{"id":66,"date":"2016-05-01T21:25:24","date_gmt":"2016-05-02T01:25:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/web.colby.edu\/off-the-hill\/?page_id=66"},"modified":"2016-05-14T18:33:26","modified_gmt":"2016-05-14T22:33:26","slug":"foodie-ville","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/off-the-hill\/foodie-ville\/","title":{"rendered":"Revitalization &amp; Food Security"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Will the tastes of Waterville change as fancy boutiques move in and Colby students spend more time and money at downtown restaurants? \u00a0How might the revitalization affect food in Waterville?<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-85 aligncenter\" src=\"http:\/\/web.colby.edu\/off-the-hill\/files\/2016\/05\/Screen-Shot-2016-05-03-at-7.32.25-PM-300x202.png\" alt=\"Screen Shot 2016-05-03 at 7.32.25 PM\" width=\"433\" height=\"292\" srcset=\"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/off-the-hill\/files\/2016\/05\/Screen-Shot-2016-05-03-at-7.32.25-PM-300x202.png 300w, https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/off-the-hill\/files\/2016\/05\/Screen-Shot-2016-05-03-at-7.32.25-PM.png 632w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 433px) 100vw, 433px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><em>Increased Rent <\/em><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The price of rent for restaurants was a constant theme in all interviews with restaurant owners.\u00a0\u00a0Both Colby administrators and restaurant owners pretty confidently stated that in the next 10-15 years, rent will go up.\n<ul>\n<li>Rent increases are a consistant finding in gentrification literature. In this <a href=\"http:\/\/www.frbsf.org\/community-development\/files\/wp2015-05.pdf\">2015 review, researchers at the University of California Berkley <\/a>explain how private capital (in this case from Colby students, faculty, and the development project) raise rents and the cost of living.<\/li>\n<li>A <a href=\"http:\/\/streets.mn\/2014\/12\/15\/the-curious-case-of-luxury-student-housing\/\">2014 study at the University of Minnesota <\/a>showed the connection between rising rents and university housing in downtown areas.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>However, almost every single individual believed that increased business and revenue from Colby students will make up for this.<\/li>\n<li>Colby should undertake quantitative studies to examine the validity of this logic.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><em>Increased Restaurant Activity <\/em><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Colby\u2019s institutional message is that the 150 future residents of the downtown dorm spend more money at local businesses.<\/li>\n<li>Excitement about this new income base is probably the biggest positive that business owners noted, though there is no concrete information regarding the size of possible increases.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><em>Parking <\/em><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The availability of parking is undoubtedly the biggest concern expressed by food service providers and Waterville citizens alike.<\/li>\n<li>However, Colby, along with the State of Maine Department of Transportation and the City of Waterville, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.colby.edu\/downtown\/2016\/02\/12\/frequently-asked-questions-re-student-apartment-complex-on-main-street\/\">is already executing a detailed parking and traffic study. <\/a>Therefore, it seems that this anxiety will soon be resolved by careful planning.<\/li>\n<li>It is significant that parking was the buzzword while concerns about food security and local resident\u2019s choices are largely ignored.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.centralmaine.com\/2016\/03\/05\/projects-study-prompt-debate-about-downtown-waterville-parking\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-160 aligncenter\" src=\"http:\/\/web.colby.edu\/off-the-hill\/files\/2016\/05\/parking.jpg\" alt=\"parking\" width=\"411\" height=\"484\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>(<a href=\"http:\/\/www.centralmaine.com\/2016\/03\/05\/projects-study-prompt-debate-about-downtown-waterville-parking\/\">centralmaine.com,<\/a> 2016)<\/p>\n<p><em>Participation <\/em><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><em>\u00a0<\/em>An administrator familiar with the planning process\u00a0specifically emphasized that all stakeholders had been included, and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.colby.edu\/downtown\/2016\/02\/12\/frequently-asked-questions-re-student-apartment-complex-on-main-street\/\">Colby\u2019s Downton FAQ website <\/a>touts a similar message; \u201cThe planning process will include several opportunities for broader input from the community.\u201d<\/li>\n<li>However, Waterville stakeholders noted that they hadn\u2019t heard much and in several instances highlighted that they didn&#8217;t even want to know. This suggests that the College\u2019s perception of their outreach is inaccurate; they are not effectively engaging with residents in the food industry.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><em>What We Didn\u2019t Hear <\/em><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>We did not hear any mention of food security concerns.<\/li>\n<li>We also did not hear about how Colby students\u2019 preferences would dominate new restaurants and turnover, and push out businesses that local people enjoy.<\/li>\n<li>\u00a0It is notable that Colby students, who would be doing the gentrifying, are concerned about this while Waterville residents and restaurant owners do not seem concerned.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Will the tastes of Waterville change as fancy boutiques move in and Colby students spend more time and money at downtown restaurants? \u00a0How might the revitalization affect food in Waterville? Increased Rent The price of rent for restaurants was a constant theme in all interviews with restaurant owners.\u00a0\u00a0Both Colby administrators and restaurant owners pretty confidently [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4816,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"content-sidebar","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/off-the-hill\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/66"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/off-the-hill\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/off-the-hill\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/off-the-hill\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4816"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/off-the-hill\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=66"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/off-the-hill\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/66\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":162,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/off-the-hill\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/66\/revisions\/162"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/off-the-hill\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=66"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}