Another Somerville Dig

[masswich.livejournal.com]

Billerica's Town Manager resigns because he insults the town he works for, and somehow we get dragged into it? What'd we do?

http://tinyurl.com/mopg3o

"At the Center Café, Buddy Toner and some other regulars said they thought Williams may have been living in a different town.

They said they look forward to a town manager with a sunnier view of the suburb.

"I think he's wrong - absolutely wrong about Billerica," Toner said. 'I think this is a very pretty town. Of course, I grew up in Somerville - so what do I know?'"

I sense another Lenny Gentile moment...

Comments

[kpht.livejournal.com]

Well there is the "somerville with trees" saying about billerica.

I just spent January thru April there while our house had work done on it. It was rough, you have to drive everywhere and there are NO SIDEWALKS - so dangerous. Billerica does need work. It's outdated, and the mall is nearly abandoned. the one train station was a 12 minute drive from where we were staying. the town manager was right.

[ron_newman]

I've heard the "Somerville with trees" thing but I don't understand it. Billerica seems like an OK place to me, but I don't see any arts festivals, open studio weekends, indie coffee shops, bicycle paths, universities, or Brazilian restaurants there. So what exactly in Billerica is supposed to be similar to Somerville?

[kpht.livejournal.com]

you got me! confuses me too.

[eeyorecol.livejournal.com]

My guess - it may be like how I've heard Somerville used to be, years ago, when it was "Slummerville"

[icecreamempress.livejournal.com]

So what exactly in Billerica is supposed to be similar to Somerville?

Blue-collar white people, mostly Italian and Irish, many with religious statues on their front lawns.

Note: I do not find this stereotype particularly accurate, but that is the stereotype meant to be evoked by the phrase.

[svilletheatre.livejournal.com]

It really comes from the fact that in the 70's and 80's many, many people sold their Somerville houses and moved to Billerica; while not exactly 'white flight' like the inner city experienced, it was similar in that so many families left what was then perceived as a dying city (Somerville) for the country/suburbs (gee, look how much lawn my money can buy!)

It also is a bit of a joke, given the, uh, colorful past of some residents, that MCI-Billerica is there!

[ron_newman]

These days, it feels like Arlington is a more likely destination for people moving out of Somerville in search of a more 'suburban' atmosphere.

[clevernonsense.livejournal.com]

I've been shoppin' condos and houses a lot lately: I think Arlington is more expensive than Somerville, other than Davis.

[masswich.livejournal.com]

Clearly there was a trend out of Somerville to - well, almost anywhere more suburban - for a long time. That's not the surprise. What surprised me was the reporter's editorial choice to end the story with that line, which I thought gave it more importance than it deserved.

[komos.livejournal.com]

Somerville wasn't exactly luxuriant in these, either, until Davis started turning around in the mid-nineties. The Someday and Redbones came in because the Square was cheap as chips, and prior to their opening the place didn't have a whole lot to draw on apart from the Social Security office and the methadone clinic.

[plumtreeblossom.livejournal.com]

That saying must be so old that it pre-dates our hundreds of towering oaks and maples...

[kpht.livejournal.com]

That was the other confusing thing. Somerville has nice trees!

[lizzielizzie.livejournal.com]

When I was house-hunting a lot of the cheaper places were in Billerica, and now I know why. Some areas (especially near the water) are WAY too built up. If I want to be crowded in, I'll move to the city, kthx. The center of town is amazingly pedestrian unfriendly, and in need of a major facelift. The Billerica Mall is a dinosaur that needs to be put out of its misery.

The driving everywhere thing is part and parcel of being in the suburbs, so I don't consider that a major negative (although it certainly differentiates it from Somerville).

As for resigning, I just heard on the news that now he's going to "think it over" and let the town know once he returns from vacation.

[ron_newman]

by 'near the water' do you mean Nutting Lake, or the Concord River? (No oceanfront in Billerica!)

The town center of Billerica feels to me very empty, nearly abandoned, certainly suffering by comparison with that of neighboring Bedford or Lowell. I've never seen the mall and can't say anything about it.

I find most of Billerica quite pleasant to bicycle through (on the way to Lowell), with the glaring exception of Route 3A between the town center and Pollard Street. That road has no real shoulder, and cars zoom down it. I wish they'd hurry up and build the 'Yankee Doodle Bikeway' along the railroad right-of-way, connecting to the one that Bedford built years ago.

[kpht.livejournal.com]

this is the inside of the mall currently. (http://www.flickr.com/photos/20849171@N00/sets/72157619082083319/) the only current inside occupants are kmart and a papa ginos, outside there's a liquor store, market basket, and a burlington coat factory, with a shuttered movie theatre. it could stage a resurrection but it would take time, the property owners wanted to demolish it and build a home depot and the residents said no.

The one thing going for Billerica aesthetically is that there are several neighborhoods of former summer homes along the concord river that are really serene and pretty, almost newhampshireish.

[ron_newman]

wow, that's a bit spooky. Reminds me of the last days of a few other local dead malls:

Assembly Square in Somerville, after Jordan Marsh Macy's closed, before it was de-malled and re-tenanted

Lafayette Place in downtown Boston -- now converted mostly to offices, with some storefronts facing Washington Street, that still haven't been completely filled

Mystic Mall in Chelsea (is it still there?)

[kpht.livejournal.com]

Billerica Mall is actually a carbon copy of the Mystic Mall (i think it's mostly gone), Woburn Mall, and HarborLight Mall in Weymouth, which I grew up next to and is now demolished.

http://www.labelscar.com/massachusetts/billerica-mall

this has a better history, plus it also links to the mystic and woburn malls. i am hoping someday the owner puts together a harborlight mall post, but as it's been razed i doubt it. i spent so many hours there!

[ron_newman]

Here's a CinemaTreasures page about the defunct Billerica mall cinema. Whatever happened to the $20m demolition and renovation the mall was supposed to get in 2005?

[jimmyfergus.livejournal.com]

Sssshhh.... do we want a realistic view of Somerville/Davis? The last thing I want is for vapid status-conscious aspirationals deciding to descend on Davis Square.

Perhaps some would say this has already happened, but I think it's become gentrified in a good way, but also benefits from the fact that nobody lives here in order to be proud of their address. Long may that continue.

Or am I missing some benefit of high perceived status?

[geekpixie.livejournal.com]

Current property values don't already reflect this? :)

[adaptively.livejournal.com]

You are, Davis Square is the Land Of The Hipster Moms. If you can't afford a $600 stroller and a $12 vegan sandwich, well, get the hell out of their way before you end up with Graco tire tracks across your butt. :B