There are many Everett residents who believe the future is here. It is here to stay. There is nothing one can do to stop the future from taking over certain aspects of our lives.
There are others living here, many old timers still ensconced in homes they grew up in, or in homes that were handed to them by their parents, who want to stop the clock. In other words, to stop the future.
In between these thoughts that prevail in this city among the population watching the place change before their eyes are a large number of people who don’t care about the future or the past.
They are just here for today and their mind set doesn’t go beyond that.
Government is driving the great development effort that is changing the face of the city. That is, government and developers and private capital.
Huge strides have been made.
Whole quarters of the city have been dramatically changed and brought back to life – like on lower Broadway where the Boston Harbor Casino and Hotel has altered the landscape.
In fact, the casino has improved the landscape, which was once utterly and completely polluted.
The same will be happening to the Exxon Mobil property when it is sold to a developer.
A literal, virtual new city will come to stand where pollution and fuel tanks and railroad tracks now dominate.
In the city’s neighborhoods, development continues at a hectic pace.
Some people love it.
Others don’t believe it is what they want.
What do they mean?
Some folks living in the neighborhoods desire the look and feel of a neighborhood to the dramatic changes brought on by new development.
Many of those people are, we believe, living a bit in the past. They yearn for the city they once knew. They would prefer that to more impersonal city that is coming to be all around them.
What to do?
Zoning is the key to preserving what remains of the neighborhoods and which will serve as a guidepost or a roadmap for the rest of the city.
To this end Councilors Darren Costa and Stephanie Smith have been studying the zoning maps and have come up with some ideas now being tossed around by the city government.
We urge homeowners, neighborhood lovers and those who don’t want the future to stop from coming here to reach out to them to let your views be known.
They will listen to you.
They will act rationally.
In a way, they are the city’s future.