The Godfather and Clockwork Orange ruled the big screens. ABBA and The Moody Blues were proudly playing on your Hi-Fi. You had to get off your bum and walk over to the television to turn the channel from The Brady Bunch on ABC to Hawaii Five-O on CBS once you noticed the time on your newly invented digital watch. Richard Nixon was in the White House. And the fight over Newburyport’s (not-so) gorgeous waterfront began. The year was 1972. I was one-year-old and darn cute.
The World Trade Center became the world’s tallest building. The Supreme Court of the United States ruled on Roe v. Wade. The Bahamas gained independence from Great Britain. Pink Floyd sang about the Dark Side of the Moon. It was 1973 and the fight over Newburyport’s waterfront was just warming up. I became potty-trained.
The cost of gas went from 55 cents per gallon to 63 cents per gallon and the average annual income went from $11,800 to $17,000 in the time it took for the debate over the waterfront to turn to a lawsuit and then to a trial as the Friends of the Newburyport Waterfront sued the Newburyport Redevelopment Authority (or the NRA). In the meantime, the NRA built the now beloved boardwalk. It is 1977. I was begging my mom for a Dorothy Hamill haircut.
By the time Pope Paul VI died at the age of 80, the Friends had lost the case then appealed. But as Blondie belted out Call Me, the appeals court filed in favor of the Friends and six wayes to the water were preserved. If you have lost track, it is 1980 now. And I refused to drive in anyone’s Ford Pinto for fear of being rear-ended and the being blown to bits in an untimely explosion.
Around the time the first Apple Macintosh went on sale, the NRA decided to temporarily allow parking on its land. I am sure I don’t need to tell you how that “temporary” arrangement is being handled today? I am thankful that at least the Apple company has embraced progress; I love my iPhone.
Let’s speed this up…..
1985 – Mayor Sullivan announced that a hotel will break ground and I graduated from the 8th grade. Aforementioned hotel got scrapped, but my diploma stood…onto high school I went.
1987 to 1989 – George Michael’s album Faith debuted, Roger Foster’s hotel plan got picked after another round of proposals went out from the NRA. Foster was granted permits by Board of Appeals, but his plan was considered Bad (Michael Jackson had risen to god-like status) by the new group on the scene, Committee for an Open Waterfront, or COW as they had come to be known. COW filed for an appeal and asked Newburyporters, in the words of Michael’s talented sister, Janet, to Let’s Wait Awhile. I was at the prom by now…perm, dyeable shoes, and all!
1992 – Real estate took a downturn, Foster was out and Lagasse was in. We had both Jeffery Dahmer and Hannibal Lector to watch out for. Not much was going on regarding the waterfront but I was having a phenomenal time in college!! Now those were the days.
Now let’s hit warp-speed, ‘cause I am getting tired…..
1997 to 2002. More conversation. More debate. More, More, More. Princess Diana dies. Mother Teresa dies. But Tomorrow Never Dies is a hit at the movies. And that one-year-old at the beginning of this article now had a one-year-old of her own.
2008 – NRA revealed a plan with a park. They didn’t have the resources to go anywhere with it. But Madonna turned 50 and Joe the Plumber made his debut, so at least there was good news out there. Ugh. I had three sons by now and was in the weeds with diapering and nursing and more diapering, so I was not paying much attention to the waterfront, Madonna, or Joe the Plumber. But I did notice that for the first time in my “adult” life, the waterfront might…just might…become something more than what it was. Although I stopped being superstitious as my childhood faded away, I still had my fingers crossed.
I am almost done, I swear.
2011 – Karp bought much of what Lagasse owned. But that was not NRA-land, just the land that bookended it. But it became part of the conversation as many people wanted to wait to see Karp’s intentions before acting on the NRA land. Yay! Another reason to wait and do nothing!!
It was kind of like if we, the people of Newburyport, got to play Bella. Karp got to play Jacob. And the NRA got to play Edward Cullen (sorry guys, I am making you the the big, bad, blood-sucking vampire…but he is darn handsome!). And we, the Bellas, were all confused and going back and forth and being consistently wishy-washy, never making up our tween minds about what to do…..what to do? Oh, and the Twilight series took on cult-like status in the movies. I was not a fan. Bella, seriously…make up your mind, woman!
2012 to Present – NRA starts to gather steam again and lets the public know that they will be seeking proposals to develop 13% of the land they own which will fund an increase of the park by 35% while bring much needed revenues to the City. COW gets back in the game and the debate goes on. Even though the City has had 40+ years to figure this out, the dance continues….from the Hustle to the Moonwalk, the Electric Slide to the Sprinkler, the Macarena to the Harlem Shake, and we mustn’t forget Gangnam Style. My feet are tired and the waterfront is still dirt lots.
When this waterfront ever gets done, I volunteer to choreograph a celebration dance. We will call it, Ode to Progress. We will be costumed and we will dance….man, we will dance. There will be room for us all to get our groove on. We will celebrate a community that finally came together. That put aside “me” and thought about “us”. No matter where you were on the issue, you won’t be able to stop your toes from tapping. I guarantee it.
It will be a good day for Newburyport.