Brockton residents asked for input on Downtown
I think there is a lot of truth to this. The only way Brockton will successfully revitalize is to become an affordable alternative to people with disposable income being priced out of the Boston metro area. What's Brockton's advantage when rents are as high as, say, Jamaica Plain? Section 8 has effectively helped concentrate poverty and hurt already-struggling communities like Brockton. It hasn't delivered for tenants or communities. Fortunately, HUD finally seems to have had something of an epiphany and has pitched some needed changes to the voucher calculations: portal.hud.gov/hudportal/HUD?src=/press/...es/2015/HUDNo_15-065Sportsfan wrote: I believe that section 8 housing has killed what Brockton had to offer to people that don't receive state benefits. To the landlords of Brockton it much more profitable to rent to section 8 people. The state pays way too much for the apartments in Brockton. Section 8 has pushed up the market price for apartments in Brockton to the likes of $1,500 a month. The only people that are going to pay that much to rent in Brockton are the people that aren't paying. The working class people moved to Brockton because it was affordable, it's no longer affordable. Even our hotels have sold out to section 8.
Making Main Street two-way is a nice idea, but with the City's resources strapped, I'm not sure the return is worth the investment. In short, it would do little on its own. The city I live in now is smaller than Brockton and has an incredibly functional downtown where probably 80% of the streets are one-way, including a 3-lane state highway couplet that handles much more traffic than Brockton's Main St. Other examples litter New England. These days one-way streets in commercial areas are understood to be no-nos, but in reality the direction of traffic is nowhere near the most important determinant of a healthy downtown.
Staff up the Dept. of Planning & Econ Development. At the very least, this gives developers some assurance that the City knows what the heck it's doing, and that not everything is a game of political football. The fact is, you won't find a rising Gateway City that didn't hire a bunch of hard-working folks skilled in business/developer recruitment, civic engagement, place-making, grant writing, historic preservation, best practices in land use regulations/processes (more important that most people realize!), etc etc etc years or even decades ago. Meanwhile, Brockton sits tight and basically ignores the economic realities of the 21st century.
The Higher Ed Collaborative could be hugely important to downtown. Will be interesting to see how that shakes out.
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- boxerfamily
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1. Take MainSpring by eminent domain and move it to the far outskirts of city........
2. Promote Massasoit CC as a regional college with dorms and make thos dorms the empty or underutilized buildings downtown.
3. Sweep streets of the heroin addicts and winos.
4. Offer 10 year no tax on any "chain" willing to invest in downtown.
5. Better signage
6. Have 2 police officers downtown at all times......one must stay in a booth on corner of Legion and Main...other walks!
7. Fine all those with code enforcement issues...........fine the dumps out!
If these items are done.......and the government stays out of the way then it may work! Also, the Downtown Business Association has hurt new growth. The people involved are not very open to new minds!
8. Make sure the restaurant in the new facility fills in soon. I'd suggest asking the Cod to move in since their Main St spot is dying due to the criminals surrounding it.
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remove section 8 housing
remove every non-profit
give small businesses tax breaks for X number of years
then raise taxes
....until then, talk of bringing brockton back is pointless .... it is a gateway city, and will remain one until it goes bankrupt
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- SeamusMcFly
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The major problem with dorms downtown, is they are only full part time. They give the appearance of that "critical mass" of residents, until May or June hits, and then it's empty. Also, that would be bringing more non-profits downtown without the up side of having an actual academic institution downtown that can foster new business.
Dorms are full of kids. Kids, who typically and up rubbing the neighbors the wrong way. One of the main reasons places like Boston are pressuring all colleges to provide more and more "on campus" living.
People need to research and understand the eminent domain process before constantly throwing it out as an option, when it typically is not an option in this day and age. When it was a real option (when it shouldn't have been) 2,700 families got displaced from the West End as it was incorrectly labeled a "slum".
The whole area north of the Pine Street Inn in what is now being touted as the South End of Boston is filling up quickly with tons of new residential neighborhoods being built from the ground up. Right next to a shelter that has far more negativity surrounding it than Mainspring ever has.
Getting people, businesses, and storefronts open and active in a neighborhood does much more to make a place safe than any police presence ever has or cold.
Tax cuts for new business as a tool to lure them in is a very good idea (that many, not just me, have promoted for the last few years), but none over 10 years is too far. Lowered, stepped, and over a shorter time period would do the trick and still ensure new tax revenue is still coming in. Too many businesses (chains included) do not make it to 5 years, never mind 10. Job creation and additional meal taxes orwhat have you is nice, but the real benefit to the city is increased tax revenue.
While we're at it though, incentivizing and giving power to developers to build bigger and more densely is another tool that should be used. Our Draconian zoning rules and regulations in the downtown area needs to be scrapped and rebuilt from the ground up. Ridiculous requirements for height, matching existing or neighboring heights and contextual materials, as well as minimum parking requirements are all hindrances to new development and anti-urban to the core. There is no reason not to build over 85 feet in the core, and residential units per acre, and parking spots based on units and suqre footage need to be significantly pared back to get a successful and thriving live/work/play downtown.
Also, for anyone who thinks renting in Brockton is anything near renting in JP, hasn't been to JP in some time.
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- boomingranny
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I live in Brockton now.
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- SeamusMcFly
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Exactly. And was the product of decades of work, not merely years.boomingranny wrote: The gentrification of Brooklyn was built on the backs of re-tooled zoning laws and developer muscle.
However, as Brooklyn was already a city of over a million people when it was annexed by NYC, the urban bones and population centers were still intact from those long gone days. The subway and attachment to a world capital such as NYC are big players in this as well. It would be more akin to Dorchester or say South Boston's current booms over the last decade or so.
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I was trying to find out but couldn't, did the Governor even budget monies in the supplemental budget for the Massasoit/Bridgewater Projects?
Currently Massasoit is a two year Commuter College with a large night attendance. Currently, no plan or money is available to turn this into a 4 year college thus there would be no need for dorms? Bridgewater's plan for downtown, if this ever comes to fruition, is for primarily continuing education. Though there will be day classes, they have no current plans to build dorms downtown.
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Granted, I haven't lived in in JP since 2011. But when I moved from there to the Lofts at Soco, the rents were just about the same for a decent 2-bedroom. I was amazed.SeamusMcFly wrote: Also, for anyone who thinks renting in Brockton is anything near renting in JP, hasn't been to JP in some time.
To add to your point about land use regulations, I wonder how many people know that other than the Downtown Smart Growth Overlay District, the zoning ordinance has barely been touched since 1968. It's insane. Ordinances developed in the 50's and 60's are the ones that helped exacerbate the hollowing out of America's urban centers, and Brockton still has it on the books.
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If we all sang the same note in the choir, We'd never have harmony
2/1/1938-5/4/2019
Rest in peace
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