December
5, 2007
Editorial/The Lynn Journal
The report of the Lynn Economic Development
& Industrial Corporation (EDIC) headed by the very able
former city council President James Cowdell is a well done
prospectus that shows Lynn's downtown is heading in the
right direction.
There are more new people living in new
residences in the downtown now than in the past three decades.
Here and there, a new coffee shop or restaurant has given
birth, and in general, the downtown's prospects have not
looked so good in years.
It is time, however, for the city to embark
on an aggressive program to bring major new residential
development into the downtown area. Without major new residential
development, the downtown will never be what we all want
it to be. The city needs a planning department and leaders
with vision who understand what it takes for a downtown
like ours to be brought back in a meaningful way.
Without a planning department, there really
cannot be a comprehensive plan for rejuvenating the downtown.
Make no mistake, the downtown will not be what everyone
wants it to be with a piecemeal approach to development
- a building here with 25 units. Another building with
30 units located a street away does not a bustling, vibrant
downtown make.
The downtown cannot grow without bringing
in large-scale, over the top developments - hundreds and
hundreds of people - thousands even, to take advantage
of public transportation going into Boston, easy access
by automobile and the relative safety of the city, despite
the almost daily attack in the local daily on the city's
reputation by publishing foul stories about crime intended
to boost lagging sales.
There is, we believe, the expectation among
leaders here that retail businesses will pop up before
the people come her to live.
It is the other way around.
We must get people to come here by the
droves into developments that are appealing and which make
use of the relatively vast open spaces available in the
downtown. Solid, creative, residential housing leads to
the necessity for retail businesses that will be supported
by it.
And the housing must be a mix of market
rate, lower income, mixed income, artists lofts, etc.
Jim Cowdell is doing as good a job as possible
with the resources he has been given. He is a very bright
guy. His heart is in the right place. But the EDIC isn't
equipped to do the detailed planning, and the implementation
of that plan which is so necessary if downtown Lynn is
going to grow back into a robust place to work and live.
We urge the City Council and the mayor's
office to explore the possibility of creating a planning
department that has claws and teeth and that will be empowered
with the right to eminent domain in order to bring back
the downtown, in such a way that it becomes the liveliest
and most successful post industrial city downtown in the
commonwealth.
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