{"id":28607,"date":"2017-09-25T19:54:11","date_gmt":"2017-09-25T23:54:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom2\/2017\/09\/25\/16536\/"},"modified":"2026-05-14T17:13:05","modified_gmt":"2026-05-14T21:13:05","slug":"16536","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/2017\/09\/25\/16536\/","title":{"rendered":"Buckley Transportation Center will be Transformed"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

This is an artist’s rendering of the new facade of the Buckley Transportation Center which features a mural designed by Elevated Thought.<\/p><\/div>\n

The Buckley Transportation Center, a highly visible landmark in downtown Lawrence, should soon have a new look, thanks to a new campaign to beautify the city which Northern Essex Community College is a part of.<\/p>\n

At a kick-off event on Wednesday, Sept. 20, a group of organizations spearheading the initiative unveiled their plans which include cleaning and re-staining the wood slat fa\u00e7ade; repairing and improving the ground floor and bus waiting area, and creating a public art landmark on the side of the facility.<\/p>\n

The $100,000 project will be funded by a $50,000 grant from Mass Development<\/a> which must be matched by the community over a 60-day period.\u00a0 A crowdfunding campaign has been created to raise money for the project and donations are being solicited from businesses and individuals.<\/p>\n

Organizations involved in the planning of this project include the City of Lawrence<\/a>, Groundwork Lawrence<\/a>, the Lawrence Partnership<\/a>, the Lawrence Redevelopment Authority<\/a>, and Northern Essex Community College<\/a>.\u00a0 Elevated Thought, an arts and social justice organization, came up with the inspiration for the project and will create the artwork, and Payette Associates, a Boston design firm, provided architectural direction.<\/p>\n

Built in 1993 and named for Lawrence\u2019s longest-serving mayor, John Buckley, who was in office from 1951 to 1973, the transportation center is currently a \u201chulking block long grey box\u201d, according to the project website, and the plan is to replace that \u201cwith warm energetic colors that create a light welcoming environment and speak(s) to Lawrence\u2019s artistic renaissance and strong community culture.\u201d<\/p>\n

A highlight of the kick-off event was the unveiling of the whimsical artwork which will run the length of the Common Street side of the building.<\/p>\n

Alex Brien of Elevated Thought created the design, which is affectionately called \u201cbubble girl\u201d, with his four-year old daughter Charlotte as the model.\u00a0 In the design, butterflies surround a young girl who is intently blowing bubbles that flow across the side of the building.\u00a0 A poem, celebrating Lawrence, is printed on her figure.<\/p>\n

According to Brien, the child symbolizes \u201cinnocence\u201d and \u201chope\u201d and the bubbles connect with transportation center\u2019s ability to take people anywhere they want to go.<\/p>\n

As his colleague Marquis Victor, president of Elevated Thought, explained \u201cWe\u2019re redefining the narrative of Lawrence with light, beauty, and potential.\u201d<\/p>\n

Representing the Buckley family at Wednesday\u2019s event was Bill Buckley, John\u2019s grandson. \u00a0 He said his grandfather was \u201cforever proud to be from Lawrence\u201d and that his immigrant story was not much different from those who are coming to the city today.<\/p>\n

Those interested in contributing to the Buckley Transportation Center project, can visit the crowdgranting site <\/a>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Buckley Transportation Center, a highly visible landmark in downtown Lawrence, should soon have a new look, thanks to a new campaign to beautify the city which Northern Essex Community […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":27,"featured_media":28609,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28607","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-archive"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nBuckley Transportation Center will be Transformed - NECC News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/2017\/09\/25\/16536\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Buckley Transportation Center will be Transformed - NECC News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Buckley Transportation Center, a highly visible landmark in downtown Lawrence, should soon have a new look, thanks to a new campaign to beautify the city which Northern Essex Community […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/2017\/09\/25\/16536\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"NECC News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-09-25T23:54:11+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-05-14T21:13:05+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2026\/03\/buckley.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"300\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"146\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Ernie Greenslade\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Ernie Greenslade\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/2017\/09\/25\/16536\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/2017\/09\/25\/16536\/\",\"name\":\"Buckley Transportation Center will be Transformed - NECC News\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/2017\/09\/25\/16536\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/2017\/09\/25\/16536\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2026\/03\/buckley.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-09-25T23:54:11+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-05-14T21:13:05+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/#\/schema\/person\/6a4640513b41a61d0435b6972d4577c9\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/2017\/09\/25\/16536\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/2017\/09\/25\/16536\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/2017\/09\/25\/16536\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2026\/03\/buckley.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2026\/03\/buckley.jpg\",\"width\":300,\"height\":146},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/2017\/09\/25\/16536\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/home\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Buckley Transportation Center will be Transformed\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/\",\"name\":\"NECC News\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/#\/schema\/person\/6a4640513b41a61d0435b6972d4577c9\",\"name\":\"Ernie Greenslade\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/75ae84652c63c20fe24eb5858c280eb011192a5104499880542d7f8dfd6ef2c9?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/75ae84652c63c20fe24eb5858c280eb011192a5104499880542d7f8dfd6ef2c9?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Ernie Greenslade\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/author\/egreenslade\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Buckley Transportation Center will be Transformed - NECC News","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/2017\/09\/25\/16536\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Buckley Transportation Center will be Transformed - NECC News","og_description":"The Buckley Transportation Center, a highly visible landmark in downtown Lawrence, should soon have a new look, thanks to a new campaign to beautify the city which Northern Essex Community […]","og_url":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/2017\/09\/25\/16536\/","og_site_name":"NECC News","article_published_time":"2017-09-25T23:54:11+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-05-14T21:13:05+00:00","og_image":[{"width":300,"height":146,"url":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2026\/03\/buckley.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Ernie Greenslade","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Ernie Greenslade","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/2017\/09\/25\/16536\/","url":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/2017\/09\/25\/16536\/","name":"Buckley Transportation Center will be Transformed - NECC News","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/2017\/09\/25\/16536\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/2017\/09\/25\/16536\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2026\/03\/buckley.jpg","datePublished":"2017-09-25T23:54:11+00:00","dateModified":"2026-05-14T21:13:05+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/#\/schema\/person\/6a4640513b41a61d0435b6972d4577c9"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/2017\/09\/25\/16536\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/2017\/09\/25\/16536\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/2017\/09\/25\/16536\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2026\/03\/buckley.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2026\/03\/buckley.jpg","width":300,"height":146},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/2017\/09\/25\/16536\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/home\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Buckley Transportation Center will be Transformed"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/#website","url":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/","name":"NECC News","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/#\/schema\/person\/6a4640513b41a61d0435b6972d4577c9","name":"Ernie Greenslade","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/75ae84652c63c20fe24eb5858c280eb011192a5104499880542d7f8dfd6ef2c9?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/75ae84652c63c20fe24eb5858c280eb011192a5104499880542d7f8dfd6ef2c9?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Ernie Greenslade"},"url":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/author\/egreenslade\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28607","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/27"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28607"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28607\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28608,"href":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28607\/revisions\/28608"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28609"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28607"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28607"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28607"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}