something Davis Sq probably doesn't need

[ron_newman]

Someone wants to open a Quizno's sub shop franchise at 401 Highland Avenue, where Disc Diggers used to be. The proposal keeps getting postponed from one Planning Board meeting to the next; it supposedly comes up again at this Thursday night's meeting.

While I can't see a real basis for showing up to oppose it, I also don't see it filling any real need, given that you can already get sandwiches of various kinds at Au Bon Pain, Blue Shirt, Mike's, Diesel, Christo's Seven Star, Subway, O'Natural's, and probably other places I've forgotten about.

Comments

[perspicuity.livejournal.com]

i don't think you've observed porter much then. especially tried to get parking to shop there. there ARE still some unique things there, which makes them a unique attraction. a non chain music store. a wool/yarn/knitting/spinning store. the hardware store is PACKED. the all-women's gym is definitely something that gets a lot of traffic. sure, some of the stores are merely copies of stuff, and convenient, and not something you'd go straight there for, but many of the others are. now, the fact that so much is packed into one place, makes the whole package a destination spot with a lot of attractiveness.

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[talonvaki.livejournal.com]

Not to mention one of the most awesome liquor stores ever...
And the Porter Exchange Mall.

and don't forget Porter Square Books

[ron_newman]

... which now features many author's events, just like the late lamented WordsWorth did.

Re: and don't forget Porter Square Books

[twe.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that's very cool place, esp. with the demise of Wordsworth's. (It's also much more convenient than going to crazy, hectic Harvard Square.) I do miss being able to walk there. That parking lot is really terrible and often puts me off from driving there, which is a shame because the book store and the Ace are cool stores.

[cos]

My experience of Porter is that despite having some cool places, it really doesn't have critical mass. People don't really go to Porter Square, they go to specific places that happen to be located in Porter Square. It's not a place people go to hang out, or arrange to meet their friends, or decide to just go wandering around in without a specific plan of where they're going and why. So, unlike Davis Square, Porter doesn't have social gravity that really helps the local businesses, nor does it fill a similar need for people. It's just a convenient place for these businesses to be located in, that people know how to get to.

I don't think Porter Square is an example of the sort of development direction we don't want Davis Square to take. And conversely, Davis may be a good example for the direction we do want Porter to go in.