Mayor Walsh’s first ever budget proposal was submitted to the Boston City Council on Wednesday. The $2.7 billion budget, the first of the mayor’s short-lived municipal career, contains a handful of public service initiatives, including Wicked Free Wi-Fi in the Dorchester and Roxbury area and longer Boston Public Library hours. But it also allows for the Department of Neighborhood Development and New Urban Mechanics to team up for the benefit of Boston’s aesthetics and business owners.
Per the proposal, the DND and New Urban Mechanics are able to forge a partnership to use the power of crowdsourcing for filling vacant storefronts. It sounds a bit strange, I know. People think crowdsourcing or crowdfunding and their brains automatically register pages upon pages of Kickstarter campaigns.
But crowdsourcing is a dextrous way of consolidating public opinion, not just funding. The DND and New Urban Mechanics recognize this idea and are currently in the beginning stages of formulating the most effective approach on behalf of storefront owners.
BostInno spoke with Devin Quirk – Director of Operations, Department of Neighborhood Development – about how this idea came to be and the changes poised to sweep through the streets of Boston as a result.
“It came out of a series we organized called College Think Tanks,” Quirk told us over the phone. “It offers opportunities to bring students together around different challenges. One of those was access to capital, the other was filling vacant storefronts.”
The idea has yet to really take hold as the budget proposal was only submitted on Wednesday. But already DND and New Urban Mechanics personnel are pilot testing ideas in Grove Hall, an area situated between Dorchester and Roxbury what will also be receiving Wicked Free Wi-Fi.
Essentially, DND and New Urban Mechanics will fill vacant storefronts with choices for what Bostonians would like to see occupy the space. Passersby will then text their answer to a designated number. Finally DND and New Urban Mechanics will analyze responses and choose the most popular option.
With the data they collect, they’re then able to dissect it and determine if follow-up questions are necessary.
“It mixes old media with new media,” Quirk explains further. “People will need a cell phone, but not necessarily a smart phone. It helps bridge a digital divide. It’s a text-based citizen survey.”
When asked about any potential pitfalls he sees along the way, Quirk couldn’t really think of any. Opportunity abounds for the initiative. Store owners don’t like having vacant fronts and residents surely don’t like staring at them.
But perhaps most importantly, crowdsourcing storefronts is a demonstration of the Walsh administration’s intent to make Boston more enticing to outsiders, more lucrative to residents and an overall world-class city.
Says Quirk in closing, “This represents Mayor Walsh’s commitment to innovation in neighborhoods.”
Related: On April 30th, BostInno presents a 45 minute showcase featuring interviews with top influencers taking a deep dive into the New Economy exploring who the business leaders are, how education and the workplace are changing in light of new business, and the challenges and opportunities ahead for city policy and infrastructure. Find out what’s next for Boston onApril 30th at BostonUpFront.
