5 Ways To Boost Downtown Worcester
Stone
Earlier this year, the Worcester Business Development Corp. hung a large banner on the wall of the YWCA, proclaiming: “The Answer is Downtown.” The question is unstated, but I believe we're being asked: “What is the purpose of Worcester's downtown?”
For more than 25 years, I have parked in the Federal Plaza Garage and walked down Main Street to my offices, all within a block of City Hall. Each of those three buildings is now an empty shell of what they were, a result of the gradual exodus of professionals.
As demand for office space has declined, so too have landlords' asking rents. Rental income is often insufficient to maintain the office buildings properly, which encourages tenants to leave and discourages new ones.
The remaining retail businesses cater to the people who live downtown and those who transfer between buses at City Hall. The new bus hub next to Union Station will likely deprive the small businesses clustered around City Hall of many customers.
The Theater District Master Plan, introduced earlier this year, hopes to attract others to live downtown, creating a mixed-use environment anchored by higher education, and populated by students and staff with money in their pockets. Attracting educated professionals is an ambitious goal. As long as school systems in surrounding towns are perceived as being superior to Worcester's, professionals with children will probably choose to live elsewhere.
The Hanover Theatre needs to fill more dates on its calendar. If that doesn't happen, small restaurants and nearby cafes won't survive. Over the years, many downtown restaurants have come and gone. Those that remain cater to office workers and close down mid-afternoon — and they are not near the Hanover.
WBDC's proposal to build a new, multistory garage would dominate the existing area and alter the scale of the neighborhood. But small-scale, attractively landscaped, short-term parking lots are more desirable than large structures, and they encourage people on quick errands to run in and out.
To make the area more aesthetically pleasing, officials should consider the following:
• Targeting commercial problem properties for fire and code enforcement, and buy them if necessary. Aesthetics are difficult to regulate, but billboards do not belong in the downtown area.
• Rerouting the incessant stream of ambulances off Main Street and onto streets with minimal pedestrian activity.
• Because perceptions of public safety are shaped by seeing other people on the street, and not uniformed police, the common should be policed by officers on bicycles or Segways, not motorcycles. Also, police cruisers should not be parked on the sidewalks around City Hall. The more people walking at night, the safer an area is perceived to be.
• Making small improvements of modest cost. For example, there is no sidewalk around the Hanover Theatre on Main Street in the Federal Square park area, which forces pedestrians to walk in the street. The surface of the park area used by theatergoers who park in Federal Plaza Garage is uneven and must be replaced, and the fountain should be repaired. Converting Chatham Street to two-way traffic between Main and High streets would ease congestion.
• Providing clean, safe and staffed public restrooms to attract more users to the skating rink and other events on the common. A “tot lot” and family-friendly activities and amenities would do much to improve the area.
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Philip M. Stone is an attorney with offices in Downtown Worcester. He has served as a member of the board of Worcester Common Ground Inc. since 1994.
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