PROPOSED: Vista Della Torre

[runawayjim]

The only problem with Jim's scheme (which is better urbanism) is that it ignores the fact that building two towers is much more expensive than building one. Twice the stairs, elevators, facade surface area, mechanical systems, etc etc etc.

[Mothra]

Anyone know the square footage of the lot size of this beast?

[quente]

who has the actual say on this though?

[quente]

Anyone know how the Councilor from Ward 13 voted?

[Mothra]

interesting. Thanks quente. Methinks someone really wants to fasttrack this thing. I wonder who?

[Cotuit]

Apparently he wasn't at the meeting; I'm not sure if he serves on that committee.

[Mothra]

The full council will now vote on it twice (probably once tomorrow if there's a meeting) so this thing will be a done deal before CPC does anything with it next month.

[JimmyGreaves]

The full council will now vote on it twice (probably once tomorrow if there's a meeting) so this thing will be a done deal before CPC does anything with it next month.

[JimmyGreaves]

Councilman Tejada, who represents Ward 8, is the Chairman of the Public Works Committee of City Council. Might be worth contacting him.

[JimmyGreaves]

Below is the link for CPC's review procedure for street abandonments. The process description contains the following paragraph related to information required by CPC for the review of the abandonment:

Indication of support from property owners abutting the right-of-way to be abandoned

[Cotuit]

Cotuit - Did you get the sense from the meeting on the 18th that the street abandonment had the support of the abutting property owners?

[basachs]

Everyone except the guy who owns the tire place at the corner of Federal and Broadway. There was concern about parking from people who lived or owned property on Newton Street, but none of them seemed concerned that Bradford was closing.

[Mothra]

When a street is abandoned, the abutter (on the other side of the street) has to buy the other half of it.

[Cotuit]

Well they are used to it with the illegal signage saying it was not a public right of way and those Cadillac Escalades that blocked it every single day until very recently.

[jencoleslaw]

usually, the fire department/police/public works sign off on an abandonment before it ever gets to the CPC. i was not at last night's meeting so i don't know whether or not they had the letters of support. I did hear it was quite an interesting hearing last night at the public utility or whatever it is called committee.

[Garris]

I drove by this site today and got out to look around, and I now really dislike this project even more.

A visionary developer here could do something at this site that creates a new instant Providence neighborhood, a brand new, mixed use "Vista Joe Torre Square" that could wrap around the Service Road and Broadway and really connect the East Broadway Neighborhood to Federal Hill/Atwells. It's just the kind of anchor and jump start that section of town needs.

This development does the absolute opposite. It would literally be a landscaping and building barrier actively separating the two neighborhoods. When projecting where the "cafe" would be, I actually started giggling where I was standing there on the sidewalk.

Terrible, awful, dispiriting...

- Garris

PS: I've talked with many people, both at GC:PVD meetings and in the general public, who have accused the members of GC:PVD and UP posters of being "blindly supportive" of anything that promises height or density. I would hope that the fairly vigorous opposition to elements of this project help demonstrate the maturity of these communities, both to doubters and to one another.

[JimmyGreaves]

Terrible, awful, dispiriting...

[jencoleslaw]

Hopefully there will still be ample opportunity for the community to voice their concerns and alter the scope of this project.

[Cotuit]

i think soda just came out my nose.

[quente]

When projecting where the "cafe" would be, I actually started giggling where I was standing there on the sidewalk.

[JimmyGreaves]

Better to laugh than cry . . . This site plan is a sad joke.

The train is leaving the station and it's time to start running like hell to catch up with it.

If you haven't done so, contact your council member and let them know how you feel about this process. Short of somebody legally challenging the decisionmaking process of the Public Works Committee, that is the only thing that will (possibly) slow this down.

Otherwise, I'll see you all by the reflecting pool of the Hasta La Vista Cafe - something tells me reservations won't be necessary . . .

[Baines]

i came up with my own vision for the project. though it's a bit rough and obviously subject to criticism (and my first try at anything like this). if you click on each of the blocks i made, you can see what they are and what they should contain. this will allow for a better used park, more street interaction, and an overall better urban development. the 2 buildings would be approximately half the height of the original, though probably a little bit taller than half (probably similar in height to dominica manor).

http://tinyurl.com/277obn

[Baines]

I drove by this site today and got out to look around, and I now really dislike this project even more.

A visionary developer here could do something at this site that creates a new instant Providence neighborhood, a brand new, mixed use "Vista Joe Torre Square" that could wrap around the Service Road and Broadway and really connect the East Broadway Neighborhood to Federal Hill/Atwells. It's just the kind of anchor and jump start that section of town needs.

[jencoleslaw]

Better to laugh than cry . . . This site plan is a sad joke.

The train is leaving the station and it's time to start running like hell to catch up with it.

If you haven't done so, contact your council member and let them know how you feel about this process. Short of somebody legally challenging the decisionmaking process of the Public Works Committee, that is the only thing that will (possibly) slow this down.

[JimmyGreaves]

This might seem off topic but bear with me. Was the petition to abandon Barclay Street ever approved?