Opinion: This is a commentary. The views expressed are the author’s own.
The story of TJ’s Music represents the decline of Fall River’s Main Streets in so many ways – a thriving business impacted by decades of neglect by city and state leadership.
Tod Salpietro, the owner of TJ’s Music on S. Main Street in the heart of downtown, recently spoke at the Fall River City Council. He was there to speak about the impact of rampant drug use around his business. It’s worth listening to every word.
I recently broke the story of Seven Hills, a mostly publicly funded non-profit across the street from TJ’s Music, handing out “harm reduction” bags filled with syringes, meth/crack pipes and cookers. After visiting Seven Hills, I also learned about the booty bumping kits they hand out, which are used to consume drugs through the rectum.
While the harm reduction kits provide health benefits to homeless people with addiction, they also cost Massachusetts taxpayers $6.5 million statewide. They draw hundreds of people from the encampments around the city, which hurts local businesses, and needles left on the street are a hazard to people and pets.
The rise and fall of South Main Street
In 2010, the new Fall River Justice Center was opened, but the $85 million spent didn’t include parking for visitors. Anyone who has been to the Justice Center knows parking is tough – both of the recommended parking garages, on Pearl Street and Third Street, need millions in repairs (we’ve all seen the large Jenga-block supports). Only 261 of Pearl Street’s 374 spaces are usable, and many of the rest are reserved or blocked off due to hazardous conditions. Plus the garages aren’t convenient or nearby, so most people use the metered parking spots on S. Main Street.
See the problem for all the businesses near the courthouse? The courthouse has hundreds of workers who need long-term parking, then you have jurors and of course those accused of crimes and the audience that shows up. Carpooling is rare in Massachusetts so hundreds of vehicles chase all the parking spots within a half mile of the courthouse leaving few spots for the customers of businesses. All the towns that surround Fall River have great places to eat and businesses that compete against Fall River businesses. It’s human nature to patronize the businesses with free and better parking, so Fall River businesses get hurt or move to the surrounding towns.
S. Main Street has a shocking number of vacant businesses
When I was purchasing the WSAR 1480 radio business, I was searching for a place to move it. I thought the station should be moved from Somerset to Fall River since most of the listeners and advertisers were in Fall River. While searching for a studio space, I had a private conversation with someone with deep knowledge of real estate in downtown Fall River. He opened Google Maps and we virtually walked around North and South Main Street, and I was shocked at how many properties were vacant. Dozens of first-floor spaces, and some entire buildings, were vacant, and it was much worse above the first floor.
New Bedford’s downtown tells a different story
One just has to visit Taunton or New Bedford’s downtown to see what thriving downtowns look like.
New Bedford’s courthouses are downtown but on the outskirts. There are two large parking garages in the heart of downtown on Elm Street and at the Zeiterion Theatre. The Whaling Museum and the Zeiterion Theatre drive tourism and there is even a visitor center dedicated to tourists. It’s rare to see vacant space on the first floor and residential living above the businesses seems to be at least middle-class income, important when you are trying to sustain the business below. Even though downtown has its homeless issues, it has become safe enough that Mayor Mitchell closed the downtown police station in 2021.
You visit downtown New Bedford to learn about whaling, to catch a show at the Z or The Vault and generally feel safe (just avoid the bus station). You visit downtown Fall River to plead not guilty, to see the site of a 134-year old double homicide, or to pick up your taxpayer-funded meth pipe and booty bumping kit. Maybe visit one of the hurting businesses ready to move out of downtown or the city. Since you have to park a half mile away, you get to walk past open drug use and charred or abandoned buildings along the way.
