davis_square | Wynn proposes footbridge over Mystic River

Will he actually pay for building it, as opposed to just paying for a study? That makes a big difference.

The Somerville Bicycle Committee has been lobbying for this bridge for years, even before Wynn entered the picture. (I was a member of the committee until April 2014, and helped write a letter from the committee to the state gaming commission, advocating for the bridge.)

It's ridiculous for the mayor to say the bridge would benefit Wynn only. It would benefit every business in Assembly Riow and everyone in either Everett or Somerville who wants to bike or walk to the other city. It would connect Assembly Row to a hotel, something the development now lacks.

Edited 2015-11-12 23:52 (UTC)

The way I read the article, it seems plain to me that Wynn would pay for it:

"Now, Wynn Resorts wants to build a footbridge to span that short distance between the two cities, as part of its plan for its $1.7 billion casino and hotel development, ..."

That's a welcome development if true, because past reports said only that he would pay for a study.

FYI: They were forced to pay for the study

Good. How can we make him pay for the construction?

Go back in time and include it in the settlement? :) I think it's solidly in the casino's best interest to build it, both for the goodwill and bottom line (I also could imagine they would chip in a little extra to make the design more appealing). I suspect Somerville's mayor is saying all this nonsense mostly to make it clear Somerville won't pay for it. (Honestly, it's a small enough amount that I would rather whatever process is speediest be the one used).

I will believe that Wynn plans to foot the entire bill for it when I see that more explicitly. But I will be curious to see it. He certainly saved many millions when the T sold him that piece of land he needed for next to nothing... (What the hell was up with that, anyway.)

Before the casino entered the picture, there was a lot of talk (I believe supported as an alternative option by the SBC, but I could be wrong) about allowing pedestrian crossings of the dam instead of building a bridge, much as it works now at the Charles River locks. Sometime around perhaps 2010 I thought it was on track to actually happen "soon". Did it get actively killed for some reason?

I was on the committee at the time. Unfortunately, the Mystic dam wasn't built with pedestrian crossing in mind, and one of the locks is left open for hours at a time for flood-control reasons. It doesn't have a spillway like the Charles dam.

I don't think this option is impossible, but it's not entirely straightforward to implement either.

In Google Earth view, it appears that the pedestrian route across the existing dam would be very indirect. You could only cross the wide lock at either end, not in the middle where you'd really want to.

Edited 2015-11-15 02:41 (UTC)

I'd welcome a bridge to the Gateway Center -- getting there by foot as things are presently is the bad sort of exciting.

I've talked to people who live at Assembly who said the same thing.

At one of the casino meetings I attended, they talked about some water taxis. But I'd rather an all-season, unscheduled option.

Yes, and the 97 bus doesn't run very often and stops shortly after 6 p.m.

Not that it makes a huge difference, but when I use Google Maps to measure the distance from the Assembly T station to Wynn's property, I get 1100 feet, not 500.

500 feet might be just the distance over water, but you also have to walk through Draw Seven Park. (And add an east entrance to Assembly station, which it doesn't currently have.)

Edited 2015-11-13 05:25 (UTC)

Our esteemed mayor comes off sounding like a cartoon bad-guy in this story, or at least, a grumpy old man shaking his cane at the kids in his yard. I get that he doesn't like gambling, and thinks Wynn scammed his way into this deal, but can he really get this angry about a pedestrian bridge?

Looking in from the outside the Mayor is the poster child for what is wrong with Somerville. It is not business friendly. (Unless the business is a small probably un-sustainable mom and pop store.)

Which businesses has Somerville been unfriendly towards?

There was the Ocean State Job Lot brouhaha a few years ago:
http://www.boston.com/business/articles/2011/01/15/somerville_property_owner_says_mayors_vision_blocked_new_store/

Tenoch was blocked for a month by (I believe) the ZBA. Now the inside has been finished for a couple of weeks but they are still not open and say they are waiting on inspections. I wouldn't exactly call that business friendly.

Also, the shameful way they chased Beer Works away a couple of years ago wasn't business friendly. Then the business that the city wanted in that space pulled out after months of wrangling over construction easements by neighboring landowners (the city's lack of action is the problem here).

How about how they kept delaying and delaying the Crunch Gym application until they pulled out?

Then you have a lawsuit filed against the city over arbitrary decisions related to land use, which the city lost: https://lawoftheland.wordpress.com/2012/06/25/ma-land-court-finds-that-board-may-not-refuse-request-to-divide-property-into-two-lots-where-such-use-is-permitted-as-of-right/

I doubt you'll hear complaints from established businesses because they will fear retaliation from the city.

Edited 2015-11-13 17:13 (UTC)

nitpick correction: it was the Licensing Commission, not the ZBA. Since there was no change of use (one restaurant replacing another), there was no zoning issue.

The Stained Glass Studio next to NESFA moved out of Somerville in part because of what the owner thought of Somerville's policies.

I would also point out that cities interested in helping business and restaurants (like say Waltham) have gotten rid of parking meters while Somerville now has them running until 8 PM at night.

Also, bogus rules about having dumpsters locked between 11 PM at night and 7 AM in the morning; because clearly
a) locks keeps rats out
b) rats are only active between 11 PM and 7 AM.

If you get rid of parking meters, that may well make parking for restaurants more difficult, not easier.

That's not what Waltham has found.

Yeah, I have mostly stopped going to Somerville because of their meters and ticketing. You don't get enough time to actually go out for dinner/drinks, the meters run so late, they ticket within seconds of meters expiring, etc. I can't really access Davis by public transit easily, so I just don't go. At least in Cambridge I'm able to go, feed the meter for the last hour it's on, and know I'm good for the night.

More and more of Cambridge has meters until 8 pm.

It started in Harvard Square. Then they expanded it to Kendall. And most recently up Mass Ave from Harvard to slightly past Porter.

It's what a lot of other places have found. Free parking is often taken up by business employees, not customers. Two hour free or cheap parking is taken up by employees who swap spots. Properly priced parking means available spaces for customers and higher turnover.

Old Pasadena renovated by putting in parking meters and using the revenue for improvements. Westwood has (had?) free parking and has been decaying over the same period.

Well, that's what you think, but the restaurant scene in Waltham seems to me to be doing better than the restaurant scene in Somerville. I know which one I go to when I want an enjoyable evening out.

Has Waltham really gotten rid of parking meters? Their web site has a whole section about parking meters. I thought you had to pay to park in the city garage next to the Embassy Cinema.

You are correct, the lots are metered but the streets (esp Main and Moody Streeets) are not metered. (I had forgotten about that because I rarely if ever need to park in one of the lots.)

Edited 2015-11-23 01:40 (UTC)

Waltham is 1/4 the population density of Somerville, and there's lots of general evidence against cheap/free parking being good for business, or meters being a killer. What customers like is *available* parking, which is obviously more of a challenge at higher density. Sensible parking rates (and Somerville's meters are probably far to cheap in the business districts) keep spaces open.

Average population density across a city is not a meaningful statistic. What matters is *local* population density. Waltham is rather dense near the center. It doesn't make it easier to park there if there's woodsy parkland two miles north.

Being "business unfriendly" to a big-box proposal is what got us an enormous mixed-use development and a free Orange Line stop. Casinos are like big-box stores in that they bring neither needed services nor good jobs to the area, just traffic. Mayor Joe may be wrong about whether the casino is still stoppable, and if it's not then it is time to change gears to wringing as much benefit out of it as possible. But he's not wrong about whether it's a good idea.

Beyond anyone's personal feelings about casinos and gambling, I think arguing that casinos don't bring jobs is a bit silly. They're currently hiring for over 4,000 positions. Between that and the 25% of their daily revenue they'll be turning over to the city, they bring a bit more than just traffic.

Big box stores bring lots of crap jobs and pay a big percentage of their net in taxes too. That doesn't make them the best deal off the bat. I like what the city of Boston has done to extract benefit from this proposal, including the lawsuit for which that 25% is a settlement. If you want to get value out of Steve Wynn you have to be aggressive.

I don't personally have much use for a casino, but it will have a hotel attached, which is certainly a useful service. Cleaning up and landscaping the riverfront on the Everett side (to match the work already done in Someville) will be a major benefit.

A casino would be a bad idea in Somerville, but if Everett wants it, I don't see why Somerville should keep trying to stop it. Let's try to make it work well with Assembly Row.

I don't see other developers lining up for the chance to build on that site. I'd rather have a soccer stadium for the Revolution, but that's not likely (and it would definitely need the pedestrian connection to Assembly).

Edited 2015-11-13 18:14 (UTC)

I would also add that as part of the proposal, Wynn will be funding purchase and upkeep of new Orange Line trains as well as the major road construction needed to ease traffic coming from 93.

The vast majority of the space in the building will be hotel rooms. There are 600 rooms, and they will be among the nicest hotel rooms in metro Boston, and I believe they are the largest by far. With the footbridge, those people will be coming in to Assembly Square to take the T and they will be going to Assembly Square businesses.

Last I saw, it will also have at least eight restaurants, likely several bars, a spa, shops, meeting and convention space, and wedding venues. Then, of course, they will clean up the site and create a nice park along the river. There's a lot more to it than gambling.

It's really unfortunate that the mayor isn't trying to make the best of the situation.

Wynn will be doing the absolute best he can to make sure that people do NOT do ANYTHING in Assembly Sq that they could do at his complex. That's how modern casino/hotels operate.

And I think that sums up perfectly why the Mayor's so grumpy. He doesn't want the shine diminished on his pet project.

Yup. How dare people want to walk to Costco!

I have no interest in the casino, but would love to have easier access to Costco without driving or having to ride a bike on that part of rt16, which is utterly insane. This would make it a 1 or 2 ride trip on the T (90 bus, Red->Orange line, etc) instead of the current state of affairs.

The mayor is just being a dick here. Fortunately, no matter how much he stomps his feet, there's nothing he can do to actually stop it since the station is MBTA property, not his. Unfortunately, he's going to waste a bunch of our tax dollars in the meantime with pointless lawsuits (just wait, they're coming).

Also, the park where the bridge would land on the Somerville side is a state park.

I doubt that Wynn will offer the full variety of shopping and eating that is available across the river. If someone is staying at his hotel to visit Boston, and that person walks over to the Orange Line to go into town, why not stop at Burger Dive or JP Licks on the way?

Because you live in the area you know to do that. They'd walk into the east end of the T station and not even look at what is beyond it. They'd be focused on getting 'into Boston' or back to the hotel.

Some strategic display advertising inside the Assembly T station (preferably outside the fare gates) could fix that.

Edited 2015-11-16 01:40 (UTC)

Assembly Square has plenty of big-box stores and traffic. The housing doesn't get rid of those problems. The Orange Line stop is useful for some people, but not for anyone coming from the west.

I just came across a non-Globe version if anyone wants to see another version of the story:

http://www.everettindependent.com/2015/08/14/wynn-everett-proposes-to-revive-mystic-river-bikefootbridge/

Wynn proposes footbridge over Mystic River

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