More than a Garage

Stephen Tait has a nice piece on the possibility of placing a parking garage on Prince Place, the charming little nook right behind Pleasant Street.

I first endorsed the idea, but then I realized the size and scope of a structure would block my view of the Jewel in the Crown restaurant and potentially cut into my precious sunlight.

Therefore, I must conclude this is a bad, bad idea.

Putting my faux NIMBYism aside for a moment, I agree with the Mayor. This site makes a great deal of sense for a number of reasons. I question whether Mr. Karp--who is actually QUOTED in an article!!--would find much value in the spot since it's a long walk from the Waterside East site. (It isn't really, but a tourist might think so.) But I do think it's a great place for a parking garage.

But let's not stop there.

We have a great need for many things in this town, among them is a senior center and taxable commercial property. So I'd ask the interested parties to see this site as more than just an out of the way place to dump a parking garage. It's an opportunity to expand our downtown and create a senior center that works.

Imagine if you will we built a building that combined a parking garage with commercial businesses. If your imagination can't hack that, take a look at Page 3 of Friday's Daily News. There's an artist's vision of the parking garage that could--and probably should--grace the corner of Green and Merrimack Street right now. It's a very attractive package that included retail space and pleasant exterior architecture.

Can a similar structure grace the parking lot at the Prince Place lot? I can't see why not. Think for a moment. This would extend the retail stretch of stores up Hale Court from Pleasant Street, providing new commerical tax base. It could have the similar--but probably lesser--effect on Prince Place as it runs off State Street near the library.

Perhaps even more intriguing, this first floor stretch could serve as a site of the senior center.

Think of the benefits of the location.

* Plenty of parking. I'm sure the garage could be built with an elevator to aid those seniors who couldn't manage the stairs.

* Access to downtown business including the library, Angie's and other stores.

* Places to sit at Tracy Court or Inn Street.

* A first floor entrance with a single-floor design

* A central and visible location

I'm already anticipating the complaints. A senior center can't share a building with an ugly parking garage, the looks, the fumes, etc. Or the Prince Place location isn't central enough.

Frankly, if done well, and parking garages can be done very well, I don't see any aesthetic conflicts. As for any environmental concenrs, I'd say any structure would be designed to vent fumes up and away from a first floor unit be it a restaurant, store, etc. (The Transportation Building in Boston comes to mind but there are plenty others.)

Finally, the location.

I see this site being more central, not less, than the Cushing Park location. To be frank. I do have concerns about the Cushing Park site. I don't live in the immediate area, but folks who do don't like the idea and really could create problems that drag out the construction of the building.

I'll be honest, I wrote but never published an item asking whether we could afford a center. (Jim Roy wrote about this in the Current. ) I never published it because I had to think the issue through some more. Obviously, I sympathize with those that want a center. But I have to ask can we really afford one when we don't have the money to buy a new fire truck or we can't afford new police cars without diverting state grant money. (I know it's allowed but are police cars really part of a community policing program?)

Mary Eaton writes extensively about the Senior Center on her blog. (Here, here, here and here.) In doing so she lays out the need for the services that would be provided by a senior center. But, with the exception of creating a central meeting place, couldn't all those services--hot meals and assistance be provided without a building? In fact, one her posts refers to a New York City-based program that coordinates volunteers to help the elderly while utilizing churches as their physicial locations. Couldn't we do that here?

I recognize this post is veering off track a bit. But I do wonder what sort of reception a City Councilor might receive if he or she proposed beefing up the council on aging's budget so it could provide all the services a senior center might offer. I suspect we'd hear the city can't afford such a program right now. Yet, when we talk about building a senior center the concerns about budget and finances are muted.

I'm not sure why. I suppose we want to be seen as caring folks. But I fear the center, without proper support, could merely serve as a monument to our supposed caring. "See how much we care about our needy senior centers. We built a center. We're a caring community." But can we afford to run it? Can we provide the services that seniors actually need? I'm not convinced we can. I wonder if our seniors would benefit more from a beefed up set of programs.

If we do go forward with a center, I still favor the idea of setting up a regional center with Newbury. If we can't accomplish that, then what building one with a new parking garge on Prince Place, Hale's Court or even Tracy Place which would make a grand entrance? The area seems to offer considerably more than Cushing Park. Plus, it would help provide life to a currently dormant part of downtown and help us spread our commercial base. Perhaps it could also double as a community place on nights and weekends when the senior center isn't in use. The space could be used on weekends to sell crafts by local artists and craftsfolks who can't afford space downtown but want to sell to tourists.

I'm learning that the byproduct of living in a town where we do a lot of talking is that almost every idea I can come up with has been discussed in the past so I look forward to an education. If the senior center idea doesn't fly, that's fine. But we should really consider this proposal as much more than a parking garage.


.