Pres. Monroe Visits da Port

From the online version of John James Currier's history of Newburyport:

June 16, 1817] Voted that the Selectmen with ten other Gentlemen be a Committee with full powers to make such arrangements at the expense of the Town, as they may think proper, for the reception of the President Of The United States, on his intended visit to this Town.1


At that date, Ebenezer Moseley, Esq., Col. Abraham Williams, Mr. Robert Clark, Mf. Richard Bartlett and Mr. Stephen Howard were selectmen of Newburyport, and with the following-named gentlemen, William Bartlet, Joseph Marquand, Moses Brown, William Cross, William B. Bannister, Daniel Swett, Joshua Carter, Joseph Williams, Thomas M. Clark and Josiah Smith, were authorized to arrange for the public reception of James Monroe, president of the United States.

On account of inclement weather, and delay in Boston and Salem, President Monroe did not reach Newburyport until Saturday, July twelfth, instead of Thursday, the tenth, as he had intended. He received an address of welcome from Ebenezer Moseley, Esq., and was escorted by a regiment of cavalry, under the command of Col. Jeremiah Colman, to Bartlet Mall, where the children of the public schools were assembled to meet him. From the mall, the Washington Light Infantry escorted him, with the members of his staff and the committee of arrangements, down Market street to Union, now Washington, street, and thence to Green street, down Green to Merrimack, down Merrimack to State and up State street to Gilman's hotel, now Wolfe tavern, where he dined with invited guests and then proceeded on his way to Portland, Maine.3

Munroe or Monroe?

Soooooo.....

I very much appreciate the new street sign at the corner of the street that bisects Oakland Street. The old one was stolen by vandals (who probably shared the same name as the sign so how hard can they be to track down...but anyway) but I couldn't help but notice the name on the sign is misspelled.

Or is it?

The new signs identifies the east-west passage as Munroe Street. The sign didn't really catch my eye until I went walking down the street to the next two cross streets, Tyng and Broad. At each intersection the street sign declares my path to be Monroe Street.

What gives? 

Our Fifth President James Monroe

I always assumed the correct name was Monroe Street, in honor of the fifth president, James Monroe. That seemed consistent with Washington Street, Jefferson Street, Adams Street and Madison Street.

But the city street list has no Monroe Street, only a Munroe.

I was prepared to accept that as the gospel truth. But then I found an online version of the North End Papers (1618-1880) identifying the street at Monroe Street. The street was opened in 1848, so I'm guessing it's the namesake of James Monroe.

Therefore, the sign at the corner of Oakland and Mo/unroe is incorrect as is the city street list.

Any thoughts?

Cool a Conference

I attend a lot of industry conferences throughout the year, and I still maintain that Newburyport would be a damn fine site for one.

We're short one one crucial element - lodging. But the city could still comfortably host a regional or local that could draw 100 or so people.

The Firehouse. The Phoenix Room. Mission Oak Grill. They could all host elements of the conference. Attendees, given ample time, could roam from session to session while enjoying the fresh air and sites and sounds of  our downtown.

Nightly events could include a sail on the Ninth Wave, a harbor cruise or a nice meal and walk around town.

So I was intrigued this afternoon when I saw a number of people walking the downtown with the familiar lanyards and nametags dangling around their necks. The name tags, sports coats and cell phones screamed conference attendee and lo and behold we are hosting one at this very moment.

Firebrand, a local IT company, is hosting the event. So while we're not drawing out of town sponsors, hopefully we're bringing in some out of town guests.

Firebrand Community Conference 2010 - Powered by RegOnline

Maudslay Musing

I may take some guff for this, but while I too would like to wish a Happy Birthday to Maudslay (See the Daily News report on yesterday's celebration.) I must admit it's not one of my favorite parks.

It's beautiful, no doubt. Great place for a wedding, stroll or even a snowshoe.

But it's a bit too manicured for my taste. I prefer a bit more of the wild ala Ravenswood in Gloucester or even Old Town Hill in Newbury.

Still, it's a treasure and I'm glad we have it.

Charter Note

The Newburyport Charter Commission wishes to extend an invitation to all Newburyporters for a public hearing on 9/22/10 from 7-9 p.m. at City Hall Auditorium.  The Commission will be discussing the survey, the preamble that has been created, presentation of remaining timetable, what has been discovered thus far, what has been done, executive & legislative options, citizens’ safeguards, & number of wards.  There will be a question & answer period as well. 

Go Worcester!

For the five years preceding our triumphant (I hope) return to Newburyport, we spent five years living in the Greater Worcester area.

I like Worcester. I'm a sucker for a gritty city with character and Worcester has both in spades. Add in some good restaurants, some nice coffee, and minor league baseball and you've got a winning recipe.

What it lacked, however, was a real downtown. For those familiar with the area, Worcester's core is dominated by a massive, hulking mess of a defunct shopping mall. Even in it's early days in the 1970s, the former Worcester Center Galleria couldn't have been much more than an eyesore.

I'm sure people saw hope in the traffic the stores drew, but such a thing didn't belong in a city.

Essentially, Worcester did what Newburyport did not. It ripped up streets of dilapidated buildings and replaced them with a modern, car friendly shopping center.


The idea worked for a time, but eventually the people with cars had even more modern and more car friendly shopping centers to patronize. New England Development (heard of them?) stepped in with a plan to revitalize the shops by creating the Worcester Common Outlets, but that idea never took hold.

So the downtown Worcester Galleria withered and died. It was near-death when I moved to the area a few years ago.

By the time I left plans were already underway to reclaim the downtown. A group bought the outlet and surrounding properties with the intention to recreate a real downtown with apartments, small store fronts and offices to attract and to keep people downtown. Here's the Web site.

Essentially, Worcester is trying to undo what Newburyport didn't do 40 years ago.

Here's a good take on the rebirth that starts today in the Worcester Telegram Gazette.

Port's Brush with Bed Bugs

Seattle PI political cartoonist David Horsey blogs about an enounter with bed bugs during a recent trip to Vermont, which immediately preceded a stop at a friend's house in Newburyport.

Sounds like he took enough precaution to keep the buggers in the car.

When my wife and I showed up on the doorstep of some friends in Newburyport, Massachusetts, over the weekend, we left our baggage in the rental car, went to their basement and, laughing about the absurdity of it all, stripped off the clothes we were wearing. The garments went in the dryer for a nice long spin. We were relying on reports that bed bugs do not do well in the heat.

Those are good friends indeed.

What am I missing?

Interesting read in the Daily News today about property tax bills in Port growing at a slower pace than in other area communities.

Over the past five years, the average homeowner's property tax bill rose by the smallest percentage increase of all of the communities in the Greater Newburyport area.

From 2005 to 2010, the average Newburyport tax bill grew by 16.7 percent, which is significantly less than the state average of 22.4 percent. The state Department of Revenue also ranks communities by the size of their average tax bill, and that ranking also provided some good news for the city's taxpayers. Newburyport slipped from the 61st highest tax bills in 2005 to the 69th highest in 2010.

But am I wrong in thinking the article gives false credit to former Mayor Moak's "philisophy of creating a tight budget" for the past four years or current Mayor Donna Holaday's work as chairperson of the council's budget and finance subcommittee?

Simply put, I think the credit goes to falling house prices.

I mean seriously. Tax bills are calculated by multiplying our tax rate to the assessed value of property in town. If the value of that property declines, tax bills should go down or remain steady if the drop is close to the 2.5% hike communities are allowed to implement each year. Likewise, if the rate of the increase in value slow, tax bills will grow at a smaller clip.

As far as I know, the city has afforded itself the opportunity to increase our tax levy (the total amount of taxable dollars) by 2.5%, as allowed under Prop 2 1/2. I don't recall Mayors Moak or Holaday leaving any money on the table, nor should they.

Also, Mayor Moak supported one override and one debt exclusions. The former, a permanent raising of the 2.5% cap, got trounced. The latter, which would have temporarily lifted the 2.5% cap, nearly passed. (Earlier this year, Mayor Holaday suggested she might have to consider an override as well, but nothing ever came of it.)

Anyway, this post isn't to criticize either mayor, but I don't think they deserve the credit. I believe the "kudos" should go toward a sagging economy, which severely dented our real estate market, and the voters rejection of the two override questions. (I voted for both, btw.)

Postscript: The Masked Preservationist, who has been the only consistent blogger in town, has a different take on this.

A glimpse of Panera

Found this on the InterWeb. It's what we have to look forward to on Route 113.