The town square
Last week, we talked about the perfect density for a home. Some tried to put a town name on the place. Remember, we are doing fantasy, not reality.
Today, we talk about what is in town when you go to town.
What is in your fantasy town center? Is there shopping? What kind of shopping? Does it have stores with everything and anything you want, big stores? Or are there Mom and Pop places with specialty items? Both?
Are there cultural venues like theater? Museums? Live music venues?
Are there places to go on a date? Restaurants? Movies?
Is there street life? Does the town hold farmer’s market or street vendor events? Is there a children’s recreation center?
What recreation is there, overall? Is there a municipal pool? A skating rink? Tennis courts? A track? Parks and wooded walking paths?
What annual events would you want to have? Fireworks? Parades? Races? Fairs?
Create your perfect town or city here.
OK, me first again:
I want an urban walkway. The current rail-trails are a good start. A T stop in the square would help with congestion. I’d use it. Put a parking garage a few blocks out for the car-bound folks.
I want an open space that has shade trees. So during festivals, I don’t fry my head off. The area where they hold the New Bedford Folk festival would be perfect if there were shops and restaurants nearby that stayed open. The shops would include lots of eateries, some artsy shops for gifts, venues for fresh food for dinner to allow French-style shopping; I would love to pick up fresh bread and veges on the way home. Allow street musicians. Don’t allow street retailers. Outdoor dining. Outdoor coffee house seating. Playground in one or two places on the edges.
The square would have music festivals either on three or four weekends a year or for a week or two annually (think Montreal.) There would also be an outdoor art festival in the summer and an indoor one in late autumn. Hold a weekly farmers’ market in season. The square would support a theater for live performance, some small music venues and a movie house.
As you know, I’m a city girl. If I transport this into a smaller town or suburban area, I would want more or less the same thing. I would add a major shopping area with large retail, like grocery stores and hardware stores. I’d put it in a separate area of town as its own shopping and dining destination. Towns benefit from a center where there is park space and music/arts venues that have some charm. They have the room to put the utility retail shopping areas in another spot.
What’s your fantasy town look like? What's wrong with the town center where you live?
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Perfect town chain of consciousness: close to a major city (for when needed), but feels like it is a million miles away. No crime and the police spend their time helping old ladies across the street. Town center with mom & pop stores. A great bakery. Never walk downtown without seeing someone you know. Kids can run freely between the houses with the neighbors. Some nice restaurants...maybe a few for dates and a few family friendly ones. Municipal pool, tennis would be great (no need for skating because there would be a skating pond). Come to think of it, would be even better if it were near the ocean. Don't need much public transportation because you would walk or bicycle into the town center. Fireworks on 4th of July, concerts and fairs the rest of the summer. Playgrounds all around. Don't really need pubs or bars...but a few as part of restaurants would be fine. Lots of trees!!!!
Rona, you hit a lot of it for me too: locally-owned coffee shop; movie theater that shows blockbusters and arty stuff; good toy store (I have kids); great parks; farmers market yes!; high-end liquor store (wine, cheese, bread, maybe meats); french-style shopping yeah, a grocery with good meats, fresh fruits and vegetables; good local CPA; good local attorney; good local bank (for loans); Bank of America ATM; local flower shop; good pizza and/or sandwich place (that delivers); chinese (delivers); one or two nice restaurants; pharmacy; YMCA pool/gym; tennis courts; baseball and soccer fields; apple orchards (something massachusetts suburban towns used to have); and of course fireworks, parades and all that fun town stuff. Also good sidewalks for walking, and bike paths definitely.
And warmer winters. (What the hell, it's a fantasy.)
I'm with the crowd here: I want everything I can find in a city, just less of it. Good food stores and restaurants are key. But I want the utility shopping there, too. Why should I have to get in a car to drop off dry cleaning or get a stamp?
I don't understand all the lip-pursing about bars and pubs in Massachusetts. A pub-like bar is where you unwind after work, but it's also where communities are built, a place where you meet random strangers who turn out to be your neighbor, or doctor's husband, or another fan of Lost. There are places like that right here in the city, where, yes, everybody does know your name. This is why Brits call pubs their "local." The whole family goes. It's a community gathering place, and if you sit down next to strangers, you're expected to introduce yourself. It's a purely suburban mentality to expect that you go out only to talk to the people you came with, and that's not the mentality I want in my ideal town.
Walkability! This is the reason i've decided to buy a single family on the Cambridge/Somerville line instead of moving farther out. Being able to walk or bike to everything I need, especially the T, is key for me. If only Arlington Center had a T stop, it would qualify.
I love the concept of the "Walkscore" which is now integrated into Zillow.
i think you are all describing small cities and large towns just outside of an urban center -- an exurb, not a suburb. i could only wish that my little sleepy suburban town had one-twentieth of what you described. i am trapped in stepford.
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