"Despite all the brouhaha over the potential Wesleyan bookstore relocation—including dissenting voices from Middletown resident Jen Alexander ’88 and Red & Black owner Ed Thorndike ’89—Mayor
Dan Drew remains committed to supporting the development on economic
grounds. In a press conference on Wednesday, Drew praised developer Bob
Landino’s proposal as a potential job-creator in Middletown. As Middletown Patch reports:
“This will bring a $6 million influx of funds into the Middletown economy,” said Mayor Dan Drew. “It will create 30 full-time jobs in the development complex.”Drew also compared the model to William and Mary College (though this slab of Washington Street is at least a few blocks from Middletown’s “historic downtown”) and praised Landino’s connections to the Middletown community (read: he’s not from “New York or Boston or Chicago”):
Joining Drew at a press conference in council chamber of city hall were Robert A. Landino, president and CEO of Centerplan Construction; Gerry Daley, longtime chair of the Economic Development Commission; and Larry McHugh, president of the Middlesex County Chamber of Commerce.
“It’s a model extremely similar to what’s been done at William and Mary in Williamsburg, Va.,” Drew said — a university bookstore in the heart of an historic downtown. [ . . . ]Many of the reader comments, interestingly, are in favor of the move—and less in favor of Wesleyan’s involvement with it. As one “Jane” voices:
“If this were a developer swooping in from New York or Boston or Chicago that we didn’t know, it would create a tremendous amount of concern,” but, Drew said, Landino is a “known quantity” working with local Realtors, local architects and engineering firms.
cant say I trust Wesleyan much with it’s promises to our town- those jobs will probably go to their students not what they call “townies”- people have a short term memory with promises to open the athletic center to our community- its not as accessible as they had us believe-"For more on the controversies surrounding the bookstore proposal, click here or here.
I'm in favor of pulling new business into town, but:
ReplyDeletePart of what makes Middletown what it is are the buildings. The buildings on Washington Street are part of the charm and ambiance. There are empty buildings on Main Street. Would it not make more sense to put new businesses into existing buildings instead of pulling down and rebuilding?
Ken McClellan