Amherst, Massachusetts is taking a look at its comprehensive master planning process. What can sometimes feel like a dry, drawn-out, no-quick-results experience is being jazzed up by rainbow colors on the town Web site.
Last night, the western Massachusetts support group Hidden-Tech sponsored a “new media focus group” in the basement of Amherst’s Jones Library. The […]
At last Friday’s Urban Land Institute panel presentation in Springfield, Elizabeth Davison, director of Montgomery County Department of Housing and Community Affairs, capped off the formalities in a portion of the final report about implementing plans.
The first item Davison addressed was the need for more effective communication from the city to its residents, as well […]
The works of systems-dyamics thinker Dr. Jay W. Forrester recently crossed my path, synchronously with a recent piece by Civic Strategies consultant Otis White about an innovative way to shut down drug-dealing. Forrester, whose 1969 book, Urban Dynamics, promoted his ideas and their application to cities, gave a 1998 presentation on his philosophy in […]
Amherst-based blogger Tom Devine has posted his take on the recent Urban Land Institute panel presentation, with some colorful commentary about questions that arose about Springfield’s Union Station.
At a meeting last night, Springfield City Council approved a measure, by an eight-to-one vote, to “seek approval from the state Legislature” to change the way the council is elected, making “the first major change in the form of government here since 1961,” according to Republican reporter Mike Plaisance.
The change, if put into effect, would […]
The entire Urban Land Institute presentation about Springfield merits close study and discussion. Of pressing interest is Barry Elbasani’s section on downtown, in which the short- and mid-term recommended projects were unveiled, along with what might be termed guiding philosophical approaches to physical design and strategy. Elbasani, of ELS Architecture and Urban Design in Berkeley, […]
The Springfield Finance Control Board recently released its September 27 quarterly report (PDF). Its next meeting is slated for Friday, October 20, 11:00 am in room 220 at City Hall. So much fire-putting-out has been done by the FCB, I wonder why they don’t wear hard hats at their meetings. From the quarterly report:
While the […]
Springfield City Hall has posted the ULI panel’s final presentation (PDF) online.
NPR affiliate station WFCR’s Tina Antolini covered the ULI panel’s visit all week, collecting hours of audio footage. Antolini deftly condensed the report into a scant ten minutes or so in a piece that aired yesterday. The Republican’s Azell Murphy Cavaan could also be […]
George O’Brien wrote an article for the June 12 issue of BusinessWest about developments along Springfield’s State Street corridor. The story is that rare breed of news article that takes a close look at the design considerations, with a nod to the process that the commissioned engineering firm, VHB, has been undergoing for months now. […]
This blog has been asleep for a few months, while the hustle and bustle of summer did its thing. But it’s about to see a lot more action for a couple of weeks, while my blog Urban Compass transitions from one home (the city paper) to a new home (the local alternative weekly). For those […]