Summer 2002
Look around Southbridge's historic downtown, and you'll see something new almost every visit. Southbridge's Downtown Partnership is a formal association of the Town, business owners, property owners, and other supporters of the historic heart of the community. After more than a year of planning sessions, working meetings, and just plain hard work you can see fruits
of their collaborative efforts. First the Town put grant funds to work
putting utility wires underground, building new sidewalks, and installing
historic light fixtures along Route 131 through Downtown.
This spring an advisory group of volunteers spent hundreds of hours
researching options and making recommendations about making the best use
of another grant, this one from the Streetscape Program. Here's what to
look for:
New planters. Large Victorian urns and concrete planters have begun to appear in place of the old whiskey barrels. Volunteers Steve Brady, Gabriel McCarthy, and John Moore not only found sources for the planters, they painted and installed them, complete with the proper planting mix to receive beautiful flowering plants provided by Joanne Stuart and other members of the Garden Club. Additional sidewalk planters are on order and will be "popping up" in coming weeks.
Remember to look up! There will be hanging planters on many of the historic
light poles, too.
New rubbish receptacles. Volunteers Maureen Prokos and
John Desmond researched and recommended metal rubbish receptacles that
will go well with the design of the new light fixtures. The team recommended
the 27 specific spots in Downtown where the new receptacles will most conveniently
help avoid littering.
Additional historic light fixtures. Volunteers Margaret Morrissey, Paul Tremblay, and Jared Beaudry researched and recommended how to achieve the most improvement in Downtown lighting with this year's budget from the grant. The advisory group supported the choice of replacing all the remaining old, fainter light fixtures on the historic poles that were not
covered by the recent sidewalk and lighting improvements, plus replacing
two poles that had been broken. Watch this fall for brighter lighting near
parking lots and alleys in the Downtown. A priority for subsequent grant
money will be to pay for additional historic light poles and fixtures down
Hamilton and Central Streets toward the Depot parking lot.
Directional and other signs relating to parking. New signs will post the 2 hour weekday parking limit along Downtown streets. Also watch for newly designed signs relating to parking in the public lots. Their color scheme picks up on theWelcome to Southbridge" signs posted at the entrances to the community.
Street trees. Steve Brady created a complete, computerized
survey of all the Downtown's street trees, including places where trees
are missing or there are only stumps. In coming weeks the Department of
Public Works will begin the recommended planting of new and replacement
trees. Meanwhile, watch for Steve, Gabriel McCarthy, and John Moore to
be wire brushing and repainting the tree fences that protect the trunks
of street trees.
Funding for all these efforts comes from a Streetscape Improvement Program grant, and Sandy Acly of the Planning and Community Development Department has spent many hours processing the paper work required to receive and spend public dollars. The Southbridge Department of Public Works will provide staff time and equipment to install many of the items. "But without the volunteers, we'd still be wrestling with paperwork", reports Mrs. Acly. "There just isn't enough time in the week for one or two employees to do a good job researching the choices, plus this is the community's town center. We really relied on the differing perspectives of the Advisory Group to help figure out the way to get the most out of the 2002 Streetscape grant's $107,000 budget. That's why [Town Manager] Michael Coughlin asked for volunteers to serve on the
Advisory Group. The staff was told to work with the Advisory Group, and to use the grant the way they thought would accomplish the most. The volunteers have been wonderfully committed to see the improvements actually happen. For example, during some of the hottest days of the summer, they were out there using their own equipment and physical labor to pick up and install the planters, and to help the Garden Club members get the plants in."
Janet Garon, Chairman of the Downtown Southbridge Partnership could not be more pleased with the outcome. "The downtown area is absolutely beautiful. The Physical Improvements Subcommittee, under the direction of subcommittee chairman Steve Brady, did a remarkable job. The Town of Southbridge was fortunate to have talented volunteers work hand in hand with Mrs. Acly of Planning and Development and Hamer Clarke, Superintendent of the Department of Public Works. This is one more example of how positive things result when you get a group of people together, outline an objective, set goals, and implement a plan of action." Jokingly she added, "Of course the funding helped, too." Ms. Garon also expressed enthusiasm when discussing future projects between the partnership and the town. "Mr. Coughlin, Mrs. Acly, Mr.
Clarke, and Jean Armstrong, the liaison between the partnership and
the Town, truly have been receptive to suggestions from the Partnership.
We look forward to working with them again in the near future."
