The Union Station parking garage is finally open. Of course I really had to go snooping around to figure this out. Franklin St, on the garage side, is still not connected to Grafton St. If you come down the hill into the city from Brown Sq there aren't any kind of signs letting you know the garage is open. There are however all sorts of signs that say "detour" pointing down Franklin St from the end of Harding and it was kind of comical yet also kind of sad watching all the cars zoom down Franklin, hoping that one of the best short cuts in the city was now open again, only to come face to face with do not enter signs.
I walked through the tunnel into Union Station. It isn't "scary". (in a Telegram article a few days ago about the garage's grand opening someone in the comments section said that there were many unanswered questions about the new garage, one of which was whether the "tunnel" that goes under the tracks and to Union Station from the garage would be safe. We really have some grade A geniuses in the Big Woo). I also hoofed it (the elevators aren't operational yet) to the top floor of the garage to check out the view. I've always been really into the views from the tops of urban parking garages. It's not often you get any type of roof access in the city and here they are letting you go right up there.
This would make a real good spot to get a nice picture of the Worcester skyline. Hey Zoback, Womag should do a Worcester skyline photo contest. I don't think I have ever seen a good pic of the city's skyline.
So yeah, garage open, no Grafton St access yet. Other than that it looks beautiful. I wonder if the shops have any confirmed tenants yet. I will lay money on Starbucks or Dunks. Maybe we'll get a Tim Horton's?
I forgot to ask the rates folks. Sorry.
4 comments:
Worcester has a sky line?
Yeah you wouldn't know because NO ONE PHOTOGRAPHS IT.
Private enterprise and government in Worcester seem to be really good at keeping secrets. I would hope that information about the new garage would be easier to come by for infrequent customers. Compare with www.posquare.com which I park at periodically due to the infrequent and unreliable train service between Worcester and Boston. I would have hoped that the city could at least come up with one page on their website and have it be the first result of an internet search for "parking union station worcester." Seems like that would be a miniscule cost relative to the capital that I and other Worcester taxpayers are contributing to our new garage. There is such huge potential in some of the newer developments in the city such as the Canal District/Washington Square, Gateway Park and Mayo Group's development work but that last little bit of effort to ensure their success seems to be missing. Instead we see quarterly cheerleading exercises for the long-dead City Square project. Maybe "they" do have plans for a website for the garage but were taken by surprise by its opening.
Good words.
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