Doug Foy’s type of village: Hub Blog has been more than a little skeptical of Doug Foy’s It Takes A Village approach toward housing development, i.e. forcing development near transportation hubs. Looks fine on paper. But the fears are A.) it won’t happen and B.) it might be exclusively dictated to the market at the expense of building other developments. ... But well, well, well. A variation of the idea IS happening, in other states, called ‘traditional neighborhood development,’ or TND. They’re not necessarily near transportation hubs, but they’re deliberately designed as compact, walkable, self-sustaining villages with stores etc. ... Ideas: Get hold of the TND blueprints, establish tax-free zones (say a half-mile in diameter) near transportation hubs, and see what happens. Worth the effort. Though such villages will never fill the state’s demand-supply gap for housing. ...

Now that Hub Blog is on a development (see above) and Sidewalk Superintendent (see below) roll, might as well weigh in on the latest Greenway proposals (read on): Go for the New Center for Arts and Culture. Whenever you have executives from Beacon Cos. and the Beal Cos. backing a project, you know it’ll get done. No more Horticulture debacles, please. Just tweak the project’s designs to make sure there's enough outdoor festivities/facilities. A roof garden, landscaped plazas and ground-floor cafe are not enough. ...   ¶ 6:14 AM