Mystic View Task Force has succeeded. IKEA is building in Avon, not Somerville.

[hauntmeister.livejournal.com]

The Mystic View Task Force's relentless barrage of lawsuits has evidently succeeded in making IKEA decide to build in Avon instead.

Mystic View's constantly shifting rationalizations for opposing the development of the abandoned Assembly Square site have been changing as frequently as Mr. Bush's justifications for invading Iraq. Mediation attempts between Mystic View and the developers collapsed last month, with the mediators reporting that the parties were too far apart in their viewpoints. As a result of the mediation failure, the state will not provide funding for a T stop on the site, and it appears that IKEA will build elsewhere.

Somerville loses tax revenue, and the Assembly Square plot will remain a weed-strewn vacant wasteland. Thanks so much, Bill Shelton and the rest of Mystic View Task Force! You're managed the amazing task of turning gold into lead, and all Somerville knows who's responsible.

Comments

[oakenguy.livejournal.com]

Damnit!!!

[magid.livejournal.com]

So the MVTF works to assure greatest benefit to the people of Somerville how?

Phooey. It would've been great to have an IKEA right there. Heck, IKEA with Krispy Kreme just down the road... a potential magnet for so many reasons...

[hauntmeister.livejournal.com]

I never figured out MVTF's logic. As far as I can tell, it's absolutely Alice-in-Wonderland. Bill Shelton's press release (http://www.the-ville.com/mysticview/) claims that Mystic View's plan will provide for 30,000 new jobs on the site. This number, if true, would place nearly half the entire population of Somerville (http://yourtown.boston.com/town/somerville/) working on the site of the dead mall. That's clearly absurd.

There's no logic or backing for their assertions, but their constantly shifting sniping over the years has been enough to make IKEA move elsewhere. Who knows what their real motivation is...Their stated goals certainly don't make sense.

Well, that's kinda most of the story...

[kalessin.livejournal.com]

I think that the state of things is a real drag. An Ikea to replace (most of..) the nearly-dead Assembly Sq. Mall would be a great addition to Somerville (I live on Winter Hill).

The Somerville effort isn't dead yet, I'd say. We may be watching some of how development gets done around here... (I'm a local guy, I remember the Assembly Square Mall's grand opening and worked there briefly in the late 1980s...)

The "we're gonna build next to Jordan's Furniture in Avon" move might be a tactic to see if Somerville groups will change their tune once they see the revenue going elsewhere.

The T stop next to a Somerville store would be a nice feature, but it wouldn't make or break an Ikea store; even though they have housewares, furniture is their focus, and that means folks bringing their cars.

But Ikea rightly has stores both north and south of Boston in their business plans. The huge separation between the North Shore and the South Shore has required major businesses to put a location both north and south of town since the 1950s. Boston traffic's barrier to commerce isn't going anywhere, Big Dig efforts notwithstanding. Jordan's first two stores were Nashua and Avon, north and south of town.

The real disappointment would be if Ikea found another North Shore site close to Somerville. The retail development around Woburn is also hurting, and the intersection of I95/Rt128 and I93 could be where they look next.

Re: Well, that's kinda most of the story...

[georgy.livejournal.com]

In the Globe article, it notes that Somerville is still very much on their target list, and that they have previously built Ikeas just 25-30 mis. from one another (Avon is about that distance from Somerville).

So, don't give up hope!

[bikergeek.livejournal.com]

I hope they build a store in Nashua or Salem, NH, to serve people who live north of Boston. Never mind screwing Somerville out of revenue, how about screwing the entire Commonwealth while they're at it, and saving me a few bucks in the process. (Maybe with shuttle buses for carless Camberville and Boston residents.)

I'd say both the City of Somerville and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts have had their chance, and they blew it.

[hauntmeister.livejournal.com]

I don't think you can blame this fiasco on the city. Mayor Kelly-Gay has been trying to get the IKEA built for years now. It's strictly the mutating objections of Mystic View that have been blocking the project.

Incidentally, I saw a report that the founder of Mystic View, Wig Zagmore, once proposed building a stadium on the site, but his plan was rejected by the city. If so (and I haven't been able to verify this) Mystic View's actions start looking like a personal grudge rather than any logically-thought-out plan. And this would provide an explanation for the way their complaints and lawsuits have been constantly shifting whenever a prior one is addressed.

[bikergeek.livejournal.com]

either a personal grudge or.... my next thought is "follow the money". Cui bono--who benefits?

think about it..

[hauntmeister.livejournal.com]

Correcting myself, Mystic View's founder's name is "Wig Zamore". (http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=Wig+Zamore&btnG=Google+Search) I still can't find any backing for the rumor he was trying to build a stadium on the site, though.

[bikergeek.livejournal.com]

I had heard at one point that some people were kicking around the idea of Assembly Sq. as a possible site for a stadium to replace Fenway Park.

Never heard any rumors connecting those folks to MVTF, though.

This is starting to sound like a game of Illuminati! or something.

[gingicat]

I mentioned this to my boss, and he said that IKEA had also spent a huge amount of money cleaning up the toxic waste in the Assembly Square area. I really don't understand why these people want to drive them away.

[talonvaki.livejournal.com]

Well. That means I can't shop at IKEA.
I don't drive. I can get to Assembly Square without a car. I can't get to Avon.

That kinda sucks.

[magid.livejournal.com]

Friend-with-car roadtrips?

[talonvaki.livejournal.com]

Maybe...it would take some persuading to get anyone to drive out to Avon...I have a hard enough time getting rides to Petco for kitty litter and food...plus I only have two friends with cars...

Not that I'd go to IKEA all that often, but it would have been nice to be able to...

[magid.livejournal.com]

Being pet-free, a trip to Petco wouldn't be so interesting, but IKEA... that close, not having to go to NJ... I'd be happy to take you along whenever it actually opens.

[talonvaki.livejournal.com]

I would gladly go! :-)

Not so much for furniture, but I am hooked on their little kitchen things. And their flourescent lightbulbs.

local pet store

[count0.livejournal.com]

I found a really nice local pet store just a 5 min walk from the Davis Square T station. Walk out of the station, walk down the bike path to Mass Ave, and bingo. (http://maps.yahoo.com/maps_result?ed=YCSot.p_0Tpg8L9sWGK5NG0g90P9KgZd_H55u9CTow--&csz=cambridge%2C+MA&country=us) It's called "Animal Spirit" and the people working there are very kind and thoughtful.

Re: local pet store

[talonvaki.livejournal.com]

Ooh I'll have to check them out...
Though carrying the 20lb bags of cat food and the 30lb buckets of litter won't be any easier that the store is closer, so I'll probably still end up begging rides.

Still, great to know for small stuff! Thanks!

[hauntmeister.livejournal.com]

I was at one of the IKEA public hearings, and listened to a few of Mystic View's objections. Their major one at the time was, "IKEA wastes gasoline and encourages car usage! People drive hundreds of miles to get to IKEA! People from Boston drive down to New Jersey!"

It didn't seem to cross Mystic View's collective mind that having a T-accessible IKEA right here in the Boston area would reduce those trips...

[hrafn.livejournal.com]

Er, so people in Boston driving all the way to Somerville, instead of NJ, would be more wasteful? WTF?

[talonvaki.livejournal.com]

NIMBYs are rather short-sighted that way...

[kvarko.livejournal.com]

I hadn't been following for a while, so I didn't know about the T stop, but I think that public transportation did cross their minds. IKEA is a furniture store, and who can take furniture on the bus or subway? I think MVTF was trying to get some commitment from IKEA to offer some kind of delivery in the local area.

I personally thought that the concerns about waterfront usage, attractiveness of the area, quality of life, etc, were pretty valid. It seemed to me that the city was selling itself out. I want Somerville to be a nice place to live 100 years from now... and IKEA can be part of that, but there were plenty of things about the actual proposal that bugged me. I particularly didn't like how the mayor, at a recent meeting in Somerville over the budget cuts (that degraded into a fight between the firemen and the teachers), ... how the mayor made a comment suggesting that the current crunch meant that getting the IKEA in was even more important. It frightened me to hear that the mayor would sell away Somerville's future for a short term payoff.

Oh, and "hej" from Sweden! I'm in Västerås, right now ... speaking of IKEA. I actually learned quite a bit about IKEA while I was here -- about the ideas for manufacturing and shipping that led them to become successful (starting with an idea for what the product should sell for and using that work backwards to determine the materials and quality, etc, rather than just making something and then seeing what it ends up costing; using modular furniture to reduce shipping and storage costs; etc). Also, I found out that the founder and owner is a nazi :/

Anyway, hej då.

[eameschair.livejournal.com]

Also, at the Elizabeth, NJ store, there are actual IKEA shuttles that run from downtown Manhattan. Maybe they'll do something like that for Boston, which is so public transportation oriented.

[blowtorch-betty.livejournal.com]

Is anyone else concerned about the impact of thousands of additional cars pumping their exhaust into Somerville's air?

I was initially quite excited about the prospect of having an Ikea but after being filled in on many of the details my enthusiams waned.

While I think Ikea would be good for the local economy it might not be so great for the local residents. I don't live in the immediate area of the proposed site but if I did I'd be pretty unhappy about the idea.

[hauntmeister.livejournal.com]

Is anyone else concerned about the impact of thousands of additional cars pumping their exhaust into Somerville's air?

That was, in fact, one of Mystic View's original complaints. They eventually dropped their objection on that score when it was variously pointed out that...

having an IKEA here would reduce or eliminate many long road trips to their out-of-state stores, for a global net reduction in emissions.

there would be a T stop on the location and that IKEA would offer delivery (though with a service charge, while Mystic View wanted free delivery)

Mystic View's own plans for the site involved 30,000 workers in office buildings on the location. This would be more traffic by far than IKEA would generate, and it would be concentrated at weekday rush hour, unlike IKEA's typical traffic pattern which is mid-day and weekends.

[blowtorch-betty.livejournal.com]

Mm. Very interesting.