Some Thoughts on Townies and Rutherford Ave

The impetus for the post comes from this Boston.com article.

If you have ever driven down Rutherford Ave then you know it is nothing to look at. More than likely you haven't looked at anything because you are flying down the street at 55 MPH+. Is that safe? No. Is that a desirable place to open up a retail store? No. Is that a place to raise your children or walk your dog? Of course not. That is exactly why the city and state would like to change that. Their thinking is if you make the place more desirable it will attract development, with development comes people and with people comes economic activity, with economic activity comes sales tax receipts and increased property tax takes, which in turn leads to a better standard of living for all those around.

But Townies see it a different way. They wrongly foresee increased car use on their side streets (one would assume with an Interstate running parallel to a road with stop lights people would use the Interstate), they see it as a grab by developers (because their homes, retail and restaurants appeared by magic) and they see an influx of the dreaded yuppie. I understand people fear what they don't know, and I am all for people being critical of change simply to make sure the change is for the better. But development is not always a bad thing, shrinking and slowing the flow of traffic is good for the surrounding area. If you are concerned about traffic flowing to side streets then add stop signs and speed bumps. Not only will this limit outside traffic it will make the environment safer for pedestrians.

What townies do see correctly however is a rise in rents (though that is undoubtedly all ready happening) which is a real problem and should be mitigated for current residents so as to ease the change over process. With that said if those renters have a stake in the surrounding business community the rise in rent will most likely be offset by a rise in demand for services in the same community. If they have no such stake it may behoove them to find work nearer where they live or to move closer to where they work, though a negative in the short term it is very much a positive in the long term.