambridge together are blessed with quite a large number of them already. The newest is Open Bicycle in Union Square. The closest to Teele is probably Paramount Bicycle in Ball Square (used to be in Powderhouse).

[closetalker11.livejournal.com]

Except ...

There's a bike store not far from Davis on Willow. And one in North Cambridge, on Mass Ave.

Artisan bread of many delicious varieties can be found at When Pigs Fly on Highland.

The produce market would indeed be awesome, which is why I'm glad it's Farmer's Market season again (in the plaza behind Starbucks on Wednesdays).

[m00n.livejournal.com]

It wouldn't have to be a store that was unique to the entire city, just one that was unique to the neighborhood...