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: Marketing sometimes takes more than a sign

[ukelele.livejournal.com]

McKinnon's indeed has stuff other than dead animal bits. The front half is pretty much all meat (and astonishing cheap, decent meat at that), but the back half has a deli counter (which I think has non-meat objects) and a reasonable supply of fruits and vegetables for a place of its size.

Meat is definitely the strength of McKinnon's, and I wouldn't treat it as a destination if the sole thing you're after is produce, but if you happen to need some peppers or something on your way home, it's a great deal.

We are avid meat-eaters but we also had the experience of not going in there for a long time because we didn't think it offered what we needed...it just looks kind of dirty and downscale from the outside. But it's actually pretty excellent inside for our needs. And it always has a lot of customers -- it seems like once people know about it they go there a lot, so somehow they get good business despite the offputting exterior.