Manchester Infill & Small Developments

I read it over. Very good. And congrats for getting that in there. I am anxious to see if you get any more interest from this being published. Good luck. Well actually, good luck for the street cars. The concept is what needs luck as America is slow to change and public transportation.
 
I agree about needing to move beyond a discussion--especially an online one, but even one amongst different people and interested parties in Manchester--and begin some sort of action toward better transit, further downtown development and neighborhood revitalization. I see these three things (plus others, like economic development and so on) as intertwined, but can't think of a good term to summarize them; for now I'm going to call them "urban QOL issues" but hope something better arises.

If I was a Manchester resident, or even lived in a nearby town or worked in the city, I'd be very interested in trying to find other residents and interested parties to form a citizen advocacy group to promote urban QOL issues, and to work with some of the interested business groups like NHBTI and the Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce, as well as other, broader civic organizations and governmental/policy groups, whether the City itself, or SNHPC. As I don't live in Manchester, I really don't feel that I have the credibility or authority to start such a group, though I'd love to be involved in one as an outside interested party or whatever if allowed. I'm hoping that ideas like the streetcar plan being published (both online and in the paper) will bring some of the many, civically engaged, but diffuse city residents out of the woodwork and spur some sort of citizens group to show public support for urban QOL issues, as well as to promote new ideas to SNHPC, the City and others.

There have been a lot of positive comments about the streetcar plan online (including by one sitting and one former alderman), so I know that public interest in these issues exists. Unfortunately, despite a citizenry that I suspect is pretty interested in urban QOL issues, Manchester suffers from a dearth of citizen groups pushing these issues. I've responded to the comments suggesting such a group, but it's tricky for a number of reasons. First, it will require a good deal of effort for someone to start such a group; second, the comments are spread across several different boards (GoodGood, BlueHampshire, and several Facebook pages), so a lot of the commenters may be unaware of each other or of like-minded people and ideas.

I did see that someone from NHBTI commented on the GoodGood page regarding the streetcar plan. I contacted him yesterday to try to get some more information about NHBTI's ideas and efforts and see how they might dovetail with more local interests, such as better transit and neighborhood revitalization. I'm hoping to hear back soon.

I might also try to contact the alderman who commented on BlueHampshire about the streetcar plan to see if he has any thoughts as an elected official about these issues. I posted a link to the streetcar plan on BlueHampshire a few weeks ago, and the responses were pretty receptive. I was hesitant about posting on a political blog like that, because I don't think better transit or neighborhood enhancements should be a partisan issue, but I did want to get the word out there among some politically engaged residents who I thought might be receptive.

Both the City's and SNHPC's websites can be frustrating in offering tantalizing bits of information, but making details difficult to find. Portland seems to do a very nice job offering a good deal of information on its planning website. Manchester has a strong mayor form of government, though I'm not clear on the details or the powers of the Planning Department. I do remember reading that Ted Gatsas, the current mayor, rode city buses as part of his campaign, and even while I disagree with some of his proposals (dedicating the whole Rockwell site to Market Basket, for instance), he does seem very interested in attracting development and neighborhood enhancements.

Perhaps the next step would be to contact SNHPC and find out exactly where they are with their regional transit study. I'd consider contacting the Mayor's office or the Planning Department, but I'd be much more comfortable with a resident-led advocacy group doing so. I'm not exactly sure how to encourage such a group without either being a resident or feeling like a puppet master, but maybe once I hear back from NHBTI, I can contact a few already engaged residents individually.

It's also frustrating how long it takes to get public projects done now. The arrogant (and frankly misguided) planning efforts of the mid-20th century led to a deserved public backlash, for one. So now there's extensive permitting, public input and so forth. It's better than planners and developers being able to bulldoze entire neighborhoods without review, but the extent of public review now has the effect of stifling good development and public projects, ironically including efforts to undo some of the damage of earlier planning projects. Not that there shouldn't be environmental reviews, for instance, but the amount time that the T Green Line extension has spent in environmental review is absurd considering the positive effects of increasing public transit use and reducing sprawl.

Couple this with New Hampshire's local, varying, and competing planning and development efforts in each town, and it becomes quite difficult to implement sensible planning measures that need to be done regionally. Fortunately, at least one suburb, Bedford, seems to be on board with better regional cooperation, urbanized development in the area adjacent to Manchester, and better transit. Their recent master plan calls for mixed-use, transit-oriented development between the Manchester line and the planned commuter rail stop at the airport. This would rely not just on commuter rail, but also a city/regional bus running the length of South River Road more frequently than the current #13 MTA route. Additionally, one of the town councilors sits on the New Hampshire Rail Transit Authority (NHRTA).

I didn't make it as clear as I could have, but the idea in the streetcar plan is that Queen City Station would be an intermodal transit station in the heart of downtown (located at the secondary site for such a station, which is probably the default now that the Market Basket is taking up the primary spot). This would have commuter rail and, hopefully one day, high-speed rail, intercity bus, and city and regional bus connections. Good public transit needs to exist at the local level as well as connecting Manchester to Boston and beyond in order to be successful. At the local level, it doesn't necessarily have to be rail transit, but it could be, and at the least it needs to be frequent, convenient, efficient buses.

I really think a resident-led, citizen group to advocate for urban QOL issues in Manchester and the adjacent communities is needed to promote these issues. And the discussion, to the extent that there does need to be one, should be among residents (and businesses and interested parties) about the type of city and neighborhoods they want Manchester to be, and the role that transit, planning and development play in achieving that.
 
FrankLloydMike said:
It's also frustrating how long it takes to get public projects done now. The arrogant (and frankly misguided) planning efforts of the mid-20th century led to a deserved public backlash, for one. So now there's extensive permitting, public input and so forth. It's better than planners and developers being able to bulldoze entire neighborhoods without review, but the extent of public review now has the effect of stifling good development and public projects, ironically including efforts to undo some of the damage of earlier planning projects. Not that there shouldn't be environmental reviews, for instance, but the amount time that the T Green Line extension has spent in environmental review is absurd considering the positive effects of increasing public transit use and reducing sprawl.
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I like this paragraph as how I agree with it.

Well, I would offer to help but I neither live in Manchester nor do I have much experience (other than interest and common sense) to bring to the table regarding city development or community related issues.

http://www.intownmanchester.com/ - They may be of use to help promote your concept.

Why not start some group then yourself? I know people can be busy based on the way the average person is placed into our society, but you seem to know your stuff, and sounds like you have interest. I could see a New England group forming to help expedite community enhancing projects through out Boston and New England. I know something like this is a large scale group, but if there are more people like you (and me for that matter) that have interest in things like this for communities that may not even be our own then something like this may be good. A larger area would encompass more people and get more heads together. I know there are already so many groups, but I do not know if one like this exists.

I could see the group working with current administrations and governments and other groups to help provide addition support, labor, and knowledge to get projects underway. Examples of projects would be like your concept here, get it recognized. Or that skate park that seems to be taking forever in Boston under the Zakim Bridge. (I do not know the story there, just it has no sign of progress, however I do not bother to really look into it since I do not skate.)

Now I don't want to sounds stupid, but I really don't know much about things like this as I have never studied it, only have an interest, so I will say I do not even know how a group like this would work or if it would be have any power to really do anything. But I see it as simply even a numbers game. The more people form a community, and in this case New England, who express an interest in something the more likely it will be looked at as a possibility. And if the group makes an effort to promote a concept (example your street cars) in the proposed community (Manchester and possibly surrounding communities) they could bring it to people who normally wouldn't see anything about the idea. There are so many people who may like the idea who live in Manchester that do not go on this forum, read the Union leader, or even know of goodgood.

Just an idea. I see projects (like the revitalization and redevelopment of "The Depot" in my town here Salem NH that I know has been a concept for years and is still stagnant and not moving anywhere in the near future. There is a group that has been developed for that project but still nothing big is happening and I don't think it will soon. Getting an already established group of people who have interest in our communities across New England may be what things like this need.

Just a thought, may be stupid though. I'll admit I am not the first one to attend Town Meetings and things like that. However I think there are too many like me that care that just do not get involved. Would I like? Possibly, if it was easy and I could actually make a difference rather than just discuss it on here and read about ti online.
 
Good discussion guys. Normally I have time on the weekend to read this stuff, but today I am busy and can't read all of the above. I can say, however, that the term for Urban QOL issues is "Livability." There are "livable cities advocates" and a law firm known as "livability law" ( www.livabilitylaw.com ) which are into these things. It is also nicely summarized as "urbanist" issues ( Doris Goldstein, attorney for Seaside, and David Slone, co-wrote A Legal Guide to Urban and Sustainable Development" as a way to implement some of these Urban QOL issues, and refer to their mechanisms as "urbanist law").

The reason I mention the need to move beyond discussion because for all of the thinking I have done about this stuff over the last decade, I can't think of one change I've made in the development patterns around here (something I hope to change). Good ideas guys!
 
MonopolyBag said:
I came across this article http://www.deseretnews.com/article/700105322/NH-city-looks-to-improve-health-with-lower-crime.html.

I have still yet to see many concepts implemented into the Rimmon heights Valley St. but it does look much better than it use to. But trees planted along the sidewalks would be very nice.
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Great find.

I don't understand why people from NH and outside of NH have this notion that Manchester is this crime infested city. There is not a neighborhood in this city that I wouldn't feel safe walking through at night.
 
True but you have to remember that it has only been the past 10 years that the city really has picked up. before that, the entire city was basically nothing. And IMO it still has much work to do to make it nicer with updated parks, updated streets and sidewalks, and promoting higher wealth living within the center of the city in and around downtown and East of that.

I think prior to this recent push to get Manchester on the map and a nice place to want to live, visit, and/or work, the city was weak, messy, and nothing going for it.

The baseball stadium, verizon, hanover st, downtown, Elliot, concepts for new municipal, gas light district, market basket, southern end of elm and northern ends being worked on, and Rimmons Heights, the city has made a statement that says that citizens and the city caress enough about the city to actually put effort into keeping it a nice community.

Edit: and the whole crime aspect is only one more step to making it a better place.
 
That's an interesting article--I've heard of the Weed & Seed program, but wasn't entirely clear on what it did. I agree that there's some lingering and inaccurate ideas about crime in Manchester among both out-of-staters and even New Hampshirites who don't live in Manchester. I think Monopoly is right, though, that the city still has a long way to go. Crime is the first thing that needs to be dealt with in revitalizing an urban area, and Manchester has done a very good job of that. Downtown Manchester feels (and is) incredibly safe, as are most if not all of the city center neighborhoods. That's not to say that pockets don't exist or that the effort to further reduce crime shouldn't be continued, but overall the city is very safe.

I wouldn't be surprised, though, if a lot of the people who mistakenly assume there is a lot of crime in Manchester got that impression from the state of the built environment in many of Manchester's urban neighborhoods. Unfortunately, the City, absentee landlords and disinterested developers have allowed buildings, public areas and streetscapes in many of Manchester's center city neighborhoods (especially to the east of Downtown and West Granite) to fall into disrepair. This is both unfair to the mostly lower-income residents of these neighborhoods as well as foolish in terms of generating investment in the city.

This gets to the livability (thanks for the reminder, Patrick) issues we've been discussing here. The revitalization and growth of the downtown and Millyard need to continue, but I think the time is right to shift much of the focus in the city to improving the center city neighborhoods and commercial areas just outside of downtown. If Manchester wants to remain competitively regionally, attract and retain a more diverse range of residents and maintain a vibrant downtown, it needs to address the serious livability issues in the center city neighborhoods.

All of the things Monopoly mentioned--tree-planting, street and sidewalk enhancements, updated parks, and promoting more of an economic range of housing (bringing in middle-income and higher earners needs to be complemented by ensuring ample work-force and affordable housing)--need to be accompanied by better transit, zoning revisions and building rehabilitation (the city has already made some progress on these two fronts), and so on. The many planning documents available from the Planning Department and others indicate that the City's planners already understand this. The improvements in Rimmon Heights show that City can help jumpstart the process and that residents care deeply about their neighborhoods and will sustain the effort from there. These efforts will immediately improve the lives of current residents while, in the longer term, also attracting some of the people who currently move to the suburbs or out of the region. Portland and Burlington seem to do a good job of attracting more young people from within their respective states and feature several distinct, vibrant neighborhoods in their city centers. In addition to their other advantages (colleges, tourism, geography), this allows them to support a more vibrant downtown than I imagine they could without those neighborhoods.

I'm not sure the best way to promote these ideas. As the planning documents show, and as Patrick pointed out, they're all pretty well-established and widely accepted. The Planning Department and SNHPC seem to be pushing in the right direction, as do some of Manchester's most prominent business groups and some of the neighboring towns. Will Stewart, of GoodGood Manchester and NeighborWorks Greater Manchester, pointed out that NWGM operates a resident-led advocacy group in its Community Services Committee. The scope seems limited but important, and I do think a wider resident-led livability advocacy group would benefit the city.

I wonder if in the shorter term something more like an online advocacy/visionary group might be better. Greater City: Providence offers an excellent example of one such group. This would probably be more flexible to begin with, and might provide more of a natural way to form a more formal citizen advocacy group in the future. I know I would also be more comfortable being involved in something like this as a relative outsider, and an online group would probably be a more appropriate venue for those of us interested in Manchester but living elsewhere than a formal advocacy group that at some point might actually work with city leaders, etc. I don't know enough about how to run a website, but I could see something like a website with some regular contributors from Manchester and the region that could serve as an aggregator of relevant news and information, maybe some columns and a forum for ideas and proposals. I'm curious to know what others think.
 
On a side note, I'm hoping to hear back from NHBTI soon, but I'm planning on contacting SNHPC to see if I can get some information on their regional transit authority study. In poking around their site, I found this intriguing, but brief presentation from last month.

Among some of the promising ideas that I hope to hear more about in the future are:

? Prepare Best Planning/Innovative Model Ordinance ? shared zoning/master planning approach
? Prepare Feasibility Study ? Regional Transit Authority ? MTA/NH DOT
? Expand I-93 Commuter Bus Service ? to MBRA
? Plan and Implement - NH Capital Corridor Passenger Rail

Regional, coordinated planning and transit would reduce a lot of the harmful competition and redundancy that hinders greater density and urban development.
 
I like the website idea a lot. A few things must be addressed however:

Promoting to the general public - Bring in and attract those who usually do not get involved in things like this.
User friendly - Make the site non government style website. Keep it user friendly. Not overwhelming with boring wordy content.
Updated - Keep it updated, and make sure it never gets out of date as this is what causes a site to ultimately end the activity and keep things rolling
Somehow incorporate this into the city - We wouldn't want peoples ideas and time going to waste. Somehow this site should actually prove beneficial. Possibly the city could sue it as a way to view the opinions and ideas voiced by the city and other people who show interest in the city and ultimately would sue the city.

I think the providence website is good, but I think it is a bit messy and could be more user friendly. When websites are messy like that and not user friendly, people often leave prematurely missing important information.
 
Using the wordpress site for a website host is a great idea, imo. I use it for my law office website (see the link below, www.landplanninglaw.com). It can either be free, in which case it has the word wordpress in the URL, or it can cost $17 dollars a year, which is what I paid to have just the law office name in the URL. I think the $17 gives credibility. I designed and manage my website, with no help, and I am a very low-tech guy. It is a very user friendly site. I think making a website like that sounds like a BRILLIANT idea, and I may make one for Portland if I have the chance. There should be some sort of a network between the sites for other cities in NE, like PVD, Manch, Portland, and any others. New England functions well as a region, and it should start to think like one. I wonder if there are any rail links from Portland to Manch that could be utilized at some point?
 
When you say rail links? Do you mean actual rail?

The site, what is wordpress?

I am pretty good at websites and although I am no where near a web designer I know the very basics. http://fishmike.com/ is run by me. Like $30 a year I think and is run by me now. It was set up by my cousin who is a web designer.

Maybe we should get some sites going. Don't know if the sites should be linked or if one site for New England? We would need to find someone who is better at web design than us however.
 
Good thoughts on the website--I think it could be a really good resource.

I like Patrick's suggestion for connecting (through links, maybe guest features, whatever) similar websites from different New England cities seems like a really good idea. Monopoly's early point about integrating New England more as a region makes a lot of sense, but I think most issues are best dealt with locally. I also think a local website would get more attention from citizens and city leaders than a regional one, but there's a lot to be learned from other cities and a lot to be done regionally. Some sort of regional collaboration/exchange or even just linking addresses both the local focus and the regional connectivity.

I'll look into the wordpress site... it's true that the website should be simple, but informative. The Providence website is attractive, but it's a bit tricky to navigate. (On a side note, the Features page where they do some design/planning proposals is great.) Patrick, your website is clean, easy to navigate and includes a good deal of information. Judging just by that, I think it looks like a good solution. I like the Fishmike site, too, but the idea of being able to use attractive, flexible templates sounds less intimidating than setting up a site from scratch.

I'd be happy to set it up initially and work with some collaborators/contributors from here if anyone's interested as well as from some people in and around Manchester. Before doing so, I'd like to send a line to some people who I think are involved/interested in these sort of issues in the city, and maybe talk to the folks at GoodGood to see if they know of anyone who might be interested and so on. Then we can figure out exactly what would go on the site.

Here are some things that I think could be good on the site, some of which is on the Providence site:
? Collection of information from various planning agencies all together, sorted by project, etc.
? Original, hypothetical proposals/plans
? Sites for major neighborhoods/surrounding towns detailing planning/development proposals and projects and other items of interest. I think it would be great to eventual get volunteer editors/contributors from many neighborhoods to take care of this
? Project/policy/meeting alerts (I like the link on the Providence website to report uncleared sidewalks, for instance)
? Important contacts for various planning departments, etc.

Any thoughts on those or other areas that should be included? Perhaps a page for items of regional focus or guest contributions from other cities would be good. I think the focus should be on Manchester, but with a secondary focus on the Greater Manchester area, especially the surrounding towns, but peripherally maybe even info on Concord, Nashua and Salem... Salem is sort of torn between being an outlying commuter town of Manchester and Massachusetts suburb. Nashua and Concord should really be viewed almost as satellite cities to Manchester, similar to how Manchester is to Boston, I think. If the site focuses primarily on livability/urban issues in and around Manchester, a secondary focus on the Concord-Nashua-Salem region with Manchester at the center would make sense.

Obviously it would also need a name. Greater City: Providence is a pretty good name; it succinctly explains its intent while also sounding like it could eventually moprh into/extend to an advocacy group as opposed to just a website. Something like this for Manchester would be great. Incorporating "livability" or somehow otherwise expressing the idea would be good. Maybe something like "Livable MHT" or "Livable Queen City", but I'm not sure. I like MHT because the focus is Manchester without excluding the surrounding towns; it's also less generic than Manchester or Queen City even. The name can come later anyway and maybe we should wait for more input from some others.
 
As to a rail connection between Portland and Manchester: there used to be a line linking Portsmouth and Manchester. NHRRA has a map of all the rail lines in the state. According to them, the line is inactive, but that seems polite. I believe much of it is now part of the Rockingham Rail Trail, which extends from Manchester to Newfields at the present. As of recently, at least, much of the tracks in the built-up area of the city were still intact, but unmaintained. A few years ago, Elliot Hospital built a primary care building within the ROW without proper approval and caught a deal of flack for this. All of the crossing, except for Elm Street, were at-grade as the rail line predates most of the grid there.

I don't see any rail connection in the foreseeable future. That's unfortunate, as Manchester and Portland might benefit from being better linked. They're not so far apart, but they seem to have never been linked very well historically or in terms of infrastructure. As Northern New England's largest cities (I'd say only large-ish cities with real metro areas), they might have things to offer each other. It's funny how much of northern New Hampshire, especially east of the notches is more tied to Portland than Manchester. For all the comparisons of New Hampshire and Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine are much closer counterparts.
 
The rail is yes, now a bike path (however, I am all for bike paths as well, and both Manchester and Portland are in need of more practical bike paths that actually get you places IMO) Rail is nice too though

The site, there needs to be a purpose. I am all for this site, and the purpose I see is to address the overall livability (the stuff that I assume we like to see happen which is usually suppressed by the cost factor) and what is going on while addressing the citizens as well as neighboring citizens point of view compared to the cities.

I think the goal of this would be to inform people of the cities goal while informing the city of what the citizens want.

One thing I could see benefiting that I would love to see is an actual river walk. If it was actually walkable I could see volunteers talking care of it. Honestly I do not know of exactly how far it goes along the river, and there may need to be more major construction done to allow for an actual path all the way, but I don't see it as being that big of a project however the benefits it would bring is huge.

We would also need donations to pay for the site. PayPal accepts donations and will create a button and is easy to use.

I would be willing to help, but not only do I not live in Manch, I never lived there in the past. Just have interest in it because I plan to open a retail location there and think it is a cool city since it is small yet has so much potential. I went to college there at UNHM also.

Salem is weird, people work in Boston for sure. However as a citizen of Salem we "use" Manchester when events do go to the city there and there are places there not here in Salem that I go to in Manchester. (DCU, Verizon, Palace Theatre, some computer repair shop I went to, went to B-ball game there, bought a car there)
 
The Exchange on NHPR discussed the bill to repeal the NH Rail Transit Authority yesterday. It's worth a listen, especially given how supportive of rail transit most callers were. I believe this reflects the majority of the population in the state. A pro-livability group would be helpful in getting this across, and for those New Hampshire residents, I'd recommend sending a quick line to your state reps telling them you oppose this bill. I doubt they'll be very receptive, but I also doubt the votes will be there to produce a veto-proof majority. The current anti-livability, anti-urban legislature will hopefully be a fluke.
 
Thanks. Interesting.

Haha, this post here. http://www.archboston.org/community/showthread.php?t=3749

This guy could design your street rail cars FrankLoyd.

Haha, the initial interview with the man who is against it is the stupidest thing I have ever heard. It is ridiculous how one could think it is a bad idea to expand rail anywhere, period.

He argues that the benefit is to the one sitting in the train, and other people are paying for it. NO SHIT! That is the purpose of PUBLIC transportation.

Private transportation is stupid! The government can get involved with whether or not it is legal for gay marriage and yet it is a bad idea to get involved in public transportation!?
 
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finished listening to it. And wanted to share some thoughts.

-You gotta love how people are arguing saying it is a waste of money before a study has been done.

-And I find it quite amusing when another argument is "why should I have to pay for something that I do not even use from my tax money." This is the same problem we have here in Salem about updating the public schools and the police station. The whole point to tax money is to spend it on the benefit of the overall community, not to buy you a brand new LED TV. Whether it affects you directly or indirectly, it is for the overall benefit of the community you are living in ultimately improving your own living enjoyment and quality.

Trains bring business, lower cars, allows students to travel more freely, elderly to travel more freely, MUCH more environmentally friendly and will also allow for more growth economically (given that the study shows it will do all of this) and most people do not get affected by any of these directly, however the overall community will benefit from this.

The fact that 75% people like this proposed plan for the capital corridor NH rail to Boston and Eastern MA shows me that people are willing to put a little tax money into this. If the state was to raise taxes by only a little on everyone with the purpose of funding a rail to our state, I doubt the majority would complain. Heck, if I had the money i would make a large donation to get a rail and similar community enhancing projects underway.

Its thinking like this from people who want to cancel this before it started that hold us back as a country. And yet our government blows money on crap everyday.
 
I couldn't agree with you more. Fortunately, the majority of people in southern New Hampshire also agree as does Gov. Lynch, so I think this whole idea of repealing NHRTA isn't going to go anywhere, and when the time comes to actually fund the project there will hopefully be a more responsible legislature.

I saw this quote in the UL from Gov. Lynch's State of the State address yesterday:

"We need to continue to invest in our infrastructure," he said.
Lynch said the state should continue to weigh the feasibility of extending commuter rail into Nashua and to Manchester, "and maybe on to Concord."
"It just makes sense to do that," he said. "It would be a mistake to abandon our efforts to continue to determine the feasibility of rail for New Hampshire."
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On a side note, that redesign of the Red Line cars is pretty cool. Someday, when I get the time, I'd love to make a rendering of a streetcar going through Manchester--I'd probably just use a streetcar image from online and a photo of a Manchester street scene.

I've reached out to a few people in Manchester, including Will Stewart of GoodGood, who I'm hoping might be able to contribute in some way as well as referring me to some other Manchester residents who might be interested. I want to wait to hear back from them, but then maybe set up a new page on here to gather some ideas to direct the site, etc. I definitely think most contributors to the site should be Manchester residents, but I think others who are interested in the city should be a part. Not just because that includes me, but because the city should act and be seen as more of a regional center and it should be interested in what prospective residents and business owners/workers would like to see in the city.

I'm hoping that some of these folks will have ideas not just on site content, but also on how to run such a site and make it effective. I'd like to wait to hear back from them, and then go from there.
 
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