Author Archive
Nashua Patch: Park(ing) Day!
Reclaiming the City, One Parking Spot at a Time
By Carol Robidoux, September 21, 2012, originally posted in Nashua Patch.
Green space, bike infrastructure, community gardens and room to create, all things that make city life more vibrant.
Homa Jaferey and Hilary Grubbs are playing Scrabble in the street.
Manny Ramirez is spray-painting a sudden work of art on a blank canvas.
Paul Shea is relaxing next to a pop-up container garden.
Tom Lopez and James Vayo are standing on the sidewalk next to a guerrilla street display meant to energize the conversation about creating a more dynamic downtown.
It’s all part of Park(ing) Day, a national awareness campaign to engage residents in the things that make a city livable, sustainable and useful.
Vayo, of Renaissance Downtowns, reserved three parking spaces outside his storefront at 88 Main Street and filled the space with plants borrowed from Countrybrook Farms in Hudson, and purchased 200 square feet of sod from Tim’s Turf in Litchfield. He borrowed a bike rack from Goodale’s Bike shop, and got an assist in the art department from Positive Street Art and Adam Brown of Skatewise Skateshop.
Shea volunteered to populate one of the three parking spaces with a raised bed garden in an effort to promote the idea of expanding on the city’s community garden program.
“At Visualize Nashua meetings we’ve talked about expanding the city’s community garden space – we do have a great community garden at Greeely Park, but there’s a waiting list for that,” Shea said.
He brought tomatoes and pumpkins from his home garden, and picked up two fruit trees, along with a butterfly bush.
“It immediately attracted butterflies, so that was a good investment,” Shea said.
He is looking for more people interested in community gardens contact him directly at paulwsheaa@gmail.com.
Vayo said the reactions from people walking by really made the event worthwhile.
“I saw the value on people’s faces, who stopped to ask what was going on and their general demeanor of happiness to see a green space downtown,” Vayo said.
As Park(ing) Day happens in small pockets around the country, Vayo said the bigger picture idea, of reclaiming public space, is meaningful locally, here in Nashua, where he’d like to see this kind of event happen annually, and grow beyond three parking spaces – perhaps having downtown businesses join in and create pop-up sidewalk sales.
“Celebrating that public space for pedestrians is a key message. I hope in the future others will want to participate in that it will start a discussion about the types of uses we want for out downtown, we being the community,” Vayo said.
Name: Visualize Nashua
Website: http://visualizenashua.com
Submitted by Visualize Nashua
Park(ing) Day!
Name: Visualize Nashua
Website: http://visualizenashua.com
Submitted by Visualize Nashua
Summer Going Local Campaign
It’s time for the Going Local Campaign Summer Edition! June 11th 2012 – August 13th 2012 - Learn More
Name: Visualize Nashua
Website: http://visualizenashua.com
Submitted by Visualize Nashua
May 2012 Survey Results!
Thank you for participating in the May 2012 Visualize Nashua survey!
As you can see in the results chart below, artist studios, live music venue, a year-round farmers market and an art center are all equally popular. We’ll work with Jack Haney who represents the Franklin St. Mill building, and the champions for each of the most popular ideas as to who’s the most willing to build a market for that particular use.
The two most popular ideas for the Riverfront Promenade are the cafe-style seating area (tables and chairs on brick-paved area) and the open picnic area (grassy area). It shows people value open green space and outdoor dining, especially alongside the river. Stay tuned for the next iteration of the Bridge St. site plan to reflect this.
Finally 33 people expressed interest in living in the greater downtown, or 85% of those who responded to the question, with 12% of the membership responding. This is a work in progress 
All surveys will be archived here.
Name: Visualize Nashua
Website: http://visualizenashua.com
Submitted by Visualize Nashua
Visualize Nashua’s Recap for March
Here’s a recap of what Visualize Nashua was up to in March, with a preview for April!
Campaigns
- Going Local Campaign – We are hosting the winning idea of the farmers dinner event somewhere downtown in April. We started a second voting round with a May 8 deadline, and the Year-Round Farmers Market has the early lead.
- Greater Downtown Living Campaign – We’re still looking for developers that are interested in building housing in the greater downtown, as well secure residential development opportunities on the Bridge Street site, so that we may crowdsource a market for them.
- Riverfront Promenade Campaign - We re-launched this in March to get 75 Likes in order to provide evidence of a market for this idea, triggering a feasibility study for its implementation.
Outreach
- Visualize Nashua’s March Meetup – We had an excellent turnout, with a surprise visit from Renaissance Downtowns CEO, Don Monti. The meeting resulted in forward progress toward a year-round farmers market, a park project for the Big Day of Serving, and preparation for the Franklin St. Mill tour.
- The Franklin Street Mill Tour – Franklin Street Mill Tour attendance tripled expectations with 180 people! Collaboration among the attendee’s resulted in developer representative Jack Heaney looking to hold another mill tour for banks and city officials. VizNash held an excellent brainstorming exercise and followed up with an idea page for the Mill, featuring an idea inspired by those championing artist studios..
- March Visualize Nashua Social Hour – The monthly Social Hour was at M.T. Local on Main Street, with about two dozen in attendance and discussion covering the Bridge Street development, farmers market, and the next monthly meetup. Several attendees went out for a group dinner afterwards and extended the discussion regarding farming issues.
- Critical Mass Ride – There were only eight in attendance at the ride which was on a cold afternoon, but the eight made it great! This is a seasonal event and as the weather warms we will start to get a larger crowd rolling down Main Street!
Next Month
- Monthly Meetup
- Launching of Franklin St. Mill Campaign
- April Viz(Nash) Mob Event (Farmers Dinner)
- Monthly Social Hour
Name: Visualize Nashua
Website: http://visualizenashua.com
Submitted by Visualize Nashua
Franklin St Mill Sign Up Page
Name: Visualize Nashua
Website: http://visualizenashua.com
Submitted by Visualize Nashua
Riverfront Promenade
Name: Visualize Nashua
Website: http://visualizenashua.com
Submitted by Visualize Nashua
‘Crowd’ of the year?
Time’s Person of the Year in 2006 was ‘You’. Time’s Person of the Year in 2010 was Mark Zuckerberg, representing 800 million Facebook users. Time’s Person of the Year for 2011 was ‘The Protestor’.
Notice the pattern? It’s no longer about the one or the few, it’s about the many.
Who are Nashua’s equivalents of You, Mark Zuckerberg and the Protestor?
Visualize Nashua could never win Nashua’s ‘Person of the Year’, but based on current trends, it can help identify and nurture who that is from a crowdsourcing point of view.
Name: Visualize Nashua
Website: http://visualizenashua.com
Submitted by Visualize Nashua
Visualize Nashua has a new website!
If there’s one thing that was missing from the previous Visualize Nashua website, it was a way to continue the wonderful and exciting conversations we had at the meetups. Now we finally have a way to continue that online, without having to depend on Facebook to do it!
The new site, in addition to the ideas that you can still upvote, comment on and submit your own, has the following new features:
1. A better navigation system. Check out ‘Campaigns’ at the top. You can quickly go to the ‘Going Local’ campaign, or the ‘Greater Downtown Living’ campaign, as well as quickly find your way to upvote ideas via the ‘Vote/Choose Your Preference’ subtab, discuss via the ‘Discuss’ subtab, or see who’s involved via the ‘Group’ subtab. Try it out, it’s actually easier to use than to explain
2. Forum discussions! Under ‘Community’, you’ll see links to ‘Events’, ‘Forums’, ‘Groups’ and ‘Members’. There’s so much going on that we had to put all of these under one roof, but go to Forums to see all the latest discussions, organized by ‘Groups’, which you can see either in the left column of the Forums, or by going directly to Groups under Community.
3. Messaging, Friending, Inviting. You can message people within the site, so you don’t have to track down contact info if you want to reach out to someone. You can also invite them to Groups you think they should be a part of, but you have to ‘Friend’ them first
4. Updates! The weekly newsletter will highlight stories that are posted in the ‘Updates’ section. You can get there via the ‘Updates’ tab at the top, or in the sidebar on the home page which provides sneak peak photos from the story.
5. Featured news. As you can see, the most recent news at the time of this writing was Visualize Nashua being featured in the Nashua Patch! The feature window will automatically scroll through other hot announcements, or you can click on the tabs below to advance at will.
6. Upvoting ideas! This is the core of the site and hasn’t changed at all. The one additional benefit is that you can see the top four ideas by ‘Most Recently Popular’, ‘Most Recently Commented’, ‘Most Liked’, and ‘Most Recent’ all on the home page.
We hope you like it! Coming soon: ‘Crowdsourcing Pages’ for specific ideas.
Feel free to comment below!
Name: Visualize Nashua
Website: http://visualizenashua.com
Submitted by Visualize Nashua
Nashua Patch: Crowdsourcing the Downtown
Visualize Nashua has rolled out a new website and is building an online base of local “visionaries” to direct the city’s potential
By Carol Robidoux, February 8, 2012 – original posted in the Nashua Patch
”Potential” is a word we think we understand. But break it down and you will see that visualizing the potential something has – the city’s downtown, for example –is all about harnessing the “potent” power a community has over its surroundings.
Given the proliferation of social media and its power to move just about everything currently happening on earth, it’s really as simple a concept as “If you ‘like’ it, we will build it.”
Enter Visualize Nashua, a grassroots online community working to harness the power of crowd persuasion as a way to help the city reach its potential.
A core group of about a dozen “visualizers” have been coming together monthly at Renaissance Downtowns Main Street headquarters, to map out something they’re calling the Greater Downtown 400 Living Campaign.
“Basically we’re taking ideas from people with a vested interest in the downtown, and we vet them through the process of ‘crowdsourced placemaking,’ and then we work on the feasibility of implementing the most popular ideas,” said Neil Takemoto, founder CS Placemaking, (csplacemaking.com) a firm he’s started with Renaissance Downtowns to focus on large-scale crowdsourced placemaking.
Takemoto is working closely with James Vayo, assistant project manager for Renaissance Downtowns, who happens to be leading the charge for community engagement.
Although his current pet project is development of the Bridge Street Project, which will transform 26 city-owned acres of former brown fields situated along the river into a vibrant, sustainable neighborhood, Vayo is all in.
He’s working toward launching a pilot community garden for the coming growing season, and would love to see some of the unused second-floor office space along Main Street become apartments. He’s part of the Broad Street Parkway International Design committee.
He is a dedicated bicycle commuter who is constantly considering how to make the downtown more livable, and how to make that lifestyle more sustainable.
Through it all, his No.1 push is engaging the community in a virtual campaign to reinvent the city to fit our human 21st-century needs.
Needs that include more affordable housing options – the McMansion days are over; the future will be a place where people migrate to urban centers where they can work and play and live within walking distance of most everything they need.
So where and how does reinvention begin? It’s a process both Vayo and Takemodo understand well. They point to how “crowdsourced placemaking” is transforming other cities around the country using a model of “new urbanism,” including Bristol, CT., as chronicled in the New York Times.
Crowdsourcing a community opens the planning process to residents before a single blueprint or site plan is penned, providing an investment in interest that developers can actually take to the bank, Vayo said.
“We initiated a housing campaign, the Greater Downtown 400 Living Campaign, and based on the results of that, we can literally take that information to the bank; it’s a method that can help get funding for the project, if we can prove there’s demand through achieving a certain number of preleases,” Vayo said.
The “400″ is the number of cumulative “likes” Takemoto and Vayo are hoping to get via their online tote board. Once that milestone is reached, the hope is to identify the “Founding 50,” a community of 50 people ready to sign on to actually inhabit the spaces created, based on virtual demand.
Ultimately, the goal is to reach 400 “likes” by June 30, which means everyone who hears about the campaign should not only go to visualizenashua.com, sign up, and vote, but they should also share the information with their personal network of friends, through Facebook, Twitter and e-mail, said Takemoto.
“We want to get this off the ground, and the best way to do that is to spread the word,” Takemoto said.
How it works:
Members create an account on visualizenashua.com and then are able to post ideas for prospective public/retail/residential amenities for downtown Nashua or the Bridge Street Site. Some of the ideas have been local-minded restaurants, affordable housing downtown, a commuter rail from Boston to Nashua, a Riverfront Promenade, etc. These ideas need a certain amount of likes on our website for Renaissance Downtowns to initiate a feasibility study to determine the requirements for implementing that idea.
How you can participate
Share your ideas and comments by posting them to visualizenashua.com.
Like Visualize Nashua on Facebook and follow them on Twitter.
Join them for monthly meet-ups to stay current on what’s happening at Visualize Nashua. Spread the word to other like-minded individuals to campaign for an idea, or post your own big idea and watch it grow.
Name: Visualize Nashua
Website: http://visualizenashua.com
Submitted by Visualize Nashua
We’re going local!
We’re building a vibrant local culture and economy. We’re invested in our community, supporting homegrown talent and food, and nurturing a distinctive, authentic culture that says Nashua is where it’s at.We’re celebrating the best of our artists and cultural experiences to foster an exciting creative culture; and the best of our entrepreneurs and businesses to grow an innovative local economy.
Whether it’s a farm-to-table restaurant, a marketplace and farmers market, a community garden, an open-mic night or a coworking space for startups and freelancers, we’ll develop the next generation of local in Nashua and establish an incredible sense of community and collaboration while doing it!
That’s our Going Local Campaign Manifesto. So how are we going to make a difference?
Starting on Feb. 1, submit and ‘Like’ ideas on the Going Local Campaign ideas page. The most Liked idea with a Sponsor (someone willing to implement it) at the end of February 29, with at the very least 30 Likes (preferably 50 if we really want to prove there’s a market), will be planned as a carrot mob event (crowd mobs a business in one evening to support it doing good things) in March to raise awareness and maybe even investment for its implementation.
Keith Sarasin of Local (at Amsterdam) has already submitted a great idea for a “Dinner Night to Honor the Farmer.” To learn more about this event and to “Like” it, click here.
We are also working with Carol Robidoux of the Nashua Patch to help promote ideas!
Get ready to go local in Nashua!
PSA Update from Cecilia Ulibarri!
Name: Visualize Nashua
Website: http://visualizenashua.com
Submitted by Visualize Nashua
Choose your greater downtown housing preference!
Have you chosen your residential preference yet? Our new Greater Downtown Living 400 Campaign is underway! The goal is to reach 400 “likes” among the eight residential types by June 30, 2012 to accelerate the building process and accommodate the crowd’s preferences. The only rule is that there can only be one “like” per member. That means, after you vote, tell your family, friends, coworkers, and other like-minded, Nashua-enthusiasts to log-on to visualizenashua.com and place their vote!
By getting 400 “likes” across these eight housing types, we are showing evidence to the housing developer that there is a demand for compact, attainably-priced housing. Once a participating housing developer is secured, the Visualize Nashua community works with them to secure the minimum number of renters to ensure development.
To help make this goal a reality, we have created a 6-month strategy which includes new events, partnerships with local businesses and organizations, and city-wide outreach.
Please take the first step to make this campaign a success by voting now! Click here.
In the month of February, we are tentatively planning a site tour with Jack Heaney, arepresentative of the Franklin Mill building. Our goal is to gather at the Renaissance Downtowns office space during the evening and walk as a group down to the site. Jack is eager to hear your ideas for the property and is available to answer any questions. Final date and time will be announced in coming weeks.
Name: Visualize Nashua
Website: http://visualizenashua.com
Submitted by Visualize Nashua
Crops for Cash
What is a Crops for Cash you ask????
It is an event that gives you the power to make your voice heard on how we can improve our Farmer’s Market while showing support to all the local farmers. Instead of organizing boycotts, we offer to spend money as a group to suggest your ideas on how we can make a bigger and better Farmer’s Market for Downtown Nashua
On July 15th we are going to mob the Nashua Farmer’s market and use our buying power to show unified support to show the farmer’s we love the market and want to have our voices heard on how we can expand it.
We will have a Visualize Nashua booth set up taking suggestions as well as giving away some pretty great stuff. Invite all your friends and let our voices be heard!
Name: Visualize Nashua
Website: http://visualizenashua.com
Submitted by Visualize Nashua
January Monthly Meetup Recap
Our first “mini” meetup of the year was a huge success and not as “mini” as we thought! The meeting went strong until 8:00 p.m. We welcomed new faces and plenty of great ideas. Delicious appetizers were served from the kitchen of local Chinese/Japanese favorite, Thousand Crane.
Following introductions, Alex summarized the successes of the events that took place in the month of December: Visualize Nashua Social Hour at Amsterdam Local, the Critical Mass Ride, and the French Hill Crime Watch meeting. Ryan Porter, VP Planning and Development at Renaissance was in attendance to present the new Housing Campaign that launched on the website last Friday. To learn more about this exciting campaign and to place your vote on one of the eight prospective housing types for downtown Nashua, please click here. (We need to get 400 “likes” across eight of the housing types by June 30, 2012.)
Jim gave an introduction to the new “Carrot Mob” idea, which we are trying to implement in the month of January. The plan is for you, our members, to decide on a deserving location in downtown Nashua where you want the next Visualize Nashua Social to take place. The purpose of these “Carrot Mob” events is to spread our business to a new location downtown. If you have a location idea, click here to submit.
Name: Visualize Nashua
Website: http://visualizenashua.com
Submitted by Visualize Nashua
Introducing Nashua’s “Housing 400 Campaign”
Introducing Nashua’s “Housing 400 Campaign”
It’s time to crowdsource a living downtown in Nashua with a green, walkable, attainably-priced housing campaign!
Why a housing campaign?
If we’re going to build housing in and around the downtown, we’d like you to let us know what you’re willing to support! If there’s no evidence of a market for new housing in and around the downtown, developers and residential builders won’t be able to secure financing. That’s where you all come in! We need to build an identifiable community of interest in new pedestrian-oriented housing, starting with reaching a cumulative total of 400 Likes for the eight housing types. From that community of 400, we’ll then be able to establish the Visualize Nashua Founding 50 (or Founding 50 for short), a community of 50 people willing to make history by being the first to sign a pre-lease for a home in a crowdsourced community (and actually following through) We’ll be launching this campaign next month, starting with the posting of eight housing types for you to choose from.
We’re calling this overall effort the Housing 400 Campaign!
In conjunction with the 400 Likes, you can get your name on the Housing Sign-Up List, a no-commitment way to get on the priority list for when housing does become available. Simply reply to this page below. Wouldn’t you want to get first crack at, say, renting a two-bedroom apartment overlooking Main Street or the river? It’s also how we’ll be prioritizing the Founding 50.
What is the campaign strategy?
Different housing types and different prices mean different crowds, so it’s important to recognize that a range of strategies is needed. Younger folks tend to focus on smaller, more attainably-priced efficiencies or studios, or smaller two or three-bedrooms apartments to split the rent, and are often willing to be urban pioneers. People with families will be looking at larger units, and also tend to wait until a neighborhood is more established before moving in. Empty nesters may be seeking homes with more amenities and nicer features, and maybe more bedrooms for guests or working areas.
Either way, there is a national trend toward smaller homes and more fiscally responsible living – it’s good for individuals and it’s good for the economy, and we’ll be helping you ride that wave! Check out “Americans are moving on up to smaller, smarter homes”.
What’s the goal for reaching 400 Likes?
June 30, 2012. Let’s do this!
Name: Visualize Nashua
Website: http://visualizenashua.com
Submitted by Visualize Nashua
Recognizing top contributors
Here’s What’s New… The top contributors for the month of August were announced at our meeting last night. Congratulations to Alex, Liz, and Paul! Great work getting the word out about Visualize Nashua and all your favorite ideas! You can be the top contributor for the month of September… click here to learn how to earn points.
The Campaign… The September 12th deadline is right around the corner. We are still trying to get 100 likes for public amenity ideas at the Bridge Street Site and 100 likes for retail ideas in the Downtown. We are trying our best and we hope you are too! Michelle will be approving new members all weekend, so go crazy, post your favorite ideas on facebook and twitter. Send a few e-mails with the link to Visualize Nashua to your friends, family, co-workers, etc. Click here to see the progress of theLet’s Get It Started Campaign.
Feasibility Studies… There may have been some confusion last night and we apologize for that, but hopefully this clarifies everything! IF we do not reach 100 Likes by September 12, don’t fear because we can still get a feasibility study! It’s made us realize that the placemaking side of things is not as compelling as it should be, so IF we have not reached 100 Likes by September 12, Renaissance will invest in professionally illustrated vignettes, one each for the top retail idea and top public amenity idea, which should help you, well, visualize what that place could be and make it that much easier to build a crowd around. When the top two public amenities and the top two retail ideas reach 100 Likes, Renaissance will invest in feasibility studies, and post September 12 we will look into more targeted campaigns that focus specifically on the most promising ideas.
Informal fun…If you are interested in having a little fun with fellow “Visualizers” then come out to Happy Hour. This time we will be at Margaritas! 5pm – 8pm on September 29th. Click here to RSVP on facebook.
October Meeting… Mark your calendars for the first Wednesday of the October! We will be having another meeting on October 5th to discuss all of your great ideas. Click here to RSVP on facebook. If you have a particular idea you’d like to present (2-3 minute) please let us know!
You have all done such a great job in these last 3 months, thank you to everyone that comes to our meetings and happy hour events. We have really created a little community and we are growing each day!
Name: Visualize Nashua
Website: http://visualizenashua.com
Submitted by Visualize Nashua
Contact Us
603-718-883188 Main St., Nashua NH, 03060Connect!
