Imagine Gloucester. There, developers are building tiny homes to help locals stay here in the face of rising housing costs.
Imagine a city where local businesses, maritime-based industries, and a strong creative economy thrive.
Please try to imagine. The country’s oldest port has the potential to maintain a mix of wealthy and working-class residents, with many buyers not living here year-round, even if the property goes to the highest bidder. As a result, there will be more pressure on year-round residents to compete with these ports. At the highest socio-economic level.
These are just some of the ideas that emerged from a recent ‘Meeting in a Box’ session hosted by the Gloucester Cultural Initiative and the Meeting House Foundation.
This Gloucester “Think Fest” is one of many special gatherings held to gather input for the city’s comprehensive planning process.The next one is scheduled for Wednesday, Jan. 10, at City Hall from 4 p.m.
Those attending these sessions will break into small group discussions to create a vision for the city in 2033. Topics include jobs, housing, urban services, transportation, protection of historic and natural resources, and climate resilience, among others.
This session was open to artists, cultural leaders, and other interested residents. Additional questions were asked during the session. Discuss your vision of Gloucester’s desired future ‘culture’, including community values, relationships and quality of life. The organizers would like to hear participants’ ideas on strategies to maintain an ideal urban culture.
When asked about what Gloucester has to offer, Siobhan Lucas said she was impressed by the number of organizations that support residents in need and celebrate the city’s rich cultural and maritime heritage.
“Gloucester has a large organization of nonprofit organizations that serve the community in a variety of ways,” she said.
The main topic of discussion in this and previous sessions was to ensure that artists, craftsmen and industry workers can continue to live here, while recognizing the cultural contributions that cities now require. There is a need to
One resident, who is a member of the Gloucester Astronomy Club, said the need to ensure future developments do not create further light pollution, as the number of people able to see the Milky Way in the night sky is decreasing worldwide. suggested. A 2016 National Geographic article states that 80% of Americans are now unable to see the Milky Way due to increasing light pollution.
Some residents talked about their desire to make the city more walkable, while others wondered how to encourage more use of public transportation.
After Thursday’s meeting, Gloucester Cultural Initiative member and former City Council member Valerie Nelson shared thoughts from the previous two culturally oriented meetings and what residents call the heartbeat of the city.
“Some of the most interesting comments from the Dec. 17 session tied the community’s valued cultural diversity and identity to its economy. In other words, along with the value of neighborhood small businesses, carpenters, electricians, “It’s important to keep hands-on workers on the ground, such as plumbers, boat repairmen and fishermen,” she said. .
“If they are the basis of a highly valued culture of practical work, including ‘design’ work in the arts, that may suggest investments and strategies to support those fields. .”
Fostering this type of environment will attract artists and entrepreneurs to live here and build their businesses while innovating, Nelson said.
“We are only just beginning to explore the questions of how our beloved and special culture needs to be supported and what that might mean for our priorities and plans for engagement. I feel that,” she said.
For those unable to attend, more information is available at https://bit.ly/48yXBDc. That site has a link to a community survey. The Comprehensive Planning Initiative is collecting ideas for Gloucester’s future until January 12.
Gail McCarthy can be reached at 978-675-2706 or gmccarthy@gloucestertimes.com.
