Judge it!
you cannot go back and change things now.. but maybe it is time to think different... we should have let home depot come and put a store in.. they would have fixed up and cleaned up the mall. Imagine the tax revenue... and the jobs.. and whatever else they would have added to the town. The power plant the same way...imagine.. jobs.. revenue.. in a bad economic time.. sorry to all you people who want to make Billerica into something.. you have tried for years and you have failed...
Don't you think we should try something different?
Cause... if you always do what you always did ... your gonna get what you always got...
its time for change ... complete change...
and oh ... I am not a blow in... I just a better Billerica for everyone..and not just higher taxes..
Somerville
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Imagine the tax revenue! Huh? What do you think it would have mattered. No sooner then the town gets it they turn it over to the unions. It is never enough. You think your property taxes were going to go down? Jobs? How many businesses would shut down becuase of HD? You would get a bunch of illegal aliens hanging out in the parking lot looking for day jobs from contractors. Just go to the one in Somerville and you will see what I mean. |
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Your 100% right. Just wanted to add, that I heard and I don't know if it's just a rumor but, I heard that Dollar Tree signed an agreement with the mall owners to fix up where the liquor store is now. Dollar tree will do all the repairs and will move in there. Kind of sounds weird that Dollar store will pay for the repairs. |
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then share the facts... how many jobs will be lost? How many NEW businesses will move into the mall when it is fixed up... and people come shopping?.. oh and buy lunch and gas ect... but we can't think like that... its too much change ...and btw... a Dollar Store isn't going to have a bunch of illegals shopping? Its too easy to say nope.. it can't work... btw.. did you know Billerica had the first chance to have what now is known as "the Burlington Mall"... that was an awful investment huh? Its ok.. I know it won't happen ... we will always do what we have always done... that's Billerica... and its too bad.. Billerica is a great place.. |
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The only people that have failed are the Mall owners. In the past 15 years each of the other 3 shopping centers in town have been updated and improved according to our bylaws. Only the Mall refused to do anything except come up with a big box store that no community in the country, would allow on a two lane road thru the center of their town. In fact not only have the other shopping centers thrived but if you remember Radio Shack relocated form the Mall, to the Pinehurst center, and now Lincoln Liquors has moved from the Mall to the Treble Cove center. Get the message, if the other centers can upgrade and get almost 100% occupancy whats wrong with the Mall. Also don't forget the Mall has three, count them 3 anchor stores. So they can't cry poor mouth. The answer is simple, tell them to sell to someone that can make it work within our zoning bylaws. They deserve no respect, because they give no respect to Billerica. |
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well there you go...once again... someone who thinks they have all the answers..those stores are not anchor stores my friends.. visit a few malls in the area and you'll learn what anchor stores really are.... our bylaws have strangled the town to the point the center is an eyesore.. yep thats real... and thats too bad.. the residents of this town would love to know how many opportunities have been lost by this attitude.. no foresight ... no caring about the town or the people in it.. "its all about me" ..nice.. it leads no where my friends.. Billerica deserves better... because .. if you always do what you always did.. your gonna get what you always got... thats Billerica politics...benifits a small number of people... and the taxes go up... musty mike and get real.. your names say it all... and again .. I am not a blow in.. and I really love Billerica... |
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I agree they deserve no respect, they did nothing to that improve that mall. They weren't good to/for the town. If you think having a Home Depot there would do anything for the people of this town, you are just plain Naive. You think it would lower your taxes? The power plant would do nothing but decrease home values. Yes the mall is an eyesore and I do place a lot of the blame on the board of health. they should have made the owners step up to the plate years ago, but they just ignored it and to this day they are still turning a blind eye. Where would Billerica have put a Mall like the Burlington Mall? the Burlington Mall has direct access from route 3, route 128 and is close to route 93. All we have is route 3. If you love Billerica so much, you should put some thought into long term fixes.Not throwing a home depot in the center of town. A power plant would hurt the town more than it would ever help it. The mall owners should be held accountable for the mess they made of the mall, if it were up to me, I'd make them tear it down. I would rather see an empty space than that pile of junk that is there now. |
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So KMart, Burlington Coat and Market Baskets are not anchors. Well they seem to be in the other Shopping Centers in Billerica. How about the Burlington Winn Street Shopping Center seems the food store there is doing pretty good and thats their anchor store. How about the Wilmington and Tewksbury Shopping Centers, they seem to do well with their Market Baskets as anchors. Would they just love a Burlington Coat or KMart to provide more rents. All those centers have been up graded in the past 7 years. They don't cry they don't threaten to put a Home Depot on their main streets miles away from a highway. The reason is simple, like Stoneham two years ago they would tell them don't bother. Not in Billerica some small minded short sighted, uninformed about taxes people will say sure screw the town take what you want. We say the days of the towm being for sale to the highest bidder are over. If you have a clean high tech company with high paying jobs, we will give you tax breaks to come here, like we have for 15 years, just look at the Turnpike and Concord Road companies. If you want to destroy the center of our town, pound sand not on our watch! |
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another non thinker with no answers or facts...always doing what they have always done.. I have big picture thinking... do you... go ahead and tear down the mall... you get what you've got .. another set of apartments.. 40B's like on Concord Rd... another glorious victory..huh? I could point to a number of short sighted things Billerica has done over the years. I could also point to people who tried to warn the town about whats going to happen.. its happened... its not the board of heath's fault .. its the board of selectman's fault.. they are accountable for the town. They need to stand and take responsiblity.. as would any good executive in a corporation. Oh thats right.. we don't have people who have experience... wanna bes who can't take responsibilty... The Mall does have responsibilty... but the selectmen don't know how to execute that type of manangement... its over their heads.. I don't care if it is HD or another opprtunity.. we won't do it...I know it.. and btw "Billerica".. I know long term planning.. and the Burlington Mall was on a two lane street at one time.. imagine that?! as I said .. I know it won't happen.. its too bad.. and I do love Billerica.. You still have not given concrete facts to why we should not do this HD thing...or the power plant... I heard HD was willing to do the whole center over.. now I would like to see that plan... and the power plant was willing to pay ..what about 1.5 million a year.. oh I am not naive at all.. as matter of fact I think I could run circles around you... |
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One more thing if you want to see what can be done with a deserted Mall, drive 4 miles up Rt3 to the old Chelmsford Mall. For years it had a lumber store and a Mall type operation. The Mall was dying, did they let it deteriorate NO, they converted it to a Strip Shopping Center. They worked with the Chelmsford Bylaws which are similar to Billerica and it worked. They weren’t crybabies. They have one anchor store, wow it can be done. The simple reason Home Depot or Lowes wouldn’t even bother to try and get into Chelmsford, they know they would be wasting their time and money. Chelmsford people care about character and quality of life, unlike some in Billerica who would sell out the town for a few pieces of silver. I don't have all the answers, but if you think a Sears or Macys is coming to the Billerica Mall you live in fantacy land, they would never move to a two lane off higway location period. |
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__________ The problem is you don’t understand how our form of government works. The issues of how we enforce Zoning are the responsibility of the Town Planner the Building Inspector and Planning Board. If special circumstances are needed the Zoning Board of Appeals may be required. Now should the BOS provide leadership, of course. But the issues of how we develop the town, are the purview of the Planning Board. any changes to Zoning must be done by Town Meeting or varied by the Zoning BOA. BTW have you sought election to the Planning Board? Now for the Burlington Mall being on a two lane road, well not since 1967, and you forgot a little information, one it abuts Rt128 one of the busiest roads in the northeast and from Rt128 to the Mall you don’t pass by one home, or neighborhood, is that selective memory? So where did you hear that Home Depot was going to do over the whole center? That is simple not true, you must have never been to one of the public hearings. They would have done nothing outside of the Tower Farm Road to the beginning of St Theresa property. They may have helped the town with adjusting the timing of the centers traffic lights. I’m sure that would have helped the people get from Andover Road to the center, that’s already backed up in the morning. As far as the town getting more taxes, maybe you can tell us how much? Again your facts are plain wrong. My issues with the Power Plant are different, I do see a big gain in taxes and the property is zoned properly. The land is bordering a rendering plant, the town sewer treatment plant and a junk yard. No one has convinced me that it wouldn’t be a good source of revenue, for a industrial business, located on the far reaches of the town. That’s just my opinion. |
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I can't believe we are still talking about Home Depot. Even if the town approved their permit, the economy's crash would have killed the plan anyway. It is a waste of time to talk about it. I'd rather hear people's ideas on what they wish we would do with that land.
I have written repeatedly for the Minuteman about this issue. The most recent is the following: http://blogs.townonline.com/therefromhere/... I'm trying my hardest to move this conversation past HD. Jeffrey R. Parenti, P.E. Billerica |
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They won't let it go because to them it is the big fish that got away. I would like to see the town take a stand against the mall owners. Why have they let it get as bad as it has? Personally I wouldn't mind if it was made to be like the plaza in Pinehurst. |
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The Mall owner drove out every one those stores by being possibly the worst landlord imagineable. The most recent case is Lincoln Liquors but it has been going on since it started its decline. A good business owner also should have a concern for the town they operate in. By letting that mall deteriorate to its current state is a slap in the face to the town.
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ever hear of rt 495? |
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Ever hear of a map? 495 doesn't run through town. The Burlington Mall abuts an interstate for crying out loud. To compare the locations of the two malls is idiotic.
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the point is not to compare the 2 locations.. but if you have been around a while .. when the Burlington Mall was first built, you would know that the area has grown and changed. They had the foresight to expand and grow. They changed the roads and the area to suit the mall. The present mall in Billerica did not do that.. it is part of the reason the mall is so terrible. Why do the owners of the mall not want to upkeep the building.. could it have anything to do with the treatment by the town? I do remember a big fight about signs .. is that the reason? I know have stated Home Depot is proabably not an option anymore.. but will the town be ready for the next option.. if there is one... there are still no facts... how many jobs would be lost if home depot would have went in there? it is about looking bigger.. not about business always fitting into "our" plans.. sometimes compromise is the key word to make things "win-win" There are enough strip malls in Billerica... and what would a strip mall bring to Billerica.. whats the win- win.. what benifits will it have for the town. Billierca always says .. NO .. and does not look for a bigger picture and benifits for the town as a whole. I can think of many the Home Depot and the power plant could have brought ... and if the only reason is traffic... then .. well thats not thinking fore sighted... is Billerica always going to be the laughing stock of the area? |
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never said it did run through town - rocket scientist! you state how close the burlington mall is to all these highways well isn't billerica close to 495 and as close to 93 as burlington!? don't talk geography to me i could out read you on any map or location! |
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