What Neighborhoods?

As neighbors and city planners gathered to discuss a plan to fill in part of the Route 34 corridor with new construction, some questioned the notion that the project could “stitch” together long-separated neighborhoods. There are no longer neighborhoods there to reconnect, they said.

Planners offered a slightly different twist: They see a move to undo the “scars” of urban renewal and reinvigorate an asphalt dead zone.

Those observations surfaced during a Thursday evening “community workshop” in the downtown public library, where the discussion topic was the Downtown Crossing project. City officials, consultants, and neighbors gathered in the Elm Street library basement to talk about the city’s plans to overhaul the downtown section of the Route 34 mini-highway between State and York Streets.

Read More...