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Newbury Street turns into a promenade for a day
By adamg on Sun, 07/08/2018 - 4:22pm
Matt Wunderlich takes in a Newbury Street open just to pedestrians today, wonders:
why is Open Newbury not a thing every day? Or at the very least, every weekend? Does it basically come down to "we’re not Europe"?
Adults weren't the only ones enjoying Open Newbury today, as CatBoston shows us:
Neighborhoods:
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Comments
Would have been a nice time
Would have been a nice time to have a sales tax free weekend.
Two more coming
they are going to do this a couple more times. with a bit of luck - maybe on tax free weekend - but not sure the state is doing that this year because they are broke. Also, this is for both the community and the businesses - so not sure the businesses want to have it on a weekend that already attracts a lot of additional shoppers.
Walked the length of Newbury with Catboston who took the photo above - really fun time. Looking forward to doing it again.
The state is broke?
Well gee, maybe your Legislators shouldn't have given themselves raises, then.
Elect them again.
Um....sorry but wrong
https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2018/07/06/state-lands-tax-windfall-bi...
What's with that backpack
What's with that backpack that girl is wearing?
Looks like
A cat bubble backpack
Are They All Real People? — It Looks Like An Artist's Rendering
The people walking in the street are believable, but those sitting on the ground look like they're staged, right down to the suggestively positioned hula-hoop.
It reminds me of when the first business opened at what eventually became the huge Station Landing development at Wellington Circle. On a hot summer day, tables outside the new Starbucks were filled with "customers" enjoying the vibrant ambiance of a desolate construction site.
It was obvious they were as staged as were the lamps and televisions in the windows of the yet-to-be-completed apartments upstairs. Advertising ploys to get people driving by to notice the project, and imagine what it might be like to live there someday.
The skeptic I am sees a little of that in the first picture, but I'm someone who'd go out of his way to avoid such an atmosphere. I'm glad they're having fun!
Yeah..
Who would ever want to sit in the shade? Clearly fake news.
Sit In The Shade, Or Sit In The Gutter?
Get your mind out of the gutter
It looks like someone rolled out a piece of fake grass specifically for people to sit on.
Exactly! — It's Part Of The "Staged Atmosphere" I Was Describing
How did anyone know about
How did anyone know about this? I didn't see anything about it until it was over
We had it here
https://www.universalhub.com/2018/newbury-street-be-pedestrian-only-thre...
not a single shopping bag in
not a single shopping bag in the picture.
Not everything needs to be
Not everything needs to be about making the city money. Sometimes we can do things because they make the city nicer for people. Should we close the Esplanade and put toll booths around the Common because they don't generate profits?
Also, plenty of people were shopping, plus there were lots of cafes, restaurants, food trucks and booths that all seemed to be doing very good business.
True
Most just stroll in and out without even stopping once. I prefer Newbury when there's a mix: residents, workers, tourists, bikes, cars, and trucks. Not just a river of strolling tourists that don't buy anything
Again...
Try and tell the well heeled denizens of Newbury Street that they have to walk to one of the no doubt cluster fucked side streets to get their Uber on a daily basis if the foolish attempt to make the low rent Rodeo Drive all pedestrian comes to fruition.
We need more of this
It would be great to make many of the dense business districts pedestrian-only, like cities in other countries do. Newbury Street, Dudley Square, Centre St in JP, Fields Corner, Upham's Corner. Obviously it would need a traffic study to figure out how to re-time lights on the streets that would be used instead, maybe change the direction of some streets, add some municipal parking lots, but it could make things a lot nicer.
Gee....
For who?
Cute kids' event with the
Cute kids' event with the toddler pool and hula hoops!
Great day and great event
I had read about it multiple places, plus it was on social media, and the news.
Those are in fact real people, not an artists rendering of "The new Seaport!" with all white people and vaguely brown waiters.
It was a lot of fun, got some fresh squeezed lemonade, had brunch, had cotton candy, did some shopping and got free swag. It was a really nice vibe. with some games for the kids (including hula hoops!) live music, a couple DJs, and some freebees.
As for a sales tax day, majority of stuff I bought was clothing, and there's no sales tax on that in MA, maybe we should add some, would that make you happy?