As the week comes to a close, students look forward to a weekend full of fun activities before another dreaded week spent stuck inside the school building. However, every venture takes time to plan and enough money to spend due to the lack of recreation in Londonderry.
The area of land located near the Market Basket in Londonderry has been being remodeled since 2017 and will continue to develop over the next 20 years. This project has been named the Woodmont Commons. Town citizens were overjoyed to hear that an area of Londonderry would be devoted to recreation for our residents.
However, it is still very much under construction. So far, the only main developments in the area are apartment buildings. No one would want to move here if we have no activities to do. In the master plans for this land, retail stores, parks, restaurants, a performing arts venue and office space is to be included in the making of this “downtown-like” area. Why do they keep adding so many apartment complexes?
In addition to the many apartment complexes that have been built, there are a few offices, a gym, hair salon and an eye doctor. These new buildings are not eye-catching for younger people and still do not offer recreational activities. People do not want to spend their weekend evenings at the gym, and you only go to the hair salon and eye doctor every couple of months.
This area of town is to be expected to look like Tuscan Village over in Salem, which is where most students spend their nights. Whether it is walking around the shops, listening to the live music or getting something to eat in one of the nice restaurants, doing this most weekends can be expensive. This includes paying for the gas to drive all the way to Salem and then actually doing the activity, which can be overpriced.
Adding a “downtown” in Londonderry will save our residents money, but will also generate more money in our town. The money being spent in Salem will now, therefore, be spent in Londonderry by both town residents but also people from out of town. This can help cut down town expenses that we have to pay such as taxes and education costs like computers and lunch prices. Lets keep our money in Londonderry.
No one wants to drive all the way into a different town to go out to a decent dinner. We have barely any restaurants in Londonderry, let alone nice ones. Every time a new project is going underway, residents get their hopes up, thinking that it will be someplace to eat, relax and enjoy their time. However, it is almost always another bank. Why do we keep placing banks in Londonderry when the money flows out of the town instead of in?
Having to drive a long distance after a night out might not be the safest thing. Let’s face it, people are going to drink. Having places to hang out with friends in Londonderry reduces the risk of drunk driving and car crashes.
Londonderry could benefit from having a “downtown” like setting or any type of recreation or restaurants in general. Lets not normalize having to drive five towns over to do a decent activity with friends after a long week.
