The now firmly established traditional tree lighting ceremony, the day after Thanksgiving on Clinton Square got the folks at the Hanover Square Association, especially Sean Carroll, thinking. It brought people downtown in numbers, focused on a destination, for a predictable length of time. It overcomes one of the obstacles to downtown development: fear of city. That fear has been overcome, to a degree, by the concentration of retail, restaurant and now fashion activity in Armory Square. But the loss of some of the similar activity on Hanover Square over the past few years has brought on an increase of that glaring symbol which fosters fear of city, the empty storefront. Percolating those two elements of current urban existence fostered hope for a spark to reverse the trend...
