Auburndale is an inside-out Newton Centre: it feels exposed; while Newton Centre feels invaded, by cars. The heart of Auburndale Square is a parking lot; the center of Newton Centre is also a parking lot. 
The difference is that while Newton Centre's shops face the parking lot, Auburndale's hide it. In the interior of Auburndale Square, parking is fragmented and inefficient; it is like a sprawling country fair lot. Parking occupancy is consistently low (as a look from google maps makes clear). One can imagine an efficient consolidation of parking supplemented with on-street parking on Comm Ave (which has the added benefit of calming it), opening up perhaps the most under-appreciated opportunity for a green, mixed-use development in Newton; in the heart of Auburndale Square, filling some of its glaring needs, like a pub, bookstore, garden/hardware store, and maybe even some affordable housing.
Sunday, June 13, 2010
Auburndale
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2 comments:
I absolutely agree. Auburndale square is probably the least successful village center in Newton.
Pub coming to Auburndale soon - across the street from Tom's Pizza! One problem with the idea of consolidating the parking is that only the small lot directly behind The Village Bank is a city owned lot. The rest of the land is broken up into small, privately owned lots.
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