I read the article two times. The first time I thought this was nothing more than a disgruntled reporter from Rhode Island. After driving through Kelley Square tonight I reread the article and the author is spot on. The park is not visually appealing from the outside, a disappointment to us taxpayers who will only see it from Madison St. The inside looks great and view over the outfield is great, for those with a luxury box.My advise for those who want to participate the look, feel and taste of Worcester is skip the park and spend your hard earned money on Green or Water Streets, the real look, feel and taste of Worcester.
Not convinced this is going to be a huge shot in the arm for the Canal District. With the Hanover people mainly exit the theater, head to the Federal Plaza Garage and burn gas out of Worcester. I remember a study I read that said that the impact of a new stadium on the surrounding neighborhood is about the same as a new Wal-Mart store. I still laugh when they call it the "Canal District." It's basically a big sewer pipe that runs underneath it. The original plan was to build a replica canal down Harding Street similar to the Riverwalk in San Antonio. Our federal and state officials were never able to get funding for the project so the City decided to call it the Canal District" anyway. I guess when you have an airport with no planes and a train station with no trains it's ok to have a "Canal District" without a canal.
A train station with no trains?? When’s the last time you’ve been to Union Station? We have MBTA commuter trains several times a day and a once daily Amtrak train.
As for the airport, I’m cautiously optimistic the flights will be returning.
And do you think we would be getting a 13-story mixed use building on Green Street and a developer already committed to the Table Talk pie site at Kelley Square if we didn’t have Polar Park?
You probably think we never should have built the DCU Center either.
Anonymous said…
No one will ever know if the proposed development would occur without Polar Park. The Canal District became the Canal District with private investment and little to no City involvement. I think this momentum would have continued. Polar Park may have advanced some of the activity, like Table Talk relocating closer to their new facility which freed up the location for housing. Housing is nothing new and has been hot in the City for the last 10 years, Whether it be the old Voc School, the old Courthouse, the Krock building, the apartments by Union Station, the old El Morroco etc. These are just housing developments I can recall, there are probably many more. What the City needs is development which creates jobs which I do not think building a ball park does. Time will tell if this $175,000,000.00 investment was worth it. I hope it was.
Anonymous said…
You did not mention the housing units on Grand St being reported as I type by the paper of record, the Telegram, which has a headline identified as GREEN St. when is this City going to get real, competent news!!!
Anonymous said…
The flights that I routinely took out of the Woo airport ( we should change the airport code to WOO instead of ORH) were hugely beneficial. I was able to be highly productive the day of a flight instead of spending the hours required to fly out of Logan. The WOO is 4miles from my office and I could arrive much sooner before the flight and actually get work done that day (or a full day of work in NYC after a 6am flight)
Just the productivity provided to central MA residents and the time and money saved by having commercial flights from WOO alone is a measurable benefit.
Anonymous said…
Union Station has trains but not at the greatest times. If they could ever get the trains to be more conducive to trips into Boston for those who work there, the area around the station will explode with more housing than it already has. The proposed development on Green St is probably related more to Union Station than it is to the park.
Comments
As for the airport, I’m cautiously optimistic the flights will be returning.
And do you think we would be getting a 13-story mixed use building on Green Street and a developer already committed to the Table Talk pie site at Kelley Square if we didn’t have Polar Park?
You probably think we never should have built the DCU Center either.
The Canal District became the Canal District with private investment and little to no City involvement. I think this momentum would have continued. Polar Park may have advanced some of the activity, like Table Talk relocating closer to their new facility which freed up the location for housing. Housing is nothing new and has been hot in the City for the last 10 years, Whether it be the old Voc School, the old Courthouse, the Krock building, the apartments by Union Station, the old El Morroco etc. These are just housing developments I can recall, there are probably many more. What the City needs is development which creates jobs which I do not think building a ball park does.
Time will tell if this $175,000,000.00 investment was worth it. I hope it was.
Just the productivity provided to central MA residents and the time and money saved by having commercial flights from WOO alone is a measurable benefit.