ACTION ALERT - let's lobby for Allston Yards Public Park

[Eva Webster]

(Note: At the end of this message, you will find information on how to help with this important neighborhood issue.  With a simple 1-2 sentence email, you will be able to make a difference — but first please read the following message to learn what this is all about.)

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Dear Allston-Brighton Neighbors:

Allston Yards, the proposed huge multi-high-rise development project on the Stop & Shop site, with 20-story buildings following in the footsteps of what New Balance built (and more NB buildings are still to come), may bring as many as 4,000 new residents to the area, and an unknown number of workers/employees. This is in addition to other dense projects mushrooming all over the neighborhood, with more in the pipeline.  

Many of us are asking ourselves:  What is the neighborhood going to get out of all this rapid densification besides perpetual traffic congestion, darker streets, and loss of open views and mature trees?  

Such a great increase in Allston-Brighton’s population (it looks like it’s going to be a 30% jump in just a few years) is going to be straining our public resources, including public parks.  We need more protected public parkland, especially in areas that are getting lots of development, but lack green/open space.  This is critical to public health, and to ensuring Allston-Brighton’s desirability as a place to live.

The neighborhood has not gotten a new City of Boston public park in many decades (the one and only exception is the beautifully designed park behind the Honan Library in Allston, which was created in 2012 on land gifted by Harvard).  The area south of the Turnpike, from Market Street to BU, is particularly shortchanged as far as green space goes. (The one and only Penniman Park is small and is going to be “mobbed” just from the impact of several hundred housing units that are going to materialize right next or close to it.)

In an IAG meeting for Allston Yards on May 9, one IAG member suggested that perhaps a City of Boston public park could be created on a part of that large 10.56 acre development parcel. I was excited to hear that.  But when I spoke briefly to some other IAG members after the meeting, they expressed strong doubt that persuading the Parks Department to create a new public park would be possible (they assume the Parks Dept. doesn’t have funds for that, and will not want the responsibility).

I think we have been trained to think that the City doesn’t have funds for anything regular residents may want (except for bicycling infrastructure) — but is that really true?  Seeing what is happening in terms of development these days gives one a new perspective.  Why can’t our neighborhood have a claim on some of the tax revenue from all those big projects that are getting built, so we can have expanded and improved public infrastructure?

Why can’t we THINK BIG when most developers are thinking big all the time and push downtown-like dense buildings on us?  (By the way, the Allston Yards developers need to invest in transportation improvements anyway, to make their project work — so that, plus any future contributions to a neighborhood shuttle, is traffic mitigation, not a community benefit per se.)

Ever since that IAG meeting on May 9, the thought that we may miss an opportunity to have a real, sizable permanent public park at Allston Yards has been bothering me.  So today I called the Parks Dept. — and what I learned has changed everything.

It turns out that the Parks Department AGREES 100% that this part of Allston-Brighton needs a new public park, and the department is not trying to skirt the responsibility of ensuring we get one — on the contrary!  The Parks Dept. sent an official letter (see attachment) to the BPDA brass, stating that the land allocated by the Allston Yards developers for a park/community green “should be permanently protected through conservation restrictions or through transfer to public ownership. It may be privately managed.”   

This means that the Parks Department is our friend in this. They are not opposed to becoming a steward of a new public park in Allston-Brighton — therefore this battle is absolutely winnable.  We can get a great public park that would be built and possibly maintained by the developers, but held in perpetuity by the Parks Dept. (as was done with the park behind the Allston Library — it is now a City of Boston property).

However, intense lobbying by the IAG and individual community members is still needed to ensure that the Allston Yards Park is significant in size, and as nicely designed and planted with beautiful vegetation as the Allston Library park.

Currently, the Allston Yards developer proposes to allocate just 0.5 acre (about 20,000 SF) for the so-called “community green”.  This is not enough — it should be 1 acre, or very close to 1 acre —  given the enormity of the proposed development, and the density that was created by New Balance (NB has completely wiggled its way out of creating any real, usable green space).

Also, the name “community green” implies that it would be just a simple grassy area.  We need to send a message that the neighborhood needs a REAL BEAUTIFUL NEIGHBORHOOD PARK – a place that could be enjoyed by people of different ages, from children to seniors, as well as dog owners and their dogs.

There are many other issues with the Allston Yards development (such as excessive density, traffic problems, homeownership issues, and the high likelihood of unattractive, sterile design).  But I just hope that we can all unite in our desire for more open space, and for creating a new, badly needed permanent public park that can never be developed. This is our only chance — and the time to ensure we get heard on this is now.

The BPDA comment period ends this Friday, May 18 (though if you send a comment over the weekend, it will be most likely accepted).  Please feel free to adopt any wording from this message that may be helpful in composing your comment in support of a 1-acre Allston Yards Public Park.

Also, please forward the message to anyone in the neighborhood who you is civically minded and might add their voice.

Your comment should be sent to the BPDA Project Manager Casey Hines at

Casey....@Boston.gov

Please also copy your message to the following email addresses:

mark....@boston.gov

kevin...@mahouse.gov

Michae...@mahouse.gov

Homeowne...@gmail.com

Many thanks!