DavisNow.org

[jlauspitz]

DAVISNOW.ORG
OCT. 27TH, 2018 01:05 PM
A new website is up sparked by the City's ten-year budgeting of zero funds for capital improvements in Davis Square through 2027. The site details repairs immediately needed, with pictures and cost estimates for repairs.

www.DavisNow.org

The 62-page, illustrated punch list, developed by architect Chris Iwerks, a Davis Sq resident, is also available at:

http://online.flipbuilder.com/havm/ixly/


The group's self-description follows:

"DavisNow.org focuses on fixing problems now. It does not address the City’s long-term plans for Davis Square, such as increasing building heights, altering intersections, or completely replacing sidewalks. This is a much more modest scope and cost proposal. It’s just what’s needed to renew the elements we already have.

"We have created a punch-list book of the many issues afflicting Davis Square, which can be viewed here:

http://online.flipbuilder.com/havm/ixly/

"We plan to have a community meeting... to discuss what our next steps should be and how to partner with city officials to fund these needed repairs."
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Comments

[cassandra_beach]

Who is "DavisNow.org"? I saw no names at all on the site.
There should be a list of the people and groups who are behind it and who are funding it.

Hard to believe that $0 is budgeted for DS over the next 10 years (assuming that is accurate).

[dtremit]

Nearly everything in the "punch list" consists of routine repairs -- sidewalk patching, tree issues, landscaping, etc. -- that would be covered by a city-wide general maintenance budget. I'm not sure why anyone would expect a neighborhood by neighborhood line item for such things.

[jlauspitz]

The relevance of the capital budget is to suggest that Davis Square is on a back burner, so much so as to let even routine maintenance slide.

[jlauspitz]

I reported accurately Chris Iwerk's assertion in the 62-page document that he has generously contributed. Chris has been persistent over the years in advocating for better maintenance of public spaces in the Square. To ask if there is big time money behind his volunteer work is a tribute to his dedication and professionalism.

In reporting a zero budgetary commitment by the City I assume he refers to the central business district and to the string of zeroes in the out years following the Davis Square line in the latest ten-year Capital Improvement Plan CIP).

It should be noted, however, that the zero budget figure takes as already committed the $9M budgeted for the West Branch Library renovation and already accounted for in the 2014-18 CIP. And it is further worth adding that the City has acquired at the asking price the little white church opposite the library, so there is an implicit capital commitment here. But none of this addresses the visible deterioration of the core business district.

A careful reading of the first draft of the Davis Square Neighhorhood Plan (DSNP) will confirm that the current intention is to limit spending in the central business district to routine maintenance (see page 40) and to fund as much of this as possible with business contributions (page 41) under hoped-for state legislation (opposed, as it happens, by Rep. Provost and Alderman Davis). It is also worth noting that in the City's ten-year growth projections submitted to the State Department of Revenue, Davis Square is estimated to produce 66 new residential units (an average 6 units a year) and if my memory serves l70,000 square feet of new commercial space-- again, a modest projection that should emerge from natural growth without any capital investment once the new zoning code is in place.

Chris Iwerk's work speaks for itself. I am informed that several hundred unique visitors have looked at it, along with the relevant City officials and the Ward Alderman, who reports having a Mayoral commitment to do something about the neglect it documents. We shall perhaps learn more at the Resistat meeting on Thursday.

The website is adapted from that of the Davis Action Group of several years ago. I assume a listing of names will emerge from any introductory meeting that may be convened. I personally would sign up to follow Chris Iwerk's public-spirited lead, which is why I have circulated the link to this list and to my neighborhood list. Others have the same.

I trust this answers your questions.

Lee Auspitz

[pru]

This IS a comprehensive piece of work. Wow! My hat is off to Mr. Iwerks. Pages and pages of asphalt patches and broken lights and meters really do show benign neglect in an otherwise thriving area of the city.