Is downtown worth saving?
SpeakOut
Stephen D. Lothrop WESTMINSTER

Driving down Main Street the other day on a Saturday morning I noticed something about downtown Westminster. It had been bothering me for quite some time and I couldn't put my finger on it. Population aside, why does downtown Westminster 'feel different' than the downtown of Concord, Mass. and Keene, N.H. What keeps our towns' small shops from thriving?

Thinking back on my short stint on the Westminster Planning Board a number of years ago I dusted off my old copy of Jane Jacobs' "The Death and Life of Great American Cities." This time I wasn't looking for better examples of zoning rules and parking regulations. I was looking for something different. I was trying to figure out why our downtown was busy with traffic, but devoid of pedestrians on our sidewalks. As Jacob's says, the major problem with cities today is that they aren't dense enough. Children, shopkeepers and families hate an empty sidewalk. Furthermore, she says, city planners compound the situation by moving businesses (and therefore commerce) away from residences, thus resulting in a further decline of sidewalk traffic.

Our town is most vibrant, reminiscent of a by-gone jazz age era, arguably Westminster's boom, during Memorial Day, the Yankee Street Festival or Halloween. Finding parking is a welcome challenge, crossing the street with the assistance of a police officer on foot is quaint, getting from one place to another without three conversations with townies is a great reason for being late for dinner. These events remind me of the hustle and bustle of a thriving business community. And no doubt, our shop owners welcome these events to boost income to get them through the tough times. Our town should not act like a thriving community only three for four times a year. We need landmarks, shops and other conveniences located closer together, not farther apart, with common parking for all of these locations.

Despite our efforts to create a Master Plan, the state of our downtown is nothing short of chaos. For years the Brick Store on Main Street housed the post office, library, cobbler shop, barbershop, grocery store and a five-and-dime store. Why should a bakery fail 80 years later? And what's with the ludicrous arrangement of the new strip mall and plowed under lot awaiting a Dunkin Donuts? Today we have a post office located outside of the business district, two gas stations, Cumberland Farms, three non-contiguous strip malls, pharmacy, bandstand, hotel and coffee shop spread out over a mile. No one walks from one business to the other. Everyone minimizes their trips in their car and drives from one place to the next with as few trips as possible. That's why our sidewalks are empty. Our downtown neighborhood is driving around in cars.

This state of affairs occurs unnoticed at glacier-like speed, one decision at a time, by boards with revolving carpetbagger membership, with little regard for who we are, where we came from and how things work. They seem to be only concerned about randomly adding new shiny stuff to our town ... until one day we wake up to our missing downtown.

For example, why would our Board of Selectmen locate a senior center on West Main Street even further away from conveniences that are already scattered throughout our Main Street? Have we become so reckless as to ignore how our downtown works and how people get from one place to the next? Ironically we're creating a demand for public transportation for our seniors to get from the Wellington, to the senior center, to the Post Office and then to the library for a town with a population smaller then Templeton.

These same decision-makers want to tear down the landmark old town hall in the center of Westminster. This town landmark could arguably house a Park and Recreation Office, Boy/Girl Scout meetings, continuing education classes, yoga, conservation clubs, 4H, birthday parties, an art center, not to mention a senior center. And it's located across from the library, next to the pharmacy, just up the street from the Wellington. At the same time the Planning Board suggests creating an overlay mixed-used business district, not to boost the downtown economy, but to make, in the words on one board member, "current nonconforming business uses conforming." Our left hand has no idea what the right is doing.

By the way, Jane Jacobs' "The Death and Life of Great American Cities" is now on the Random House 100 greatest non-fiction books of the 20th Century. Perhaps I'll order copies for our Board of Selectman and Planning Board - because our downtown is worth saving.