Study Circle 24: Junkins

VISION

We envision Portsmouth as a living city focusing on quality of life for all, by:

1. Preserving a living center city networked to outlying neighborhoods, business areas and neighboring towns by various modes of transportation and information sharing

2. Focusing on people by balancing the needs of permanent residents, tenants and property owners, businesses and employees, commuters, tourists and shoppers

3. Encouraging minimal impact development

4. Developing a “together we can” attitude that promotes mutual respect and cooperation amongst all groups

5. Reducing sprawl and preserving natural resources

Goals and Recommendations

1. Living City Center: Preserve and nurture the spirit of a living city

  • Preserve historic places and architecture
  • Oversee new buildings to ensure consistency of scale and maintain a visual blend with historic architecture
  • Focus streetscape on pedestrians
  • Make sidewalks wider and smoother to make walking safer
  • Add sitting areas and pocket parks where pedestrians can meet or rest
  • Find a new approach to downtown parking
  • Build more parking garages or underground parking in new buildings
  • Create satellite parking at perimeter of city with local transportation available
  • Improve infrastructure
  • Put utilities underground to enhance historical ambiance
  • Add services to keep the center city clean by adding more recycling and trash bins downtown and removal of graffiti
  • Institute recycling for downtown retailers
  • Maintain downtown housing
  • Designate mixed-use zoning to allow for businesses and residences in downtown area
  • Ensure affordable housing and workspace for workers and artists
  • Improve Social/Cultural aspects of the downtown
  • Make downtown attractive to youth and young adults by creating alcohol-free space and activities
  • Build a community center on the order of Faneuil Hall
  • Encourage nightlife in a city alive and vibrant after 5 p.m. year round (seasonal now)
  • Cafes, pubs, entertainment and stores open at night
  • Performing arts, street musicians, more outdoor cafes
  • Consider a Faneuil Hall type of venue downtown
  • Arts and Culture
  • Ensure venues for developing creative and performing artists
  • Preserve and support Prescott Park programs and other activities now existing
  • Encourage downtown businesses to include a healthier mix of basic staples such as grocery, drug, variety (like Newberry's), hardware stores

    2. Community Services: Foster a collaborative approach to community services

  • Mandate collaboration amongst governmental, private and non-profit services
  • Reduce overlapping services
  • Create an easily accessible, centralized database or resource center to direct citizens in need of services to the appropriate organization
  • Improve police/city/citizen/business relationships
  • Improve the attitude of service of governmental employees
  • Replace the “we/they” attitude with a “together we can” attitude
  • Sponsor or create programs for youth and young adults
  • Provide alcohol-free space and activities within walking distance of downtown
  • Encourage emerging artists by providing inexpensive venues for youthful performers

    3. Transportation: Develop a regional and local infrastructure that encourages diversity of transportation

  • Satellite parking needed at perimeter of city with local transportation available
  • Improved public transportation system
  • Create a downtown station or Shuttle to Pease
  • Integrate city and regional transportation systems
  • Focus streetscape on pedestrians in the downtown
  • Wider and smoother sidewalks clear during winter season
  • Sitting areas and pocket parks
  • Build bike trails to surrounding areas and beaches

    4. Housing: Ensure more affordable housing for all socio-economic levels

  • Encourage economic diversity in the downtown
  • Create mixed use zoning to allow for businesses and residences in downtown area
  • Provide attractive housing, clustered for walking, affordable (some), subsidized (some), elderly and family mixed, transportation considered
  • Provide affordable housing for workers and artists
  • Build more low-income housing in town as well as in outlying areas
  • Promote regional networking with outlying towns to provide more affordable housing and transportation from that housing into Portsmouth

    5. Natural Resources: Protect and preserve natural resources and open space for responsible public use

  • Create and maintain current parks
  • Keep dam at South Mill Pond open year round
  • Support North Mill Pond cleanup and create public access areas
  • Restore and protect salt marshes and other natural areas
  • Provide ample trash barrels to deter littering
  • Remove unnecessary fencing in South Mill pond area
  • Preserve public harbor access wherever possible
  • Create river walk
  • Purchase Lady Isle for public use

    What We Like

    Sense of Community

    Diversity - Backgrounds and interests

    Number of Non-profits that Reach Out - 90 in 20 mile radius of the seacoast

    City Center - Place of public assembly/celebration

    History/Architecture

    Architecture/Old Buildings

    Water Access/Harbor /Parks

    Tree Lined Streets - Richards St., flowering trees

    Library - Good, small

    Market Square - Easy access or close to interesting things to do for locals and tourists

    Historical Aspects

    Physical Location - Water

    Big enough to find interests, small enough to be heard when problems occur Cultural Aspects - Arts, support of these (funders, political, citizens)

    Climate - Sunshine, air quality

    Creativity of Community - Arts, problem solving etc.

    Traffic Flow - Good

    History, People, Flow of Cultural Development, Size

    Cultural Dynamics - Music Hall, Theater, Parks, Museums

    Historical - Architecture, Marine History

    Quaintness - Likeness to Europe

    Neighborhoods - Ethnic neighborhoods disappearing and new emerging

    People - Open minded, diverse

    Nearness to Boston/Portland

    Transportation - Air, Bus, Trolley

    City Center

    Downtown - Waterfront, etc.

    Food - 60 Restaurants in Portsmouth

    Volunteerism

    Quality of Life that Draws

    Welcoming Outside People

    Community Leadership - Accessibility

    $5 Parking Fine

    Walking Scale of City - Height and distance, concentration

    Benches, Gardens, Parks, Waterfront

    Cafes, Arts, Music Hall, Friendly Retail

    Living Downtown

    What We Don’t Like

    Lack of Affordable Housing (middle income) - Subsidized vs. Affordable

    Police Community Relationship (we/they mentality)

    Preference to deal with Business Issues (in relationship to neighborhoods)

    Emphasis on Cars vs. Walking - fences not open

    Less Practical Retail Downtown

    Lack of Diversity - Ethnic

    Air Quality - Power plants, emissions levels/autos I-95

    Light Pollution

    Pedestrian Accessibility - Beyond Market Square

    Enforcement of Pedestrian Rights of Way

    Recycling - Apart/Subsid

    Bike Access

    Duplication of Services

    Lack of Coordination of Services - Public and non-profit

    Segmented Interests

    Youth18-21 - Where to be, safety, important voice in the process

    Parking and Transportation Issues

    Summary

    Community Services (w/ attitude of collaboration & networking)

    Services:

    -Reduce the burden of government. Collaborate with private and non-profit to meet services

    -Have a clearing house of what is offered in the community and what agency is best fit to deliver that need

    Resource center for non-profits

    Police/City/Citizen/Business relationship

    -continue city government working with residents

    -cultural

    Quality of life

    Connections, Communication

    -Resources easily known to people, accessible-social services and recreation

    Regional Interests/Collaboration desirable

    Housing

    More low-income housing

    Living city

    -people living and working in the city

    -night life comes together for young professionals

    Housing diversity

    Regional aspect: encourage outlying towns to provide more affordable housing

    Attractive, clustered for walking, affordable (some), subsidized (some), elderly and family mixed, transportation considered

    Transportation

    Improved public transportation system

    Utilize outlying towns which have affordable housing and provide convenient transportation to Pease and downtown

    A downtown station (Pease is nice but inaccessible)

    Trolley - cars - bikes - people

    Bike access

    Continue good traffic flow

    Need transport to and from city campus

    Need to connect the transport we already have-e.g. medical and book mobiles

    Downtown-Buildings

    Architecture

    Preservation of Historic Places

    New Buildings in “center” of town (in-fill, tear down, renovation)

    -Pier II

    -State Street

    -McIntyre Building

    -200 Market Street

    New Library (accessible, convenient)

    What to do with JFK? Children's Museum?

    Downtown-Social

    Youth and young adults

    Night life

    Youth programs

    Downtown kept at friendly local scale, quality, mixed income access, walkable

    Arts and culture

    Visual aspects of Market Square-Litter, flyers on buildings and posts, graffiti, newspaper boxes and A-frames

    Natural Resources

    Parks, especially Mill Ponds

    -Dam at South Mill Pond

    -Restoration of salt marshes

    -Trash Barrels

    -Unnecessary Fencing

    Harbor Access

    -River walk

    -Lady Isle

    -Prescott Park


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