phantom tollbooths in Davis Sq. ...

[an-art-worker.livejournal.com]

apropos of nothing and not a serious proposal but I was thinking about sales taxes last night, the discussion of tolls on 93 south and something to do with all the border violence going on in the world these days. Suddenly I had this image of tollbooths/checkpoints on the roads entering Davis Sq. Weird but interesting to speculate on.

The growth in popularity of the sq. has brought higher rents and housing prices, higher prices in stores and bars and general gentrification. The city of Somerville and the property owners benefit but the residents don't. Would be interesting to have a toll that went to offset the costs of gentrification to people who actually live here.

Comments

Re: A healthy commercial district is a slow district

[turil.livejournal.com]

Wow! Thanks for those wonderful links about Ireland. I hadn't heard of those places (well, not the ones in Ireland anyway!), though I have seen ones in Holland and in Burlington Vermont. And, now that I think of it, Quincy Market in Boston is actually a great example (better than the, admittedly, slipping area of Downtown Crossing) of a pedestrianized area that works well. Obviously, businesses in Davis wouldn't want to focus so narrowly on tourist traps like they do in Quincy Market...

I wonder if a study about transportation choices in Davis might be helpful. It could be sponsored by the city itself, or maybe by the Davis Square Task Force, with the collaboration of Steve Winslow, Somerville's Pedestrian Coordinator. I bet many business owners are unaware of the very low number of people shopping via car in Davis. I also would point out that one reason businesses lose customers during Art Beat is the traffic jams (I'm talking about pedestrian traffic of course, not car traffic) and the booths blocking access to the sidewalks. A better layout for bull market carts and such would clearly be essential to allow good access to all stores.