Green Line extension stops, master plan discussions for Union Square and grand visions for Assembly Row have taken up much of the planning talk around the city, and now it’s time to take an overdue look at Winter Hill.

The upcoming Central Broadway streetscape improvements meeting at the Winter Hill Community School, which will be held at 630 p.m. Wednesday, April 16, will hopefully begin a discussion among residents and city officials on development plans both big and small.

The area being looked at runs along Broadway from Route 28/McGrath Highway intersection to just east of the Broadway/Medford Street intersection where the Magoun Square improvements begin.

It is hard to imagine rejuvenating the area without addressing the long-vacant Star Market site, which Ward 4 Alderman Tony Lafuente’s has been pushing to get some answers on.  It may be too small for the supermarket chains that believe bigger (“super”) is always better, so it will take some creative thinking to figure out what could be developed at the site that would truly benefit residents. There will also be new ward representation when a successor to former Rep. Carl Sciortino, who recently resigned from his position to become executive director of the AIDS Action Committee of Massachusetts, is elected in the fall.

Those who live in the area and plan to stay know better than anyone what is and isn’t needed, and that first-hand input combined with innovative planning can bring a neglected area back to life.