Mayor Neil M. O 'Leary and the Connecticut Main Street Center believe that Waterbury can be brought back to a thriving city by bringing college kids into downtown. Student housing for the Waterbury Campus sounds like a great idea to revitalize Waterbury. There are already many special things in place that will help make Waterbury a thriving city. For example, the public transportation system (city bus, train station) and the many beautiful buildings with historic architecture. However, there needs to be many changes to the city for students to actually want to come live here for a semester. This city and it’s downtown was at one point a major hub for people to shop and socialize. After the fall of the brass industry Waterbury’s downtown retail
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When I was in Italy every city I went had signs that stick off the walls of different stores and amenities. Most of these signs also lit up and drew people in during the night. For daytime purposes there needs to be more outdoor cafes and items outside of stores that will draw people into the shop from the sidewalk. This means there needs to be bigger sidewalks so that restaurants can set up seats and stores can put out stands. Also, many of the windows downtown are tinted and it is very difficult to see inside of them. So window changes and better lighting should help to draw more people into the stores. Another thing that is absolutely needed if there is going to be downtown housing for students is a grocery store. Clearly people need to eat and when we met with the developer Joe Gramando he said that he was going to give the dorms kitchens with full fridges and stoves. It would be nice if somehow this grocery store could be affiliated with UCONN to help the students get lower rates on food. Young adults, right now, like to be outside and soaking up the sun. Therefore, unless there become more outdoor/ sidewalk cafes there should be some type of patio for the student to hang out.As we discussed with Mr. Gramando, a terrace on the roof would be a brilliant idea. Lastly, students kept saying that they want a gym and Waterbury keeps saying “we have the YMCA, its newly renovated.” Even though the YMCA might have a newly renovated inside; its facade, however, makes it unnoticeable to most passersby. I have heard over and over again that students barely knew the YMCA was there and this is because the outside makes it look like any random brick building. Fix that up and more students will notice and want to go there. For nighttime purposes, well... recently downtown is not even open at night. In Waterbury most of the downtown stores close around 5 or 6 P.M. and that is no time for a college kid to
When I was in Italy every city I went had signs that stick off the walls of different stores and amenities. Most of these signs also lit up and drew people in during the night. For daytime purposes there needs to be more outdoor cafes and items outside of stores that will draw people into the shop from the sidewalk. This means there needs to be bigger sidewalks so that restaurants can set up seats and stores can put out stands. Also, many of the windows downtown are tinted and it is very difficult to see inside of them. So window changes and better lighting should help to draw more people into the stores. Another thing that is absolutely needed if there is going to be downtown housing for students is a grocery store. Clearly people need to eat and when we met with the developer Joe Gramando he said that he was going to give the dorms kitchens with full fridges and stoves. It would be nice if somehow this grocery store could be affiliated with UCONN to help the students get lower rates on food. Young adults, right now, like to be outside and soaking up the sun. Therefore, unless there become more outdoor/ sidewalk cafes there should be some type of patio for the student to hang out.As we discussed with Mr. Gramando, a terrace on the roof would be a brilliant idea. Lastly, students kept saying that they want a gym and Waterbury keeps saying “we have the YMCA, its newly renovated.” Even though the YMCA might have a newly renovated inside; its facade, however, makes it unnoticeable to most passersby. I have heard over and over again that students barely knew the YMCA was there and this is because the outside makes it look like any random brick building. Fix that up and more students will notice and want to go there. For nighttime purposes, well... recently downtown is not even open at night. In Waterbury most of the downtown stores close around 5 or 6 P.M. and that is no time for a college kid to