Hey, there! Log in / Register
Cambridge could push Out of Town News out of Harvard Square
By adamg on Thu, 08/25/2016 - 10:47pm
First Lanes & Games, now this: The Globe reports Cambridge officials haven't included the venerable newsstand in their plans for a $4.6-million re-do of the Harvard Square plaza. The business sits in a kiosk - a former Red Line entrance - owned by the city.
Neighborhoods:
Topics:
Ad:
Support Universal Hub
Help keep Universal Hub going. If you like what we're up to and want to help out, please consider a (completely non-deductible) contribution.
Comments
Remnants of the Old Harvard Square
Both Out of Town News and Crimson Corner (formerly Nini's Corner) are shadows of their former selves, no doubt due to the decline of print media such as magazines and newspapers, but still they are landmarks and two of the very few places left of the old, great Harvard Square. By the way, I don't know who runs either of those places now, but years ago both used to have the crustiest, nastiest guys around running them.
Nini's
I never had any love for Out of Town News but the guys at Crimson Corner I've always found to be very pleasant and helpful. It was the only place in the Boston area to get a racing form.
True ,a vestige of the past, where it used to be pleasant to browse the magazine racks after dinner back in the 80's; those days are long gone.
Hear hear
They still have the Racing Form. They've bailed me out on the occasions when Palace Spa didn't have it/ran out.
Save the Pit!
How is it possible that this article doesn't even mention the pit? Is it a conspiracy to get rid of the combined smell of the unwashed and patchouli?
Also the City of Cambridge says that the newsstand is not viable. The owner say it is profitable.
Sounds like the fix is in.
Profitable now doesn't equal viable long-term
If the city doesn't think the business can be sustained as the demand for newspapers etc drops, that's a reason to say its not viable even if it's currently doing well.
That said, I like Out of Town as a nice classic Harvard Square landmark (even if I never buy anything there myself), so I'd be sad to see it go. A good proposal from the city showing how they're going to repurpose the space for better use could convince, me though.
The article explains
The article implies that the out-of-town news stand makes most of their money off non-news items: Water, snacks, souvenirs, etc. Cambridge is looking to make the stand into something public, not knocked it down. They even talk about adding in the glass walls that it had when it opened in 1929. Classy.
I'm in favor of the redesign, or at least what I've seen of it. There are plenty of places to buy snacks in the square. If they make it into a cover music pavilion (for example) that would be more useful then a private entity selling mostly drinks and Harvard hoodies.
It's fair that you have an opinion
But do you really want the government to put the guy out of business for no reason other than "we just want something else there?"
I was going to do my whole Democrat screed again like I've been doing all week, but I don't think I need to make it a political argument. I think "the guy has a nice store and is trying to make a living" should be enough to sway any decent human being who appreciates economic freedom.
Counterpoint
It's the government's property. Why shouldn't they do what they want with it? Do property rights only apply to private individuals?
The guy can rent another spot to run his business out of; lord knows there are plenty of empty storefronts in Cambridge these days.
Noted
I didn't realize that the city owned that particular parcel. Fair enough. I thought this was an eminent domain thing.
Um, yeah. I realize that it's
Um, yeah. I realize that it's asking a lot to expect people to click through and read articles before commenting, but this was actually in Adam's post at the top of this page.
:facepalm:
I don't have to read
I'm pretty.
I support the newsstand
I made an earlier post that seems to have gotten lost in cyberspace, but I think it's a tragedy that the city is forcing this business to close. This has been the city's plan for about a year now, at least. As someone else noted, the fix is definitely in. If the Globe article results in protests now, the city officials will say it's too late, the plans have already been made months/years ago. Where was the media then?
After all, for nearly 4 centuries Harvard Square has been known as a place to fulfill our intellectual needs.