I’d like to think that I am someone who can evolve with the times and appreciate progress while remaining appropriately nostalgic for aspects of the past.
In the past fifty plus years I have seen tremendous changes in our community and have loudly applauded and supported many of them.
For more than seven years I worked on Pillsbury Street for Blue Cross and Blue Shield. The building, built in the late 60’s was clearly “of it’s time” and after BC/BS relocated, it sat empty for many years, a relic of a bygone era.
Steve Duprey gave it new life and it has never looked better. It is once again filled and its stylish and attractive appearance will keep it a relevant part of the city for many years to come.
As I watch the progress being made on the new South Main Street structure that will house, among other things, Concord’s beloved Gibson’s Bookstore, I salivate at the many opportunities the larger space will provide our favorite bookseller. Gibson’s is a destination stop for many and the new location will only enhance their reputation.
One of the biggest changes I have seen in Concord has been the exodus of many from our downtown streets – both businesses and shoppers. As someone who spends at least two or three days downtown and remembers a bustling and vibrant mecca, I personally don’t understand why the so-called “powers that be” seem unable to recognize what must be done to restore Main Street and the surrounding streets to the place they once held in the minds of many.
I was still a grammar school student when, in the early 60’s, I marched into Concord’s City Hall asking to speak with Mayor Charles Davie.
In those more innocent and trusting days, I was invited to sit down with the Mayor and tell him what was so urgent and important.
“Concord needs a subway”, I announced with a grim determination to see the project come to fruition.
The Mayor, to his everlasting credit, did not so much as crack a smile as he listened to me provide him a litany of reasons as to why the downtown area should be dug up and an underground railroad built.
When we finished our fifteen minute meeting, he walked me to the door and promised to have someone look into the pros and cons of my suggestion and actually sent me a letter less than a month later explaining why my proposal would not, at that time, be financially feasible.
Downtown Concord is about to be dug up but not for the purpose of constructing a subway, but to redesign our downtown area, thanks to a grant awarded to the City.
I don’t know our present Mayor very well although from all reports he is an amiable, hard working individual who cares very much about Concord.
He also has patience and a sense of humor because my mother’s dog peed on him nearly three years ago and he was gracious and good natured about the mishap which occurred when he accompanied a Meals on Wheels rep to my mom’s home, while she was receiving services after undergoing serious surgery. I also hold his wife in high esteem for any number of reasons including her great taste in books. Two years ago she purchased a copy of my book, which I autographed to her.
I don’t, however, like what I see about to happen to Main Street. I think its premature and does not address the very real problems that downtown has and has had for more than two decades. This problem was seriously exacerbated by the arrival of the Steeplegate Mall in the early 90’s.
The era of the “Five and Dime” is long past but what our downtown lacks is variety.
Yes we have great boutique shops and specialty emporiums as well as a great array of restaurants and cafes. However, 20 or 25 years ago I was able to do 95% of my shopping on Main Street and find everything I needed from sports goods to office goods to clothing, appliances and everything in between.
Before we cause headaches to current tenants on Main Street with massive construction issues that will discourage the dwindling number of shoppers from shopping, there are several matters that should and could be addressed to help take Main Street off of life support.
They include focusing on incentives to bring a variety of businesses back downtown which provide goods and services needed on a daily basis. Many of the current businesses are great when you need something specialized but not the day to day items that we all need.
One of the factors that doomed Eagle Square which opened with much hoopla just over 30 years ago and was deemed to be Concord’s Faneuil Hall Marketplace was the reality that many of the new shops and businesses were pricey specialty shoppes. Great places to purchase that special something for someone special but not a place you could afford to regularly support.
Bring the Christmas Parade back to Main Street. There is nothing quite like a holiday parade marching down a street between buildings as opposed to Loudon Road which which has become a variation of a strip mall.
Thousands would come to a downtown parade and remain to window shop and browse.
Bring back lighted holiday displays on the lamp posts throughout downtown, as they were for decades until being abruptly phased out.
Concord is the only state capital that does not have lights during the holiday season, dazzlingly displayed.
Go to Portsmouth, Keene, virtually any town or city in this state, and they have lights which evoke an instantaneous spirit of the season, which makes you want to park your car and walk around enjoying the magic of that time of the year. Looking down Main Street in December makes it appear to be drab and dull.
Find creative and imaginative ways to restore the second and third floors of our many downtown buildings, to make them inhabitable for businesses and for living quarters. Create a desire for people to live and work in downtown and you’ll help create a need for more businesses in which consumers can shop.
Concord is far from dead but before “digging in” with the latest plan, there needs to be a concerted effort to explore other available options. Without doing that, this latest idea may someday be chalked up as the kind of disappointment that Eagle Square and Bicentennial Square turned out to be.
B
