by Gabe Donio

The short answer is: connectivity.
All three places: a big Eastern city, a college town and our own town, are linked by sidewalks and streets that never leave you separated from the rest of the community. It is conceivable that a person could walk from one end of any of these places to the other with little or no impediments to that walk. Connectivity is what makes a place “walkable.”
Increasingly, what is on either side of the street on that walk is becoming more and more interesting. Depending on where you are (and in some cases this is true in all three places) there is a lot to see. Shops, restaurants, bars, housing, offices, colleges, sports stadiums, parks and more – all easily accessed by car, train, bus, bicycle or on foot.
Boston is on my mind this week, because Gina and I took another excellent trip up there with friends this past weekend.
When you walk up from Kenmore Square and see the light standards from Fenway Park towering over Brookline Avenue and Yawkey Way, with the people spilling out of the bars and restaurants and souvenir stores around the park, you feel connected to the place.
The game was a great one, too. Sorry, Yankees fans.
Later in the evening, after a lightning storm blew out and the night was calmer (Mark Twain said it: “If you don’t like New England’s weather, wait a minute.”) we headed to the North End – the Italian section of Boston, the place I always went as a student if I needed a taste of Hammonton in New England.
It’s easier than ever to reach the North End, which was such a draw when I went to school at Boston University, that people didn’t mind walking under the huge green elevated highway known as the Central Artery. Now, that roadway is underground, and in its place is a park named the Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway.
With the elevated version of the Central Artery gone, it’s a short walk from the Fanueil Hall marketplace through the new park to Hanover Street, the Bellevue Avenue of the North End.
Hanover Street is what Bellevue Avenue is on its way to becoming. Lined with restaurants and coffee shops were filled with people on a Saturday night, the streets filled with people walking, all in a neighborhood with apartments up above. In the summer, they have the Italian festivals that parade through the streets. All year long, the area draws people – from native Bostonians, to tourists, to college students — who walk the sidewalks, shop in stores, and soak up that authentic Italian atmosphere.
Last Saturday night, we sat in my favorite cafe in Boston: Caffe Vittoria. The place was jammed, as usual, and nothing takes the chill out of an early Boston spring night like a hot cappuccino, a cannoli and some good conversation. It’s hard not to feel connected to the city when you’re sitting at a table in Caffe Vittoria.
That was Saturday. On Monday, it was reported in The Philadelphia Inquirer that Glassboro, home of Rowan University, would be breaking ground this summer on a $100 million pedestrian-friendly road project called Rowan Boulevard off of Route 322. The project includes a Holiday Inn Express, shops, restaurants, a Barnes & Noble Bookstore, Starbucks and two phases of housing for more than 850 students in what is currently a six-block area of Glassboro.
They are calling it a “downtown” that will service both the university and the town – while providing connectivity between both of them. The project took eight years to plan (with help from a $5 million Casino Reinvestment Development Authority grant) and will take two to three years to build.
Hammonton is already on its way to developing connectivity through its downtown revitalization. Sit in Trina’s, Marcello’s, Casciano, Illiano’s, Rocco’s Town House, Fiesta Mexicana or walk around the downtown and stop in the shops or offices. New restaurants are on their way. A new town hall is on its way. The Eagle Theatre is on its way. St. Joseph Roman Catholic High School, Elementary School, Church, Convent and Rectory line one end of the downtown. A “Little Italy” district is proposed. (Hint to town officials: Go take a field trip to the North End in Boston, sit in Caffe Vittoria, and see how it’s done.)
And, of course, there is the possibility of Stockton College coming to Hammonton.
Unlike Glassboro, our downtown is already built and ready for them.
So, what do Boston, Glassboro and Hammonton have in common? Connectivity is the key word. When the people are connected to a place, they are connected to each other.
We’ve turned the corner in downtown Hammonton. Now it’s time to look at the places that make connectivity happen on the highest level, and make it happen here.
Why? Because the future is now.

Gabe Donio is the publisher of The Gazette.