Saturday, July 30, 2016

Main Street 'streetscape' project underway

Springfield residents will be asked next month during Market Madness for their ideas on what downtown Springfield needs, as part of a $75,000 master plan being launched by the town and Springfield On The Move.

www.rutlandherald.com    

22 comments :

  1. Coffee house with a jam night. Great place for young and old to congregate (without alcohol) to perform and listen to (hopefully) good music!

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    1. We already had one of these, the JennyWren.

      No one went to the music and obviously the cafe wasn't worth it.

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    2. It was the criminal element that forced her to close

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    3. Morning Star Cafe was the best thing to ever happen to downtown Spfld. Always bustling with a string of regulars - and large enough you could chill there for hours. I was bummed to see it go. Now that it's a restaurant, I tend to forget its even there, which is my bad.

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    4. chuck gregory7/31/16, 3:46 PM

      The "criminal element" that closed the Jenny Wren Cafe was the landlord, who apparently thought heating a building people paid to rent was an option, not an obligation.

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    5. Did the criminal element also close the Heritage Bakery that was downtown?

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  2. Street level entrance so the elderly and handicapped don't pass the coffee house by!

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  3. I hope that all the good ideas don't fall on deaf ears. And that the superdelegates make the decisions.

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  4. George T McNaughton7/30/16, 5:51 PM

    The hope is that the study will provide us with photo modeling and some detailed marketability analysis of what might be achieved with the strategic culling of certain buildings downtown. The fear is it will merely create more "shelf candy" like the Downtown Master Plan which the Selectboard, on a three to two vote, refused to even formally review. So will it be a plan we can use to move forward, or a waste of money, that is the question.

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  5. Downtown will never thrive unless people have money to spend, and the businesses have something people are willing to pay for. Ambiance is the key; make it a place where people will WANT to go and they will do so. Gettting rid of the dive apartments at the end of Summer st. and along River st. as well as the Plywood Palace will do the trick. The rest of downtown looks good enough to where a little sprucing up is all it needs. If you tear it down, they will come! Seriously, guys, you spent 75k for this?

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    Replies
    1. Tearing a building down doesn't mean anyone will come. It will just create an empty lot. Creating jobs and allow businesses to come into town is what will bring people. Its so simple.

      Until we bring in business, big business outside the arena of human services, nothing will change.

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    2. The only way to bring businesses to a town that already has many disincentives is to provide incentives that affect their bottom line. Tax breaks or other financial incentives would do more than additional window dressing.

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    3. You can't just wave your magic supply side wand and create businesses and jobs. If tax cuts and deregulation did that we would already have them! It's not that simple. As a kid growing up in the Chicago area, I remember the massive industrial complexes that created MILLIONS of jobs. I also remember the constant smell of jet fumes from O'Hare airport, the snow turning black, and the burnt plastic smell that permeated your clothes if you hung them out to dry. You can create lots of jobs if you're not too concerned about the quality of life. If you are, you have to be more careful. Unfortunately, many businesses now days want towns to give away the store on taxes, and let them pollute at will. I'm glad this state has strong environmental regulations; I like to breathe! I do agree, though, that a social service economy is undesirable as well as unsustainable. I also think that empty lots would be better than what is on some of them!

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  6. I leave town most every weekend and holiday. Nothing of serious fun or significant interest to young professionals is allowed to happen here. (Fringe exception being Stellafane.) The town is full of selfish antis that throw a wet blanket on anything beyond a farmer's market. I'd rather blow my brains out than sit in a coffee shop and hear folk music.

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    Replies
    1. Yeah, no one is forcing you to listen, anyway I was thinking more along the lines of jazz or blues. When I hear "young professional" I think vacuous snob who has no appreciation for anything that doesn't reinforce your already overinflated ego.

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  7. Can anyone on this blog tell my why I should convince my kids to stay in Springfield or to return to Springfield after their education?

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    Replies
    1. chuck gregory8/1/16, 8:10 AM

      They should leave, and they shouldn't return until they want to. If I'd stayed in my home town, I never would have had enough experience to value Springfield as much as I do, and I would never have learned enough to understand that my home town was being turned from a village into a suburb of ticky-tacky boxes.

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    2. Watch the excellent video below. Not sure what Smack High means. But it is very good. Two Thumbs Up.

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    3. I moved here, despite what I read on this blog (and many others) because I believed this town had potential. There are people around here who ARE working to realize that. If they need a reason to return, I'd say that rebuilding this town, and making it a great place to live, would be a good one. Imagine the satisfaction at being able to say "I helped build this."

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    4. I know a town commission that could use your talent!

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  8. George T McNaughton7/31/16, 11:51 PM

    Because it is a small town with opportunity for those who want to get involved and try to make things happen. Kids that want to actually be a part of resurrecting a community, not just be somewhere that others created. Kids that want to be creators of something unique and special from the ashes of a former machine shop town. Ones that want to be able to tell their kids and grandkids I played a part in rebuilding my hometown instead of just going off to the city to make money amongst a gathering horde of people who have abandoned their roots. Ones that can say we had a vision of what Springfield could be like and we were champions and fighters that helped make a difference.

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    Replies
    1. George, this recent WSJ article nails exactly why so many of us are staking our future elsewhere.

      http://www.wsj.com/articles/in-declining-vermont-the-mood-is-more-resigned-than-angry-1470436189

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