Category — Needham Street*

The Tab wrote a nice article the other day about some of the ongoing efforts to bring vitality back to the Village Centers in Newton. Newton Villages continues to work to ensure that these remain good places for our community to come together, to eat, to play, to shop. We want to see them thrive for the long term.

We know that there are concerns that people no longer value our downtowns.  Or rather, people appreciate that the centers are there.   But instead of going to the Village Centers we shop online and stay in our own homes for entertainment.

We feel differently.  We believe that people will support the Village Centers if we bring in (and hold onto) interesting shops and restaurants.  We also feel that our hectic times require us to come together as a community, and that we need places that help make this happen, and help to maintain Newton’s identity.

Moreover, we think that – if we nurture them appropriately – our Village Centers are sustainable, can keep themselves going, and can continue to contribute to civic life.  Yes, the Centers need to adapt to changing times, but there is a strong future for them – and for our enjoyment of them – if we choose to make the investment.
Read the full Tab article here.

Daddy’s Junky Music officially closed its doors this past Wednesday, shutting the door on one of the last truly local chains of guitar and musical instrument stores in the region. In talking about why this small regional chain failed, Fred Bramante (the chain’s founder) noted competition from online retailers as the prime reason. By buying online, customers saved paying sales tax (ironic perhaps as Daddy’s first store was just over the line in NH in a specific bid to draw Massachusetts customers for tax savings). While Daddy’s is more of a Boston institution, local Newton merchants like the Boston Running Company, Big Sky Bakery & Café, and New England Mobile Book Fair have either closed or are seeking to transfer to new ownership.

Yes, the economy is certainly somewhat to blame, but not entirely. And, since the UPS truck still drops off boxes from Amazon and Zappos throughout our city, what does it say about the commitment to our communities if we lose the merchants and stores that we love? How do we justify allowing the businesses that we wax nostalgic about to disappear?

Local merchants provide goods and services that we need and that are specifically tailored to the local market. In many cases they provide the essential foundation upon which the community itself builds. How many of us recall and treasure the bookstore, coffee house, diner, hobby shop, or even a record store that featured prominently in our lives?

Local merchants are active participants in the community themselves. They are as tied to the community as we are to them. It is much harder for them to pull up stakes and move to a different town than it is for a chain store. Since their success or failure is so tightly wound with that of the community, they are often exactly the ones most willing to invest in that community, through sponsoring local events and helping to fund things like local streetscape improvements.

Yes, the internet is convenient and cheap, but the community loses if that is the only place we shop.

So there are a few things we can do about this. Some of them involve changing regulations to try to either make things easier for merchants or to make it harder for chain stores to come into our village centers. However, this also seems to ignore the basic market reality of the situation.

Local merchants are only successful if people buy their food, services, and goods. Local stores are worth a second (or even a first) look. When you need a lightbulb, try stopping by Swartz or Waban Hardware. Need a book? Try browsing Newtonville Bookstore. The coffee and baked goods at l’Aroma are at least as good as Starbucks, and they have better teas.

Or better yet, try spending a weekend afternoon walking through Newtonville, Newton Highlands, Nonantum, West Newton, or Newton Centre and sampling the stores along the way. In between an excellent lunch and a few fine cups of coffee, I think it very likely you’ll find some new favorite haunts, and maybe even make some new friends along the way. And, you’ll enjoy yourself and help to maintain the village life that makes our city great.

At City Hall last night, more than 30 residents and land owners gathered to participate in a workshop organized by the city’s planning and development staff. After a short presentation of discussions to date, including the 2010 study done by MIT planning students, the group was sorted into individual discussion tables where participants brainstormed goals for shaping Needham Street’s future.

Interestingly, many of the seven discussion groups echoed some of the same sentiments about the qualities Needham Street should have in 20 years: better pedestrian experience; multimodal transportation options; a balanced mix of retail, office, and residential uses; more beneficial connections to the rest of Newton. In short, Needham Street should be a place one wants to be.

Eight of the city’s aldermen attended the meeting, including Lisle Baker, Deborah Crossley, Vicki Danberg, Ruthanne Fuller, John Rice, Amy Sangiolo, Charlie Shapiro, and Brian Yates. Mayor Setti Warren, who’s office has initiated these discussions, was attending a village meeting in West Newton and could not attend.

We look forward to seeing these conversations continue.

Want to voice your thoughts about the future of Needham Street? If so, then mark your calendar for a community meeting at 7pm on Thursday, April 14, in the War Memorial in City Hall.

The city’s Planning and Development Department is moving forward with its efforts to develop a “master plan” for the commercial corridor. These conversations will build on work done last fall by graduate urban planning students at MIT whose semester-long project envisioned some redevelopment options and recommended some implementation strategies to shaping future development along the commercial corridor.

The April 14 meeting, which is open to the public, will provide “a summary of the development ideas to date, and will invite participants to share their thoughts about what’s good and not so good about the existing conditions” on Needham Street. The planning department encourages property owners, business owners, and all interested Newton residents to attend this and subsequent meetings.

For more information, please contact Candace Havens, 617-796-1137, chavens@newtonma.gov.

Earlier posts on this topic:

• Needham Street 2.0
• Envisioning Needham Street

The John M. Barry Boys & Girls Club of Newton and more than a dozen village businesses are working together this week to raise money for the youth center.

The club provides after-school programs, school vacation camp, summer camp, and many other services for children ages 6 to 18.

The hundreds of children attending the Boys & Girls club come from 15 Newton elementary schools and other area schools. To defray tuition costs, the club is able to offer full or partial scholarships to more than 200 children.

Merchants participating include:

[Read more →]

In Chowhound’s Boston-area digest today, Upper Falls merchant Baza gets major props as “the Russian market to beat.” The supermarket offers produce, meat, and packaged and prepared foods — but focuses on Russian and Eastern European products.

Click to visit Baza's website. Get something good to eat and brush up on the Cyrillic Alphabet.