Quote:
Originally Posted by map
Being I am not living up there yet (still waiting for house to be finished) I probably shouldn't comment but I will. 
Laconia to me has a lot of potential. It reminds me of Newburgh, NY in my neck of the woods. Newburgh used to be awesome back in the old days but as the riff raff began to invade it- drugs, prostitution, crime, etc. - it went way down hill. Welfare city with quite a lot of poverty. Illegal immigrants everywhere. Some homeless people. Over the years a lot has been done to try to reverse it. Nice restaurants on the waterfront, breweries, some renovations of older homes, new businesses coming in. Some long time businesses hanging in there.
Hospital went through a massive renovation years ago to address the fact that people did not want to go downtown out of fear. They built a huge parking garage and so forth as well. Merged with a NYC hospital to improve it's reputation and survive the health care environment.
But- with the riff raff still hanging around it puts a limit on how much can be fixed. To this day, I try to avoid going there as much as possible for fear of being a crime victim. I don't like to even drive through it.
I asked our son about the current WOW trail as I would like to use it for exercise once up there. He said there are parts that are sketchy to walk through. Feels it is safer on a bike (of which we do not have). Other parts he says are ok.
Just don't write off Laconia as of yet. |
Not trying to be rude so sorry if the tone comes off wrong, but your comment provides nothing but further evidence to write off Laconia. You stated Newburgh was like Laconia, once bustling and a vibrant place to be back in the day. Newburgh fell apart with poverty, drug attics, illegal immigrants, crime etc. A ton of money was sunk into its revitalization (where that money came from is irrelevant), new restaurant's, new businesses, new hospital etc and it is still a dump that you don't even want to drive through.... But we think Laconia has a shot and shouldn't be written off yet?
So doing all of that is going to do what for the city of Laconia if we don't solve the actual root cause problem? Nothing.