Is a dream a lie if it don't come true, or is it something worse?

The Sentinel has a good story yesterday on the growing interest in residential development along the Nashua River. (By the way, in recent months some of these Sunday issue stories in the Sentinel have been pretty darn good.)

It's an interesting story for a couple of reasons. First, it shows a genuine interest in the city and one of its chief amenities, the river. Waterfront, whether it's the ocean, a lake, or an urban river, is always a draw. Developers are starting to be drawn to the river.

Relatedly, there's information in the story that leads one to believe the city is working on improving public access to the river, mostly by demanding developers create riverwalks and other access to the river on their properties. Hopefully the city has a plan (or has at least considered) that will link up these privately-made riverwalks into a continuous biking or walking path along the river.

These developments are mostly in former mill buildings. They offer developers great space to built units, along with plenty of space for parking. Potential owners get condos with river views, a parking space, and some privacy away from other development.

Downtown housing is slowly building up (don't look at today, but a year or two down the line), and other significant housing proposals are popping up around the city. If you look at the proposed developments and their timelines, you're looking at hundreds of new housing units in the city by 2008 or 2009.

Hopefully, city officials can take a long-term view of downtown, and slowly start building a critical business mass for downtown in three or four years. Not tomorrow, but down the line. The Sentinel story refers to almost 400 new units in the city. That translates to close to 1,000 people, and that doesn't include other developments around the city and downtown. Now is an important time for city leaders to look ahead to the future of downtown, and make sure that as these housing units fill up, there is a growing downtown waiting for them.