The University of Connecticut is the latest institution of higher learning to realize the importance of “town/gown” physical integration. UConn is launching “a sweeping project at its main campus in this hamlet in the still-rural town of Mansfield. Working with local officials, it plans to demolish the meager downtown, which looks more like a [...]
Archive for August, 2006
"College Towns" Boost College Appeal – Thoughts on Framingham
August 29, 2006Framingham Arcade Project Financing Still Up in the Air
August 27, 2006More than two years after the Framingham Planning Board approved a revamp of the old Arcade building to include 260 apartments, 40 hotel room sand 50K of comercial space, “developers still don’t have the money to pay for the project, which is expected to cost $58 million,” reports the MetroWest Daily News. Amazing but [...]
International Commuting Conference in Boston
August 22, 2006The Association for Commuting Transportation, comprised of people who oversee non-private-vehicle commuting alternatives including ride-sharing, van pools and telecommuting programs, will hold a conference Aug. 27-30 in Boston. Public transit, improved use of parking resource, and emergency preparedness will also be on the agenda at the meeting, to be held at the Copley Plaza.
Nobscot Rail Trail Before Framingham Selectmen
August 20, 2006A report about the feasibility of the Framingham portion of the Bruce Freeman Rail Trail (sometimes called the Nobscot Rail Trail locally) is slated to be presented at Tuesday’s Board of Selectman meeting, which begins at 7:30 pm in the Memorial Building.
Plans call for the Freeman trail to run 25 miles, passing through Sudbury, Concord, [...]
Amazing (Things’) Downtown Plans
August 17, 2006The fledgling Amazing Things arts center, currently headquartered in Saxonville, still plans to move to the Hollis Street firehouse — good news for downtown, but kind of a bummer for those of us living near the current location.
You can see an artist’s rendition of what the renovated firehouse would look like here.
The Saxonville site [...]
Area Towns Can Join New Regional Transit Groups
August 14, 2006Framingham officials are “examining” new state transit rules that allow Boston-area communities to join regional transit groups in addition to the MBTA, the MetroWest Daily News reports, noting: Some officials and public transit advocates have long called for a MetroWest RTA.”
“There’s definitely significant interest,” Framingham Town Manager Julian Suso told the News. “Certainly Selectman [...]
Austin May Zone Major Thoroughfares for Pedestrian Appeal
August 14, 2006“Stores and eateries along those transit corridors will now have to hug the street (instead of having seas of parking up front) and have wide sidewalks with room for benches and trees. The rules will also require more awnings and front windows to create livelier, shaded spaces,” the Austin American-Statesman reports.
“Those are components that make [...]
Arizona County Endorses Mixed Use
August 12, 2006Pima County in southern Arizona has adopted zoning that mixes “residential, commercial and office space, next to each other and even vertically in the same multi-story buildings,” Inside Tuscon Business reports — “the first step toward what Arlen Colton, Pima County’s director of planning, foresees as broad-based policy of moving away from the traditional suburban [...]
