Neal — you hit the nail on the head, thank you! Anyone who agrees with your points, please make it a priority to come to the BRA public meeting on August 8 - it’s crucial (there is no doubt in my mind that the project is being timed so both the BRA public meeting and the comment period are at a time when many people are on vacation or just trying to enjoy the summer).
This project is a DISASTER — it would firmly cement A–B’s reputation as a transient neighborhood where most people live for a while and then leave for nicer places, because of the generally inferior quality of life here (as compared with surrounding communities) and very low owner-occupancy. We need balance! St. Gabriel’s is the most beautiful location in A-B that can support high quality, permanent owner-occupied housing with generous open space (publicly accessible walking paths among majestic trees), while also being entirely self-sufficient in terms of parking — and therefore not burdening the neighborhood.
Instead, this is a proposal for cheaply constructed dense dormitory-like buildings. The primary goal is to suck high rents out of as many transient folks as possible, people who don’t think of A-B as their long term home. Ensuring transiency is what would be packing the absentee investors pockets with cash — while also making it more difficult for small mom-and-pop landlords who live in A-B to get good tenants.
We need to rise against this abomination like never before. St. Gabriel’s should have a Waterworks-like development — a project that introduces desirable stable homeownership and an economic level that is sorely lacking in that area — so we can have economic diversity. If this developer is not willing to do it, he needs to be sent packing.
I am dying to find out who was appointed to the IAG — that will tell us a lot where our elected officials stand. If this is another one of those mealy-mouthed IAGs that doesn’t have the guts to fight for what is right, the rest of us in the neighborhood will need to do their job for them.
I can say with utmost certainty that if this project materializes as proposed, I will spend the rest of my life as an A-B neighborhood activist continually mobilizing against any political incumbent currently in office who greases the skids for this project’s approval. Enough is enough.
Also, a note to the building trade unions: Please don’t bother to show up to the community meetings about this project until this development is what we want — otherwise you will be viewed as sellouts and traitors! The last thing we need is you guys stabbing us in the back.
Eva Webster
