“There has to be the political will…”
Those words spoken by a former Framingham Planning Board member summarize the 1,500-word story on the Lynnway published in Wednesday’s Item.
With all its problems and promises, the Lynnway could not be better positioned to benefit from the political will if for no better reason than the fact that Monday marked the six-month anniversary of the formation of a joint city, state and federal effort aimed at bringing an economic renaissance to Lynn.
Some of the development opportunities underscored by the Lynn Economic Development and Advancement (LEAD) team are becoming realities, most notably, the $80 million residential redevelopment of the Lynnway’s northern end. But most of the road, from its gateway entrance to the city at the General Edwards Bridge to the Clock Tower Business Center, is buried beneath, to quote city Economic Development and Industrial Corporation (EDIC) Director James Cowdell, “every mistake that has been made over the last 75 years.”
How does Lynn dig its way out of those mistakes and transform the promises of the future into reality?
The work begins, as Framingham’s Susan Bernstein pointed out, with appointed officials on municipal boards demonstrating the will to make the Lynnway fertile ground for future development. That work begins by asking what developers want and need on the Lynnway before they put shovels in the ground.
The next step after those questions are asked and answered is articulating a vision for the Lynnway. Mayor Judith Flanagan Kennedy in her 2010 inaugural address set her sights on the Lynnway and the city’s waterfront. Now is the time for her to say the Lynnway will only host major development projects if the city begins changing the way the Lynnway looks. She must add: “I have the will and I will map out the way this transformation will take place.”
If Kennedy shares a vision and illustrates how it will unfold, then city appointed officials serving on the Zoning Board of Appeals, Planning Board and Site Plan Review Committee can make transformative changes.
They might borrow from Framingham’s experience and take a hard line on reducing sign sizes and adding more landscaping, specifically trees, to the Lynnway. This approach will require working with every business seeking to update a sign, rebuild or complete an addition or open a new business.
It will be slow work and it may encounter resistance. But it is work worth doing if local officials truly want to prime the Lynnway for promise.
Jay Ash, state Secretary of Housing and Economic Development, declared on June 16, 2015, “This is Lynn’s time.” He told his audience, including high-ranking local officials, that city leaders must be unified in their effort to push the city forward or face the prospect of another municipality grabbing his attention. He warned them: “The first sign of real difficulty and I’ll have to make a tough decision. Sometimes, you have to say no.”
Decision time is now in Lynn. With the Lynnway as their focus, city leaders must demonstrate the political will to articulate a clear way forward to turn past mistakes into fertile ground for a bright future.