Planning group to weigh in on bolstering downtown Lynn

LYNN – They disagree on solutions for improving Lynn’s downtown, but Julie Squires and her son, Nelson, agree city planners need to keep trying to attract shoppers and diners into the city’s center.The Family Dollar store now under construction on Andrew Street and Central Avenue is less than a block away from another discount store, Squires said, but Nelson Ayala is glad to see a new building on the former site of a grease rendering plant.”It’s good to see a business instead of an empty lot,” he said.Squires works downtown and plans to shop at Ernie’s Harvest Time on Essex Street once the former Boston Street market opens downtown. The Lynn resident remembers when restaurants, movie theaters and a sense of security on local streets filled downtown with shoppers.Experts with the Metropolitan Area Planning Council, an organization providing planning assistance to cities and towns, has talked to downtown business owners, employees and residents about ways to improve downtown. They plan to present initial findings from their research during a 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. meeting tonight in City Hall.The meeting, according to an MAPC meeting notice, is scheduled to be held in Veterans Memorial Auditorium and focus “..about how to ensure a thriving, vibrant and economically competitive future for Lynn’s dynamic and diverse center.”Lynn resident April Spring remembers when department stores and shops lined Union Street, but she considers downtown “grimy” and does not shop there.”I don’t know how to improve it, but they need stores like the malls have, places people want to come in to,” she said.Jose Rodriguez said he will shop at the Family Dollar store once it opens because the discount retail chain offers customer convenience.”We can find what we are looking for there,” he said.Squires said downtown improves every time a new business opens, but she said planners need to look at the type of businesses operating along downtown streets.”There are way too many nail and cell phone places,” she said.She said North Shore Community College and plans for a waterfront ferry could benefit downtown by bringing students and commuters to businesses along Market and other streets in the same way shows hosted at Veterans Memorial Auditorium have brought diners into downtown restaurants.Ayala said safety is a factor in downtown improvement and said he wishes the city still stationed an attendant in the Andrew Street city parking lot to provide his mother with an extra sense of security when she parks downtown and goes to work.”I worry about her,” he said.