Blue Light Special

Ward 4 City Council candidate Ed Cameron is leading an interesting discussion over at his blog. The question, how can we amp up voter turnout?

Ed agrees more people should pay attention. But rather than just complain about it like some people (see me) he's offering a few simple suggestions.

He inspired me to think a bit and come up with a suggestion of my own. The city should activate the parking ban lights the night before the election. And keep them blinking until the polls closed. I'm willing to bet that we're not going to see much snow early November, so the confusion will be minimal. And it will give people vivid reminders that they have something to do before they head off to work or go home.

But the real gist of Ed's post was to push for greater communication and transparency in city government. In doing so, he's also taking some fairly precise shots as the City of Newburyport's Web site. It isn't the worst I've seen, but we can do much better. (The task bar along the left drives me crazy at times.)

There are plenty of people in this city with the expertise to make a better site. Perhaps the mayor should consider forming some task force that would enable the IT-savvy folks in Port to donate some time to improving the site.

Ed offers a list of better sites on his blog. Personally, I'd like to see a Web site that presents agendas and minutes of each board; advertises vacancies on those board; pushes emails to remind people to pay their taxes, water bills and to vote. (If the library can shoot me an email that reminds me return the first season of Entourage than why can't a city web site. Why can't I get a note to tell me to vote?)

I recognize this sounds trivial to some. But Web sites provide a service and say a great deal about the company (or in this case the community) they represent. I'll often make business decisions based upon a company's Web site, particularly if it's geared toward serving the customer. It just says the company cares about details.

FULL Disclosure: Ed is a friend and a neighbor and I've got one of his signs in my front yard. His sign is cool, but I think Ives' is still cooler (See below.) Also, check out the comment on her car stickers. Very wise indeed.

A Good Sign

Gardiner Bacon and I agree on at least one thing. Campaign lawn signs are pretty heinous and usually useless.

Note that I said usually.

Kudos to City Councilor-at-Large Candidate Kathleen Ives for putting a fresh twist on the campaign design. See picture.

Not that this will convince me to vote for her. I'm more likely to support someone who has lived in town longer than I have (one year.) But I did find her Web site. I'll give it a read, and I'll consider.

And I'll post a blog item that no one is likely to read.

Big Interest in Little River

I was glad to read this morning that the city is following what's going on just south of the border in Newbury. I had no doubt the city's water and sewer officials were watching the review of the Little River Transit Village to gauge what sort of demand the project could put on Newburyport's water and sewer systems.

But it's comforting to know for sure they're on the case. And city officials shouldn't be the only ones watching and thinking about what this project means to the city. This project is significant enough to affect everyone east of Route 95.

Here's how Stephen Tait describes the project in today's article:

The Village at Little River would be constructed on 72 acres on Route 1 just south of the Henry A. Walker Memorial Bridge at the corner of Middle Road. Current plans call for 200 residences - a combination of condominiums and rental apartments - and about 150,000 square feet of retail and office space, including a small supermarket, a pharmacy, a restaurant and a coffee shop. It would also include a senior center.

This is obviosly an enormous project for Newbury. Hell, it'd be huge for most communities but this would be the first sizable project to hit that town, perhaps ever. (I'm pretending the Expo along Route 95 in Byfield--or whatever that thing is called--never happened. Clearly it shouldn't have.)

But this also will hit Newburyport too. As Larry McCavitt and other point out, this creates competition for the two plazas along Route 113 as well as downtown. (Downtown property owners are a bit concerned, believe me.)

Competition isn't a bad thing, of course. The Carriagetown Plaza in Amesbury apparently hasn't hurt business on Route 113. I suspect the Little River village won't be the end of them either, but it's worth watching.

As for the city, I don't think we should be withholding sewer or water access simply to protect our business. But if our water supply is short, and the sewer system can't handle the additional flow (it apparently can, for now) that's an entirely different story.

But perhaps the one thing this project can shine a light on is how disconnected our city is to our own Commuter Rail station. Visitors from Boston get dumped out at the station with no idea of how to get to the downtown. And even if they know the way, it's a miserable walk. One they're not likely to repeat.

If the Little River project gives life to the idea of integrating the MBTA station into the core of a community, be it ours or Newbury's, than that's would be a positive thing. John Wells had an interesting column on this subject in the News today.

I don't know what the answer is--walking trails, trolley cars, pedicabs, a combination of all three--but we need to connect the train station to the downtown. Not only will this draw new visitors to our shows, but visitors who choose to drive to the city might find that an attractive place to park.