Ari Herzog has a nice summation of the effort to bolster the region's cultural tourism. (Well, it's more than that. Read here.) He presents some interesting ideas.
Plus, for those not paying attention the below post on Pleasant Street took a wide turn down Hotel Argument Alley.
Well, all this chatter just got me thinking what else could we do to make the downtown unique and eminently visitable, livable and workable.
I'd love to come up with a top 5 list so we can have a poll. But I'm straight out busy.
So I'll offer one. I hope the chorus will join in.
1. Extend a wireless signal across the downtown. I just think this would be a unique sales pitch to draw visitors and workers to restaurants, coffee shops and park benches. I don't know if this is something to come from City Hall. It might be more of a chamber thing, but you could definitely see one or two companies splitting costs and getting some unique sponsorship opportunities. The one downside is I do wonder if Internet cards will make this signal obsolete.
6 comments:
I can't believe i'm saying this but i agree with ari. i've been throwing around the idea of having a real clipper ship docked on the waterfront for years, as a way to maintain the character and history of the city. its a great idea, unfortunately, the working boat yard is about to be turned into cafes and boutiques, so they idea probably will never come to fruition.
One of the things we must do is keep the handful of real fishing boats here. We need to provide them a place to dock that they can afford.
X, to be fair, someone else brought up the Clipper Ship at yesterday's meeting but it's one I and everyone else embraced. I recall Steve Cole first brought it to my ears during last fall's mayoral debates.
With the Clipper Ships coming to Salisbury this month (or is it this weekend?), not to mention the annual or biannual Tall Ships in Boston, people love to climb aboard ships. But the point here is that Newburyport IS THE CLIPPER SHIP CITY. If we don't embrace our history by something not in a history book but something tangible and tactile, we might as well be called something else.
There are many abandoned ships you can choose from on the dry bed of the Aral Sea in Kazakhstan. Transporting them to Newburyport might be difficult, though.
I love the idea of having a ship here. Can we commandeer Salem's?
Maybe the city should commission the construction of a replica clipper ship? I bet a lot of people would volunteer some of their time to help build it.
It could be incorporated into the Maritime Museum. I'm sure Mark Guay has plenty of extra time on his hands.
I have an idea. What if the city created it's own currency to help support local busineses? "Clipper Cash", perhaps? Out in Western Mass. they have BerkShares, and it is helping to steer people to local shops. I think it could work here.
Wild Ideas:
Maybe we can talk one of the Cell Tower companies into designing a clipper ship's masts replica on the river behind the Customs House that doubled as cell phone towers.
They would get a tower, and all sorts of social credit. We would get a tourist attraction and land lease money for the tower.
Illuminated in the night they could be really cool.
IE something free to us, good for local economy and adds to tax take.
Ron M
Post a Comment