No matter how many promises of money we’ve heard, or plans we’ve seen, the idea of a canal in the Canal District always sounds like a pipe dream.
And indeed, a replicated canal, as proposed, could take years before it is ever close to reality (though design work is forthcoming).
But in the meantime, the Canal District has started to grow up, with bars, restaurants and residences in steadily increasing numbers.
And even if the canal is years off, the reality is the district may still see more immediate concrete improvements and changes.
STREETSCAPE
Even without a canal, says Congressman Jim McGovern, it’s clear the neighborhood needs some physical upgrades. As Worcester Mag goes to press, McGovern is sitting down with the Central Massachusetts Metropolitan Planning Organization in his ongoing efforts to get streetscape improvements in the neighborhood added to the Transportation Improvement Project list. If the district gets on the list, McGovern says he’s confident the state will release federal stimulus dollars for quick construction.
“I’ve weighed in heavily with all the players at the state level [for this project]. … By the end of August, we’re going to know how some of this stimulus is being spent,” he says.
McGovern says that after years of private, grassroots investment, it’s time for public help.
“There are a lot of people who have vested a lot of resources into rehabilitation in that area. It’s only appropriate we do the same on the public side.”
In truth, streetscape money could drastically change the look of the neighborhood quickly: initial plans call for improving the lighting, potentially adding decorative seating in places, and generally improving what is still a gritty neighborhood, despite its growing reputation as an entertainment district.
“This is becoming a destination place,” says McGovern.
CITY GETS INVOLVED
As a destination though, the Canal District has developed mostly through business-run and grassroots events with very little city assistance.
To that end, the Economic Development Committee, with Councilor Michael Germain, held the first hearing this week on the potential of making it easier and cheaper to close down Canal District streets (as well as Commercial Street) to occasionally allow entertainment and events. Councilor Phil Palmieri called for the city to make it easier, and the costs “more palatable” for event planners to put on events, while City Manager Michael O’Brien cautioned that laws and ordinances and costs would still have to be followed, though he said he was in support of the idea in concept.
What kind of events? Area developer Paul Giorgio called for a farmers market in unused parking lots near Posner Square, while Boiler Room owner Selim Lahoud proposed having a world-class DJ playing in the middle of a closed-down Winter Street.
But, cautioned Bocado (a Boiler Room neighbor) co-owner Kevin Luddy, it would be important to develop a “solid plan for parking” if the city did agree to such an event.
“We don’t want to sacrifice our earlier business for later,” he said.
There have also been early discussions about a sort-of “entertainment overlay district,” much like the parking or institutional overlays already used throughout the city.
At a meeting on Tuesday, Lahoud – also the Heywood building developer and a neighborhood resident — said, “If we want the Canal District to be an entertainment district, we need to write [ordinances] as such.” Lahoud said rather than deal with trying to pass ordinances once the city is full of residents who may complain, he would like the city to be proactive in designating the area for how it has naturally grown — as an entertainment center.
City Council Paul Clancy said that, at least in concept, such an overlay zone was an “intriguing idea” and called for the city to look at what other cities do and how it works. o
