The carrot being waving in front of the town is additional revenues from meals taxes at MS restaurants. But as Mr Boone rightly noted it's a false promise. Area restaurants are already so chock full on weekend nights it's hard to get in.There would be minimal increased revenue but of course this won't be documented until after ND had got their way (again).
Also,this 1,000 seat multiplex would turn over at least three times a night adding 3,000 people and their cars to the already traffic saturated roads of town in all directions. As the target market for most movies is teenagers and young adults that is who most of those 3,000 people will be. Not the target market of an upscale mall and mostly not the young from the town itself.

I was there last night and heard one Fernway resident say: " I and many of my neighbors are ready to put our house on the market" . Isn't it sad, that they feel they are being driven out of their beloved homes????? For what???? A movie theater, when there are so many near by....AND really Pottery Barn, and William Somona...let's see...should I go 6 miles to Peabody, or 7 to Burlington....Do I really need one in Lynnfield. Same with Five Guys,and The Paper Store!! AND this Ted Tye was so PROUD to annouce....Give us something that's not in Burlington, or Peabody.....This is same old, same old already.

Sounds like Cinema has problems

This is the third attempt in six years by the developer to try and get a cinema complex to be part of MarketStreet. We were told at the outset that a theatre is NOT necessary for the success of the development, but rather it would be a nice addition to the "mix."

According to Mr. Tye at last night's BOS meeting, more than 90 percent of the retail space has already been leased. So, it appears ND is doing just fine attracting tenants WITHOUT a cinema already, so why the repeated attempts to put one in? And, yes, "things change," Selectman Nelson, but all we're asking is for ND and town officials to honor the original agreement -- no cinema -- it's really that simple. Is the projected extra $200K in meals tax revenue really worth ripping the town apart, creating more traffic, etc.?

Additionally, is anyone else wondering, as I am, what is happening with the 80,000 square feet of office space at MarketStreet that was supposed to be part of the complex to give it a "village" feel, with second floor space above the street-level retail to be occupied by doctors, lawyers, accountants, and other professionals? At last night's update, Mr.Tye mentioned that 10K of office space is coming online in Phase 1, but curiously did not make mention of when the remaining 70K will be completed. Is ND having trouble leasing this space? Is the 45K square footage for the proposed cinema replacing the office space or in addition to that space?

These upscale cinemas are fantastic. I think it would be very positive for the Town of Lynnfield. It would provide employment & income for us as well as interesting films. I think it is all the negativity that is dividing the town, not the movie theater.

These upscale cinemas are fantastic. I think it would be very positive for the Town of Lynnfield. It would provide employment & income for us as well as interesting films. I think it is all the negativity that is dividing the town, not the movie theater.

Lynnfield was once a quiet little town. Now all the new residents, who thought the zip code would convey class and prestige, are destroying the quietness that made the town great. Lynnfield was never flashy. Now it's becoming an overpriced Saugus. Thanks a lot.

Don't be suckers, Tye couldn't care less about the town and it's residents.. How does the town benefit from a movie theater? This is ridiculous. Sure, "additional 200k" in revenues. You think that will save the town from another 2 1/2 override? How about endless gridlock and traffic accidents from all the low riders and idiots from all over bringing their baby mamas to the "upscale"movie theater. Good luck with that. I'll be moving to Middleton.

I'm with Nicky. Craig, why don't you try to live here for more than 5 months before rendering such strong opinions.

Craig, Lynnfield is an expensive town. Not everyone can afford it. It's not worth destroying the character of the town for the additional revenue that will just go to hiring new police and fire to handle the extra volume of incidents. Furthermore, by allowing Lynnfield to become another Burlington or Reading etc, you are diminishing the value. Towns like Lynnfield are in short supply, and in high demand, hence the higher price level. That's reality.

I grew up in this town. My family has been in lynnfield for over 60 years. I want to raise my kids here, but I see what the town is becoming and I'm having serious second thoughts. That's right, not in my backyard! That's why people live in lynnfield, because they'd rather pay more to not have a mall in their backyard.

To address the "jobs" it will create. For who? Kids? No one is going to afford a mortgage in lynnfield on a movie theater wage. Stop buying into these false premises.

Make no mistake, it will create more opportunity for crime as well. It will attract drug dealers from all over because now they have a new and "upscale" meeting place. Ask the long term residents of Danvers how the malls worked out for them, and what type of element it brought into the town.

The Market Place is not big enough to have a cinema! The local government is using this to generate more income that they can steal in the form of tax revenue and create bigger government in the form of government jobs! The government is usurped , an authoritarian dictatorship that always goes against the will of the people!

NICKY!!! AMEN!!!!!

Mr. Foster, I live on the Walnut Street end of Glen Meadow. The dust, dirt, noise, blasting, ect... does indeed affect and effect me!!! No window were poen in my house last spring, summer or fall!!! I am also on a hill where I can see what once was a lovely, woodsy, parcl of land. My only saving grace to this, is at least I still see the sunsets..

Nicky, the government wants more crime because it creates more jobs and overtime in the form of police, court, and attorneys. The Bar Association has taken over all forms of government, being elected illegally, they can not sit as lawmakers and practice law which they do! It violates the separation of powers act in the constitution! All these laws they pass benefit their practice of law and the same goes for selectmen, they approve measures that benefit the growth of their local government and not the people! They are there to rob, steal and cheat people out of their money. They use the police as a tool to generate money to benefit their industry of government. They must be stopped at all costs!

Really Craig? The whole town will be affected. And who said anything about race?

Please, everybody who wants to preserve the remaining integrity of the town, talk to your neighbors and make sure we all go to town meeting and put a stop to this!

Why are we still debating the merits of Market Street? It's happening. We should be working with ND to make it as successful as possible. If Ted thinks a high-end cinema is going to make the development more successful in the long term, we should listen to his reasoning and then rationally discuss/debate the merits as a town.
For what it's worth, I've lived in town since 1996 and don't expect Market Street to negatively impact what I've come to love about Lynnfield during my time here.

Mr. DeMaina, Mr McKenzie and ALL those who stood up for the people of Lynnfield who do not want this blasted 8 screen, "screening room" (choke, choke) I wish to personally thank you. Although I do speaking engagements for MADD and other sectors regarding the deadly results of drunk driving, I am still very shy to speak in public. So, thank you all, for publicly addressing our concerns and attitudes. You made a wonderful presentation.

Nicky I thought you and your bigoted ways were leaving for Middleton? Beware there are pet shops in your next town

@John - I appreciate your comment, but from what I heard last night you're in the minority when it comes to the folks opposing the cinema. Most of the speakers focused on the project in general vs. whether the cinema concept had merit. There was a lot of anger in the room that prevented many of us in favor of hearing more about the project from speaking. It was a very hostile environment.

Regarding your question, I can't answer for Mr. Tye. I will say that the concept he's trying to propose is relatively new and would be unique to Massachusetts, which makes it a drawing card for Market Street. I imagine their research shows it will increase the average $'s spent/visitor in a significant way (I have no knowledge if this is true, but it seems logical).

Dear Lynnfield voters,
I am very concerned about what time "last-call" be here in Lynnfield, especially in Kings and just how diligent and strigent will the legal age limit entry be enforced for these patrons, especially with all the fake ID"s that are used. Walnut and Salem Streets are to be driven with extreme caution on a good day let alone at night, or in bad weather or icy streets or texting or those who are impaired! Too many families suffer the shattering effects of grief and the forever-changed family dynamics of a loved one, unnecessarily killed by a drunk driver. Many spouses suffer the breakdown of their marriage, and family separation. There is no closure to such a violent and unprepared death. There are no good-bye's, no I love you', no I'll see you later. There is no-thing. We are the family behind The Alexander Peters Memorial Fund and the annual P-MONEY ONE PITCH TOURNAMENT, fundraiser. Alcohol and certain settings do not mix and we must be diligent with the conditions of those who consume alcohol within the Market Place drinking establishments.

No parent should bury their child! No sister or brother should live the rest of their lives with the very real, unwanted, yet forced upon, devastating secondary losses. The people responsible for the crash also live with the knowledge that they destroyed a life and a family. Friends and relatives are also forever changed. I am not opposed to alcohol, however, Lynnfield is our home and many of you are our friends and neighbors. Those of you who know us, know first hand, how the death of our son and brother changed our family. Unfortunately, there are 13 families that I am aware of, in this little town who have buried their children due to such circumstances. It appears Mr. Tye is so enslaved to the money-god, there is no room for the consequential realities that his visionary greed will produce. Heaven, help us.

I ask you, how many bars are needed in Lynnfield. Every restaurant and entertainment establishment thus far in Market Place has been granted a liquor license. All in such a small square footage area.!! Really?????? Maybe we should rename this to "Washington Street Lynnfield"

Specialty cinema = Grey Poupon instead of yellow mustard on your hot dog....

The pigs in government need to realize they are not running a business, they are running a country! The purpose of government is not to keep raising revenue and creating government but to maintain roads, defense, schools and leave people alone and let them live their lives freely. The idea that they approve a development like this to generate tax revenue is criminal behavior. And Nick is not racist. He pays to live in Lynnfield because he doesnt want to live with the garbage in Lawrence, Lowell and Chelsea. Also the politicians have stolen your tax money from towns like Lynnfield, Saugus, Andover, North Andover that you pay in state income tax and built new schools for the welfare kids in Lawrence, Lowell and Chelsea while the higher income level towns have older schools in disrepair! Those welfare cities I mentioned happen to vote for the Democrats that have stolen your money! They have taken over this country through sedition and treason and they need to be held accountable!

I'm a 6 year resident with two young, pre-school aged children and am trying to be an observer of all the opinions on the theater and the MS project so I can cast an educated vote.
I come from a town in NY that had a development boom some 10 years prior - Port Chester. What I can say from my observations is no amount of tax revenue generated from that similar project off set taxes on home owners. The money goes to the police, fire department & public works. $200K from a movie theater...I just read our highest paid cop makes ~$180 with OT/Details. I'm pretty sure with a theater we'll need a cop at MS full time. So that 'carrot' is really a wash.
That said, back to having a family of 4; a movie outing today cost $60+. What's an upscale visit going to cost me. With today's digital streaming - we buy the movie $15 on Amazon. Maybe I'm naive but isn't going to the movies a dying pastime?

I think Dinyce has some great points about liquor licenses and traffic/DWI. If you are going to MS from North Reading or Middleton you're going to drive via Main/Summer/Walnut.
I think the town has a responsibility to pressure the benefactors of these licenses to partner with a livery service so patrons can get a taxi home if needed. Tye/ND we need Lynnfield Taxi as a tenant IMO.

MWC, Thank you!!! Please check out; asafewayhome.com This can be downloaded to your phone for free and gives you or the kids, for whom it was created, the names and numbers for a confidential ride home including a taxi service that participates in the program.

Hey MWC! We don't need anymore police, fire, and DPW hacks, we need to keep our money and live in peace and quiet, those occupations you mentioned are propaganda thrown at us by userped government officials! Those are people who can't make it in the private sector and are civil service hacks with poor attitudes.

The warrant, if/whenever it is submitted, should be tabled until ND can produce a letter of intent by a prospective cinema tenant who additionally states their full agreement to adopt the plan that Mr. Tye presented last night including any wish list modifications they might seek appropriate to their specific business plan.

Otherwise, I envision more back biting and weasel tactics in the future. Should the unlikely occur and this passes at Town Meeting, a newfound prospective tenant, schmoozed by ND, might 'ask' (extort us) for yet even more ‘changes’.

No matter, I'm voting no because I simply do not believe an 'upscale' cinema will draw many customers and someday we’ll end up deciding whether to say goodbye to a bankrupt tenant or permit them to show skin flicks.

People who have money, (and even many who do not...), already have high-def in-home theater quality TV's complete with surround sound and leather recliners. With a "free" drink in hand and a cigar in their mouth they can order up just about any movie via the net, FIOS or Comcast – anytime they wish – then pause it to go baste the pig roasting out back. (Those naughty gluttons!)

So… why would anyone with the above want to bother to come to this megaplex to pay $11 (or whatever?) for less than what they have at home? I doubt that I would and I only have a 30” 720P TV (…Cont’d)

(Cont’d …)
IMO cinema is dying a slow death and its days are numbered. 50 years ago it was the ONLY place you could see a movie in color and, further back before TV, it was the ONLY place you could go to see news presented with moving images, (especially popular in WW2 for folks to drop in to see on their way home from their job at the bomb factory http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=792R4AdxNLI )

Nobody back then would have dreamt of seeing say "The Wizard of Oz" anytime they wished, displayed in as good or better a format than what was available back then…. at home.

If ya’ll want to get serious about attracting crowds of people buying tickets to see something ‘upscale’, how about REAL THEATER? Live on stage performance has had its ups and downs but it’s a heck of lot older than cinema and I think it is on an upswing right now. Perhaps people get tired of watching so many movies at home they need a break once in a while? I don’t really know but that’s my suggestion for someone else to research. I believe Stoneham Theater and North Shore Music Theater are doing very well these days, no?

Thanks for the link, M, (http://www.natoonline.org/infocus/05april/mall.htm) to that article.

The following excerpt from that very informative story is particularly illuminating (the items in ALL CAPS are mine for emphasis):

The trick, experts agree, is to find a retail site in an area UNDERSERVED by existing cinemas. “Forcing a theatre into a geographic area WHICH IS ALREADY ADEQUATELY SCREENED, even when a developer is willing to build turnkey for the exhibitor, only exacerbates the problem of SCREEN SATURATION and REVENUE DILUTION,” explains Regal Entertainment Group exec John Roper.

Let's see, there are five movie complexes -- comprising 75 screens -- within a short drive of MarketStreet: Woburn (16 screens; 9 miles away), Burlington (10 screens; 13 miles), Revere (20 screens; 8 miles), Danvers (20 screens at Liberty Tree Mall plus another 9 at Hollywood Hits across Route 128; 8 miles).

Now, I'm no expert, but it certainly sounds to me like this region is most definitely not "underserved" at all and more than "adequately screened" with the current inventory already in place.

I plotted out data I found for movie ticket sales per capita (per capita per year I realize now I forgot to include..)- http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y48/mikeishere/Movie-Sales-Per-Capita.gif

The recent declining trend of late could just be the economy but is likely affected by DTTV (first broadcast in 1998) as well as an accelerating number of large high def. TV's

The chart isn't scary but then ... it can't be described as 'encouraging' either IMO.

After reading these posts, I fear that one of the very important points of town division, that was brought up by the Selectman and other residents, is coming true. Neighbors speaking out against one another, speaking for one another, degrading other viewpoints is not a fruitful solution, nor does it add anything to the very legitimate debate we have before us. Let's try to be civil, and listen with an honest attempt to understand what our neighbors are thinking and feeling. An on-line post may seem anonymous, but we all live closer than we think.

Some have mentioned a theater. I believe a dinner theater would be much preferred and a better fit. I also feel they're are more than enough cinema's in the area. Market St would have greater character with a live theater than cinema's.

Craig, I understand your response. You cannot not argue any of the points I made, so you resort to the "racist" attack. I never once mentioned race. You assigned a racial connotation to "low riders and baby mamas". Those terms can be, and are, used for any skin color. You need to think about why you immediately make that connection.

Maybe you should take a ride to some local malls, you'll see that baby mamas come in all colors. Low riders are usually driven by younger, inexperienced drivers, and usually without paying much attention to the road.

I'll rephrase, it will attract more young punks and troublemakers from all over to cause trouble in Lynnfield. Capiche?

Go check out the upscale movie theater in revere on a Friday night- yes the call it a "premium theater" - and see what I mean.

From articles I've read, lifestyle center restaurants like movie theatres because they drive traffic to restaurants & vice versa. It's all about bringing traffic/customers to the mall. Seems like, regardless of what the people look like who comprise the increased traffic, or what they drive, or how much they make, or where they're from, how old they are, etc., the bottom line is that there will be a lot more people and cars, many hundreds more, going into Market Street... and that is something the existing traffic & parking plans did not take into account. Can you all at least agree that lots more cars in and out of the site, at very late hours, will be bad for Lynnfield, even if the cars are all BMWs and Mercedes driven by quiet, well-to-do older upscale kinds of folks? Yes, there may be other kinds of vehicles and people, who have ages/races/incomes/lifestyles that will not be desired by some, but the bottom line really seems to be the increased traffic, congestion and late night noise (from autos & patrons) that a multiplex cinema cannot help but bring.

John, I will be there and I plan on voting YES.
but for the second time it will probably get a majority YES vote but not pass because it will need 2/3rds of the vote to pass.
You do know that the last time this came up a majority of the town voted in favor of it.

Hey -

WIth 180 housing units also going in along with the LIFE senior housing, has anyone (and we all know that our town officials have not) given thought to the bus routes and traffic associated with kids coming and going to school and the taffic within that complex? What about kids getting home with Move Matinees letting out??
ALSO, I suspect that some of those housing units will be within a mile of Huckleberry hill school as the crow flys. Will they walk?? It is already unsafe for kids on Walnut to walk and yet the school system indeed makes 1st, 2nd and 3rd graders (along with 4th graders) to do so

Those kids would not be walking to Huckleberry, the town will be required to provide busing, but these are very valid concerns about the "neighborhood" they will be growing up in.

I'll add that Huckleberry will be over capacity when those units go in ... based upon the impact we saw from the appartments behind the car dealer on Rt 1

Maybe the additional $200k/year we receive from the proposed cinema could be allocated to solve the kids/sidewalks problem?

I live much closer to Huckleberry and my kids take the bus, so I know for sure they will not be walking even if it were safe to do so. Nevertheless, it's not safe for ANYBODY to be walking along Walnut St. and certainly not at night, and with increased traffic coming from the mall and the various bars that this new mall brings. Thank you Dinyce for calling attention to the very serious issue of drunk driving; something I hadn't even considered in this entire fiasco.

And I thought the 200 K was going for increased police detail. Doesn't sound like we have enough 200 K s to go around.

People keep saying how wonderful it will be to walk to the new restaurants; it would be a short stroll for me, walking is one of my favorite activities, but I won't be doing it, and I'll be curious to observe how many actually do.

National Development delaying presenting an article on the cinema. Details at www.topics01940.org