Tonight!! Allston Construction Mitigation Subcommittee Meeting
Anthony D'Isidoro
Allston Construction Mitigation Subcommittee Meeting
Tuesday, June 28, 2022 @ 6:00 pm
Please
register to get the Zoom link.
Chaired by Harvard Allston Task Force member Ed Kotomori, this subcommittee shares information amongst Harvard University construction mitigation and community relations staff, Boston Police Department District 14, local and state elected officials and their representatives, and local North Allston neighbors to discuss issues surrounding neighborhood construction and safety issues. All are welcome to attend and contribute.
Email Contact: Priscilla Anderson (pril...@gmail.com)
Anthony D'Isidoro
Allston Construction Mitigation Subcommittee Meeting
Tuesday, September 13, 2022, 6:00 pm - 7:30 pm
Please register
in advance to get the Zoom link.
Chaired by Harvard Allston Task Force (HATF) member Ed Kotomori, this subcommittee shares information among Harvard University construction mitigation and community relations staff, Boston Police Department District 14, local and state elected officials and their representatives, and local North Allston neighbors to discuss issues surrounding neighborhood construction and safety issues. All are welcome to attend and contribute.
Anthony D'Isidoro
Anthony D'Isidoro
Community pushes back on Western Ave. (Luciano Cesta, The Bulletin: September 15, 2022)
The Boston Planning and Development Agency (BPDA) made changes to the plans for the redevelopment and rezoning of the Western Avenue Corridor in Lower Allston in response to comments and criticism from the community.
A draft plan for the area was originally released on July 28, 2022. The plan addressed new zoning, urban design guidelines and a plan for transportation in the area.
During four listening sessions and an informational meeting on zoning, the BPDA received community input about the plan and made some changes as a result. These concerns are mostly addressed through zoning changes.
The residential affordability incentive, which makes building affordable housing more appealing to developers, will now apply to all areas in the plan. Developers who choose to include affordable housing beyond the city’s requirements will enjoy an increased floor area ratio (FAR), which is the “total square footage of all the floors of a building, divided by the total square footage of the land on which it sits,” as described by the plan.
Lot coverage south of Barry’s Corner was reduced to 70 percent.
The most talked about change, however, was a reduction in building height limits south of Barry’s Corner. In the original plan, a height limit of 90 feet was proposed, but after complaints from residents, this height was reduced to 65 feet. Paula Alexander, a resident of the area, said that she is glad that the height limit was reduced, but she thinks that the limit needs to be lower.
“What’s happened over the last couple of years, every time we had a Zoom meeting the height kept going up and up and up at Barry’s Corner,” Alexander said during the meeting’s public comment section.
When BPDA staff was asked if the reductions in height limits would reduce potential housing, they said it would.
“But that’s a trade-off we weigh in all of our planning at this point, and all of our community processes,” said Kathleen Onufer, the assistant deputy director for downtown and neighborhood planning at the BPDA.
Onufer explained that community feedback lead to the application of the residential affordability incentive to all of the plan’s area.
While height limit reductions may lead to less residential development in the Barry’s Corner area, the application of the incentive may increase the amount of affordable housing in general.
During the public comment period, consistent complaints about construction disrupting the daily lives of community members were voiced. A litany of development has been happening for a very long time in the area.
“We’ve been put through torture for the last 10 to 15 years, and seeing more of this so close to our homes, it just cannot happen. Please. Please don’t let that happen,” said Alexander.
Edward Kotomori, another resident of the area complained that construction leaves homes shaking and that construction vehicles are not following assigned routes.
“Quite frankly, you’re doing a piss-poor job in this area,” he said of construction mitigation efforts. “So I’m going to challenge your organization and the entire city to prove to us that you can control it now.”
The BPDA plan will likely be presented to the BPDA Board for consideration in October and then to the Boston Zoning Commission in November.
A final public meeting for the plan will be held on Sept. 29 at 6 p.m.
Anthony D'Isidoro
Anthony D'Isidoro
Could it be the end of the line for transit-based development? (By Cameron Sperance, Boston.com correspondent: September 14, 2022)
Experts weigh in on whether the MBTA’s troubled trains will derail the demand.
When your transit system is reliably unreliable, a monthlong subway shutdown and the prospect of more service interruptions are certain to bring demand and prices down at residential developments around T stations, right?
Guess again.
Safety issues at the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority forced the agency to shut the Orange Line down last month for 30 days to pursue an aggressive repair schedule. While the agency rebutted rumors the Red Line might be next, there have been nighttime closures of that subway line on the Braintree branch.
Convenient access to transit is often a top wish-list item for those on the hunt for an apartment or condo in Greater Boston, but it’s also a major factor when residential developers pursue projects. It’s also been a concern of Governor Charlie Baker. In August, however, the Baker administration pared back the multifamily zoning required of many communities along and around the MBTA system after smaller towns complained of a one-size-fits-all approach to interpreting a new housing law, the Globe’s Jon Chesto reported. With so much unreliability on the region’s subway network, it isn’t outside the realm of possibility to think housing demand would go elsewhere — especially after so many people moved beyond the urban core during the pandemic.
But housing and transit experts view the fixes as a long overdue investment that is only going to make housing close to the T an even hotter commodity.
“I’m in the camp that investors and developers will continue to focus on the long game. The 30-day shutdown of the Orange Line is expected to repair deferred maintenance and make that line more reliable,” said Aaron Jodka, director of research and US capital markets at Colliers. “Assuming that does take place and that is the end result, shouldn’t developers want to be on the Orange Line more tomorrow than they are today?”
The shutdown, slated to end Monday, entails completing five years of safety upgrades and construction work in 30 days. But in the meantime, it is severely lengthening the commute times for riders on a subway line that carried roughly 100,000 riders a day in May, according to the MBTA. Shuttle service has replaced subway rides during the shutdown.
The blow to reliable rail service in Boston comes after real estate’s renewed embrace of transit convenience. In the 1920s, 91 percent of apartment and condo development in Greater Boston took place within a 10-minute walk of a subway, streetcar, or commuter rail stop, according to data from real estate and transportation consulting firm Respoke LLC.
The rise of the personal automobile and US highway system tanked that number to 16 percent in the 1970s, but there has been a surge in transit-oriented development in recent decades. Private developers even partner with the public sector to enhance the MBTA network, from Boston Landing to Assembly Row to air rights projects over the Massachusetts Turnpike. So far in the 2020s, just under 60 percent of multifamily development in the region was within a 10-minute walk of a transit stop.
Despite the complaints about the commute time during the shutdown, there doesn’t appear to be any fear this is one subway failure too many. Greater Boston and its developers are pursuing various types of transit-oriented development.
“I think that the market is appreciative of these repair and maintenance and construction projects in the near-term because, if you look at investment dollars, they’re really focused on something that’s going to be turning in investment in the future,” said Brendan Carroll, president of Respoke. “It just delivers a better product and a better experience than exists today. It will be a more usable system, and I think it will have a positive impact in the not-too-distant future.”
This doesn’t mean everyone is embracing the Orange Line closure as something that will transform the MBTA network. This could be the latest nudge for people looking for an excuse to leave the city.
Concerns about safety and reliability in the near-term absolutely change the way people think about getting around the region, said Rick Dimino, president and CEO of A Better City, a group focused on growth under the lens of equity, sustainability, and improved transit.
Even on a good day, when trains don’t derail or catch on fire, people move away anyway, looking for more space and the luxury of having their own car. But not everyone has the luxury to work from their living room in the burbs. The life sciences building boom in the area requires in-person work.
“We have a very strong economic engine that settled into places where people have to go to work, such as our academic institutions, our hospitals, and our labs,” Dimino said.
That’s a catalyst for transit-oriented development.
It may be annoying today, but the Orange Line shutdown might make Boston a better place to live after decades of neglected repair.
“Will [the shutdown] ultimately affect the housing market?” Dimino wondered aloud. It doesn’t have to be a negative impact if the MBTA can better position itself over the next few years and put itself in a place where the transit agency shows its services are a safe, reliable, affordable way to traverse the region, he said.
“Transit will need to be an anchor and cornerstone of our future regarding equity, the economy, and climate and, therefore, will still be something that will have a relationship to housing decisions.”
Anthony D'Isidoro
Anthony D'Isidoro
How Harvard Moved Into Allston (Danish Bajwa, Michal Goldstein, and Brandon L. Kingdollar, The Harvard Crimson: September 16, 2022)
Roughly one-third of Allston's land belongs to Harvard. But the University faces a decades-old distrust among some residents.
How
Harvard Moved Into Allston | News | The Harvard Crimson (thecrimson.com)
In 1989, a Boston developer, known as the Beal Companies, began acquiring a stake in the up-and-coming neighborhood of Allston. Eight years and nearly $90 million later, the firm had amassed a total of 52.6 acres of the neighborhood’s land.
It wasn’t until 1997 that the true financier of the land purchases was revealed: Harvard University, Allston’s neighbor across the Charles River.
A University spokesperson at the time called the move “fiscally prudent” in a comment to the New York Times. The Boston Globe called it “a stealthy land grab.”
Brighton resident Justin L. Brown said Harvard’s secret acquisition of land “sowed a lot of distrust between the residents of Allston-Brighton and Harvard.
” Today, Harvard is the largest landholder in Allston, with 360 acres — roughly one-third of the neighborhood.
These land holdings include campus cornerstones — the Harvard Athletics Complex, the Harvard Business School, the $1 billion Science and Engineering Complex — as well as the development of hundreds of residential units at 180 Western Ave. and 176 Lincoln St. The Harvard Ed Portal has garnered significant praise from residents who utilize its educational resources.
Harvard’s future plans also include the proposed Enterprise Research Campus, a 900,000-square-foot mixed-use development including residential, lab, hotel, and restaurant space.
University President Lawrence S. Bacow says the proposed development will be for Allston residents.
“Our vision for an Enterprise Research Campus emerged from deep engagement with the Allston community, the city of Boston, and many more stakeholders over many years, and our work together will be stronger for it,” Bacow said in July. “The ERC will be for everyone.”
But with Harvard’s forays into commercial development, Brown said the University no longer feels like an “institutional neighbor.”
“Now, Harvard is this enormously influential and powerful institution that’s not talking about residence halls or science labs for its students, but talking about hotels and commercial lab space,” Brown said.
University spokesperson Amy Kamosa wrote in a statement that Harvard’s long involvement in Allston has been characterized by deep engagement.
“We are proud to be part of this vibrant, exciting neighborhood, and benefit immensely from collaborative work with residents, organizations, businesses, elected officials and others through programs, partnerships, public spaces and other shared activities and priorities,” she wrote.
The University’s 10-year timeline for its 2013 Institutional Master Plan is set to expire next year, raising the question of how Harvard will define the next chapter of its relationship with Allston residents.
A Tale of Two Cities
The ties between Harvard and Allston date back to the neighborhood’s origins.
For more than 160 years, the land now dubbed Allston and Brighton was once part of Cambridge. Following disputes with the Cambridge city government, in 1807, the town known as “Little Cambridge” opted to secede.
The east side of the land officially became its own entity in the late 1860s and was named Allston in honor of Washington Allston — an 1800 Harvard alum.
Between 1875 and 1925, the population of Allston-Brighton grew by over 40,000 people and became a prestigious and developing neighborhood. Around that time, Harvard made its initial expansions into the town when it established Harvard Stadium in 1903 and the Harvard Business School in 1927.
By the second half of the century, the neighborhood began to experience strains still felt today: resident exodus to outer suburbs, a housing crisis, and traffic congestion.
Harvard’s eight-year anonymous property buyup marked a turning point in the University’s positioning in Allston-Brighton. Then-Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino called the acquisitions the “highest level of arrogance seen in our city in many years.”
But Harvard’s move to purchase land through Beal Companies wasn’t unheard of. Bruce A. Beal, co-founder of Beal Companies, told the New York Times in 1997 that he worked with the Boston Public Libraries in the 1960s to purchase land for them in a strategy similar to Harvard’s.
Lifelong Allston resident John A. Bruno called the purchase a “somewhat disingenuous” — but a “prudent” business move for Harvard.
Harvard’s future Allston purchases were made in its own name. In 2000, the University bought a 48-acre parcel of land, followed up by another 91-acre purchase in 2003.
The University’s vision for its holdings across the river began to crystallize.
In a 2003 open letter to Harvard affiliates, then-University President Lawrence H. Summers unveiled the first public vision surrounding the Allston purchases: a 21st-century expansion of Harvard’s campus. By that point, Harvard had amassed over 200 acres of Allston land.
“The choices we make in the coming years about this extraordinary opportunity will do much to shape Harvard for decades to come,” Summers wrote in the letter.
The campus could include new science and technology facilities, artistic and cultural centers, and new student housing, Summers said.
But Summers’ vision appeared to enter dire straits under new University President Drew G. Faust. The Boston Globe reported in a December 2007 story, titled “Harvard Rethinks Allston,” that Faust was reconsidering major tenets of Summers’ proposed Allston expansion, including the construction of four new undergraduate dorms and the relocation of the School of Public Health and Graduate School of Education.
Still, Faust maintained the University was moving full steam ahead, disputing the Globe’s portrayal in a phone call to The Crimson.
“It’s not a reversal. It’s not a slowing down,” Faust said. “It’s moving to the next stage of a plan.”
But in the two years that followed, Harvard’s endowment plunged by nearly 30 percent amid the Great Recession. The school was forced to halt its expansion plans for the time being.
‘Allston Dreams’
A decade before the construction of Harvard’s Science and Engineering Complex, a Harvard history professor predicted a high-tech Allston campus empty by nightfall.
“You have no problem, I am sure, imagining a science campus that by 6:30 p.m. is abandoned, at least from the outside,” wrote professor Peter L. Galison ’77 in a 2007 Crimson Op-Ed. “The only sounds are those of wind, windshield wipers, a few quiet conversations by the shuttle bus stop, and the rumble of air conditioning systems.”
Galison wrote the piece, entitled “Allston Dreams,” mere months after Harvard released a 74-page master plan in 2007 for a vision of Allston that would soon become derailed by the Great Recession.
Since Galison’s piece, the long-awaited 544,000-square-foot Science and Engineering Complex has opened its doors in fall 2021 to great acclaim from students and some residents.
“It brings beauty, practicality, and sustainability into harmony, a symbol of the University’s commitment to making the world better as we undertake our best work,” Bacow said in a press release months before the facility opened.
Some Allston residents have commended the building’s aesthetic and surrounding greenspace. Others said the SEC’s grandeur felt exclusionary. Residents also linked the SEC to rising housing costs.
The SEC was a major attraction of the University’s 2013 Institutional Master Plan, which was unanimously approved by the Boston Redevelopment Authority in October 2013. The IMP contains nine projects totaling nearly 1.4 million square feet, including the construction of a new executive education facility at the Harvard Business School and additions to the Harvard Stadium. The plan also detailed a mixed-use development at Barry’s Corner.
But prior to the plan’s approval, Allston residents raised an array of concerns. The development at Barry’s Corner would cause congestion, some said. Residents also took issue with a lack of specificity surrounding Harvard’s plans for affordable housing and sustainability.
Harvard has taken a number of initiatives to address resident anxieties.
Since 2000, the University has sponsored the Harvard Local Housing Collaborative, intended to bolster the supply of low-cost housing in Cambridge and Boston. In 2019, the University renewed the collaborative, which has invested more than $40 million in the Greater Boston area, according to its website. Harvard also helped establish Allston-Brighton’s “All Bright Homeownership Program” in 2015, which seeks to improve access to homeownership for the neighborhood's residents as outside investors and developers buy up property in the area.
Further, the SEC has been certified LEED Platinum by the U.S. Green Building Council — a certification measuring the building’s sustainability.
Despite such efforts, Harry E. Mattison, an Allston resident, said he believes Galison’s “Allston Dreams” have become a reality.
“If what you were thinking is, hey, we're going to build a new neighborhood, or we're going to build a new Main Street, and we're going to create vitality, and we're going to create Boston's next great new neighborhood, then they've completely failed,” Mattison said.
‘For Everyone’?
Harvard’s upcoming projects — particularly the much-anticipated Enterprise Research Campus — continue to be a source of concern for some Allston residents.
Plans for the ERC first debuted in 2011, with the BPDA approving a framework for expansion in 2018. The proposed ERC would include a hotel and conference center, office and laboratory space, and residential, retail, and restaurant developments.
In its pitch to residents, the University touted nearly three acres of publicly accessible open space, centering on a public “greenway” plaza and lawn that will connect Raymond V. Mellone Park — named in honor of a former Harvard Allston Task Force chair — to the Charles River.
Bacow said the “vision for an Enterprise Research Campus emerged from a deep engagement with the Allston community” and that the ERC will, resultantly, “be for everyone”.
Some union representatives from Local 26 — representing Boston hospitality workers — voiced support for the proposal due to its affordable housing stipulations and potential to create jobs. Other residents felt the proposal insufficiently addressed their concerns.
During the approval process for Phase A of the ERC development, continuing resident concerns culminated in the formation of the Coalition for a Just Allston and Brighton last August. The advocacy group aims to demand accountability from Harvard regarding resident outreach, affordable housing plans, and sustainability efforts.
Earlier this year, Boston Mayor Michelle Wu ’07 received a pair of letters — one from CJAB and one from former University Vice President Katherine N. Lapp — which characterized the University’s expansion into Allston in starkly different terms.
In its 19-page letter, CJAB members raised concerns about a future in Allston-Brighton defined by unaffordable housing, barriers to small businesses, traffic congestion, and climate change. Lapp’s letter, meanwhile, expressed Harvard’s desire to turn its purchased properties in Allston into “vibrant, equitable and welcoming” spaces.
Kevin M. Carragee, a Brighton resident and member of CJAB, said the University is not upholding its “social justice mission.”
To quell affordability concerns amid Allston’s housing crisis, Harvard entered a landmark agreement with Allston leaders this past July. Under the agreement, brokered by the Wu administration, the University committed to 25 percent residential units to be affordable within Phase A of the ERC. Harvard also agreed to donate $25 million to establish the Allston-Brighton Affordable Housing Fund and to donate a 0.9-acre tract of land at 65-79 Seattle St. to an affordable housing developer.
The University has also made commitments to expand transportation, including a 2018 pledge of $50 million to the neighborhood’s planned West Station MBTA extension — currently set for construction in 2040. The station is part of Allston’s larger I-90 Multimodal Project, for which Harvard has promised hundreds of millions of dollars of support.
Residents and elected officials from the area have also voiced concern over what they deem insufficient communication from the University.
Kamosa, the University spokesperson, wrote in an emailed statement that Harvard is “committed to ongoing engagement with the community to advance shared goals, and to ensuring our spaces and places are lively, welcoming and inclusive, and that they maintain and enhance the unique creative culture of the neighborhood.”
Still, Brown said opportunities to engage with the University are not accessible to certain residents.
“Attending lots of meetings and understanding how the development and planning processes works creates obstacles for people who don't have the time or the background, and these are members of our community who are often most impacted by development: immigrants, low-income renters, people of color,” Brown wrote in an email.
The Next Chapter
This coming year, the University could offer a new Institutional Master Plan detailing its current developments in Allston and presenting its next decade-long agenda.
Kamosa wrote that the University wants to contribute to a “thriving, innovative ecosystem” that will change the neighborhood in “profound ways.”
Whether the upcoming IMP will meet the neighborhood’s needs remains to be seen. But Bruno, the Allston resident, is optimistic.
“I see the history, and I see the potential,” Bruno said. “They know everything, whether it’s medicine or engineering or education, financing — they’re the best. Why would we be reluctant to partner with the best?”
Meanwhile, Brown said the future of Harvard-Allston relations relies on the “energized and activated” residents.
“[Harvard] understands that it has an enormous amount of power, and it will use that power,” Brown said. “So what we need to do is build our own power and make sure that we’re taking collective action and speaking with one voice, making demands that Harvard has to listen to.”
Anthony D'Isidoro
Anthony D'Isidoro
Former BPDA chief Brian Golden steps over to law firm (Catherine Carlock, Boston Globe: September 19, 2022)
He
will lead the real estate practice at Keegan Werlin.
Former
BPDA chief Brian Golden steps over to law firm - The Boston Globe
Then-BPDA
director Brian Golden appears at a COVID-19 press conference with Gov. Charlie Baker in 2020.SAM DORAN/POOL
Former Boston Planning and Development Agency Director
Brian Golden has joined law firm Keegan Werlin LLP as a partner and will chair of the firm’s new real estate development and permitting practice.
Golden was the longest-serving BPDA director in the agency’s history until his departure in May. His new role will focus on building out the real estate practice — including development, transactional, and ground lease work — for Keegan Werlin, a firm that specializes in energy and regulatory issues and has offices in Boston and Connecticut.
The connection between energy regulation and real estate planning and development “couldn’t be more compelling,” Golden said in an interview. The city of Boston, for example, has set a goal for some buildings to reduce carbon emissions to net zero by 2050, and a state pilot program is in the works where 10 municipalities would ban fossil fuels in some new construction.
”The world has changed rapidly on the subject of carbon and fossil fuels,” Golden said. “It’s in the interest of every person who’s doing planning or development to think really rigorously about the future and what’s going to be required and demanded of them.”
Golden also expects to build out a team focused on real estate planning work. During his tenure at the BPDA, the agency launched multiple large-scale and neighborhood-focused planning studies, including Imagine Boston 2030, the first citywide master plan in decades.
”I’d be a bit saddened if I stepped away from planning altogether,” Golden said.
Also joining Keegan Werlin is Sean Nehill, who most recently served as the associate general counsel for the BPDA. He will serve as senior counsel for the real estate development and permitting practice group and the energy siting practice group.
Anthony D'Isidoro
Anthony D'Isidoro
Anthony D'Isidoro
Anthony D'Isidoro
Bhakti: Opening Celebration
Date:
Friday, September 23, 2022, 6:00pm to 8:00pm
Location:
Harvard Ed Portal, 224 Western Ave., Allston
Join us for the opening of this powerful exhibit! Mingle with guests, nibble on Indian food, decompress, and nourish your creative spirit. Brighton artist Deborah Johnson will lead art activities, flower garland-making, journal prompts, and co-lead a chanting meditation with harmonium accompaniment from yoga teacher Ria Mazumdar.
In this exhibit, Brighton artist Deborah Johnson curates an interactive installation featuring mixed-media, portrait paintings, and visual affirmations in a lush living room. As a queer South-Asian artist and mental health professional, Johnson connects her personal ancestry and spirituality to create a place of comfort and sanctuary for all. Visitors can drop by to reflect in a journal, view the art, gather with friends, or engage with the community altar.
Optional: Please bring something to leave on the community altar, such as pieces of nature, photos, or art.
*Open to all regardless of spiritual affiliation. The installation is based in cultural practices rooted in South Asia and yogic philosophy. The installation also integrates somatic and expressive arts therapy concepts.
Register for this free event: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/bhakti-opening-celebration-tickets-410513114777
Meet Deborah Johnson
Deborah Johnson (she/they) is queer Indian-American multidisciplinary artist and creative care worker based in Boston, Massachusetts. Johnson studied political science at Oberlin College and is currently getting her Masters in Social Work. Her work ranges from digital illustration and writing to movement practices such as yoga and dance.
Her artistic journey has always centered a deep connection to herself and her community. She utilizes bright and joyful colors and written affirmations, in her digital illustrations to address issues of mental health, the importance of intimate friendship and spirituality. As an artist and mental health professional, she emphasizes the importance of being multi-disciplinary and sees the way different art forms provide us the freedom to express and tap into different parts of ourselves.
Meet Ria Mazumdar
Ria Mazumdar is a Bengali-American from Albuquerque, New Mexico now living in Boston. She graduated from Tufts University in 2019, where she studied economics and international politics. Mazumdar is passionate about mutual aid organizing, journalism, and yoga, and currently works as a Research Associate at Harvard Business School.
Anthony D'Isidoro
BPDA approves 30 and 46 Leo Birmingham Pkwy, (Jeff Sullivan, The Bulletin: September 22, 2022)
The Boston Planning and Development Agency (BPDA) voted unanimously recently in a virtual format to approve the adjacent projects proposed for 30 and 46 Leo Birmingham Pkwy.
While both projects are from different developers, BPDA Assistant Deputy Director Kathleen Onufer said they both fall under the same planning guidelines for the BPDA’s Western Avenue Corridor Study. 30 Leo is a bigger project and is being proposed by Mount Vernon Company. It wants to build 117 residential rentals with 20 income-restricted units (above the required 13 percent) in a six-story building on the parkway. Community benefits for the project include an onsite park, a $10,000 contribution to the Leo M. Birmingham Trust Fund, a $55,000 contribution to support the Portsmouth Playground and the creation of a public community room.
Onufer said the BPDA required that the project focus on multi-modal improvements so as to put into practice what has been designated by the Western Avenue Corridor study, including bike infrastructure and transit upgrades. She said the plan also provides needed housing along a rail corridor and has affordable components above what the city’s Inclusionary Development Plan (IDP) requires so as to comply with neighborhood input.
Allston is a neighborhood in need of families, at least according to many residents speaking out at local neighborhood meetings. Onufer said the developer restructured the units so as to provide four two-bedroom units income-restricted. She also said Mount Vernon increased the area median income (AMI) requirements of its IDP units to 60 percent AMI.
The project is also expected to create about 150 construction jobs throughout the building process.
46 Leo is somewhat smaller. Arx Urban proposed 38 rentals within six stories with seven income-restricted units. BPDA Project Manager Nick Carter said the project was reduced several times based on neighborhood comments.
“Due to the community the project underwent a number of changes, including a reduction in massing in the rear, adjacent to Murray Field, a reduction in parking, an increase in both IDP to 18 percent and an increase in two-bed or larger units,” he said. “Additionally, the project will improve the pedestrian realm and bike lanes near the project, encouraging the use of alternative transit through the use of a shared electric car for the building, the installation of solar photovoltaic panels on the roof, and helping to design a new intersection at Leo and Lothrop Street to help mitigate the impacts of the significant amounts of new development in the area.”
The roof will also include a green area for added environmental friendliness.
Onufer said the neighborhood has a lot of planning efforts ongoing, including the Western Avenue/Leo Birmingham Parkway Improvement Plan, the Allston Brighton Mobility Study and the Western Avenue Corridor Rezoning Study.
“All of these planning efforts, as well as the ongoing adjacent and ongoing development projects, have involved significant community feedback and participation,” she said.
She said this project also includes multi-modal upgrades, including bike infra[1]structure and transit upgrades, as well as designing transitions to adjacent lower-scale residential to fuse better with Murray Field.
For more information on these and other projects, go to https://bit.ly/3xwJtKD
Anthony D'Isidoro
BPD Community Alert: The Boston Police Department Warns Against Drinks Being Drugged and Urges Victims to Report the Incidents
May 30, 2022
BPD Community Alert: The Boston Police Department has become aware of numerous social media posts from various individuals who state that they were victims of drink spiking at local area bars. The Boston Police Department strongly urges anyone that believes they were a victim of drink spiking to please report these incidents to the Boston Police Department either by calling 911 or by reporting it at any Boston Police District Station.
Additionally, the Boston Police Department would like to remind the public of the dangerousness of scentless, colorless and tasteless drugs such as Rohypnol, also known as roofie, being placed in the drinks of unsuspecting victims. Other drugs commonly used in a similar fashion are GHB (gamma-hydroxybutyric acid) or Ketamine. These drugs and substances can cause disorientation, confusion, temporary paralysis or unconsciousness along with a host of other symptoms, leaving the potential victim vulnerable to the intentions of the suspect.
While the BPD encourages everyone to look out for each other when gathered in social settings by creating a ‘buddy system’ to prevent getting separated, there are steps you can take on your own to help ensure your personal safety:
- Be sure that your drink is being served directly by the bartender or your server. Don’t allow people you don’t know or trust to order drinks and deliver them to you.
- Watch your drink at all times. Never leave your drink unattended.
- Take your drink with you to the restroom if need be.
- Keep your hand covered over your drink when you’re not looking at it. Many creative inventions exist that can help you cover your drink.
- Test your drink with test strips or nail polish that light up a certain color if they detect drugs.
- Get help immediately if you begin to feel dizzy, nauseated, light-headed or strange in any way.
Please be aware of any uncharacteristic behavior from your acquaintances and be wary of strangers attempting to lure individuals away from their friends. Also, should you observe any individual who appears to be in distress, wandering alone late at night or dressed unsuitably for the weather, be sure to contact the police immediately.
On November 22, 2021, the Licensing Board for the City of Boston released the following advisory regarding safety concerns and best practices in nightclubs and other licensed establishments:
The primary goal of the Licensing Board for the City of Boston is to ensure the safety and security of patrons at all of our licensed premises. In recent weeks, local, national and international news outlets have reported an increased number of reports of illicit, non-consensual drugging occurring at bars, nightclubs, and other nightlife venues. Specifically, there has been a reported uptick in cases of drinks being spiked or “roofied.”
The Board therefore issues this Advisory to remind Licensees of obligations and best practices related to patron safety:
- It is each Licensee’s responsibility to run a business that is safe for its patrons and free of illegal activity.
- Licensees should establish security plans, regardless of whether one has been formally required by the Board. Security plans should include an overview of the operations/security at the licensed premise, the locations of security cameras, training policies and procedures, and policies and procedures regarding inspection of identification, dispersal of patrons, and addressing reports of illegal activity.
- Licensees must ensure that their employees call 911 to report criminal activity or serious medical emergencies such as drug overdoses or severe impairment.
- Licensees should call 911 or otherwise notify police to report suspicious or predatory behavior and when a problem patron or severely intoxicated patron is ejected.
- Licensees must make clear to all managers, employees, and private contractors that they are expected to cooperate with police officers, officials, and investigators following a reported incident.
- It is recommended that Licensees install functioning and properly maintained surveillance cameras mounted to show patrons entering and exiting licensed premises, entering and exiting restrooms, as well as positioned to provide coverage for blind spots, entrances, exits, service areas, hallways, stairways, and dance floors. Licensees should maintain video recordings for at least 30 days, and should immediately provide recordings to the Boston Police Department and the Board upon request.
- Licensees must ensure that all employees are adequately trained for their positions. This training should include security training for security personnel that includes techniques to de-escalate potential violent encounters and difficult situations and alcohol awareness training for bar staff. All staff should be trained in recognizing and preventing sexual assault.
- Licensees should post information in conspicuous places reminding patrons of how to protect themselves and encouraging patrons to seek drug testing if they believe they have been
a victim of a drugging incident. This information should include, among other things, a reminder to patrons not to accept drinks from strangers and not to leave any drink uncovered or unattended. Additional information to post can include awareness of non-medical
indicators of a drugged drink, such as a change in the color of a drink, sinking ice cubes, excessive bubbles, or foggy appearance of a drink.
Failure to adhere to any of the above, previously issued orders or advisories currently in effect, the Rules and Regulations of the Board and the Alcoholic Beverages Control Commission, and the laws of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts regarding the sale and service of alcohol will result in disciplinary action from the Board including, but not limited to, the immediate suspension of any license issued by the Board.
Anthony D'Isidoro
Mayor Wu Announces New Forestry Division and Urban Forest Plan to Enhance and Protect City’s Tree Canopy
Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University to donate 10 dawn redwood trees to City to be planted across the City
Today, Mayor Michelle Wu announced efforts to bolster the City of Boston’s tree canopy to enhance livability and public health throughout Boston’s neighborhoods. As part of today’s announcement, Mayor Wu is launching a new Forestry Division within the Boston Parks and Recreation Department (BPRD) to expand Boston’s ability to maintain existing and plant new trees. The Forestry Division will grow the City’s tree-related workforce from 5 to 16, with dedicated leadership and resources to plant new trees as well as proactively inspect, maintain, and prune existing trees, focusing on under-canopied and environmental justice neighborhoods. This intentional focus on Boston’s trees follows the recommendations of Boston’s newly-released Urban Forest Plan (UFP), an assessment of Boston’s urban forest with recommendations to improve the way trees are cared for and ensure the urban forest is available to the entire community.
Mayor Wu made the announcement today at the Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University, a nonprofit partner that has gifted the City of Boston 10 dawn redwood trees – descended from the first such trees to grow in North America in over two million years, known as “living fossils” – to be planted in neighborhoods across Boston.
“Trees are our best green technology to fight climate change and build healthy, beautiful communities, especially as heat and storms intensify,” said Mayor Michelle Wu. “Dedicating staff and resources to our new Forestry Division will empower the City of Boston to strengthen our tree canopy citywide so every community benefits from these treasured resources. I’m especially grateful for the partnership with the Arboretum in sharing the wonder of dawn redwoods citywide as a connection to our legacy of research, discovery, and global collaboration here in Boston.”
“Boston’s trees beautify our communities, create oxygen, and mitigate the urban heat island effect while cleaning pollution from our air,” said Reverend Mariama White-Hammond, Chief of Environment, Energy and Open Space. “We know that Boston’s history of disinvestment has led to inequitable access to trees. I am thrilled that the City's new Forestry Division will take proactive steps to correct these inequities by planting and protecting trees and creating good, green jobs.”
“Our new tree division will significantly expand the City’s capacity to plant and care for trees in every neighborhood,” said Ryan Woods, Boston Parks and Recreation Department Commissioner. “We are committed to increasing the survival rate of our new plantings and supporting the growth and maturation of trees across Boston, particularly in communities that need more canopy.”
The Forestry Division will include a Director of Urban Forestry, which is currently accepting applications, three arborists, three 3-person maintenance crews, and several support staff. The larger workforce will complement new investments in the City’s FY23 Operating and Capital Budget, totalling about $5.9 million. Increased staffing will empower the Parks and Recreation Department to respond more quickly to tree maintenance requests submitted by residents through 311, clearing the maintenance backlog, decreasing tree mortality, and focusing resources on under-canopied neighborhoods.
The creation of the Forestry Division executes on the first recommendation of the newly-released Urban Forest Plan, a product of years-long, extensive engagement driven by a Community Advisory Board. The Urban Forest Plan outlines seven major strategies for tree canopy management citywide:
- Engaging in comprehensive, progressive, and proactive urban forestry work across City departments.
- Conducting proactive care and protection for existing trees across public and private land, involving a cyclical care program, and a well-defined risk management approach.
- Expanding the tree canopy in line with broader citywide goals of equity, resilience, public health, and community well-being.
- Creating solutions to make space for trees in Boston, as well as improving the quality of planting sites to allow trees to thrive.
- Improving communication between the multiple City departments, agencies, non-governmental organizations, and citizen groups that plant and care for trees within Boston.
- Improving access to neighborhood tree data to give local groups the tools to make decisions and improvements for their own communities.
- Utilizing and developing local talent to grow workforce opportunities in alignment with fulfilling the goals of this urban forest plan.
“As a member of the Urban Forest Plan’s Equity Council, I was part of a group of community members who focused on creating a healthy environment for residents through equitable conservation and expansion of Boston's tree canopy,” said Dr. Atyia Martin, Executive Director of Next Leadership Development and Board Chair for Speak for the Trees. “The UFP was created with a community-inspired approach to equity that is headed in the right direction on the highway of justice. I would like to thank the Wu administration for facilitating this process and I am looking forward to their continued swift action to carry out the community’s recommendations.”
The UFP also includes neighborhood-specific strategies for tree planting, preservation, and care. Each neighborhood plan includes local information on canopy and land use trends, priority planting zones, and existing physical and environmental conditions. The new Forestry Division will use these neighborhood plans to develop specific planting and maintenance programs across Boston's neighborhoods.
These new investments in tree canopy create an opportunity to support biodiversity by planting a variety of tree species throughout our communities. The new Forestry Division will be charged with ensuring that a variety of trees are planted in strategic locations that support species diversity, while increasing resilience to climate change and urban conditions.
Today’s announcement also recommits to growing the City’s forestry workforce. The new positions within the Forestry Division include opportunities for individuals who will soon graduate from PowerCorpsBOS, a City workforce development program that launched in the spring for youth aged 18 to 30 years old, funded with $9 million from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA). Earlier this week, PowerCorpBOS began training students in several aspects of the tree industry, including tree physiology, soil science, and how trees heal from cuts and breaks. Students will be working with Boston Housing Authority and UMass Mount Ida Campus to learn valuable skills to protect trees, including pruning, felling, limbing, and bucking.
Tree canopy is a critical part of Boston’s city infrastructure. A thriving urban forest reduces heat levels while removing pollutants from the air. It also supports water quality and reduces the impact of flooding by intercepting large quantities of stormwater during and after rain to reduce flooding. A 2020 study, which was included in the City’s Heat Resilience Solutions for Boston report, examined more than 100 cities across the United States and found that redlined neighborhoods are on average 5°F hotter in the summer than areas that weren’t redlined. These neighborhoods, which are predominantly lower-income, are found to have fewer trees and parks and more dark pavement.
The ten Metasequoia glyptostroboides trees – or dawn redwoods – gifted to the City of Boston by the Arnold Arboretum are among the first of its kind to grow in North America in over two million years. Thought to be extinct for millions of years, in the early 1940s, Zhan Wang and Hsen Hsu Hu took samples from a stand of trees in the Hubei Province of central China and showed that Metasequoia were alive and well. Elmer Merrill, director of the Arnold Arboretum from 1936 to 1946, funded a collecting trip to China to bring seed to Boston. Since the first addition in 1948, the Arboretum has shared seeds with 600 other botanical institutions throughout the world. Dawn redwoods have been memorialized in the Arnold Arboretum’s logo since 1995, symbolizing the nonprofit institution’s commitment to international conservation, education and research.
“Dawn redwoods symbolize so much about the Arnold Arboretum, including our deep love of biodiversity, particularly the trees and other woody plants of Asia,” said Ned Friedman, Director of the Arnold Arboretum and Arnold Professor of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University. “Like Boston, which is home to peoples of the world, the Arnold Arboretum is home to plants of the world. Long thought to be extinct, when this species was discovered alive and well in Hubei, the Arnold was the first institution to receive its seeds – which speaks volumes about our deep relationships with botanical colleagues in China. The Arnold Arboretum is thrilled to offer these special trees to be planted throughout the City of Boston.”
The Urban Forest Plan is a key component of the City’s Healthy Places Initiative, which is focused on increasing open space, cooling our neighborhoods, and protecting Bostonians from the impacts of climate change. Healthy Places is a collaboration of three City plans including the Urban Forest Plan, Heat Resilience Solutions for Boston, and the seven year update to the City’s Open Space and Recreation Plan which will be released publicly next year. The UFP is a key component of Climate Ready Boston, the City’s initiative to prepare for the near- and long-term effects of climate change, like sea level rise, coastal storms, extreme precipitation, and extreme heat.
September 22, 2022
Anthony D'Isidoro
One of the final pieces of the puzzle at Boston Landing is in place (Catherine Carlock, Boston Globe: September 22, 2022)
Developers break ground on one of the last prominent parcels at mega-development that has transformed its corner of Allston-Brighton
One
of the final pieces of the puzzle at Boston Landing is in place - The Boston Globe
Lendlease and Ivanhoé Cambridge are developing a nine-story, $500 million life-science lab at 60 Guest St. in
the
Boston Landing campus facing the Massachusetts Turnpike.EVOLUTION VIRTUAL
A half-billion-dollar life-sciences lab — one of the last prominent pieces of the Boston Landing mega-development that has transformed its corner of Allston-Brighton from a low-slung industrial zone into a buzzy beacon of sports, business, and music — broke ground on Thursday.
The nine-story, 350,000-square-foot building at 60 Guest St., will go up along the Massachusetts Turnpike between the practice facilities for the Boston Bruins and Celtics. It’s a site developers Lendlease and Ivanhoé Cambridge bought from NB Development Group — the real estate arm of New Balance which has led the Boston Landing project — last year for $67 million. The shoemaker then used the proceeds to help pay for The Track at New Balance, an indoor track and field venue that opened in April — and where a relay team promptly set a world record.
“It’s a nice ecosystem,” said Nick Iselin, executive general manager of development for Lendlease. “It will be a premier example of what a new urban precinct can be and should be.”
Building in a master-planned development that has been years in the making, with prominent visibility and access to transportation was appealing, said Jonathan Pearce, executive vice president of leasing and development at Ivanhoé Cambridge.
“It’s got a very vibrant streetscape. There’s a sense of community,” he said. “It isn’t just a building that’s being dropped down in the middle of an unestablished submarket.”
It has been seven years this month since New Balance opened its world headquarters and kickstarted the transformation of what was once the Allston stockyards into one of Boston’s most prominent mixed-use developments. Since then, the campus has opened multiple buildings along the Pike and Guest Street, including apartments, offices, labs, retail, and restaurants. The Roadrunner concert venue, located inside the track and field facility, also opened this spring, and a hotel is still in the works.
The lab at 60 Guest St. will be one of the final pieces of development at Boston Landing, a mixed-use campus that's
home to the headquarters of New Balance Athletics, practice facilities for the Bruins and Celtics, housing, and more.
EVOLUTION
VIRTUAL
The Boston Landing campus also has its own eponymous Commuter Rail station, funded by New Balance owner and chairman Jim Davis. The station opened in 2017, bringing commuter rail service to the neighborhood for the first time in more than half a century, since the Turnpike was extended from Newton into downtown Boston. The station in turn helped draw other developers, who have since flocked to nearby blocks around Boston Landing with proposals large and small, pitching housing, offices, and more.
“The success of Boston Landing — it has been that mushroom effect for all our community,” said Anthony D’Isidoro, president of the Allston Civic Association. “It gave the green light to a number of projects along the Mass. Pike.”
Next door to Boston Landing sits Allston Yards, a 1.2 million-square-foot mixed-use campus planned at a Stop & Shop-anchored shopping center that started construction last year. Beyond that, there’s a proposed 12-story lab and six-story residential building. Across the Pike at the long-vacant 176 Lincoln St., plans are in the works for an “innovation village” with three commercial and residential buildings.
The volume of new development, and the rapidity with which it’s been introduced to the neighborhood, has been a difficult change for some residents. And there’s still more change to come, such as a long-planned replacement of the Allston Viaduct, the proposed West Station transit hub, and Harvard University’s Enterprise Research Campus, all set to the north of Boston Landing between the Turnpike and the Charles River.
“Allston/Brighton’s undergoing generational change in more ways than one,” D’Isidoro said.
Lately, though, there have been some economic headwinds. Framingham-based audio company Bose Corp. was one of the first office tenants to move into Boston Landing in 2018, but lately has been laying off workers, and has listed its Boston Landing office for sublease, the Boston Business Journal previously reported. And demand for biotech space, which had reached a frenetic pace amid the COVID-19 pandemic, has begun to slow.
That “normalization” isn’t a concern for Lendlease and Ivanhoé Cambridge at 60 Guest St., said Pearce, whose firm hopes to open the new building — which it is calling “Forum” — in 2024.
“A little bit of gas is being released from the balloon, and quite frankly, there needed to be,” he said. “Boston is the most important life-science market in the United States.”
Anthony D'Isidoro
Join Brighton Main Streets and your neighbors in the Love Your Block event. We will meet at the Brighton Main Streets office at 358 Washington Street at 9:00 AM. All tools will be provided by the city of Boston.
Donuts and Coffee will be served!
Please email dire...@brightonmainstreets.org
with any questions or plan to participate.
Anthony D'Isidoro
Harvard Dreams, Allston Nightmares (Tommy Barone, Harvard Crimson Opinion Writer: September 26, 2022)
Harvard
Dreams, Allston Nightmares | Opinion | The Harvard Crimson (thecrimson.com)
A bird’s-eye view of Allston taken before World War II with Harvard Stadium and the Business School visible.
Much of the low-lying Allston area had yet to be developed by Harvard which were open fields or small
developments. By Courtesy
of the Boston Public Library, Leslie Jones Collection
In 2007, Harvard professor Peter L. Galison wrote of Allston dreams and Allston nightmares.
At that time, just after the University had announced ambitious plans to expand its presence in Allston, Professor Galison’s piece was an argument for smart design: for a space that would bring together Harvard’s best scientists and humanists and that people would not want to leave as soon as the day was out. For, in other words, creating an Allston that would be a “fundamental piece of the dynamic center of Harvard University.”
Maybe Professor Galison got his dream. The SEC is an imperious, environmentally-friendly, mixed-use fortress for STEM. The neighboring Enterprise Research Campus will provide the restaurants, storefronts, and amenities of a vibrant, walkable urban center.
For Harvard, this is a triumph, the summit of a climb decades in the making. But with each angular, glistening building, Allston has become less a home for Allstonians and more a sandbox for Harvard’s billion-dollar dreams. Housing costs have risen. Streets have grown more congested. Locals have been pushed out. As Harvard has built its dreams, too many Allstonians have lived nightmares.
From 2011 to 2019, the average price of a home in Allston rose by 43 percent, average rent jumped by 36 percent, and, in the biggest change of all, median household income increased by 67 percent. Theoretically, this increase in median household income could just reflect an influx of wealthier people. However, Census data indicate that the population of Allston not living in group quarters (i.e. non-college-students) has hardly grown since 2010.
This is almost certainly not a story of a few well-monied professors and graduate students moving across the river to join the long-time residents of Allston. Common sense cautions that it almost certainly isn’t a story about thousands of low-income people miraculously doubling their income in just eight years, either.
This is a story about Allstonians being pushed out.
Like almost all American housing crises, supply is the issue. When high-demand areas like Allston don’t have enough places for people to live, available residences are subject to vicious bidding wars. In Allston, this has had profound consequences. A report by the Allston Brighton Community Development Corporation, a housing non-profit, found that “rising rents have led to closing doors for renters, homeowners and homebuyers.” In an interview with The Crimson, Anthony P. D’Isidoro, president of the Allston Civic Association, described watching “absolutely absurdly ridiculous” price conditions displace locals from his hometown.
This all traces back to Harvard.
Harvard owns 360 acres of land in the neighborhood — about a third of Allston’s total landmass. These properties, which include athletics facilities, the Business School, and the SEC, serve predominantly Harvard affiliates while effectively foreclosing huge swathes of Allston to residential development. Consequently, as the Allston Brighton Community Development Corporation put it, “the lack of vacant land in Allston Brighton makes it nearly impossible to increase the affordable housing stock significantly.”
There are some notable exceptions, sure. Harvard has announced plans to construct around a thousand residential units across roughly 20 acres of land. It has donated $25 million to support housing affordability in Allston (though this financial support might not be needed if Harvard were required to pay its fair share of taxes). But, as soaring prices in the area demonstrate, neither 20 acres nor $25 million can fill a 360-acre void. No neighborhood can remain livable when almost a third of its land is totally off limits.
The responsibility for the Allston housing crisis is unambiguously Harvard’s, and it should make anyone who proclaims to care about justice absolutely furious.
There is no way to overstate how much housing crises harm people. Nothing decides the course of your life like where you grow up. Housing determines the air you breathe, the food you eat, the schools you attend, the people you know, the crimes you suffer. Where you begin your life, in a greater sense, decides where you will end it.
In this respect, the experience of housing crises across the country makes abundantly clear how Harvard’s Allston adventurism can hurt people — it has the power to make them poorer, sicker, more isolated, more unhappy, and, in the worst cases, homeless. It can kill.
In light of all of this, unless Harvard expands tenfold its material commitment to replacing the housing it has robbed from Allston, there is unequivocally one just answer to this abject failure: Stop building in Allston. Sell the unused land. Clear the way for developers to build housing on it.
It saddens me that, with this most recent staff editorial, the Editorial Board has failed to see that — an especially ironic failing given our not-so-distant precedent on UC Berkeley’s housing shortfall, in which we called on the university to build more housing because of the “particular value of access to education.” For this Board to recognize the imperative of housing for mostly well-off students at elite colleges but not low-income people in our own community is, at best, woefully inconsistent.
But this Board is not alone, and this misstep is no unique moral or intellectual failing. In this nation, the housing crisis rages on because we fail to imagine something better — to consider an alternative to uninspired and unwelcoming low-density sprawl. At Harvard, that means finding innovative new ways to increase density: Building up, down, sideways, every which way but out.
Professor Galison’s call for a shining new frontier of campus just across the Charles ended with a reminder that “times have changed” — that we can reimagine what our University is. Today, 15 years later, it is precisely because times have changed in Allston that I call on us to reimagine how we approach Allston yet again.
Harvard’s dreams and Allston’s nightmares are one and the same. It’s time for both to end.
Tommy Barone ’25, an Associate Editorial Editor, lives in Currier House.
Anthony D'Isidoro
Allston and Harvard’s Growing Pains (Harvard Crimson Editorial Board: September 26, 2022)
Allston
and Harvard’s Growing Pains | Opinion | The Harvard Crimson (thecrimson.com)
The
future site of Harvard's Enterprise Research Campus in Allston. By
Addison Y. Liu
Apologies Cambridge loyalists: Allston is here to stay.
A year after Harvard opened its landmark Science and Engineering Complex in Allston, growing shares of the student body are frequently visiting the neighborhood for classes, shifting our institutional center of gravity towards the Charles’ shores. Harvard’s ambitious spurt, years in the making, is finally coming to life — and with it comes increased scrutiny on the hidden costs behind our newest lecture halls.
Our board has opined on the Allston initiatives repeatedly in the past, tracing Harvard’s progressive expansion year after year; we have come to accept the path of ‘progress’ — of glimmering architectural complexes and Veritas prints — as almost inescapable. Assessing the overall toll of our University’s presence remains, on the other hand, an ongoing and daunting task.
Harvard’s presence in Allston, while relatively disruptive, is not necessarily a bad thing — nor does it have to be, assuming responsible stewardship and investments to minimize our institution’s growing pains. The new campus isn’t just a boon for the swarms of students who now get to take classes in slightly newer, far away buildings: If one believes in the productive impacts of academia writ large, the busy lecture halls and labs across the river are bound to facilitate the sort of knowledge creation that can prove immensely socially beneficial. The School of Engineering and Applied Sciences complex, for example, might spur the expansion of research programs wrestling with some of the biggest questions in medicine, climate science, or other deeply impactful fields.
The upsides to the expansion aren’t exclusively hypothetical. Harvard’s growth will bring — has brought, in some cases — undeniable, tangible benefits to the Allston community. The proposed Enterprise Research Complex, for example, has been dubbed a project “for everyone” by University President Lawrence S. Bacow, and claims to offer opportunities to Allston’s own residents. Outside Harvard’s vast confines, the sheer influx of affiliates into Allston will almost certainly increase foot traffic in the area, expanding the customer base of Allston businesses and hopefully boosting the neighborhood’s sometimes meager economy.
Promising initiatives and glimmering buildings do not, however, fully capture the development’s local footprint — nor do they convey its potentially taxing impact on some residents. Allstonians have good reason to be skeptical of Harvard’s good faith. The University’s secretive land-buying strategy — which saw it purchase acres across the river under a generic developer’s name for eight years, in what has been deemed exemplary of “the highest level of arrogance” — sowed rightful distrust between the University and town leaders. The ensuing rift will not heal overnight, and Harvard’s lackluster, contemporaneous response, which dismissed years’ worth of mischaracterizations as “fiscally prudent,” hardly helped. The University must, if nothing else, acknowledge that it understands how its past behavior feeds current reticence. Moving forward, transparency (and not financial prudency) must be the norm: Future and ongoing plans shouldn’t be kept secret for the benefit of Harvard’s finances to the detriment of locals. Residents of the communities our development plans might affect are entitled to helpful, timely updates regarding our institutional expansion.
Those future plans should also include tangible benefits for the most vulnerable in Allston — the families and individuals who will likely face rising rents as their secluded corner of Boston becomes a vibrant Crimson hotspot. Harvard has, to its credit, already committed some $25 million to affordable housing in Allston. Commendable as that investment may be, it pales in comparison to the estimated $1 billion tab for the SEAS complex. Housing affordability is an almost intractable issue and often involves hefty amounts of bureaucracy, but Harvard, using its institutional heft, ought to at least make an effort to engage with the Allston government to push for the zoning changes that would make affordable housing projects more feasible. The University should, at the same time, remain mindful of other externalities of its presence in the area, ensuring that future projects remain environmentally friendly (as exemplified by the surprisingly ‘green’ SEAS building) and continue pushing for public transportation improvements in the area; our multi-million dollar pledge to a new planned MBTA stop is a good start.
The bottom line, for our Board, is that Harvard’s developments in Allston should serve its old residents just as much as its new ones. Every University decision — land purchase disclosures, urban investments, housing initiatives — must convey an understanding of the colossal impacts of our growth on some locals, and reflect a willingness to maximize the benefits they will reap.
While our Allston chapter will, in all likelihood, bring forth substantial benefits for academia and society alike, that progress must not come at the expense of the people whose community we are transforming. Harvard must keep engaging, humbly and respectfully, with the government and the local community in Allston while planning new projects, lest it falls into the all too common tendency to frame itself as an economic activity-spurring savior while sweeping away the concerns of those we claim to be helping
Harvard is on track to make Allston a second Cambridge. But as we rush towards our new, expansive campus, we ought to remember that we aren’t the only ones — nor the first ones — to call the neighborhood home.
This staff editorial solely represents the majority view of The Crimson Editorial Board. It is the product of discussions at regular Editorial Board meetings. In order to ensure the impartiality of our journalism, Crimson editors who choose to opine and vote at these meetings are not involved in the reporting of articles on similar topics.
Anthony D'Isidoro
Boston Landing
Reminder: our next Open Market is today 9/27! Stop by Athletes Park from 11:30am-2pm.
Vendor lineup: Valicenti Pasta Farm, Batter and Bloom, Kitchen Sink Candle Company, Little Maven Lemonade, The Pet Snackery, Flux Studio, Simply the best. by nicole, Sewpreme Seams, El Baul De Gabriela, Everyday Bakeshop, renewclothing.co, Nubian Violet, Jeff Rosen Acoustic, Lola Grace Events Learn more about them in our Instagram story highlight!
Anthony D'Isidoro
Anthony D'Isidoro
Eversource updates ACA on GCE (Matthew MacDonald, The Bulletin: September 29, 2022)
The Allston Civic Association (ACA) met on Wednesday, Sept. 21, during which the main appointment brought in a team of Eversource representatives to update it on the Greater Cambridge Energy Project (GCEP), which will impact the neighborhood.
The project has been in the submittal phase since late 2021, and has been pending approval at the Energy Facility Siting Board (EFSB) since March. When completed, it would add a new electrical substation to the Kendall Square section of Cambridge, and connect it connect to an existing one on Lincoln Street in Allston.
The substations, as proposed, will be connected by two transmission routes. Both will run approximately 3 miles across the Charles River: one via the River Street Bridge and the other through a tunnel to be dug under the river from the edge of Magazine Beach Park to what will eventually be the Lincoln Street connector of the Allston Multimodal Site. Less than one mile, per each route, will be on the Boston side of the Charles.
After a brief slide presentation regarding the two Allston routes, members of the seven person Eversource team fielded questions from the approximately 50 people who were in virtual attendance. Their recurring theme focused on whether or not the new transmission routes would increase the electrical distribution in the neighborhood, with mention made of the proposed developments that are currently in the pipeline for the area.
Responding to this, Maija Benjamins – director of Strategic Project Development – noted that the intent of the GCEP is to be able to handle area growth for at least the next 20 years, while also adding facilities and rebuilding transmission lines with new technology.
Benjamins specified how linking the two substations will increase distribution potential. “The more we can loop the systems through, the more reliable we can make it, and that’s what this station is doing: it’s connecting two transmission systems that are currently separated,” she explained. “It’s bringing them into one and building that loop in, then also making sure we can bring the appropriate amount of energy into the area.”
ACA President Anthony D’Isidoro also raised the concerns of power outages, bringing up the planned blackout that occurred in late July, during a severe heat wave.
Jerry Mulcahy – manager for Underground Construction and Operations – clarified that the problem was caused by a fault, rather than a station-to-station distribution line failure, and that the outage was decided on to allow repairs to be done in order to bring the power for Franciscan Children’s Hospital and St. Elizabeth’s back to its full capacity.
“We tried everything we could not to take the outage,” Mulcahy said of Eversource’s response to the fault, which occurred in the Commonwealth Avenue-Harvard Street area. “But, at the end of the day, it was the only way for us to send our employees into the manhole safely to make those repairs, and get the hospitals back to their normal operating conditions, which was – for us – a priority, especially during the heat wave.”
Once approved by the EFSB, the GCEP is anticipated to break ground in 2024, with a projected in-service date of 2028-2029. For more information, contact Community Relations Specialist Nicole Bowden at Nicole...@Eversource.com.
In licensing business, Rifat Canca of Lazuri Café (487 Cambridge St.) went before the ACA to talk with it regarding extending its hours to 3 a.m. for take-out only. The family owned six table Mediterranean restaurant has current sit-down hours from 10 a.m.-10 p.m. (Sun-Wed), and from 10 a.m.- 11 p.m. (Thu-Sat). It also does not have an alcohol license.
Commenting on the tentative proposal, ACA member Ed Kotomori suggested that the business check its costs before proceeding, noting potential competition from local brick and mortar establishments, food delivery apps, and the potentially destructive late night crowd emptying the local bars and clubs. “I think you should look deep into it, because it may cost you more than it’s worth, he concluded.
“It certainly is a different experience between 1 p.m. in the afternoon, and serving… the public at 2 a.m. in the morning,” D’Isidoro continued. “I mean, it’s certainly two different worlds, and you have to be ready for it, no doubt about it.”
Canca and D’Isidoro agreed to talk offline before finalizing the proposal to be voted on.
Both at the beginning and at the end of the two and a half hour meeting, there was discussion about BPDA developments in the neighborhood, particularly the NEXUS project at The Allston Innovation Corridor (250, 280, and 305 Western Ave.)
D’Isidoro informed the group that he had written a letter to the BPDA regarding his problems with the project, which was approved on Oct. 14, 2021. These included its “underwhelming” benefits and mitigation package, the fact that it exceeds the Western Avenue Corridor Study parking limits (which the project was exempt from) by approximately 200 spaces, and complaints with demolition as it impacts the existing neighborhood. His letter also noted the BPDA’s tabling of the 51 Melcher St. (Fort Point) proposal, given the concerns of neighbors regarding the labs that would be housed in it.
The NEXUS project would also have labs. “Whenever I brought up questions about the lab,” D’Isidoro said in comparison to the tabled Fort Point proposal, “it was kind of pooh poohed off. So they are coming up with standards this fall for lab development in the city of Boston, based on this pushback that they got, and what I’m asking for is that, retroactively, the development crew at NEXUS is held to those new standards.”
In other news, with university students returning, break-ins are up in the GAP (Gardner/Ashford/ Pratt) neighborhood, which houses many BU students. MacBook Pro computers are the main target. According to Sgt. Ed McMahon, thieves are “just walking right in” through unlocked back doors and windows to make off with their stolen goods.
The ACA meets virtually on the third Wednesday of the month at 6 p.m. For more information, visit www.allstoncivicassociation.org
Anthony D'Isidoro
Anthony D'Isidoro
The Boston Globe: February 28, 1965
Link to New Boston
Since first becoming Mayor of the City of Boston in 1960, I have dedicated myself to accept the challenge of overcoming the many problems that have existed in the city over the years. One area of progress in the city that I am particularly interested in is that concerning the traffic woes with which we are all familiar. Today we are beginning to realize with deep interest some of the progress in the area of traffic improvements that is taking place in the New Boston.
In order to perhaps indicate the extent of the problem that we here in Boston are confronted with from a traffic point of view, it can best be explained when I say that today over 700,000 cars enter and leave the downtown area of Boston in an average week day.
From a recent traffic cordon count taken by the traffic and Parking Dept., this figure shows an average daily increase of over 200,000 cars as against 10 years ago. This study made by the Traffic and Parking Dept. will also show that there has been a drastic change in the mode of transportation that people use as the study indicates there is a 32% decrease in the number of people using public transportation to enter or leave the city. It is only fitting then that modern revolution in the transportation characteristics has shown its resultant effect on the streets of the downtown area.
We are about to realize now the opening of the latest new traffic facility that will become available to motorist from the west to enter the downtown area with the opening of the Toll Road Extension. Traffic consultants and engineers have estimated that this new facility will undoubtedly attract a great volume of additional traffic into the city.
Over this new Extension a motorist can reach the downtown area in about 15 minutes from Weston without confronting any traffic signals or congestion until they embark onto the local street pattern of the city. In order to cope with this anticipated additional traffic, many changes have been made which the city traffic engineers felt were necessary in order to prevent major traffic congestions.
It can be said, then, along with the major development complexes such as the Prudential Center, the Government Center and the West End Redevelopment, that more and more people will be entering the Capital City daily for employment, shopping and recreation. It is my belief that the general economy of the New Boston can only continue its upward trend because of the rapid expansion of progress.
As time marches on, and as we experience whatever advantages the Toll Road Extension will offer, we must realize that more and more facilities must be created to provide the people means of maneuvering throughout the Metropolitan area. We must continue to take broad views that with internal progress in the Capital City there is a direct effect on not only the people who live and work within the city but to the entire immediate Metropolitan area.
John F. Collins
Mayor of Boston
Model for Others
The extension of the Massachusetts turnpike into Boston will have a tremendously beneficial economic effect on the whole of our state.
Now it is possible to go from West Stockbridge to the South Station in a little over half the time it took before the turnpike was open. The extension makes it possible to reach the heart of the capital of our state and our region.
Former Chairman William F. Callahan, chairman John T. Driscoll and all of the authority are to be congratulated on this remarkable engineering feat.
I am sure that this will be the model for other states and constitutes an important spoke in the wheel of Massachusetts transportation complex.
Endicott Peabody
Stimulus to Business
I take pleasure in extending my heartiest congratulations to the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority and to the citizens of the Commonwealth upon the completion of the Massachusetts Turnpike Extension.
The opening of this new gateway to western Massachusetts marks a great advancement in the rebirth of our State Capital and, as such, benefits the entire commonwealth.
The new Turnpike Extension offers commuters, shoppers and tourist a safe, convenient route to a revitalized Hub. The improved trucking access to the Downtown area should prove to be a stimulus to greater commercial activity and employment opportunities in the Greater Boston area.
The completion of this road, and others like it, benefits not only the motoring public, but all citizens of our commonwealth, for these roads are arteries of a growing state, bringing economic expansion and increased job opportunities for all.
The Turnpike Extension is more than another new gateway to Boston. It is a symbol of what the community can accomplish when people work together in a spirit of dedication and good will.
It is a tribute to the cooperation of labor, the engineering profession, the business community, and officials of state government, without which this great feat could not have been accomplished.
While I fought hard for the construction of the extension as a toll-free expressway, I take great pleasure in extending my best wishes upon the opening of this facility, and urge the motorists use it in accordance with the rules of safe and courteous driving.
John A. Volpe
Governor
Anthony D'Isidoro
It's an opportunity to support the shoreline restoration project by joining Friends of Chandler Pond. You can also join on the website, https://www.chandlerpond.org/take-action
Anthony D'Isidoro
Hello Everyone,
Over the years I have shared with you my frustrations with the lack of a proportional response from the City and Commonwealth to the historic development taking place in our community in terms of public transportation and complete streets.
What has become abundantly clear is the lack of collaboration and synergy between city and state stakeholders which results in incompatible visions to the detriment of the Allston Brighton community.
In good conscience, I cannot support the rezoning proposal contained in the final Western Avenue Corridor Study and Rezoning Report.
My commitment to building more affordable housing and green/open space is well documented.
However, equally so, I am also committed to social justice given low-income people, workers, the elderly and people with disabilities are among those most affected by a lack of transportation options as well as maintaining streets that enables safe access for all people who need to use them.
That’s what makes my decision so difficult.
BPDA Board approval of the recommendations would unleash a torrent of dense development projects, adding to what has already been approved, void of transportation planning and public realm improvements that would ensure the safe and efficient passage of people and goods to destinations.
Since November, 2015, when the Radius project was first proposed, the community was assured in exchange for their support, the city and state would address potentially fatal flaws with the Birmingham Pkwy-Arsenal St-Western Ave-Soldiers Field Rd intersection.
The same narrative expanding in scope given all the projects in the pipeline since then, has been expressed over and over again supplemented with more studies and broken promises.
That leap of faith we are being asked to take again benefits only the city and developers at the expense of those who call Allston Brighton home.
The rezoning proposal is scheduled to go before the BPDA Board on Thursday, October 13, 2022.
Please join me in opposition by reaching out to the BPDA project manager for the Western Avenue Corridor Study and Rezoning, Joe Blankenship (joseph.bl...@boston.gov) and to the BPDA Board, Tammy Donovan (tammy....@boston.gov).
Also, public testimony will be allowed at the BPDA Board hearing, details of which I will share with you as they become available.
Tony
Angela Tang
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Paul Creighton
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Anthony D'Isidoro
Anthony D'Isidoro
State Outlines Plans to Improve Herter Park in Allston (Danish Bajwa, The Harvard Crimson: September 30, 2022)
State
Outlines Plans to Improve Herter Park in Allston | News | The Harvard Crimson (thecrimson.com)
The design firm Halvorson delivered a set of recommendations to the Massachusetts
Department of Conservation and Recreation for improving Herter Park, a public park
in Allston. By
Nicholas T. Jacobsson
Massachusetts state officials outlined plans on Wednesday to revitalize Herter Park in Allston by improving access to the Charles River and narrowing Soldier’s Field Road to create space for “green transportation.”
The state released its 2022 Herter Park Master Plan earlier this month, which outlined proposals to improve the 56-acre area alongside the Charles River.
Ginna Johnson, deputy chief of design and project management at the state Department of Conservation and Recreation, said the plan will help “enhance public access” to the river, “restore a healthy riverbank and parkland ecology,” and “reflect the cultural values” of the park.
The master plan outlines recommendations to improve access to the park by instituting a “road diet” that would eliminate the westbound lanes on Soldier’s Field Road in favor of a shared-use path. The eastbound lanes would be reconfigured for two-way traffic.
Under the plan, high school rowing operations would also be relocated to part of a revitalized Herter Center.
The master plan would “reduce the volume of runoff that reaches the sewer system or the Charles River, through the reduction of impervious surfaces and the use of bioretention and vegetated swales,” it said.
It would also seek to improve community gardens by adding raised garden beds and mesh fencing.
But some attendees at the meeting raised concerns about the state’s plans for the park, citing prolonged construction timelines.
Longtime Allston resident Anthony P. “Tony” D’Isidoro said at the webinar that the construction period required for the “road diet” would hinder access to the river over the next several years.
“Development activity in the community has not ceased — as a matter of fact, it’s being accelerated, especially along Soldier’s Field Road and Western Ave.,” D’Isidoro said. “And it has a direct impact on access and safety to all the great work that the DCI wants to do to Herter Park.”
Johnson, the DCR representative, said the construction would be worth it in the long term.
“We like to say that DCR is in the forever business — projects feel like they take forever,” she said. “This one is coming just as quickly as a new project can.”
Galen Mook, the executive director of Massachusetts Bicycle Coalition, said he supports the “road diet” plan, but worries about communication between city and state agencies.
“I’ve been to these meetings and I don’t have confidence that the left hand and the right hand are talking to each other,” he said, referring to the city of Boston and the DCR.
Mook called for more “public facing” dialogues between the two governments. Other attendees said the proposal would inhibit vehicular traffic, including ambulances, on the road.
“There’s a range of opinions here,” Johnson said. “DCR has a lot of work to do to balance perspectives and to analyze metrics.”
The state will accept public comments on its proposal through Oct. 12.
Anthony D'Isidoro
Allston Residents Express Opposition to Western Avenue Corridor Rezoning Plans (Yusuf S. Mian and Charlotte P. Ritz-Jack, The Harvard Crimson: October 3, 2022)
Barry's Corner is located at the intersection of Western Ave. and North Harvard St.
in
Allston. By
Thomas Maisonneuve
Allston residents expressed opposition to the Boston Planning and Development Agency’s rezoning plans for the Western Avenue Corridor at a public meeting on Thursday.
Rezoning for the Western Avenue corridor — the area between Barry’s Corner and Leo Birmingham Parkway — would permit the construction of taller buildings of greater density, allowing for more housing units. The provisions are meant to incentivize developers to create more affordable housing.
During the meeting, some Allston residents raised concerns that the proposal could result in rising housing costs and increased traffic.
Paula Alexander, a longtime resident of Allston, questioned the proposal’s ability to decrease housing costs.
“How can you look at us straight in the face, straight in the eye, and say that the density and height equals lower rent when it doesn’t?” Alexander said.
Other attendees raised concerns about the plan’s impact on congestion in the area.
“How can you claim that this is good planning if you are allowing developers to build huge buildings and you know that we may only end up with two, one lane of traffic roads?” Eva Webster, a meeting attendee, asked.
Joseph Blakenship, senior transportation planner at the BPDA, discussed the plan’s goals to increase public transportation and access to sidewalks and bike lanes by 2030, starting with the creation of protected bike lanes along Western Avenue.
Still, Webster was skeptical of the plan’s focus on cyclists and pedestrians over drivers.
“There is a certain mindset right now that dominates development issues in city hall,” she said. “That makes things really good for bicyclists, but bicyclists are only 5 percent of the road users, so how can you possibly turn your back on motorists?”
In response to ongoing resident concerns, Blankenship said the plan draws on the views of multiple stakeholders.
“No plan can build 100 percent consensus, but I think we’ve done a pretty good job of hearing as many perspectives as possible and crafting a vision of this plan that we think is sound,” Blankenship said.
The new zoning plan comes after three years of conversations between the BPDA and residents.
Thursday’s meeting began the final phase of the planning process. After receiving input from local stakeholders, the plan will be considered by the Boston Planning and Development Agency for approval.
Anthony D'Isidoro
Anthony D'Isidoro
Saturday, October 8, 2022, 1:00 pm – 2:00 pm
Witchy Wanda's Spooktacular Show is great fun for kids and parents! Join us for some Halloween festivities and don't forget to wear your costumes!
Goody bags while supplies lasts!
Made possible with a generous donation from Houghton Chemical
Herter Park Amphitheater
Anthony D'Isidoro
11 New Murals Installed Throughout Boston
The City allocated more than $1 million to new murals as part of the third year of the City's Transformative Public Art Program.
Mayor Michelle Wu and the Mayor’s Office of Arts & Culture, in collaboration with the Boston Art Commission, Boston Housing Authority, the Boston Public Health Commission, the Mayor’s Office of New Urban Mechanics, the Public Facilities Department, the Department of Youth Engagement & Employment and Youth Lead the Change, Hyde Square Task Force, and Street Theory, today announced the installation of 11 new murals throughout the City of Boston. The City allocated more than $1 million to new murals as part of the third year of the City’s Transformative Public Art Program.
“These new murals add so much to the city, and they are a wonderful reflection of the cultures and backgrounds that make our neighborhoods so unique,” said Mayor Michelle Wu. “I hope community members continue to be inspired by these beautiful additions to our streetscape.”
The City put out a Call to Artists for the Transformative Public Art Program that was split between mural commissions and grants for short-term activations and events. Artists were selected based on their prior experience making public art, their connections to the neighborhood and the themes of the program, and how well their proposals aligned with the City’s curatorial vision.
Through the program, the City commissioned murals across nine different neighborhoods, including:
- Doujans D’al Hirhoal by Cyrille Conan at the Patricia White Apartments in Brighton
-
- You Are Loved mural series by Alex Cook inside the Engagement Center in Newmarket Square
- Together by Mz. Icar on the exterior of the Engagement Center in Newmarket Square
- Rita’s Spotlight by Rixy at 506 Cambridge St. in Allston
-
- Souledad by Victor "Marka27" Quiñonez at Washington Manor in the South End
- Youth Lead the Change: Rise Up From Your Roots by Mel Mandel at Franklin Field in Dorchester.
- The Joy of Growing by Mattaya Fitts at the Peabody/Englewood Apartments in Dorchester (in progress)
- Afro-Latin Dance and Music by Roberto Chao at Mozart Park in Jamaica Plain (in progress)
Additionally, murals will be installed at the Faneuil Branch of the Boston Public Library in Brighton, the BCYF Shelburne in Roxbury, a community center in East Boston, and the Malcolm X Park basketball courts in Roxbury next year.
“It's been an honor working with the City of Boston and being a part of the Transformative Public Art Program,” said Victor "Marka27" Quiñonez. “I have already seen first hand the amount of happiness and inclusiveness the Souledad mural is bringing to the community. I'm especially looking forward to seeing more large scale murals and public art created in the South End and hope that this project inspires future generations to appreciate self expression and diversity for each other's culture.”
In addition to murals, the City of Boston also supported 27 short-term projects and activations with grants totaling $323,950 through the Transformative Public Art Program. Projects spanned a variety of disciplines that promoted joy, healing, and unity.
“This was an unprecedented investment in City-commissioned murals, and through the Transformative Public Art Program we are able to bring artwork to City buildings and in partnership with communities in a way that hasn’t been done before,” said Chief Kara Elliott-Ortega. “We’re excited to use this as a model going forward to foster more collaborations and creative opportunities throughout the city.”
“This program has brought incredible creativity and beauty directly into four BHA communities,” said BHA Administrator Kate Bennett. “The murals themselves are amazing, but they also serve to strengthen the link between BHA residents and the broader neighborhood.”
The City commissions murals, short-term public projects, and activations every year as part of the Transformative Public Art Program. The themes and structure of the program change with each iteration of the program, and this year’s focus was to commission public art projects in a variety of disciplines that promote joy, healing, and unity. The program included funding for murals, cultural events, and new media projects, among others.
To learn more about completed and ongoing public art projects in the City of Boston, visit boston.gov/public-art
Last updated
PUBLISHED BY: Arts and Culture
Anthony D'Isidoro
Hello Everyone,
The lack of definitive action of the Massachusetts Legislature to embrace the $3 billion tax rebate (below) nor the Governor's tax relief and tax reform package (below) prior to a state election raises concerns that the outcome could be very different when legislators return and will be insulated from the voters for another two years.
Please reach out to our local legislators and express your opposition to any attempt to change the law or potentially slow distribution of the excess revenue as well as support reasonable and appropriate tax relief to allow Massachusetts to be more competitive especially given potential employees can work virtually and apply for jobs all around the country.
FYI: Attorney General Maura Healy is on board for both initiatives.
Tony
Kevin Honan (kevin...@mahouse.gov)
Michael Moran (michae...@mahouse.gov)
William
Brownsberger (william.br...@masenate.gov)
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
Mass. taxpayers to get $3 billion back under obscure
law, state officials say (Matt Stout, Boston Globe: September 15, 2022)
Mass.
taxpayers to get $3 billion back under obscure law, state officials say - The Boston Globe
Massachusetts taxpayers are due to receive nearly $3 billion from the state after a windfall of tax collections triggered an obscure 1980s-era law for just the second time in nearly four decades, officials said Thursday, clearing the way for potentially millions of taxpayers to get a slice of the unprecedented credit.
State Auditor Suzanne M. Bump said her office certified that the state is required to return $2.94 billion under a 1986 voter-passed measure intended to limit state tax revenue growth to the growth of total wages and salaries, and return any excess to taxpayers.
Still, several crucial details remained unclear, notably how, and when, people could receive money and how much individuals should expect.
Governor Charlie Baker‘s office released a statement promising to share “more details soon” about how his administration intends to distribute the money.
He told reporters Wednesday before Bump’s announcement that his goal is to distribute the excess revenue “sometime this fall.”
“Given the difficulties associated with inflation, which continues to rage, we would like to get that money back to people sooner rather than later,” Baker said.
This is just the second instance the law has been triggered, though it will carry far larger financial consequences this time.
The only other time the law was triggered was in 1987 when tax collections exceeded the allowable amount by $29.2 million, according to a previous report from Bump’s office. At the time, the state added a line to the 1987 version of the individual income tax return form where individual taxpayers could “insert his or her individually calculated share.” The state ultimately issued $16.8 million in credits, leaving nearly $12.4 million unclaimed.
The law stipulates that any credit is applied on a “proportional basis.” The Baker administration has previously said more than 3 million taxpayers could get back roughly 7 percent of the income taxes they paid in 2021.
That, analysts and lawmakers say, promises a regressive distribution, effectively ensuring that those who pay more in taxes stand to benefit the most.
Baker suggested in July the money returned to residents could be issued as rebates — a more direct form of payment than a credit, which typically reduces the taxes a person owes.
But whether the administration can do that appears to be an open debate. Kurt Wise, a senior policy analyst at the Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center, said the law is clear in calling the refund a “tax credit,” effectively limiting the form it can take, and noted that Bump in her own statement described it as taking the “form of a credit.”
The language, however, also leaves it to the state revenue commissioner to set the rules for implementing the law. That effectively gives the department a “good bit of leeway” in determining how to issue the money, said Leanne Scott, an attorney, a state and local tax principal, and member of the Department of Revenue’s advisory council.
“With the election coming up this fall and wanting to make people happy, I imagine they’ll get this out as quickly as possible,” Scott said, adding it’s possible the state could issue the credit in the form of checks or even a direct deposit into someone’s account.
The state ended the last fiscal year in June with a nearly $5 billion surplus after collecting nearly 21 percent more in tax revenue than it did a year ago, an extraordinary jump. Aides to Baker said the surplus is large enough to cover the credit, and estimated the state would still have some $2 billion in surplus revenue, itself a whopping figure.
“Our tax cap was intended as an automatic release valve for when revenue surpluses reach an unnecessary level, especially such an extraordinary level as recently,” said Chip Ford, executive director of Citizens for Limited Taxation, which pushed the original ballot measure with the Massachusetts High Technology Council in the mid-1980s. “It was meant as a check on unlimited taxation and unsustainable spending.”
The potential — and now certainty — of billions flowing back to taxpayers has roiled Beacon Hill, and lands amid a separate ongoing debate about whether the state should raise taxes on some of its wealthiest residents.
Baker’s disclosure during the final days of the Legislature’s formal sessions in July that the state was poised to trigger the decades-old law upended talks over a $4.5 billion spending package that included roughly $1 billion in proposed tax relief.
The Legislature gaveled its formal sessions to close the morning of Aug. 1 with no deal on the legislation, leaving the fate of a final package in limbo.
Some in the Legislature have also advocated that lawmakers take a more proactive role in determining how the excess revenue is divided up. Representative Mike Connolly, a Cambridge Democrat, has advocated for capping what is returned to higher-income earners, to ensure low- and middle-income residents get a larger share of the $2.9 billion.
By determining credits on a proportional basis, it ensures those who make the most — and pay the most in taxes — would benefit the most at a time when low-income workers feel the pain of inflation the most, Connolly said.
“I certainly don’t think that someone like Patriots owner Bob Kraft should be getting back tens of thousands of dollars when someone working at minimum wage would only see a minuscule return,” he mused.
But legislative leaders gave no indication Thursday that they plan to change the law or potentially slow distribution of the excess revenue.
In a statement, House Speaker Ronald Mariano said that with Bump’s certification, legislative leaders intend to continue talks over a potential economic development package “under these new circumstances.”
“I look forward to the plans to distribute the money back to the taxpayers,” the Quincy Democrat.
Voters in November are also weighing a ballot question that would impose a 4 percent surtax on annual earnings above $1 million. It pushes before residents a debate about who should be taxed more, and just how much revenue the state needs, at a time taxpayers stand to reap a windfall.
Proponents such as labor unions have argued the proposed constitutional amendment, known as the millionaires tax, would help raise billions of new dollars in revenue. The measure says the money would be steered toward education and transportation, though it would be at the Legislature’s discretion.
Business leaders and others have railed against the proposed amendment, charging that a tax surcharge will hurt Massachusetts’ competitiveness and spur entrepreneurs and companies to grow elsewhere. And, critics have argued, state coffers are already overflowing with cash.
Baker proposes $700m in tax breaks for residents. Take a look at the details. (Matt Stout & Jon Chesto, Boston Globe: January 26, 2022)
Baker proposes $700m in tax breaks for residents. Take a look at the details. - The Boston Globe
Governor Charlie Baker on Wednesday proposed giving Massachusetts residents nearly $700 million in new tax breaks, including exempting hundreds of thousands of low-income workers from paying state income taxes, reshaping Massachusetts’ estate tax, and doubling certain credits for seniors and parents.
The second-term Republican said he was filing the suite of proposals with his $48.5 billion spending plan, offering one of, if not the, most sweeping tax relief packages of his tenure as he embarks on his final year in office. The Democrat-controlled House and Senate would have to approve any of the changes before they become law.
“The cost of just about everything is going up,” Baker told reporters Wednesday, citing inflation rising nationwide at its fastest pace in nearly four decades. “The last two years have been pretty tough on a lot of the populations we’re looking to help here, and I’d love to see the Legislature take them seriously.”
Baker is not seeking any broad-based tax increases to offset the tax breaks, and his budget chief contended Wednesday that the plan included no “hidden cuts” in a bid to absorb them.
The Baker administration argues the math works.
The governor’s budget projects spending $1.1 billion less on the state Medicaid program after officials scour the rolls and remove those no longer eligible from the more than 2 million currently getting insurance through what’s known as MassHealth.
And the state is flush with tax revenue.
“Taxes are not a zero-sum game,” said Michael J. Heffernan, Baker’s finance secretary. “We have not sacrificed services or programs for this $700 million. Not at all.”
Baker’s budget plan also pours roughly $485 million more into direct aid to Massachusetts schools, and dedicates an extra $250 million to help cover the state’s pension costs on top of its typical transfer.
Baker, who is not seeking reelection this fall, had teased plans for the tax breaks Tuesday during his final State of the Commonwealth address, urging Democrats in the Legislature to help “invest in Massachusetts families.”
Among the $693 million in proposals he outlined Wednesday is one to raise the income threshold for residents to qualify for “no-tax status” and effectively put the state closer in line with federal thresholds, according to his budget office.
Currently, single tax-filers making less than $8,000 a year, heads of household making less than $14,400, and joint filers reporting less than $16,400 are exempt from filing state income tax returns. Under Baker’s proposal, those standards would go up to $12,400, $18,650, and $24,800, respectively, and would help save 234,000 taxpayers roughly $41 million, according to Baker aides.
Baker is also seeking to double the maximum credit low-income seniors can claim to offset property taxes, from $1,170 to $2,340, as well as double a pair of refundable tax credits people can claim for dependents or child care, equating to $167 million for more than 700,000 families.
“You’re definitely making our tax code more progressive,” said Eileen P. McAnneny, president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, a business-backed budget watchdog. The range of proposals are individually “targeted,” she said, “but people all along the income spectrum will see some relief.”
Baker’s also calling for dramatic changes to the Massachusetts estate tax. Currently, just 12 states, plus Washington, D.C., tax estates after death, according to the AARP, with Massachusetts taxing between 0.8 percent to 16 percent on estates above $1 million. That’s tied with Oregon for the lowest threshold in the country.
Baker wants to double it to $2 million, and tax only those dollars after that threshold; currently, should an estate exceed the $1 million mark, all the money is taxed. State officials said the changes would create $231 million in breaks for 2,500 taxpayers.
“A million dollars sounds like so much except that it will buy you a one-bedroom condo in Brookline,” said Amy Pitter, chief executive of the Massachusetts Society of CPAs and a former state revenue commissioner. “There are a lot of people who fall into this million-dollar threshold who are not rich, not even close to rich. This helps the middle class.”
Pitter said it’s probably not a coincidence that Baker is trying to tackle the estate tax now, with a proposed income tax surcharge on earnings above $1 million headed to the ballot in November.
Baker’s proposal also includes changes to allow some 881,000 people to deduct up to $5,000 on what they pay in rent, an increase from the current $3,000 cap. The change, however, would give renters an additional $100 annually, said Joe Kriesberg, president of the Massachusetts Association of Community Development Corporations.
Kriesberg praised Baker’s effort to devote tens of millions more in his budget to rental assistance programs, but suggested the money from the tax break — an estimated $77 million a year — would be better spent by targeting renters who really need it.
“Giving $100 to 800,000 people is probably spreading the peanut butter a little too thin,” he said.
Baker’s plan includes an additional measure to reduce the tax rate on short-term capital gains — investments held for up to a year — from 12 percent to 5 percent, dulling what his budget office framed as a penalty and saving 150,000 people a combined $117 million.
It was one of several proposals Baker and his aides described as a bid to make Massachusetts more competitive as residents increasingly embrace remote work. It also quickly drew criticism from the left-leaning Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center, which called it a potential windfall for some of the state’s wealthiest.
“These measures would cut revenue at a time when we need it to sustain the state beyond the pandemic,” said Marie-Frances Rivera, the center’s president, about the estate and capital gains tax changes.
How the plans will be received in the Legislature remains to be seen. Democratic leaders were noncommittal on Tuesday, saying they wanted to see details. And as the House and Senate release their spending plans in the spring, they’ll make clear their own priorities.
Baker’s office said rank-and-file lawmakers, including Democrats, have previously filed similar tax proposals, giving him confidence there could be an appetite for at least some of what he’s seeking.
He also is arguing that the state is in position to “give back” some revenue during heady fiscal times. Through December, the state said it had collected $1.55 billion above what it projected midway through the fiscal year, and Baker is expected to propose pumping hundreds of millions more dollars into the state’s emergency savings account by next year.
Currently expected to reach $5.9 billion by the end of this fiscal year, the account would grow to $6.64 billion by June 2023, thanks primarily to excess capital gain taxes, according to projections from Baker’s office.
At that level, the account would have nearly doubled from 2019 and grown more than five times since 2015, when it had about $1.25 billion midway through the first year of Baker’s tenure.
Baker has never sought permanent, broad-based tax cuts during his seven years in office, despite once supporting slicing the sales tax from 6.25 percent to 5 percent — as an unsuccessful candidate for governor in 2010 — and voicing support for reducing it during his 2018 reelection campaign.
He last year pitched a two-month sales tax “holiday” to give residents a New Hampshire-style break on most consumer goods while the state basked in billions of dollars in unexpected revenue. But the idea died in the Legislature almost as soon as Baker proposed it.
Baker indicated Wednesday that he believes pursuing a broad cut to the sales tax wasn’t feasible. “I want to work on tax proposals that I think are worthwhile and important and I believe have the possibility of making it through the process,” he said.
The budget plan includes $115 million for several new programs to boost behavioral health, help patients navigate the treatment system, and ease hospital “boarding,” in which hundreds of people in mental health crises are stuck in emergency departments waiting for care.
Baker administration officials said they would permanently increase the rates that MassHealth pays for outpatient mental health services by 10 percent, extending a temporary rate increase that began during the pandemic.
Priyanka Dayal McCluskey of the Globe staff contributed to this report.
Anthony D'Isidoro
JOIN US FOR A “HAPPY HOUR” MARKET @ BROKEN RECORDS Boston Landing!
When: Wednesday, October 12th
Time: 4:30pm – 7:00pm
Shop, eat, and drink! Three of our favorite things! Featuring a variety of local makers!
Participating Vendors:
- Renew Clothing Co
- Flux Studio
- Amal Creams
- Simply the Best by Nicole
- El Baul
- The Journey Within
- Sewpreme Seams
Rob Bellamy & Kamryn Palmer with Sons of Levin
Herter Park Amphitheater
Thursday, October 13, 2022 @ 7:00 pm
Get down to some country with us!
Herter Park Amphitheater
1175 Soldiers Field Rd, Allston
Anthony D'Isidoro
Hello Everyone,
In case you plan to walk-in to your boss on Tuesday, either in person or virtually, and ask for a 20% increase in pay, the Boston City Council has provided you with a self-help guide they used with their boss (taxpayers) to get the job done.
Boston City Council Meeting
Wednesday, October 5, 2022
Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qNkjlj_Sxpc
Slide the time bar to 14:20
Outcome: Approved Unanimously
(The pay raise went even beyond what Mayor Michelle Wu asked for. Councilors salaries would go up to $125,000 from $103,500. Wu’s salary would rise to $250,000 from $207,000. Those figures are $10,000 and $20,000 more than Wu proposed, respectively.)
(The bump would mean councilors make far more than most families in Boston, where the median household income is only $76,298.)
Boston City Council Committee on Government Operations
Monday, October 3, 2022
Docket #0920 - Ordinance amending COB Code, Salary Categories for Certain Offices, Salary of City Councilors, & Salary of the Mayor
Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sWpL4ahrxrIAnthony D'Isidoro
Anthony D'Isidoro
Mayor Michelle Wu says new raises approved by City Council for elected officials are ‘too high’ (Emma Platoff, Boston Globe: October 11, 2022)
Wu indicated she may veto the ordinance, passed unanimously by the City Council
Boston Mayor Michelle Wu indicated on Tuesday that she may veto a recent City Council ordinance that would give the mayor and councilors 20 percent raises, calling that increase “too high” and setting the stage for a potential clash with the body.
All 13 councilors voted last week to raise the mayor’s annual salary from $207,000 to $250,000, and councilors’ salaries from $103,500 to $125,000 — a significant increase from the 11 percent raises Wu’s administration had initially proposed. But the mayor said in an interview on GBH’s “Boston Public Radio” this week that the council’s proposal goes too far, especially as many city workers are operating under expired union contracts and haven’t seen a pay bump in years.
“The timing of it is concerning to me, and the scale of it,” Wu said. “We’re still evaluating what the financial impacts are of this amended proposal.”
Wu has just under two weeks to respond to the council proposal. If she takes no action, it will go into effect. If she vetoes it, the council could override her with a two-thirds vote, nine of 13 councilors.
Wu’s stance could mark a more contentious chapter in what has largely been a cordial relationship between the mayor and the council. Wu has powerful allies on the council, and has seen many of her priorities sail through with little challenge. During the budget debate earlier this year, Wu and the council briefly tussled over funding levels for the Police Department. But the spending plan that the council ultimately passed hewed close to what Wu had initially proposed.
Any raises for the mayor and the council would go into effect after the next election cycle for each of those elected posts — 2026 for the mayor and 2024 for councilors.
Wu first proposed higher pay scales during the summer, when she floated raising the mayoral salary to $230,000 and the councilor salary to $115,000. Those proposed 11 percent increases were the result of a review by a city board that is required to recommend salary changes every two years for certain senior municipal officials whose pay is not governed by union contracts.
But city councilors ramped up Wu’s figures even higher, saying that would bring salaries more in line with those of elected officials in comparable cities.
Councilor Tania Fernandes Anderson, who led the budgeting process this year, said she was “confused” by the mayor’s stance and pointed out that many members of Wu’s Cabinet make significantly more than the $125,000 salary councilors have approved for their own roles.
“We work weekends, we work nights, we work every single day,” she said. She predicted that if Wu vetoed the raise proposal, the council would override it, saying, “I don’t see the councilors going backwards.”
Councilors also approved raises for other top city officials, including the police and fire commissioners and the head of the legal department. The council passed raises for nonelected officials at the same level the mayor had pitched.
The median household income in Boston is $76,298, according to census figures. Some city workers, including full-time paraprofessionals, custodians, cafeteria managers, and grave diggers, are paid less than $40,000, according to January 2022 data provided by the city.
Those salaries can be tough to square with residency requirements, which mandate that most workers live within Boston city limits for 10 years. That often leaves the most junior, and lowest paid, city employees struggling to afford housing in a place where rents and home prices are skyrocketing. Boston was ranked the fourth most expensive city for renters in the United States, with a median monthly rent of $2,600 on a newly listed one-bedroom apartment, according to a July report by rental company Zumper.
If the council’s 20 percent raises go into effect, Boston’s chief executive would make more than the mayors of Philadelphia and Washington, D.C., who earned about $230,000 and $220,000 last year, respectively. In cities with similar populations to Boston but with lower living costs, mayoral salaries in the past few years have been equivalent to or slightly lower than Boston’s. Baltimore’s mayor will make about $199,000 this year, while the mayor of Columbus, Ohio, made $205,000 last year and Detroit’s earned $189,000. In pricey Seattle, the mayor made about $200,000 in 2019, according to local media reports.
Danny McDonald of the Globe staff and correspondent Alexander Thompson contributed to this report.
Councilor Michelle Wu never would have backed this City Council raise. Mayor Wu should veto it. (Adrian Walker, Boston Globe: October 11, 2022)
The Boston City Council deserves a big raise. Obviously.
Because $103,000 a year is clearly too small a salary for a group that has broken new ground in doing nothing and then tweeting about it.
By a unanimous vote, this council that can barely agree on what day it is voted last week to raise councilors’ pay from $103,000 to $125,000. Under the legislation, Mayor Michelle Wu would get a big hike also, from $207,000 to $250,000. It was Wu who proposed pay hikes for the mayor and council, but the council went considerably higher than her initial proposal.
I am not one of those people who reflexively opposes higher salaries for politicians. But this is ridiculous.
We’ve all heard a lot about how this is the most progressive city council in history. But while thousands of city employees have gone years without a meaningful raise, the councilors have decided that they are hugely underpaid. That isn’t progressive — it’s sheer hypocrisy.
What does the City Council really do? In the best of times, that’s a question councilors would rather you not dwell on.
These are not the best of times.
This council, which took office in January, has passed hardly any legislation, other than the city budget — a legal obligation its members couldn’t avoid. Even then — with sweeping new budgetary powers councilors couldn’t figure out how to use — they brought hardly anything to the table.
Currently, with a deadline looming to agree on a new map to govern city elections next year, they are, predictably, at loggerheads, with three maps currently in play.
They certainly haven’t done anything that would suggest they are in line for a raise.
And that’s before we even get to the deep dysfunction. Even before the council came apart at the seams over the years-old sexual assault allegations faced by Ricardo Arroyo, this was hardly a well-oiled machine. In its wake, his supporters and those who sought to remove him from some of his council duties can barely manage to sit in the same room for a couple of hours a week. (Arroyo was never charged and has vehemently denied all allegations against him.)
This proposed raise could have been even more outrageous. Some councilors actually lobbied for an even bigger boost — to $150,000 a year, matching the salaries of Wu’s Cabinet secretaries. Sanity prevailed, aided by the near-certainty of a mayoral veto.
Councilors supporting this increase — which would go into effect after the next council election, in 2023 — point out that the council has not had a raise since 2017. They would argue that when you really do the per-year math, the increase is reasonable.
But tell that to low-income city employees who don’t get to vote on their salaries. For that matter, tell it to state senators, whose base pay is $70,000 with $15,000 added on for chairing a committee.
Trust me: As inept as Beacon Hill can be, city councilors don’t do $40,000 more work than state senators.
State Senator Lydia Edwards — an East Boston Democrat who just left the council earlier this year — was aghast at the vote of her former colleagues.
“Look, increase in salary votes will never be popular,” Edwards said. “However, city employees get (cost of living) increases and if the council would stay within that increase, it would show solidarity with city workers.”
Edwards noted that there are homeless city employees, and some — especially seasonal employees — well below the poverty line. “A 21 percent increase is just hard to take, knowing how many people are struggling right now.”
The legislation now sits on the desk of Mayor Wu. As a councilor, Wu led the charge against a much smaller raise in 2018. (The council eventually settled for a modest boost from $99,000 to $103,000.) In an interview Tuesday on GBH Public Radio, Wu expressed reservations about the council raise, but stopped short of saying she would reject it.
I don’t think Wu’s position on this will be affected by the potential increase in her own salary.
Wu should stick to her principles, veto this, and dare the council to override it. And any councilor who votes for this should, at a minimum, get a viable opponent next year.
Just a few days ago, a Globe story asked if this epically divided council could ever find that ever-elusive common ground.
Now we know the answer: Hell yes, they can. The only question is the price.
Anthony D'Isidoro
As development booms in Allston-Brighton, city to vote on plan for Western Avenue (Catherine Carlock, Boston Globe: October 12, 2022)
New zoning for the corridor would be the first neighborhood plan approved under the Wu administration.
As
development booms in Allston-Brighton, city to vote on plan for Western Avenue - The Boston Globe
The Boston Planning & Development Agency will vote this week on a new zoning plan along
Western Avenue in Allston and Brighton, though permitting and even construction on several major
projects
— such as a lab building at 280 Western Ave. — are already underway.DAVID L. RYAN/GLOBE
STAFF
Standing on Lincoln Street in Allston-Brighton, near a bridge that runs over the Massachusetts Turnpike, one can see both the neighborhood’s past and its future.
To one side of the Pike stands Boston Landing, a gleaming campus of sport and industry, the bright red New Balance logo popping against a glass façade; next door, a crane and hard-hatted workers overlook what will be 165 apartments, the first phase of a big redo of an old Stop & Shop.
Across the Pike, it’s another world entirely. Immediately facing the Boston Landing campus is the stark glass-and-metal grid of the long-empty Boston Tech Center, a white elephant that’s finally set for a major redevelopment after sitting vacant for decades. An overgrown surface parking lot stands behind a rusted black wrought-iron fence, ivy and dead branches weaving among its concrete columns.
But soon, that old side of the Pike will look a lot more like the new, and the city is wrapping up a plan that will spell out the details of how.
The Boston Tech Center sits along the far edge of a new zoning plan that the Boston Planning & Development Agency is set to vote on this week. The Western Avenue Corridor Study and Rezoning plan — which covers a stretch along Western Avenue and Soldiers Field Road and along Everett Street toward the Pike — outlines goals for growth in what is already one of the fastest-changing corners of the city. Indeed, the new plan follows a number of large-scale developments that are already in the works, and estimates the area could see up to 6 million to 7 million square feet of new construction in all.
The vacant Boston Tech Center is the far edge of a new zoning plan that the Boston Planning & Development
Agency
is set to vote on this week.DAVID L. RYAN/GLOBE STAFF
At the tech center, developer Berkeley Investments has for years planned a three-building lab and residential campus. Down Soldiers Field Road, National Development and Mount Vernon Co. are planning labs and office space at the site of WBZ’s studios. The Davis Cos. is proposing a residential project at the former Skating Club of Boston. And developer King Street Properties has already started work on a lab and residential campus at 280 Western Ave. All told, those projects would bring some 2.2 million square feet of new space to a corridor that’s full of homes, brick offices, low-slung auto shops, and strip malls — along with a number of colorful murals and art installations, a podcast garage, and Pavement Coffeehouse.
The Western Avenue plan is meant to work as a guide both for existing projects the BPDA is considering and for future development, BPDA director and chief planner Arthur Jemison said at a community meeting last month. The goal is to create a reliable framework that both residents and developers can rely on to understand what comes next in the neighborhood — something that can both reduce anxiety and spare all involved from myriad public meetings.
The plan, Jemison said, will also build on lengthy conversations the city, neighborhood, and developers have had around Harvard’s Enterprise Research Campus, a massive project being planned on university-owned land toward the eastern end of Western Avenue, near the Charles River. In one of her first major moves on the development front, Boston Mayor Michelle Wu this summer brokered a deal with neighborhood groups that enabled Harvard and developer Tishman Speyer to move forward with the ERC’s 900,000-square-foot first phase.
Down Soldiers Field Road, National Development and Mount Vernon Co. are planning labs and office space
at
the site of WBZ’s studios, pictured here. DAVID
L. RYAN/GLOBE STAFF
As written, the plan recommends allowing multifamily housing — which current zoning does not permit — throughout the entire study area, along with pockets of commercial and lab buildings. Developers can build taller, denser buildings if they agree to add more affordable housing, especially in the areas that would allow commercial and lab projects. Labs, with their tall mechanical penthouses, could reach up to 185 feet in some spots.
If approved by the BPDA and then the Zoning Commission, the Western Avenue plan would be the first of the neighborhood-focused plans — which launched in 2016 under then-mayor Martin J. Walsh amid his bid to revamp what was then the Boston Redevelopment Authority — that the BPDA would actually write into city zoning. The BPDA in 2016 and 2017 approved neighborhood plans for South Boston and parts of Jamaica Plain and Roxbury, but never took those plans to the Zoning Commission.
This hasn’t slowed development along the stretch of Dorchester Avenue in South Boston between the Broadway and Andrew stations — the focus of one of the plans — where some 17 projects have been pitched, approved, or completed, with more on the way.
The
Davis Cos. is proposing a residential project at the former Skating Club of Boston. DAVID
L. RYAN/GLOBE STAFF
In Jamaica Plain, it’s a different story. The neighborhood plan, called PLAN: JP/Rox, took years to negotiate, with raucous protests, and some neighbors camping outside City Hall ahead of the BPDA vote, demanding deeper affordable housing requirements. But without a changed zoning code, developments that followed its guidelines became more vulnerable to lawsuits from neighbors challenging variances from the neighborhood’s previous zoning scheme.
In the years since, at least three lawsuits have been filed against projects within the JP/Rox area, which stretches from Egleston Square to Forest Hills, including the proposed new headquarters of Youth Enrichment Services and accompanying housing, a 39-unit senior citizen housing project, and the Pine Street Inn’s largest permanent supportive housing development for formerly homeless people.
Still, more plans are coming.
The BPDA intends to reengage neighbors on both PLAN: South Boston Dot Ave and PLAN: JP/Rox, though the agency declined to share details on how. It’s also restarted work on neighborhood plans in East Boston and Charlestown. A draft plan for Mattapan was released last week, and the agency is also launching PLAN: Newmarket to “develop a vision for an equitable industrial neighborhood of the future.”
As for Western Avenue, some neighborhood representatives are glad the plan is moving forward — but note it doesn’t quite align with traffic plans outlined by the state Department of Conservation & Recreation. The Western Avenue plan calls for short-term plans of “low-stress separated bike lanes and bus queue jumps,” along with sidewalk improvements. Long-term it envisions a “transitway” that would allow two-way traffic for transit vehicles, school buses, and emergency vehicles — but one-way traffic along certain parts of Western Avenue.
Those transit plans may be long in coming, but the new construction — years in the making — is approaching fast. Anthony D’Isidoro, president of the Allston Civic Association, noted there’s only so much a plan can manage when there’s already so much development in the works.
“How much of an impact could a master plan for Allston-Brighton have when we’ve already gotten out of the gate?” D’Isidoro said. “You look at any of these major projects . . . the snowball is already going down the hill.”
Anthony D'Isidoro
AVMS gearing up for 25th annual Taste of Allston this weekend (Jeff Sullivan, The Bulletin: October 13, 2022)
More than 1,000 people came out for last year's Taste of Allston, and Allston Village Main Streets
said they're preparing for more this year.
It’s that time of year again. Residents of Allston may recognize the sure signs that the Taste of Allston is returning: the leaves are starting to fall, it’s getting a little chillier, every restaurant is doing something with pumpkin spice, and you can hear the sounds of Viking-era re-enactors getting ready for the big day (https://bit.ly/3yuivng).
Allston Village Main Streets (AVMS) Executive Director Alex Cornacchini said they are prepping to see more than 1,000 residents from near and far come out and experience what Allston has to offer in terms of food, music, and yes, Viking-era combat re-enactments.
“We’re going to have it at the Jackson Mann, where we had it last year,” he said. “This year, we’ve got 20 vendors coming in, like Lulu’s, Rock City Pizza, Flatbread Company; we’ve got retail stores, fitness studios, a number of local artists who either have storefronts in the neighborhood or just do popup events like this. We’ve got three local bands, and the Boston Viking Irish are coming back this year. We’ve also got lawn games and a beer garden too, so it should be a good event.”
Cornacchini said AVMS worked with Rats Nest Records, which books live bands with local venues O’Briens and Looney Tunes this year.
“We worked with them on the Rat City Arts Fest in July, and they have their ear to the ground about a lot of local up-and-coming Allston bands,” he said. “They’re two people who live in Allston and have been great to work with.”
He added that the community is also coming together to make the night a special time.
AVMS President and Stingray Body Art owner Scott Matalon and friends hanging out at the 2021 Taste of Allston.
“For our beer garden for example, we got a generous donation from Blanchard’s Liquors, from Aeronaught and from Sam Adams,” he said. “We’re also excited to have Lulu’s, and we’re excited to have a lot of our restaurants back. Last year, a lot of them couldn’t participate because they were still operating with a lack of staff and operating at a loss because of the pandemic. Last year we had restaurants deliver food to us and we would serve to the attendees. We still got people to enjoy the local food, but the restaurants had to be working and didn’t really see the impact they had on the over 1,000 attendees who were there.”
Cornacchini said the Allston community has been coming out of the pandemic relatively well. He said every business is obviously different and caters to different populations, but the local demographics have allowed many Allston businesses to stay in the neighborhood.
“They have all experienced different stages throughout the pandemic,” he said. “For example, I was just talking to the owner of Ritual Arts over on Harvard Avenue. They sell tarot cards, jewelry and a lot of funky items, and during the summer when things were opening again they saw a tremendous increase in revenue because people were able to shop again. They have gone through periods of growth, lulls; they’re kind of feeling the brunt of the current lull right now.”
He also said take out restaurants did relatively okay in Allston, while sit down restaurants had a tougher time.
“Those that relied more on people coming into their stores felt a more negative impact, but overall, because Allston is a very young and transient neighborhood, there were still people coming into restaurants and stores during the pandemic,” he said
Anthony D'Isidoro
Is Massachusetts losing its competitive edge? Business groups say they’re worried. (Jon Chesto, Boston Globe: October 13, 2022)
Housing costs, rise of remote work, and, yes, tax policy all have Boston-area executives concerned the state may lose out to other states.
JD Chesloff, head of the Massachusetts Business Roundtable, makes the rounds every summer, visiting his corporate members to hear what’s on their minds. One year, it was healthcare. Another year, transportation. During the COVID-19 pandemic, attracting talent became an even more pressing issue.
This past summer, though, one theme dominated all others: the state’s economic competitiveness.
Most of the roughly 90 mid- to large-sized employers in Chesloff’s group worry that it’s increasingly tough to attract and retain workers and companies in this notoriously expensive state, particularly with the rise of remote work. Chesloff points to widely cited US Census figures that show Massachusetts lost more people to other states in 2021 than anywhere but Illinois, California, and New York. For a state that relies on smart, talented workers to thrive, it seems we are at risk of losing our competitive edge.
This was the talk of the Roundtable’s annual meeting on Sept. 22. It also came up the following week at the Mass. High Technology Council, as participants discussed why we fell to 24th place in CNBC’s rankings of “top states for business.” One of the questions posed to US Representative Lori Trahan at the New England Council last week was about the state’s competitiveness. And when Julie Kim, head of US operations at drug maker Takeda, was asked at the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce the other day about the future of work, what was her immediate response? To mention the region’s high cost of living as a barrier to recruiting talent.
So is it a coincidence that this fretting comes as an income tax surcharge on high earners heads to the voters?
Probably not. But Chesloff says the looming vote on the so-called millionaires tax, which his group opposes, is only a piece of the puzzle. Steep housing prices might be the biggest threat perceived by the business community. The costs of labor and energy are in the mix, too. While companies aren’t leaving in droves, many are choosing to expand elsewhere, while the widespread acceptance of remote work means many office employers can hire from just about anywhere in the country. As a result, the roundtable’s board decided its 2023-2024 public policy agenda needs to focus on improving the state’s competitiveness.
But even if taxes aren’t the only issue, they are the factor over which state legislators can exert the most control.
That’s why roundtable board chair Jane Steinmetz talked taxes when she spoke via Zoom at the recent Mass. High Tech meeting. We used to be known as “Taxachusetts,” Steinmetz reminded everyone, and we’ve tried really hard to overcome that reputation. But she worries about the individuals and businesses who can choose which state they call home and whether that old moniker still sticks in their minds.
Steinmetz, who leads the Boston office for accounting giant Ernst & Young, mentioned how Massachusetts has the most onerous estate tax in the nation. House and Senate leaders came close to fixing that as part of a broader tax reform agenda but could not reach an agreement on various economic development issues before time ran out on formal sessions for the year on Aug. 1. (There’s still some hope the estate tax, which kicks in for estates worth at least $1 million, gets modified during lightly attended informal sessions this fall.)
Steinmetz also referred to how corporate taxes in the state are based on three factors: the amount of sales generated in the state, as well as the property and payroll here. That approach can effectively penalize companies for adding employees or expanding facilities in Massachusetts. A growing number of states — more than 30 now — rely solely on in-state sales and not the other two factors, according to a recent tally by the business-backed Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation.
There are some lucky exceptions: Manufacturers, defense contractors, and mutual fund companies have had this special tax treatment, known as the single sales factor, since the 1990s. But for everyone else, it’s all three factors.
Then there’s Question 1 — aka the Fair Share Amendment or the millionaires tax. Next month, voters will decide whether to add 4 percentage points, for earnings over $1 million, to the state’s flat 5 percent income tax; it would raise at least $1.3 billion a year for education and transportation. The pro-business Tax Foundation in Washington, D.C. — which typically ranks Massachusetts somewhere in the middle of the 50 states in terms of state tax burdens — said it could drop us from 34th to 46th if voters approve Question 1. That’s in the cellar with the likes of New York, California, and New Jersey.
It’s this scenario that worries Jay Ash, head of the Massachusetts Competitive Partnership of high-powered chief executives.
Ash remembers working to lure General Electric to Boston from Connecticut six years ago, in his previous job as Governor Charlie Baker’s economic development secretary. He heard a lot of complaining from GE executives about the tax situation in Connecticut (currently 47th on the Tax Foundation’s list). A more appealing tax structure gave Massachusetts an advantage in the hunt for GE, an advantage Ash doesn’t want to lose. Ash said he has heard from several smaller companies in Western Massachusetts that will leave if Question 1 is passed, and a few of his group’s CEO members — including Patriots owner Robert Kraft and construction magnate John Fish — have helped bankroll the campaign against it.
Proponents of Question 1 disagree, saying the proceeds from the millionaires tax would in fact improve the state’s competitiveness. Campaign spokesman Steve Crawford said the Tax Foundation’s assessment ignores how chronic underfunding for the state’s highways, trains, and schools has hurt Massachusetts. Schools are unable to provide students with the skills essential to the state’s changing economy, he said, and traffic is as bad as ever.
But Ash counters that lower-cost states such as Florida and Texas — neither of which has a state income tax — are “cleaning the clocks” of the traditional economic hubs in California, New York, and, yes, Massachusetts. He worries policymakers here often fall into the trap of believing in “Massachusetts exceptionalism” — that our economy will always flourish thanks in part to our renowned universities such as Harvard and MIT.
Yes, Massachusetts still has much to offer: top-notch schools, a relatively high quality of life, great seafood, brainpower galore, a Dunkin’ on every corner. Are those factors enough to stay? Apparently not for everyone.
Anthony D'Isidoro
The event serves as a fundraiser for Operation Delta Dog!
Anthony D'Isidoro
Harvard, the richest university, is a little less rich after a tough year in the markets (Larry Edelman, Boston Globe: October 13, 2022)
Its endowment shrunk by $2.3 billion to $50.9 billion during a down time for financial markets.
Humility is not the first word Harvard University brings to mind.
But last year, when the storied school’s endowment soared in value along with just about every kind of investment on the planet, administration officials wisely tempered their enthusiasm — and expectations for the future. Their message to students, staff, alumni, and the often envious outside world: Markets give and markets take away.
Sure enough, their caveat got a call-back on Thursday as Harvard reported that the value of its endowment — including investments and donations — slumped by $2.3 billion to $50.9 billion in the year ended June 30, amid an ugly selloff in financial markets.
Even after the haircut, however, Harvard was up $11 billion over the past two years, and its endowment remains the largest in higher education.
The Cambridge school’s investments fell 1.8 percent in the most recent year, according to its annual financial report, compared with a 34 percent gain in fiscal 2021.
“The disparity between [returns in the past two years] was stark and reinforces the necessity of focusing on long-term, risk adjusted returns,” N.P. “Narv” Narvekar, who oversees the endowment, said in Harvard’s annual financial report.
Narvekar and his exceedingly amply compensated investment managers seek to protect the endowment from severe “downdrafts” like the one we we’ve been going through for most of the year. They did a pretty good job when you consider the beating financial markets took during the academic fiscal year.
Publicly traded and private equities make up the largest chunk of Harvard’s portfolio.
The Standard & Poor’s 500 fell 11 percent from June 2021 through June 2022, including dividends. The tech-laden Nasdaq Composite index tumbled 23 percent. Global equities, as tracked by the MSCI ACWI Index, lost 16 percent.
“The most significant impact was the poor performance of global equity markets over the course of the year,” Narvekar said.
He also cited two other factors that weighed on Harvard’s returns: a lackluster year by hedge funds, which had turned in big gains over the previous four years, and the endowment’s small exposure to energy stocks, a rare hot sector in 2022. Harvard is winding down its investments in fossil fuels.
Harvard’s performance was a bit worse than arch rival Yale University’s. Investment managers there eked out a 0.8 percent gain, and the New Haven school’s endowment ended June at $41.4 billion, down about $900,000 from a year earlier.
MIT’s investments fell 5.3 percent, leaving the endowment at $24.6 billion. At the University of Pennsylvania, the endowment’s return was flat and its value rose slightly to $20.7 billion including donations.
Dartmouth College’s investments fell 3.1 percent, with the endowment ending the year at $8.1 billion.
While all the schools have fared better than most individual investors — I’d feel a lot better if my IRA held up like Harvard’s endowment — the full picture for fiscal 2022 isn’t known.
That’s because the endowments invest heavily in private equity and venture capital funds, and those managers typically lag three months behind in valuing their illiquid assets. Losses on those holdings will be felt in the new academic year, as well as the impact of the continued public market meltdown after June 30.
“My impression is the worst is yet to come,” said Kristin Reynolds, a partner at investment consultant NEPC in Boston and the team leader of its endowments and foundations group. “However, I would say that private markets performance had been so strong the year prior, that it is still helping portfolios relative to public markets.”
The market gives and the market takes away. And sometime it keeps on taking away a lot longer than we’d like.
An environmental group wants to make Harvard allow public access to its boathouse docks. The university is pushing back. (Spencer Buell, Boston Globe: October 14, 2022)
The Charles River Watershed Association says the college’s exclusive use of two swaths of waterfront property needs to come to an end.
A view of the Newell boathouse. A nonprofit wants to force Harvard University to allow public access to its
historic
boathouse docks.DAVID L. RYAN/GLOBE STAFF
For more than a century, Harvard has enjoyed a valuable perk along the banks of the Charles River: full private access to the waterfront at its two historic boathouses, where rowers can launch boats without interference from the general public.
But a nonprofit environmental group says it’s time for the special treatment the elite institution enjoys to come to an end.
The Charles River Watershed Association is urging the state to make Harvard go back to the drawing board on its plans to refurbish the sloped wooden decks at the Newell and Weld boathouses — which were built at the turn of the 20th Century and are home to the men’s and women’s crew teams — and find a way to let people other than Harvard students and personnel enjoy those sections of riverfront property.
Harvard, meanwhile, wants to keep its private swath of the Charles, and is offering to help fund a public dock elsewhere at the river’s edge in exchange.
At the crux of the argument from the CRWA is a state law called The Massachusetts Public Waterfront Act, or Chapter 91, which requires that the waterfront be accessible to the public for walking, fishing, and other activities, and “that private uses of tidelands and waterways serve a proper public purpose.”
Harvard will require approval from the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection of a Chapter 91 license in order to proceed with its plans to rehab its docks, a project that is part of a major renovation of the boathouses, already underway.
A
view of the Weld boathouse under reconstruction.DAVID L. RYAN/GLOBE STAFF
“Our request is very straightforward. We ask that the DEP require that Harvard provide access to the riverfront on each of these sites,” CRWA deputy director for advocacy Jen Ryan said at a hearing held Thursday, adding that doing so is “reasonable and consistent with the law.”
The association has not advocated for specific changes to Harvard’s plans at its buildings, which call for reconstructing their large, sloped decks that protrude into the river. But the group and others said the approval process is an opportunity for the state to bring Harvard into compliance with the law, and want officials to withhold a license until the college integrates public access.
At Thursday’s hearing, representatives from Harvard said the university believes its arrangement with the state is necessary to restrict public access to the docks, which are only accessible via the private boathouses, in order to safeguard its collection of valuable boating equipment and keep people from entering student locker rooms and bathrooms housed there.
What’s more, they said that both Harvard and the Department of Conservation and Recreation, which manages the public land, considered finding alternative ways for the public to access the water on that property, but decided against it due to the severe slope of the shore, the abundance of vegetation nearby, and the close quarters with the Anderson Memorial Bridge.
“After reviewing these concepts, the two organizations realize that the shoreline at these sites is not really conducive to pedestrian access” Stephanie Kruel, a representative of the design firm VHB, which is working with Harvard, said at the hearing.
Harvard did not respond to emails requesting additional comment.
A
rower put a way a single scull at the Newell boathouse. DAVID
L. RYAN/GLOBE STAFF
Instead, Harvard has offered to go a different route: In conversations with DCR officials, Harvard proposed helping to pay for a public dock about a mile away from the Newell Boathouse at Christian Herter Park. The dock, which was outlined in an earlier DCR master planning process, would be open to the public as well as to area high school rowers. The representatives did not say how much money Harvard would contribute to the project, or for how long.
To some, that sounds like a fair deal.
“I can tell you that this high school boathouse is an asset that’s much needed along the river,” said Tom Pounds, who identified himself at Thursday’s hearing as a member of the local rowing community. “I think this would be a terrific outcome for the public and for the community.”
But the CRWA’s view is that Harvard should not be allowed to enjoy exclusive use of its swath of riverbed, and dismissed its concerns about letting the general public get too close to its facilities.
“It can be done,” Ryan said in an interview. She pointed as an example to the boathouse run by the non-profit club Community Rowing, Inc. in Brighton, which was built to to both allow its private rowing operations and accommodate visitors who simply want to stroll along the water.
“That is a building that gets locked and closed to protect their boats, but they have found a way to do it where there is also complete public access, so you can walk along the river or you can walk down to the dock if you want,” she said.
Members of the public are invited to submit written comments online through November 8, after which the DEP will make a decision about the license.
Anthony D'Isidoro
Anthony D'Isidoro
We've got our vendors for the Taste!!
We're happy to be joined by wonderful restaurants, farmers market favorites, fitness studios, artists, makers, designers and advocates, all who add so much to the fabric of Allston! Come by on October 15th at the Jackson Mann from 1-4 to get a "taste" of Allston!
Anthony D'Isidoro
Hello Everyone,
I want to thank everyone who participated in the process and sent a comment letter to the BPDA Board (for or against).
The BPDA Board did not allow public testimony nor as complicated as this one was, had just one question, that one coming from Board Member Dr. Ted Landsmark asking BPDA if they thought this rezoning plan would be challenged.
Video: (2332) BPDA Board of Director's Meeting 10-13-22 - YouTube
Slide the time bar to 23:47
The North Brighton and North Allston community has been “guidelined”, “recommended” and “called for” to death.
Where is the accountability and transparency?
Who will take ownership of prioritizing, funding, designing, constructing and implementing the growing list of guidelines, recommendations and calls for?
The only thing that is guaranteed is the shovels will continue to go into the ground for development projects with little attention to construction mitigation and staging and the enabling infrastructure to ensure a sustainable community.
Tony
From BPDA:
Planning and Urban Design
Western Avenue Corridor Study and Rezoning adopted by BPDA Board
The Western Avenue Corridor Study and Rezoning initiative was launched by the BPDA in September of 2019 to address development pressure and transportation challenges in the formerly industrial corridor stretching through both Allston and Brighton. In the past three years, the BPDA convened numerous public engagements to shape the planning recommendations. The effort has culminated in a series of zoning, urban design, and transportation guidelines that are designed to give the community more predictability in the face of significant development pressure, and unlock key public amenities as the neighborhood continues to grow. The plan enables for higher density mixed-use development near transit, and encourages residential and cultural uses everywhere within the study’s area. The plan also calls for an improved network of sidewalks and paths that would better connect the neighborhood to the Charles River Reservation. To reduce congestion and improve mobility, the plan recommends the implementation of a Western Avenue Transitway, which would see dedicated bus lanes and low stress bike lanes in the corridor. After approval by the BPDA Board, zoning recommendations in the plan will now go in front of the Boston Zoning Commission for approval.
Anthony D'Isidoro
Anthony D'Isidoro
I-90 ALLSTON MULTIMODAL PROJECT STATUS REPORT
WRITTEN BY: THOMAS J, NALLY, A BETTER CITY SENIOR ADVISOR
On August 1, 2022, MassDOT issued a large format, 57-page Notice of Project Change (NPC) for the I-90 Allston Multimodal Project that described changes to the I-90 Allston Multimodal Project since completion of the Draft Environmental Impact Report in 2017. The NPC also outlined additional studies to be undertaken in preparing a Supplemental Environmental Impact Report (SDEIR) in 2023.
Comments on the NPC were due to the Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs MEPA Office on September 13, and the MEPA Certificate was signed by the Secretary of Environmental Affairs on September 23. The Certificate described the project and summarized the content of the NPC as well as described requirements for the scope of the SDEIR. The Certificate also summarized the content of 225 comments received on the MassDOT report. Comments included support for the selection of the Modified At-Grade alternative as the Preferred Alternative replacing the viaduct; concern for impacts on Charles River wetlands, water quality and navigation; concern for climate change; and support for multimodal transportation, including bike and pedestrian facilities, and design of West Station and other rail and bus transit improvements.
A Better City’s comments on the NPC emphasized five points:
- the Modified At-Grade option is the only viable alternative in the Throat section of the project;
-
the Paul Dudley White path proposed in the At-Grade option is a water dependent use;
-
the Viaduct Preservation contract should be included in the environmental review process;
-
further refinement of the West Station design is needed; and
-
several listed components such as the Agganis Way connector, People’s Pike path and buffer, and Cambridge Street Bypass should be further refined as key components of the project concept.
The MEPA Certificate was generally supportive of these ends; however, the Secretary stated that the Viaduct Preservation project has independent utility, and as a repair project does not require environmental review.
Based on the comments and content of the scope included in the MEPA Certificate, A Better City has identified several areas of focus as the SDEIR is under development: A Better City will continue to question the independence of the Viaduct Preservation project and advocate for its revision to be incorporated in a larger program of the Multimodal Project. A Better City will also support additional focus on the design of West Station, its multimodal connections, and transit modeling, as well as further development of the pedestrian and bicycle path network. A Better City recognizes that more work needs to be done to address wetlands, waterways, resilience, and stormwater issues. Regarding construction of the project elements, construction staging that minimizes temporary roadways and places the most beneficial transportation components into service as soon as possible is important. During construction, transportation management and mitigation strategies need to be related to construction staging, and concurrent construction of foundations and decking for air rights construction needs to be incorporated into work on transportation elements.
It is clear that much diligent effort as well as active involvement with stakeholders will be required to complete the tasks included in the scope for the next phase of environmental review.
Anthony D'Isidoro
Allston Construction Mitigation Subcommittee Meeting
Tuesday, October 18, 2022, 6:00 pm - 7:30 pm
Please
register in advance to get the Zoom link.
Chaired by Harvard Allston Task Force (HATF) member Ed Kotomori, this subcommittee shares information among Harvard University construction mitigation and community relations staff, Boston Police Department District 14, local and state elected officials and their representatives, and local North Allston neighbors to discuss issues surrounding neighborhood construction and safety issues. All are welcome to attend and contribute.
Email Contact: Priscilla Anderson (pril...@gmail.com)
Anne Mazzola
Allston Construction Mitigation Subcommittee Meeting
Tuesday, June 28, 2022 @ 6:00 pm
Please register to get the Zoom link.
Chaired by Harvard Allston Task Force member Ed Kotomori, this subcommittee shares information amongst Harvard University construction mitigation and community relations staff, Boston Police Department District 14, local and state elected officials and their representatives, and local North Allston neighbors to discuss issues surrounding neighborhood construction and safety issues. All are welcome to attend and contribute.
Email Contact: Priscilla Anderson (pril...@gmail.com)
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Anthony D'Isidoro
Allston Construction Mitigation Subcommittee Meeting
Tuesday, October 18, 2022, 6:00 pm - 7:30 pm
Please register in advance to get the Zoom link: https://harvard.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJcudu-oqTwuHdJX3ZEKFuC0fMxrcUDbJAfH
Anthony D'Isidoro
Let’s celebrate STEM Week by expanding career pathways for youth (Mary Skipper & Bob Giannino, CommonWealth: October 17, 2022)
Boston has a thriving STEM sector, but not enough opportunities for students to explore it
The Boston area has a thriving innovation economy and is home to numerous companies in the STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) fields. Yet, access to mutual learning opportunities with these booming industries remains limited for Boston’s educators and students. Today is the start of the annual Massachusetts STEM Week, a time to raise the visibility of these issues.
In 2015, United Way, the Boston Public Schools and Boston After School and Beyond launched BoSTEM, an initiative committed to connecting students to high quality, hands-on STEM programs and activities. The partnership was forged in recognition of the high proportion of STEM-related jobs in Massachusetts and the profound underrepresentation of Black and Latinx professionals in the STEM field.
BoSTEM works with after-school and out-of-school time (OST) providers and corporate partners to provide culturally sustaining, experiential learning opportunities to students, preparing them for postsecondary success and empowering them to see themselves in future STEM careers. Over 10,300 students have been engaged since the initiative began.
Statewide data from 2020 estimate that 27 percent of STEM workers are non-white, with those who identify as Black making up 5 percent of the Massachusetts STEM workforce, and those who identify as Hispanic or Latinx making up 6 percent of the STEM workforce. The overall state population is 9 percent Black and 12 percent Latinx.
The disproportion is not due to a lack of interest but a lack of opportunity for students of color. As more than 75 percent of Boston Public Schools students are Black or Latinx, it is imperative that students have access to engaging STEM education during the school day and in after-school and out-of-school time programs. This should happen in the elementary and middle grades so that students are prepared for more rigorous STEM coursework in high school.
BoSTEM aims to meet this need. It plays multiple roles within the local STEM ecosystem, serving as a community of practice and offering a hub for connections among industry partners, out-of-school time providers, and BPS educators. It also connects out-of-school time providers with professional development opportunities, resources to support the continued improvement of programs, and tools for data collection and analysis. Collectively BoSTEM fosters a supportive learning environment that guides students along STEM career pathways.
A new Rennie Center case study, “The BoSTEM Initiative: Creating Pathways to the STEM Workforce,” looks at the BoSTEM model, examines data, and highlights how three partner organizations (CitySprouts, Courageous Sailing and Sociedad Latina) provide robust, fun, engaging activities featuring culturally responsive, relevant material that incorporates real-world issues.
The report also provides key recommendations, calling for more concentrated involvement from the community at large, noting that with continued funding and expanded involvement from STEM-focused industries and community organizations, BoSTEM can continue to advance positive outcomes for young people.
Boston’s business community can play a significant role creating invaluable learning opportunities in two ways.
Externships allow educators to immerse themselves in multi-day professional development workshops delivered by industry partners. These programs provide teachers with content knowledge to bring back to the classroom and a deeper understanding of how their lessons can incorporate real-world scenarios. Industry partners can also learn from educators about youth and how best to connect with learners.
According to the Rennie Center’s report, the connection that BoSTEM facilitates allows industry partners seeking to recruit and retain a diverse talent pool the opportunity to learn from teachers how to make their workplaces more welcoming and inclusive for students of color.
Career exposure is an integral part of the BoSTEM model and important to contextualize learning for students. Due to historic discrimination, exclusion, and socioeconomic inequities, it is critical for students of color to see individuals that look like them succeeding in careers tied to their interests. The case study spotlights the many ways in which out-of-school time organizations intentionally seek out engagement with ethnically diverse STEM professionals.
The pandemic has presented multiple challenges for in-person career exposure activities, and we encourage companies to prioritize giving employees more volunteer time to directly engage with students and educators.
Relationships between educators, youth, and industry partners are most meaningful and beneficial when a reciprocal, long-term relationship is developed and sustained through site visits, field trips, and mentorship opportunities.
This year BPS and BoSTEM are hosting several STEM Week activities including, a kickoff event, 10 regional family nights, and a game night for teens at the Boston Public Library. The week culminates with a College, Career and STEM Fair to make students and families aware of the STEM career pathways available to them.
We urge industry partners and STEM professionals to sustain and build this framework by prioritizing real-world learning opportunities for students and professional development support for the educators who are cultivating the bright young minds of our future workforce.
Mary Skipper is superintendent of the Boston Public Schools. Bob Giannino is the Ansin President & CEO of the United Way of Massachusetts Bay and Merrimack Valley.
Anthony D'Isidoro
Anthony D'Isidoro
Anthony D'Isidoro
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zof-sCZQJvE
Check out the video of Jill Rosati's new Ringer Park Mural! Brought to you by Allston Village Main Streets, Replay'd, and 4front ventures. It took a long time and involved some hard work, but the results are amazing. Check it out, its on the basketball and tennis courts!
Anthony D'Isidoro
The Boston Pride are a professional women's ice hockey team based in Boston, Massachusetts. They were one of the four charter franchises of the Premier Hockey Federation (PHF), formerly the National Women's Hockey League (NWHL). The Pride play at Warrior Ice Arena, which is also the practice facility for the Boston Bruins. They won the inaugural Isobel Cup in 2016 and were the first pro women's hockey team to win three titles when they repeated in 2021 and 2022.
The 2022-2023 season kicks off on Saturday, November 5, 2022 @ 7:00 pm at Warrior Ice Arena against the Connecticut Whale.
Anthony D'Isidoro
Community Meeting to Discuss New Community Center for Allston/Brighton
This is the first of several community meetings to establish the types of uses and activities the community would like to see in a new center and discuss location options.
Please join Boston Centers for Youth & Families, the City of Boston’s Public Facilities Department and the Mayor’s Office of Neighborhood Services for a community meeting to explore options for a new community center in Allston/Brighton. The meeting will be held via Zoom on Thursday, October 20, 2022 at 6:00 p.m.
BCYF is committed to a transparent, inclusive community process as we meet to establish the types of uses and activities the community would like to see in a new center. The community center study will also explore location options for a potential center. This will be the first of four community meetings for this phase of the study.
To participate in this meeting, please register. Translation services can also be requested when registering.
Last updated: October 13, 2022
PUBLISHED BY: Boston Centers for Youth & Families
Anthony D'Isidoro
Anthony D'Isidoro
Saturday, October 22, 2022 & Sunday, October 23, 2022, 11:00 am – 7:00 pm
Jackson Mann School
500 Cambridge St, Allston
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Anthony D'Isidoro
Boston College warns students to be on alert after man seen lurking near off-campus residences in Brighton (Jesús Marrero Suárez: Boston Globe: October 23, 2022)
Boston College is urging students to lock their doors and exercise caution after a man was seen lurking outside off-campus residences in Brighton.
Boston police are investigating suspicious activity in the area after receiving reports of a man peering into windows of residences on Foster Street and Kirkwood, Greycliff, Braemore and Radnor roads between 8 and 11 p.m. over the past few days.
Police released screenshots of security camera footage that provided an image of the suspect, described in a statement as between 5-foot-8 and 6 feet tall, with a thin build, wearing a white zip-up hoodie, black gloves and a face mask.
A man attempted to break into a Kirkwood Road residence twice on the night of Oct. 13, according to a statement from Boston College Police Department.
Security camera photos released with the statement show a similarly dressed man wearing a light-colored cloth mask covering his face. The man left the area in a dark-colored car similar to a Jeep Wrangler, campus police said. Police urged students to lock their windows and doors.
Investigators are asking anyone with any information on the man to contact Brighton detectives at (617) 343-4256.
Anthony D'Isidoro
Harvard, Boston, and Taxes: The PILOT Episode (The Harvard Crimson Editorial Board: October 20, 2022)
https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2022/10/20/editorial-pilot-payments-11th-year/
Boston's PILOT, or 'payment in lieu of taxes,' program encourages medical, educational, and cultural
institutions to make voluntary contributions to make up for the fact they they are exempt from property
taxes. By
Steve S. Li
Many Harvard students may have heard, or even said, this infamous line before: “I go to a school just outside of Boston.” But being “just outside of Boston” doesn’t mean that Harvard has nothing to do with Boston. In fact, Harvard is one of the largest property owners in the city — without paying any property taxes.
Since 2011, however, under the Payment in Lieu of Taxes program, Boston has instead requested that nonprofit organizations with property holdings valued at upwards of $15 million — a designation which includes Harvard — voluntarily contribute 25 percent of the property taxes they are exempt from paying.
This year, like every year since PILOT’s inception, Harvard has failed to
fully comply with Boston's PILOT request, contributing $10.8 million, which amounts to just 79 percent of the city’s recommended amount of $13.7 million. Additionally, less than half of Harvard’s contributions this year were actual financial disbursements:
A total of $6.8 million was paid in
“community benefits credits” — the estimated financial value of Harvard initiatives that are considered of benefit to Boston residents. Initiatives such as the Harvard Law School Pro Bono Program, summer academies for high schoolers, and the Arnold Arboretum fall under this category.
To be clear, we support initiatives that serve local communities. But for such initiatives to account for more than half of Harvard’s PILOT contributions seems disingenuous, especially considering that they rely on the labor of students and volunteers that often do not get paid.
While once again disappointed by Harvard’s actions, we are no longer surprised. As we have opined previously, Harvard is not exactly a model neighbor. From its lackluster Town Gown relations with Cambridge to contentious expansions in Allston, we have repeatedly identified a need for Harvard to be more supportive of its neighbors; this is only the latest example.
For an institution that prides itself on nurturing the next citizens and citizen-leaders, Harvard’s own ability to fulfill its civic duties is questionable. How can Harvard teach responsible leadership when it refuses to lead responsibly in the very communities it resides in? Unfortunately, our university is not alone in dropping the baton: Other nearby universities such as Tufts University, Boston University, and Boston College have also failed to satisfy their PILOT requests. Harvard, along with these peer institutions, should move to pay these dues in full in order to enrich the surrounding community.
Above all, we believe that the real scandal is that institutions as wealthy as Harvard can be tax-exempt for property ownership in the first place. The state of Massachusetts should take legislative action to ensure that Harvard pays a fair, standard property tax at the state level. The specific clauses of such legislation and the extent to which it should be extended to other institutions, of course, are up to actual legislators.
But for now, we just ask our University to fulfill its PILOT requests. If paid in full, Harvard’s contributions can generate a meaningful increase in tax revenues for Boston — an increase that, with so many potential benefits, we see no reason to not support.
Some traditions are worth breaking: As Harvard moves to exit the chapter of its history under President Lawrence S. Bacow, who is set to step down in June 2023, we urge the new President and general administration to revisit the institution’s contributions and correct past inadequacies. This new chapter of Harvard’s history is not yet defined, but we hope it will feature at least one thing — Harvard’s renewed support for and commitment to the city it resides in.
This staff editorial solely represents the majority view of The Crimson Editorial Board. It is the product of discussions at regular Editorial Board meetings. In order to ensure the impartiality of our journalism, Crimson editors who choose to opine and vote at these meetings are not involved in the reporting of articles on similar topics.
Anthony D'Isidoro
Outdoor Story Time (Beginning Tuesday, November 1, 2022)
Miss Hope is back with Outdoor Story Times, every Tuesday at 10:30 am in the Children's area. Miss Hope will read a few books and we will sing a few songs together. There will be optional craft and theme appropriate coloring pages. Outdoor Story Times is geared towards ages 2-5.
No registration required. Watch the Honan-Allston Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/bplhonanallston) page for cancellations or sign up for email notifications at this link: https://forms.office.com/pages/responsepage.aspx?id=cVxz-pXXAUywrgn6dBWysf5EOfF3W-RLp2OW6BXtZ0hUMURBTEZaUVNORkg5RjNTQ0hBOTcwUUlZRC4u
Outdoor Baby Lapsit (Beginning Thursday, November 10, 2022)
Come sing some songs, learn fingerplays, and hear a story with Miss Hope. This program is geared towards babies ages 6 months to 2 years. Please bring something to sit on if you don't want to be on wet grass.
Outdoor Baby Lapsit will take place in the Children's area.
Note: This program does not happen on the first Thursday of the month.
No Registration required. Watch the Honan-Allston Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/bplhonanallston) page for cancellations or sign for email notifications at this link: https://forms.office.com/pages/responsepage.aspx?id=cVxz-pXXAUywrgn6dBWysf5EOfF3W-RLp2OW6BXtZ0hUMURBTEZaUVNORkg5RjNTQ0hBOTcwUUlZRC4u
Anthony D'Isidoro
Zoning Board of Appeal Hearing
Inspectional Services Department
Tuesday, October 25, 2022
The October 25, 2022, hearing will be held virtually via video teleconference and telephone via the Zoom webinar event platform.
Interested persons can participate in the hearing REMOTELY by going to http://bit.ly/ZBAhearings. You may also participate by phone by calling into the Zoom Webinar at (301) 715-8592 and entering the Webinar ID: 996 0844 0932 followed by # when prompted.
If you wish to offer testimony on an appeal, please click: http://bit.ly/October25Comment to sign up. Please provide your name, address, the address and/or BOA number of the appeal on which you wish to speak, and if you wish to speak in support of or opposition to the project.
Extensions: 9:30 am
Case: BOA-1035883 Address: 178 Brighton Avenue Ward 21 Applicant: Rebekah Glickman-Simon
Hearings: 9:30 am
Case: BOA-1367321 Address: 438 Washington Street Ward 22 Applicant: Maria Vasilakas, DMD
Article(s): Article 51, Section 17 Floor Area Ratio Excessive Article 51 Section 17 Rear Yard Insufficient
Purpose: Build an addition onto existing Dental Office on first floor and relocate wheelchair ramp
Case: BOA-1344069 Address: 66 Waverly Street Ward 22 Applicant: Timothy Johnson
Article(s): Article 51 Section 9 Lot Area for Additional Dwelling Units Insufficient Article 51 Section 9 Front Yard Insufficient Article 51, Section 57 Application of Dimensional Req -Two or More Dwellings Located on the Same Lot
Purpose: On Parcel 637 with existing detached 2-Family dwelling, erect a new detached 3-story, 2 Family dwelling with balconies & roof access and on-grade parking as per plans submitted. This will be 1 of 2 dwellings located on the same lot (See ALT1321700).
Case: BOA-1344067 Address: 62-64 Waverly Street Ward 22 Applicant: Timothy Johnson
Article(s): Article 51, Section 57 Application of Dimensional Req - Two or More Dwellings Located on the Same Lot
Purpose: Existing 2 Family dwelling located at 62-64 Waverly Street. To Share Lot with proposed 2 Family Dwelling located at 66 Waverly Street and 4 Abbey Road. As per plans submitted. See Sister Permit# ERT1307351. This will be 1 of 2 Dwellings located on the same lot.
Hearings: 10:30 am
Case: BOA-1354097 Address: 139 Parsons Street Ward 22 Applicant: Joshua LaPan Article(s): Article 51, Section 9 Side Yard Insufficient Article 51, Section 9 Rear Yard Insufficient
Purpose: Reduce first floor deck size and add second floor deck to back of house with spiral stair case and Minor interior modifications to accommodate new deck entry
Case: BOA-1258611 Address: 89-91 Union Street Ward 22 Applicant: Mohammad Osmani
Article(s): Art. 51 Sec. 23^ Off street parking requirement - No off street parking is shown on new subdivision plans. Article 51, Section 9 Lot Area Insufficient Article 51, Section 9 Side Yard Insufficient Article 51, Section 9 Rear Yard Insufficient Article 51, Section 9 Floor Area Ratio Excessive
Purpose: Seeking to combine lots (parcel ID 2205415001 & 2205415000) to form 1 new lot containing 9600 sf. Then to subdivide into 3 lots, lot 1 containing 2348 sf to be known as 93 Union St, lot 2 containing 2238 sf to be known as 89 91 Union St, lot 3 containing 5014 sf to be know as 45 Shepard St.
Case: BOA-1258613 Address: 93 Union Street Ward 22 Applicant: Mohammad Osmani
Article(s): Article 51, Section 9 Lot Area Insufficient Article 51, Section 9 Side Yard Insufficient Article 51, Section 9 Rear Yard Insufficient Art. 51 Sec. 23^ Off street parking requirement - No parking provided after sub division.
Purpose: Seeking to combine lots (parcel ID 2205415001 & 2205415000) to form 1 new lot containing 9600 sf. Then to subdivide into 3 lots, lot 1 containing 2348 sf to be known as 93 Union St, lot 2 containing 2238 sf to be known as 89 91 Union St, lot 3 containing 5014 sf to be know as 45 Shepard St.
Case: BOA-1258616 Address: 45 Shepard Street Ward 22 Applicant: Mohammad Osmani
Article(s): Art. 51 Sec. 23^ Off street parking requirement - Proposed parking is insufficient Art. 51 Sec. 08 Use Regualtions - MFR is a Forbidden use in a 2F 5000 Sub district Article 51, Section 9 Add'l Lot Area Insufficient Article 51, Section 9 Floor Area Ratio Excessive Article 51, Section 9 Bldg Height Excessive (Stories) Article 51, Section 9 Bldg Height Excessive (Feet) Article 51, Section 9 Usable Open Space Insufficient Article 51, Section 9 Front Yard Insufficient Article 51, Section 9 Side Yard Insufficient Article 51, Section 9 Rear Yard Insufficient
Purpose: COMBINE LOTS (PARCEL ID 2205415001 & 2205415000) TO FORM 1 LOT CONTAINING 9600 SF. THEN TO SUBDIVIDE INTO 3 LOTS, 93 union (2348sf), 89 91 union (2238sf), and the new lot at 45 Shepard St (5014 sf). Also to erect a 6 unit building with 9 parking spaces. See ALT1208426 & ALT1208420
Recommendations: 11:00 am
Case: BOA- 1385565 Address: 10-12 Ridgemont Street Ward: 21 Applicant: Erin Reilly
Article(s): Article 51, Section 9 Side Yard Insufficient Article 51, Section 9 Floor Area Ratio Excessive - Living area plus the new square footage divided by the lot size is over the Floor to Area Ratio allowed.
Purpose: Accessibility Project Add a 1 story 144SF 1st floor bedroom for the disabled adult son of the owners. Wood frame on concrete piers. The addition will be in the location of part of the existing deck, in the side yard setback.
Re-Discussions: 11:30 am
Case: BOA-1367246 Address: 14 Gardner Street Ward 21 Applicant: Alpha Management
Article(s): Art. 51 Sec. 08 Use Regulations - MFR 38 Units (FORBIDDEN) Art. 51 Sec. 09 Insufficient additional lot area per unit Art. 51 Sec. 09 Excessive f.a.r. Art. 51 Sec. 09 Maximum allowed height exceeded Art. 51 Sec. 09 # of allowed stories exceeded Art. 51 Sec. 09 Insufficient front yard setback Art. 51 Sec. 09 Insufficient rear yard setback Art. 51 Sec. 09 Insufficient usable open space per unit Art. 51 Sec. 40 5(a) Off street parking design - Design/Maneuvering areas (width of two way isle is <24' standard) Article 51,Section53 Screening & Buffering Req Article 51, Section 56 Off Street Parking Insufficient Article 51, Section 56 Off Street Loading Insufficient
Purpose: Seeking to raze existing structures (demolition to occur on separate permit) and erect a new residential building with 38 units and 25 parking spaces.
Case: BOA-1296380 Address: 49R Imrie Road Ward 21 Applicant: Theresa Conti & Tom Lawless
Article(s): Art. 51 Sec. 57.2 Exst'g Bldg Algnmnt Conformity Article 51, Section 57.13 Two or More Dwellings on Same Lot Article 51, Section 57 Application of Dimensional Req - 1 building behind another building Article 51, Section 9 Lot Frontage Insufficient Article 51, Section 9 Lot Width Insufficient Art. 51 Sec. 09 Open Space insufficient Article 51, Section 9 Side Yard Insufficient Article 51, Section 9 Rear Yard Insufficient Article 51, Section 9 Front Yard Insufficient
Purpose: Confirm existing structure as a barn and convert to a single family house, new dormer and renovate, as per plans. Two dwelling structures on one lot. See alt1269324 for 49 Imrie Rd, existing 2 family, no work to be done. This is one of two buildings on the same lot.
Case: BOA-1296381 Address: 49 Imrie Road Ward 21 Applicant: Theresa Conti & Tom Lawless
Article(s): Article 51, Section 57.13Two or More Dwellings on Same Lot Article 51, Section 9 Lot Frontage Insufficient Article 51, Section 9 Lot Width Insufficient Art. 51 Sec. 09 Open Space insufficient
Purpose: NO WORK TO BE DONE. Filed in conjunction with ALT1269313 49R Imrie Rd, convert barn to a single family. 2 dwelling structures on one lot. This is to be two buildings on one lot.
Re-Hearing: 12:00 pm
Case: BOA-1173599 Address: 535-537B Washington Street Ward 22 Applicant: Pure Oasis LLC
For a new hearing on the appeal of Pure Oasis to open a recreational cannabis establishment at the above referenced location. The Board previously denied this appeal, but it voted to grant reconsideration of this matter on September 13, 2022 after a hearing on the applicant's request. From the terms of the Boston Zoning Code (see Acts of 1956, c.665) in the following respects- Variance, Conditional Use Permit, and/or other relief as appropriate Article (s): Article 51, Section 16Use Regulations - Retail Cannabis Establishment Use : Conditional Purpose: Change of Occupancy to Retail Cannabis Establishment.
Email Contact: Stephani...@Boston.Gov
The hearing can also be viewed via live-stream on the City’s website. Closed captioning is available.
Anthony D'Isidoro
40 Academy Hill Rd, Brighton
Anthony D'Isidoro
(Bloomberg) -- Boston leaped over San Francisco to land in second place on the list of most expensive US rental markets, with New York still holding the crown.
The median one-bedroom rent in Boston jumped 5.9% this month from September, to $3,060, according to a new report on metropolitan areas from Zumper, a rental-listing company. In San Francisco, it dropped 2.6% to $3,020. New York’s median fell 2.3% to $3,860.
The Boston area is facing a severe shortage of rental housing, straining affordability for those who don’t have big incomes or rich parents to lean on. San Francisco, meanwhile, is struggling to recover from the pandemic as tech companies embrace remote work.
While rents in the US are starting to dip, on a month-over-month basis, Boston’s increase is among the nation’s fastest. That’s in part due to greater Boston’s zoning laws that favor single-family homes, known as “apartment bans.”
“These eye-popping prices shine a light on Boston’s ongoing housing crisis,” Zumper said in the report. “New inventory coming online is skewed towards the luxury market, pushing median asking prices even higher.”
(Zumper) Boston scarcity creates record-breaking prices:
In surprising news, Boston is now the second most expensive city in the United States. It leapfrogged San Francisco (where post-pandemic recovery has been slower than normal and one-bedroom rent is down 4.6% this month). Median one-bedroom rent in Boston jumped 5.9% this month, to $3,060. Boston’s two-bedroom median is now $3,500, a 4.2% increase over last month.
These eye-popping prices shine a light on Boston’s ongoing housing crisis. Like most large cities in the country, Boston’s housing market is undersupplied—but that housing shortage is especially tough to overcome in Beantown thanks to prohibitive zoning laws that favor single-family homes. And new inventory coming online is skewed towards the luxury market, pushing median asking prices even higher.
One caveat to this trend is that Boston—with its dozens of colleges—is especially subject to seasonal patterns. So we can expect prices to soften a bit now that students have settled into their new homes and we enter what is traditionally the low season for renting across the country.
Housing report finds Greater Boston is building more units, but not nearly enough (Yasmin Amer, wbur: October 26, 2022)
Municipalities in Greater Boston have been building more condos and apartments in recent years, according to a new report from the Boston Foundation.
That's the rare good news in a region synonymous with high housing costs. The report found that cities and towns in the region issued more housing permits in 2021 than they have since 2005.
But, "we have a long way to go," said Luc Schuster, co-author of the report and director of Boston Indicators, a research center at the Boston Foundation. "That said, as a region, there has been a meaningful uptick in housing production in the last five or six years, and in particular, in multi-family housing production."
(Courtesy Boston Indicators)
Gov. Charlie Baker's administration has upped pressure on state and local officials to increase housing stock. It has provided grants and technical assistance to encourage cities and towns to build 135,000 additional units. The administration also directed 175 communities to ease zoning around MBTA transit stops to allow for more multi-family units — a move that sparked opposition among some residents.
Now for the bad news: Despite efforts to build new units, there still aren't enough to meet the demand. Rent and home prices have skyrocketed. According to the Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard, households now need an income of at least $181,254 to afford to buy a median-priced home in Greater Boston.
The picture isn't much better for renters. Almost half of renters in the region are spending more than a third of their household income on housing, according to the report. By a government standard set in the 1980s, households that spend more than 30% of income on housing are considered "cost-burdened."
(Courtesy Boston Indicators)
The consequences of the state's housing crisis are becoming more palpable, Schuster said. He believes more people are leaving the state to work, raise families and pay taxes, in lower cost states such as New Hampshire or North Carolina. The Boston Foundation report found fewer families with children are living in Greater Boston today compared to a decade ago.
(Courtesy Boston Indicators)
One big reason supply hasn't kept up with demand, according to Schuster: Most Bostonians still idealize the single-family home.
"In the majority of land in Greater Boston today, it's against the law to build a modest two-unit duplex or the classic Boston triple-decker that the city is known for," Schuster said.
The dearth of multi-family units puts home ownership out of reach for many first-time homebuyers, particularly from Black and Latino communities. This contributes to a persistent wealth gap and ongoing racial segregation in the region.
Triple-deckers
along Edgewood Street in Boston's Dorchester neighborhood. (Jesse Costa/WBUR)
Despite growing racial diversity in Greater Boston, the majority of the area's Black and Latino residents live in only a few cities. And those cities tend to have lower median household incomes, according to Census data. An analysis from The University of California-Berkeley lists Boston as "highly segregated" and ranks it 24th out of 225 major metro areas for racial segregation.
Many aspects of housing development in Massachusetts are governed by zoning rules, which are made by individual municipalities. Schuster said that needs to change. He argues a key strategy for easing the state's housing crisis is for more housing policy to come from the a state level.
"A lot of [small communities] have chosen the path of freezing in ember the quaint character of their towns, and resist any notion that they ought to build more multi-family housing to contribute to our region's shared needs." Schuster said. "I think that's where you get the most inequitable outcomes."
Anthony D'Isidoro
Allston school wins $100,000 prize for academic improvements during the pandemic (Adria Watson, Boston Globe: October 26, 2022)
Allston school wins $100,000 prize for academic improvements during the pandemic - The Boston Globe
Gardner Pilot Academy Principal Erica Herman, right, was congratulated after her school was honored with
the
School on the Move Prize during a ceremony at The Westin Copley Place.CRAIG F. WALKER/GLOBE
STAFF
The Gardner Pilot Academy in Allston won the $100,000 School on the Move Prize on Wednesday for improving learning environments and helping students thrive throughout the pandemic.
The prize, which is in its 17th year, is given out by EdVestors, a Boston education nonprofit. Gardner Pilot Academy will receive $80,000 in cash and $20,000 for best practice research.
The other two finalists, William E. Channing Elementary School in Hyde Park and Charles H. Taylor Elementary School in Mattapan, each received $20,000 to further school improvement — which is double the usual prize for runner ups due to a surprise anonymous donor.
“This is really just such an honor and very humbling to be up here right now,” Gardner Pilot Academy Principal Erica Herman said during Wednesday’s award ceremony at The Westin Copley Place. “The last year was the hardest year of my entire educational career. I’ve worked in Boston for a long time, this is my 18th year as the principal, and I’ve never had a year like last year. So to be here and standing in front of all of you to receive School on the Move means a tremendous amount.”
Once the award was announced, Gardner Pilot Academy students and staff cheered and hollered at the honor. A pair of students climbed the steps to the stage amid applause from the 200 attendees.
“This is just amazing,” said Madison Johnson, an 8th grade student at the school. “I can’t wait to go to school at tell everyone about this.”
Gardner Pilot Academy Principal Erica Herman, right, invited two of her students, Madison Johnson, left, and
Sophia
Gonzalez, on stage after being honored with the School on the Move Prize.CRAIG F. WALKER/GLOBE
STAFF
In previous years, the prize was based on results from standardized tests for a five-year period. But because of disruptions in learning created by the pandemic, EdVestors wanted the prize this year to highlight schools that adapted approaches to student re-engagement and growth in order to meet the challenges communities were faced with over the last two years.
They looked at a range of data school collected throughout the 2021-22 academic year focused on student growth based on campus-based testing, the level of family engagement, including school visits, and outreach, among other things.
“The Gardner shone through, in no small part, because of the Community Hub School model that they have,” said Marinell Rousmaniere, President and CEO of EdVestors. “So they really had a foundation in place that they were able to mobilize and execute on delivering food to families setting up a vaccine clinic, all of those things, and stayed laser focused on academics.”
Gardner Pilot Academy’s Community Hub School model, which was in place prior to the pandemic, established partnerships with 30 partners to provide support and services to students during the school day, after school, and over the summer, as well as thousands of hours of tutoring. Herman called the Hub School a “coordinated and connected philosophy” that looks at how to keep academics at the core and ensuring teachers have a support network.
“It’s a village that literally raised these schools,” said Mary Skipper, Boston Public Schools superintendent. “It’s exciting to be able to celebrate them but also, through EdVestors’ support, take their work and spread it throughout the BPS.”
Anthony D'Isidoro
Application Deadline: Friday, December 9, 2022
Harvard is hosting a remote drop-in info session for organizations who are interested in applying and
have technical questions.
Drop-In Technical Assistance Session is scheduled for:
Wednesday, November 16, 5:00pm–6:00pm
Anthony D'Isidoro
Community: keep BCYF in Allston (Jeff Sullivan, The Bulletin: October 27, 2022)
The City of Boston and the Boston Centers for Youth and Families (BCYF) held the first of four community meetings on the demolition and possible replacement of the Jackson Mann Community Center and Boston Public Schools (BPS) building.
The building is about 50 years old and had to be shut down a year-and-a-half ago because of structural problems. The Boston Public Schools (BPS) Jackson Mann K-8 School has already closed and redistributed students. The Horace Mann School for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing has also moved over to Charlestown (but has intimated it would want to return to Allston if possible). According to officials, the plan is to knock the building down and put something in its place.
BCYF and the city have contracted design firm Utile to conduct the study and design possible reconstructions of the center. BCYF Commissioner Marta Rivera said the goals of the four-meeting study are fairly simple.
“The goals of this study are to answer the questions of what, where and what’s possible,” she said. “We’re looking to see what the potential locations are for Allston Brighton. And (District 9 City Councilor) Liz Breadon made it very clear that there’s nothing else, this is it. If this is it, great. But the other aspect of this study is to figure out what the community wants. What type of programming, uses, and possible sites, and then Utile is going to do a three-dimensional test of those programs and uses within the sites that have been identified.”
Rivera said the overall goal is to create a stand-alone facility with more programming, more flexible uses within its spaces and to be able to serve different age groups throughout the community.
City of Boston Architect Alistair Lucks said the timeline for the community center is first to do a study with the community, which is expected to finish in April of 2023, budget funds for construction and design, which would take another year, actually do the design, which is scheduled for 12 to 15 months, and then begin construction, which could take between 24 to 30 months. All told, even if the city doesn’t have to acquire new land for the project (which would tack on another six months or a year), it would be five years before the BYCF Community Center for Allston returns in earnest.
Allston Civic Association President Tony D’Isidoro said he was concerned about the timing of this process and what that could mean for a new community center. “The issue of this complex has been talked about for years now, and it was always a strong possibility that it was going to be closed down and that we would need to take steps to mitigate that closing,” he said. “It’s unfortunate that the official announcement was made about a year-and-a-half ago and it’s taken this long for BCYF to actually begin the process. The process should have started fairly quickly after the announcement by BPS.”
D’Isidoro followed up with his concern that recent studies and plans and designs for public improvements to Allston and Brighton have not been followed up on.
“We have been studied to death,” he said. “Studies so far, a lot of the recent ones at least, have been very disappointing because they have set a level of expectations, just like this one. Everybody is excited to participate in this process because we’re talking about a new community center, but the history of it has been a lot of broken promises and lack of action to actually fund, design and go ahead on these hundreds of recommendations that have not been implemented.”
Rivera said BCYF is committed to a new community center. “We want to see it, just as you all do, happen sooner rather than later,” she said.
Rivera said they would have an interim location for the next election, since Jackson Mann has historically been the district’s only voting location. She said if an interim location for the BCYF center is not found by next year, they will keep it open for such vital functions.
Boston Director of Public Facilities Kerrie Griffin said that the city will be following up on this and pointed to the recent announcement of the new $80- million Grove Hall BCYF Center in Dorchester.
“That went through this same process, actually with the same design team,” she said. “Everything we do within the Public Facilities Department starts with a study. Most of these studies require community engagement to get it right. It is worth it, I know it adds a step but it’s how we build our capital plan.”
Resident Alejandra Velasquez said she’s been a resident of Allston for 30 years, and said she was affected by the loss of programs at the Jackson Mann.
“I really appreciate everyone there,” she said. “They do tremendous work. I’m so grateful, but I’m sad the school is not there, the other activities they offer, the soccer, basketball, it’s just very difficult. A lot of the parents I speak to in the area really want the best for the community center and want it to stay in Allston. I can’t stress that enough.”
Resident Siobhan McHugh said her family participated at the BCYF and went to the school. “I would like to see it stay in that location. It’s a really important location,” she said. “Not only for the four or five bus routes it’s on, but for the immigrant population, especially who live close by where it’s easily accessible.”
Anthony D'Isidoro
ACA cautious of proposed condos going rental (Jeff Sullivan, The Bulletin: October 27, 2022)
The Allston Civic Association (ACA) met on Wednesday, Oct. 19 for its regular monthly meeting and discussed the new proposed six-unit condo building for 15 Raymound St.
The community was mostly receptive to development attorney Richard Lynd’s plan for the space. He said they wanted to create a building that fit in with the community and didn’t clash with the smaller one- and two-family houses around the area. Residents and ACA members expressed concern that while they have seen many such buildings proposed for homeownership units in the past, some have converted to rental after being sold.
“When you go to get a permit for that building, the permit is not specific to those being condos right?” said resident Sal Pinchera.
Lynd said ‘yes’ that is correct. “There’s nothing requiring you to keep condos there,” Pinchera said. “People might not understand that just because you’re saying it’s going to be condos, it doesn’t mean the city can make you.”
“Condominium is a form of ownership, not a form of use,” Lynd said. “So anybody who owns property, especially under four units, can take those units and convert them into condominiums. You can build a new building regardless of how many units you want to build and convert them to condos. But this particular client is not in the rent/ hold marketplace, they’re condo builders. While you’re right, the permit is for a six-unit building, their intention, if this does get built, is to build six condos.”
Pinchera said he was happy to see three-bedroom units presented for growing families and increasing homeowner and family population in the neighborhood.
ACA President Tony D’Isidoro said they would watch out for that possible conversion.“ We’ll keep an eye on that,” he said.
Resident Rita Vaidya said she was concerned about the current building and its subsequent demolition if this gets approved. “We’re concerned about the construction and vibration that will be happening from the construction and demolition of this building,” she said. “We would like pictures of our house taken from the inside, from the basement to the third floor, so that if there’s any damage, because we are so close to this house currently – about 10 feet –if there’s any damage we can report that. We would also like some soundproof windows put in our house because we work from home.”
Lynd said regarding the demolition process, he doesn’t believe it will be an issue.
“With that said, my client will be happy do a pre-construction survey of your property,” he said. “He will have somebody go in and identify benchmarks – because your home may already have sediment cracks in it – and then, obviously, if there are any issues or problems we’ll have a benchmark for that. I will say based on my experience; the demolition of the building is located quite far from your house so there shouldn’t be issues. The process to take that building down is very quick and will be done by professional licensed contractors with appropriate insurance. I don’t expect the demolition will create any issues that will impact the integrity of your building. But we will address that as part of the pre-construction survey.”
Vaidya added she is concerned about pollutants from construction as well. “It’s an old house, so I’m sure there’s asbestos and lead, and so what they are going to do for migrating that?” she asked. “I have seven raised garden beds next to the property and I will do soil testing before and after and if there are lead levels or other pollutants that have gotten into my soil because of this construction, I would like soil to be replaced because I just recently bought this soil from Black Earth Composting, and it wasn’t cheap.”
Lynd said if any contaminates are found, they will follow the State Department of Environmental Protection and the City of Boston’s protocols for that removal.
Anthony D'Isidoro
(Available twice per year—Fall & Spring)
Fall 2022 cycle details:
Application is Due no later than 5:00pm on
Thursday, November 17, 2022
_______________________________
The mission of the Allston/Brighton-Boston College Community Fund is to support programs and services that are available to the people of Allston and Brighton. The Fund Committee seeks applications from organizations, associations, programs, or purposes based in Allston and Brighton. The Committee gives special consideration to the benefit of the potential award on the youth, senior citizens, and the needy in the Allston and Brighton neighborhoods. Beautification projects are also encouraged.
The Fund was established by the former Mayor of Boston, Thomas M. Menino and Rev. J. Donald Monan, former President of and current Chancellor of Boston College.
The purpose of the awards is to supplement existing budgets of established organizations and agencies in order to promote a program or service for which financial support is not otherwise available. Consultants will not be funded. The Fund Committee also considers and makes awards to independent groups who present a worthy proposal or sponsor a worthwhile event.
Interested groups may apply for funding either during the fall or spring cycle.
Please Note: Only one grant per group or agency will be awarded per year.
Spring 2022 Grant Recipients
For the Spring 2022 cycle of the Allston Brighton/Boston College Community Fund a total of $36,226 was distributed to the following 13 organizations:
- Allston Village Main Streets: Allston Banner Program
- Brighton Allston Congregational Church: Project Greenhouse & Allston Brighton Food Pantry
- Charles River Conservancy: Conservancy Volunteers Community Volunteer Events
- The Fishing Academy: Hooked on Fishing
- Gardner Pilot Academy: Family Support at GPA: Welcoming Families to Meet Optimal Student Outcomes
- The Granada House: Granada House Healing Garden
- Penniman Community Garden: Penniman Community Garden - Border Creation
- PSF Community Center: Enhancing our Community Rooms to Meet Evolving Needs of Community in Post-COVID Era
- Road to the Right Track: Special Events Program
- Saint Columbkille Partnership School: Loyola Middle School Classroom Technology Upgrade
- Unbound Visual Arts: Arthaus Gallery - Phase 2 Enhancement
- West End House Camp, Inc.: Project Camperships 2022
- West End House Girls Camp: Camper Scholarships
Anthony D'Isidoro
Anthony D'Isidoro
Honan Allston Branch Library (Community Room)
300 North Harvard St, Allston
Anthony D'Isidoro
Boston City Council Meeting
Wednesday, October 26, 2022
Video: (2363) Boston City Council Meeting on October 26, 2022 - YouTube
Slide the time bar to 1:23:15
1328 Councilor Bok, Louijeune, Flynn, Arroyo, Baker, Breadon, Coletta,
Fernandes Anderson, Flaherty, Lara, Mejia, Murphy and Worrell
offered the following: Order for a Hearing to discuss trash containerization
in Boston.
On motion of Councilor Bok, Rule 12 was invoked to include Councilors
Louijeune and Flynn as co-sponsors.
Referred to the Committee on City Services and Innovation Technology.
Anthony D'Isidoro
Sahmir Morales takes to the air for 5 TD passes as Brighton secures Boston City League crown over Latin Academy (Eamonn Ryan, Boston Globe: October 28, 2022)
Daejon Davis caught a pair of touchdown passes as Brighton scored six times through the air while capturing the Boston
City
League championship.JOSH REYNOLDS FOR THE BOSTON GLOBE
He might have been battling the flu, but that did not stop Sahmir Morales from dominating through the air in Brighton’s 40-26 conquest of visiting Latin Academy at Daly Field Friday night.
The senior quarterback was just focused on beating Latin Academy (6-2) for the first time in five years to clinch the Boston City League title.
“It was well-needed. Especially in a game where we’re going into the playoffs, it feels great,” he said. “I didn’t want to go out losing all my years (at Brighton) to BLA.”
On three consecutive drives to open the game, Morales tossed touchdown passes of 31, 52, and 37 yards, staking the hosts to a 20-6 lead over the Dragons and help Brighton (6-1) claim a City League title after winning all five of its league games.
“The fact that [Morales] was able to put the team on his back and have a game like he did tonight being sick — it says a lot about his leadership, his character and his willingness to win,” said Brighton coach Randolph Abraham.
The senior added another in the third quarter from 26 yards out and then hurled a 32-yard touchdown in the fourth to finish with 204 yards and five touchdowns on 9-of-13 passing.
Sophomore Yariel Ortiz was his favorite target, racking up 109 yards and three touchdowns on four receptions.
The Bengals looked ready from the get-go: junior Quentyn Dulin ran a jet sweep 26 yards to open the game. Dulin dropped a potential TD, but Morales hit senior Anthony Pires on a 31-yard strike to open the scoring.
Latin Academy attacked by land, answering with nine straight rushes, with 6-foot-3-inch tight end-turned-tailback Owen O’Neill (15 carries, 97 yards) finishing off the drive with a 4-yard score.
Harry Fitzgerald (19 rushes, 99 yards, 2 TDs) made his biggest play with two minutes to go in the third, punching in a 1-yard score, and then dragging a Brighton defender into the end zone for the conversion and a 26-all game.
The Bengals answered with two passing scores, and worked quickly as they took a 40-26 lead with 2:36 to play.
Latin Academy was dealing with injuries to running back Xavier Polanco and quarterbacks Orlando Jusino and Bailey Belony, which meant freshman Jack Shapiro was under center.
With just over a minute on the clock, Shapiro (5-11, 67 yards) had to put it in the air, and the Bengals forced a turnover to secure the City League title, with Daejon Davis snagging a pick.
“We beat the best in the North,” Abraham said. “I think we’re hitting our stride right now and good things are going to happen.”
Anthony Monteiro Pires (4) and Quentyn Dulin (6) celebrated a Brighton touchdown in the team's 40-26 win
over
Latin Academy for the Boston City League title.JOSH REYNOLDS FOR THE BOSTON
GLOBE
Brighton's Anthony Monteiro Pires (4) runs just out of reach from Latin Academy's Harrison Emmett
Fitzgerald.JOSH REYNOLDS FOR THE BOSTON GLOBE
Anthony D'Isidoro
ABCD FUEL ASSISTANCE PROGRAM INTAKE SITE: 2022-2023
Please call for hours and to make an appointment.
Translation services are available.
Allston/Brighton Neighborhood Opportunity Center
640 Washington St.
Suite #201/202
Brighton, MA 02135
https://bostonabcd.org/location/allston-brighton-noc/
Anthony D'Isidoro
Anthony D'Isidoro
Anthony D'Isidoro
Division 8
Favorite: Hull
Sleeper: No. 6 Brighton
Best matchup: No. 9 Nashoba Valley at No. 8 Cathedral
Longest road trip: Lee to KIPP Academy (137 miles)
Anthony D'Isidoro
Death on the Nile (2022, PG-13): Movie Night at Honan-Allston
Wednesday, November 2, 2022, 5:15 pm – 7:30 pm
Belgian sleuth Hercule Poirot’s Egyptian vacation aboard a glamorous river steamer turns into a terrifying search for a murderer when a picture-perfect couple’s idyllic honeymoon is tragically cut short. Set against an epic landscape of sweeping desert vistas and the majestic Giza pyramids, this tale of unbridled passion and incapacitating jealousy features a cosmopolitan group of impeccably dressed travelers, and enough wicked twists and turns to leave audiences guessing until the final, shocking denouement.
Popcorn and soda will be provided.
Honan-Allston (Community Room)
300 North Harvard St, Allston
Anthony D'Isidoro
Hello Everyone,
I want to share with you my concern with an unsettling trend among some proponents/zoning & permitting attorneys that you should be aware of as you conduct your review of development projects in our community.
The focus is on development proposals that start out as rentals and change over to homeownership or start off as homeownership during the community review process, primarily to help soften opposition to the project over other issues such as height, density and lot coverage.
Approval of proposals is based on use not on life style.
There is no legal commitment to take let’s say a 50-unit residential building and convert them over to condominiums.
The proponent for 392-398 Cambridge St, Allston was Babak Veyssi who went through the community review process very coy about whether the proposed 32 units would be rentals or homeownership.
At his Board of Appeal hearing, on tape, he was pushed to confirm it as a homeownership project. I got a confirmation from Lance Campbell at BPDA that they also approved the project as homeownership.
To no one’s surprise, he never converted the building and to this day operates it as an apartment building.
Will he ever fulfill his original commitment, nobody knows.
Because of our low owner occupancy levels and lack of homeownership opportunities, Allston Brighton takes a proponent’s commitment to provide homeownership seriously.
They know we will absorb some additional “pain” with the project, if homeownership is being offered.
So, hearing today at the Zoning Board of Appeal hearing, another permitting/zoning attorney with a project outside of our community say “well our intention is to start off as condominiums but we’ll see how the market performs”, just doesn’t get it.
Kudos to the community who were being asked to absorb a lot of “pain” for pushing back against the proponents of 40 Mount Hood Road who wanted to renege on their condominium commitment, trying to portray it as a “minor change”.
Very simply, have the proponent commit to the conversion after the building is constructed, have the proponent commit to placing all the units on the open market for sale and if they can’t do that, after making a commitment to homeownership, don’t build it or have the decency to come back to the community.
Continue to press for a higher percentage and wider range of affordability and a minimum 51% owner occupancy rate (I prefer 70%), for homeownership projects.
On the issue of parking, another deflection justifying lower parking ratios is when you hear proponents, zoning/permitting attorneys, even BPDA Project Managers express interest in having BTD deny individuals resident parking permits.
First and most important the City’s resident parking permit data system is not programmed to deny resident parking permits.
Secondly, BTD will admit there are potentially a whole bunch of legal issues involved in trying to deny someone a parking permit.
Proponents have talked about including language in the leases or condo docs to codify such restrictions. Good luck.
Everyone is entitled and should be respected for their views on parking whether you advocate for more or less. Be wary of including the resident parking permit program in that discussion.
However, I mention the example above which fits into the tone of this email about accountability and transparency.
Tony
Nancy and Bob
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Anthony D'Isidoro
New residential development will replace boarded up City Sports store in Allston (Teresa Jia, The Daily Free Press: November 2, 2022)
City Sports located on 1035 Commonwealth Ave. City Sports has been closed since
2015, however it may be converted into a residence in the near future. LINDSAY
SHACHNOW/DFP
STAFF
Several developers filed plans to replace the old City Sports at 1035 Commonwealth Avenue in Allston — which closed in 2015 — with a mixed-use building last Tuesday.
According to the project application, the new development would be a six-story building with five stories for residential use, with the ground level for commercial use. Seven of the 55 dwelling units would be sold as affordable housing units.
The development cost is estimated to be $15 million, and while the building will offer no off-street parking spaces, it will build 74 bicycle parking spaces.
Now that the small project review application has been filed, the plan is open for the public comment period, when anyone can submit their thoughts on the project to the Boston Planning and Development Agency, said Anthony D’Isidoro, the president of Allston Civic Association.
At least one public hearing will be scheduled by the BPDA, where the agency would introduce the development team to the community and give a formal presentation on the project, D’Isidoro said.
“Sometimes, depending if there is a lot of pushback or a lot of changes that people would like to see made,” D’Isidoro said, “they may come back with a second meeting.”
After the public comment period, the BPDA board and zoning board of appeals will hold hearings on the project, D’Isidoro said. The construction will begin once the project is approved and granted a building permit.
D’Isidoro said Boston is the second-most expensive city in the country when it comes to rentals and home ownership.
“What it requires, in terms of income and down payments, to buy something in our community today is not really applicable to most people,” he said. “Given the serious housing crisis that we have in our city, anytime a reasonable and appropriate project comes along that provides additional housing has got to be looked at as a positive thing.”
D’Isidoro said he wasn’t sure how long it would take for the project to be approved. Allston residents expressed their opinions about the new development.
“Allston is a student town, but also there’s a lot of people who live here and work here,” said Allston resident Billy Eng. “I don’t mean to push people off, but it’s just like, oh, rents will go up and working people have problems … but it can help out everybody.”
Allston resident Ashley Acuña said she thinks local businesses will benefit from a new residential building, however, she said she had concerns about how the new development will affect residents and housing prices.
“The T is really close,” she said. “Already sometimes, peak hours it gets really cramped. So, if there are more students or maybe non-students that move into the area, then it might just create a little bit more traffic using public transportation.”
The public comment period will end on Dec. 2, after which the plan will await board approval.
Anthony D'Isidoro
IAG discusses 76 Ashford and I-90 project (Jeff Sullivan, The Bulletin: November 3, 2022)
The Impact Advisory Group (IAG) for the proposed building at 76 Ashford St. in Allston met on Wednesday, Oct. 28 and discussed it, the adjacent access to the proposed West Station and the I-90 Multimodal project as a whole.
The City Realty Group proposed building is sited in between the old Beacon Rail Yard and the Boston University athletic fields on Ashford. Ashford Street runs parallel to Brighton and Commonwealth avenues and is home to a large number of students. The proposed building would have 254 units, 63 parking spaces, 14 percent of the units designated affordable under the Inclusionary Development Policy (IDP) at 40 percent to 70 percent area median income (AMI), 16 stories of housing and 1,875 square feet of retail space to be designated at affordable rates.
The building will be adjacent to a designated bus way leading to the planned MBTA Commuter Rail West Station, which is part of the large Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) project proposed for the area, which will include numerous new streets, neighborhoods, rail access, highway access and a realignment of I-90.
According to I-90 Task Force member and Allston Civic Association President Tony D’Isidoro, the project is currently undergoing its final environmental review. He said after that, MassDOT will begin gathering funding for the $250-million-plus project.
“The Baker administration has applied to the Biden administration to take advantage of some legislation that has been passed, namely the Infrastructure Bill but also others, to obtain at least a portion of the funding for the project,” he said. “Once those two tasks are complete, then I think everybody will get a better idea of construction staging and mitigation plans.”
D’Isidoro said he believes that local projects with local benefits will get started sooner rather than later.
“Yes, there are some local projects that are hopefully going to be bumped to the front. For example, the new Franklin Street Pedestrian Overpass and the work on Cambridge Street and West Station,” he said. “We’re hoping that those can be staged in a way that could be pushed to the front so we could realize the benefits of them as soon as possible.”
Embarc Architect Dan Artiges said the plan will also allocate 16,545 square feet of the property to the proposed bus way leading to the site for West Station, which he said is 46.2 percent of the total acreage. He said since the IAG last met, they have increased affordability, increased the number of bike parking spaces to 312 (and added a bike repair station), included the affordable retail space mentioned above, and are contributing to funding for the Allston Brighton Mobility Plan and parks.
City Realty Partner Josh Fetterman said the contribution of land for the West Station Access (estimated by City Realty at $4.5 million) with 36 onsite affordable units (two at 40 percent AMI, five at 50, nine at 60 and 20 at 70 percent AMI) and the creation of the affordable retail space at 65 percent of market value, means that instead of 14 percent affordable under IDP standards, City Realty contends that the actual percentage of the project dedicated for affordable use would be 20 percent.
Fetterman added that the proceeds from the land sale to MassDOT, City Realty is planning to commit to affordable housing in Allston Brighton.
“We’ve proposed to take every dollar received from that land sale and pass it back to Allston Brighton affordable housing,” he said. “We’ve had early conversations with the Allston Brighton Community Development Corporation and the city, and we would want to pass that right through with the goal of furthering affordable housing in Allston Brighton, as opposed to citywide.”
He further provided a letter from MassDOT attesting to this promise.
For more information on the project and to see upcoming meetings, the presentation from this meeting or a recording of this meeting, go to https://bit.ly/3NiMwwH. For more information on the I-90 project, go to https://bit.ly/3STIPP0.
Anthony D'Isidoro
Anthony D'Isidoro
Biz leaders say Beacon Hill dropped the ball by delaying tax reform (Jon Chesto, Boston Globe: November 3, 2022)
Lawmakers agreed on the economic development bill but left Massachusetts’ estate tax as-is, for now.
Biz
leaders say Beacon Hill dropped the ball by delaying tax reform - The Boston Globe
Beacon Hill lawmakers this week are pushing through their biannual economic development bill, but business
leaders
say it should have done more to help Massachusetts' economy.SUZANNE KREITER/GLOBE STAFF
So much for addressing Massachusetts’ relatively far-reaching estate tax.
Legislative leaders decided against including major tax reforms in the final economic development bill that emerged this week, leaving many business leaders upset that the Massachusetts estate tax will remain the most onerous of any in the country.
At one point this summer, it seemed like estate tax reform was a done deal. Both the House and Senate had approved tax-relief measures that would have raised the threshold for when the estate tax kicks in to $2 million, up from $1 million. Governor Charlie Baker had initially suggested a similar change as part of his proposed slate of tax reforms in January.
“There was a broad consensus that changes to the estate tax were necessary to make Massachusetts less of an outlier,” said Eileen McAnneny, president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation. “It’s unfortunate that it didn’t get over the finish line.”
The economic development bill negotiations got sidelined at the end of the Legislature’s formal sessions in late July when the Baker administration disclosed that a little-noticed 1980s law required the state to issue nearly $3 billion in income tax refunds to avoid collecting too much revenue in one fiscal year. Those refunds are now starting to go out.
On Wednesday, House Speaker Ron Mariano cited economic uncertainty as a reason to not include structural tax reforms in the final economic development bill. He said he hopes to revisit the issue next year.
Massachusetts House Speaker Ron Mariano spoke on the steps of the Massachusetts State House on May 3, 2022.
SUZANNE
KREITER/GLOBE STAFF
The state could certainly afford it, at least right now: Even after the costs of the refunds and the nearly $4 billion economic development bill are added up, Beacon Hill should still have nearly $1.8 billion in federal relief funds to spend. Estate tax reform had been the most expensive piece in a roughly $500 million package of structural tax law changes, with others mainly aimed at low-income and middle-class residents — increasing tax breaks for renters, child-care credits, earned income tax credits, and property tax credits for seniors.
Of the dozen states with estate taxes, only Oregon’s triggers at the same $1 million threshold as Massachusetts. (Several other states have inheritance taxes, though.) But there’s a key difference. Once that threshold is hit, Massachusetts taxes the value of the entire estate, while Oregon only taxes the portion above $1 million.
“We’re way out of whack on that,” said Jon Hurst, president of the Retailers Association of Massachusetts. “A lot of these people are small businesses. A lot of them are retirees who move out of state and [then] don’t spend in local stores and restaurants. When you’re an outlier like that, it’s clearly a tax law that needs an update.”
While the House and Senate both agreed to raise the estate tax threshold, the concept does have its critics. Among those is the Mass. Budget & Policy Center, a left-leaning think tank in Boston. Phineas Baxandall, a senior analyst at Mass. Budget, said he hopes the Legislature revisits some of the tax credits for low-income residents next year but leaves the estate tax alone. (Massachusetts has a graduated estate tax, with rates that go up to 16 percent.)
“If lawmakers are trying to help struggling families, it makes a lot of sense not to prioritize hundreds of millions of dollars for quite literally the wealthiest families in the commonwealth,” Baxandall said.
That sentiment prompted Hurst to speculate that legislative leaders may have worried that a handful of progressive lawmakers could have blocked estate tax reform from passing in informal sessions, when no roll call votes can be taken and one legislator can stop a bill.
St.
Mary's Condominiums, a 36-unit development in Marlborough, as seen in an August 2014 file photo.SUZANNE
KREITER
Brooke Thomson, executive vice president at Associated Industries of Massachusetts, did offer some props in a brief statement Thursday, noting her group is pleased that lawmakers were able to pass the economic development bill in informal sessions.
“However, more work needs to be done to strengthen the Massachusetts economy,” Thomson said. “AIM hopes when the Legislature re-examines tax reforms next session, that there will be a renewed emphasis on supporting businesses and generating growth in order to stay competitive.”
The issue of Massachusetts’ competitiveness — relative not only to other high-cost states, such as New York and California, but also lower-tax states such as Florida and Texas — has been on the minds of many business leaders lately, particularly amid the rise of remote work following the COVID-19 pandemic.
Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce chief Jim Rooney pointed to the disappointing score that the pro-business Tax Foundation gave Massachusetts in its latest annual ranking of state tax climates, putting us 34th out of 50 states. Given that, Rooney said he hoped the Legislature would prioritize tax reforms.
Could a resurrection of the dreaded “Taxachusetts” label be far behind?
It is not lost on anyone that lawmakers whiffed on tax reform just days before voters get the chance to approve an income tax surcharge on high earners, known as the millionaires tax, next Tuesday. Should Question 1 get approved, the Tax Foundation has said the state’s ranking could drop to 46th place. But if Question 1 does pass, at least that will give the business groups another argument to lawmakers when they resume their lobbying for estate tax reform next year.
Anthony D'Isidoro
How not to build a highway (Fred Salvucci and Anthony D’Isidoro, CommonWealth: November 5, 2022)
No one thought of the damage the Turnpike would do to Allston, Brighton
First of three parts
THE CONSTRUCTION of the Mass Turnpike through Allston, Brighton, and Newton in the late 1950s and early 1960s was a textbook example of the community, environmental, and social destructiveness of the highway construction of the era. This interstate highway segment was built without federal funds, before the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, and before the passage of the Massachusetts Environmental Policy Act, so no analysis was required of its social, environmental, or community impacts.
In North Brighton, the entire south side of Lincoln Street was taken by eminent domain and demolished, including Fred Salvucci’s grandmother’s house. Lincoln Street had been a community center, with a thriving Lithuanian Club, a Settlement House, a Polish bakery, and neighborhood stores. There was wood-frame housing occupied by relatively low-income workers, many of whom were losing jobs in the slaughter houses and stockyards that were closing at that time. No relocation nor replacement housing assistance was provided to those displaced.
The Allston and Brighton neighborhoods, which had been served by three separate passenger rail stations, were deprived of passenger rail when the stations were destroyed while building the toll road. Allston had no rail service for the following half century.
In Newton, historic minority communities in West Newton and Newtonville were substantially cleared by eminent domain, scattering the population. Newton Corner, which had been a vibrant local community centered on a rail station, became a weird gigantic rotary around an isolated air rights hotel, eliminating the station, and severing the North/South connectivity of the previous commercial center. (The rotary is known locally as “The Circle of Death.”)
Newton
Corner, Exit 17 on the Turnpike.
In addition to the sense of chaos when motorists navigate the giant rotary, eastbound Turnpike travelers are routinely confronted by dangerous backup from the off-ramp onto the turnpike by motorists tied up in the complicated street traffic pattern.
The three remaining Newton stations today operate only in the peak direction, reversing direction at midday, reducing their usefulness, and cutting the frequency of all service west of the switch point.
Further west, at the Newton-Weston boundary, the Turnpike interchange with Route 128/I-95 involves multiple bridges crossing the Charles River, short weaving sections, and curving connections. The roadways cause backups on both interstate highways. It’s an area where a regional rail station would have made sense.
The destructive legacy includes adverse health impacts in our communities. Expanding the city economy by adding the Prudential Center added jobs and tax base that are very beneficial. But the loss in rail service to Allston and Brighton for the next half century, and the substantial reduction in passenger rail capacity to the entire western corridor caused by the thoughtless nature of the Turnpike construction has meant a great increase in automobile trips under congested conditions, and spillover traffic through our communities ever since, causing unnecessary increases in air pollution and respiratory illness.
There were also substantial adverse impacts upon parks, and our access to parks. Today, most of the riverbanks adjacent to the Charles River Basin provide public access on beautiful esplanades with mature trees providing shade to the parks. Both pedestrians and bicycle riders are accommodated, often on separate paths.
But the section of the riverbank in Allston between the BU Bridge and the River Street bridge that remained after the Turnpike construction is a narrow and degraded exception. An 8-foot-wide wooden path cantilevered over the river was added as an afterthought to connect the Paul Dudley White Path, causing the narrowest constraint in the width of the river to accommodate boating, and causing a blind corner where pedestrians, joggers, and bicycle riders risk collisions.
The 8-foot path continues along the treeless top edge of the crumbling riverbank to the west until the approach to the River Street bridge. There, an off ramp from Soldiers Field Road takes all of the space, and path users have only the narrow sidewalk of the ramp to reach the River Street intersection, where bike riders and pedestrians spill off of the narrow sidewalk into the busy traffic. The only access from the river to Allston is on sidewalks along the steep elevated viaduct of Cambridge Street. The noise caused by the traffic on the viaducts and trains pervades the nearby parks and neighborhoods.
Like the razing of homes, the current state of the riverfront is the legacy of highway built by a powerful agency, without environmental review, community input, or adequate oversight by elected officials.
HOW DID IT HAPPEN?
The Turnpike extension (I-90) from Route 128 into the Southeast Expressway and Central Artery was built without the use of any federal or state gas tax funding. The Massachusetts Turnpike Authority used funds obtained by borrowing against the expected toll revenues from drivers.
The Turnpike Authority had been established as an independent authority, and its Robert Moses-like chair, William Callahan, had an active disagreement with then-Governor John Volpe about the use of tolls to finance the road, and a very adversarial relationship with the Metropolitan District Commission, an agency under the control of the governor with responsibility for the Soldiers’ Field Road Parkway, and the Charles River.
In this power struggle, the Turnpike Authority derived leverage from strong political support, especially from the Prudential Insurance Company, which refused to proceed with its investment in the Prudential Center until it was assured that the Turnpike extension would be built. The Prudential Center was the first significant investment in the city since the Great Depression and World War II. Connecting the suburbs, and the popular suburban highway Route 128, into the Prudential Center with direct ramps to its garage entrance as well as connections to the Central Artery was seen as an essential building block to resuscitating the economy of the city. The idea enjoyed strong support from Mayor John Hynes of Boston.
Prudential
Tower
No one thought about the damage it would do to Allston and Brighton.
In Allston, Callahan sought to save money by putting the Turnpike at grade level by filling in part of the Charles River and moving Soldiers Field Road onto the fill. The governor wanted the road built with federal interstate highway funds, obviating the need for a toll plaza, and supported the Metropolitan District Commission. Mutual eminent domain takings were threatened by the Turnpike Authority and the commission. The commission refused to yield. There was even a confrontation between Turnpike survey crews and police officers working for the commission before the parties went to court, where the commission’s authority to block a Turnpike taking of one of its parks and its river assets was upheld.
Out of time and land, Callahan reacted by erecting the current steep and curving roller coaster road under the BU Bridge, over the rail tracks and freight yard, under Cambridge street adjacent to the Allston Depot, and then along the south side of Lincoln street, razing all the housesit the way. The possibility of using the about–to–be–vacant stockyards or a relocated freight yard to avoid some of this damage was apparently never considered.
The Boston and Albany railroad retained a large freight rail yard in this area, constraining passenger rail operations to a single track, with unreliable and infrequent service, even though the industrial character of the area was changing with the closing of the stockyards and slaughter houses in North Brighton.
The retention of the freight yard, plus adding space for the multiple Turnpike ramps into the toll plaza, had a major impact on the historic business center at Allston Depot. The new configuration eliminated passenger platforms, closed passenger operations there, and separated South Allston from North Allston, resulting in a deeply flawed infrastructure that damaged all the surrounding neighborhoods.
The Cambridge Street Bridge crossing over both the Turnpike and rail tracks is steeply sloped, causing poor visibility for autos, dangerous pedestrian crossing conditions, and exacerbating the separation of the South Allston community from North Allston.
Both North Allston and South Allston are also effectively cut off from access to the Charles River and its parks, both because of the infrastructure described above, but also because of the second Cambridge street overpass between Seattle Street and Soldiers’ Field Road, with its steep slopes, and narrow and isolated sidewalks, which provides minimal and unpleasant access to the Charles River.
New York Central Railroad (Boston and Albany parent company) employee magazine Headlights from February 1965
showing
an aerial photograph of the completed Boston Extension of the Massachusetts Turnpike
This separation is further worsened by the very skimpy sidewalk between the Charles River embankment and the westbound off ramp from Soldiers’ Field Road to River Street, the only access for pedestrians and bikes to the Paul Dudley White Path and riverbank.
Further East, close to the Grand Junction rail bridge, Soldiers’ Field Road was built with minimal green space to either side. There is no safe park use adjacent to the Turnpike, and the narrow river bank is blocked by the bridge structure for the Grand Junction railroad.
The Grand Junction two-track railway bridge over the river was constrained to a single track in order to curve and descend under the Turnpike viaduct, with a reverse curve to allow the Grand Junction tracks to pass under the viaduct structure to join the Worcester branch and the freight yard. The main line of the Worcester Branch was also forced to use a double reverse curve so that the turnpike viaduct rising to the west of the BU Bridge would be sufficiently high for the at-grade rail line to get under it. This awkward infrastructure caused noise impacts on all the adjacent neighbors, in Allston, Cambridge, and at Boston University.
In sum, the Allston infrastructure includes noisy, dangerous, curvy, and roller-coaster sections of Turnpike and ramps; curved and constrained space and speeds for the rail lines; and a degraded treeless river bank with an 8-foot-wide path for pedestrians, joggers, and bicycles culminating in the ramp sidewalk at River Street Bridge, providing essentially no access to the river for Allston residents, and a severe lack of connectivity between North and South Allston, an environmental justice neighborhood.
To add insult to injury, for the past six decades residents of Allston, Brighton, and Newton have been paying tolls to finance and maintain the road construction that has done so much damage to their communities.
But now that electronic tolling has eliminated the need for motorists to stop and pay tolls, the increased vehicle speed has increased the danger of the curved ramps, and the 60-year-old functionally deficient Turnpike viaduct and Cambridge Street bridges have become structurally deteriorated, and past their useful life. There is now a need to renew the infrastructure, and an opportunity to build it back better.
Fred Salvucci is a life-long resident of Brighton, a former Massachusetts secretary of transportation, a lecturer at MIT, and an advisor to Harvard on infrastructure matters in Allston. Anthony D’Isidoro is a life-long resident of Allston, president of the Allston Civic Association, and a member of the Allston Multimodal Project Task Force and Harvard Allston Task Force.
Coming next: part 2 – The Allston Multimodal Plan: What are the details, how have we gotten this far, and what needs to happen next?
Cleveland Circle Community
On 11/5/22, 7:53 PM, "Eva Webster" <cleveland-cir...@googlegroups.com on behalf of evawe...@comcast.net> wrote:
The Turnpike was, and continues to be critically needed for the benefit of the entire Greater Boston and Massachusetts
economy. Explain how it is not true. Allston-Brighton took a hit – because it had to. We don’t exist in a vacuum. (Just like when four towns had to be sacrificed for construction of the Quabbin Reservoir – so Boston could grow.)
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To post to this group, send email to AllstonBr...@googlegroups.com
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Anthony D'Isidoro
Multifamily Housing Law Puts Responsibilities on MBTA Communities (Susan Gittelman, Special to Banker & Tradesman: October 31, 2022)
The State Has Been Responsive – It’s Time for Municipalities to Do the Same
Transit-oriented development, also known as TOD, is a promising concept. It refers to locating buildings we live in or work in near public transit, so that the number of cars crowding streets and highways is reduced, consequently reducing pollution and saving commuting time. Advocates and public officials have been trying to encourage transit-oriented multifamily housing development for a long time. Many communities, for one reason or another, are resistant to this kind of development at all, let alone in optimal locations that benefit from proximity to public transit.
But the prospects for siting new multifamily TOD are improving, the result of a law passed by the state legislature in 2020 and some recent guidelines that clarify how that law will work.
What’s New?
A relatively new section of the commonwealth’s framework housing law, Chapter 40A, requires that each of the 175 cities and towns served to some extent by the MBTA’s system have one district of reasonable size in which multifamily housing is permitted by right Housing must be appropriate for families, and density is set at least 15 units per acre. This housing must be not more than half a mile from a public transit station.
Under the law, municipalities that don’t comply will be penalized. They will be ineligible for major state grants like the Housing Choice Initiative, Local Capital Projects Fund and the MassWorks infrastructure funds.
The “MBTA communities” affected by the law, including most of the eastern third of the commonwealth, include places that are directly served by the MBTA and those that abut a city or town directly served.
When the original draft guidelines were issued by the Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) for the new law last December, extensive public hearings were held and hundreds of comments were submitted. Some communities objected in principle to the mandate, while others noted that unique features of a community may restrict its ability to comply.
DHCD was responsive and issued revised guidelines and clarifications in August. These included eliminating the requirement for communities only served by bus, reduced unit requirements for small and rural towns with no transit stations and granted exemptions for communities where at least 25 percent of their housing stock is multifamily housing.
The adjusted rules also make accommodations to communities that don’t have as much developable land near a transit station, and the state developed a GIS digital mapping and data visualization tool that will help each city or town comply.
There were also graduated timetables for compliance. Communities served by MBTA subway lines need to develop a plan by the end of 2023, those served by commuter rail and transit “adjacent” communities have until 2024 and finally “adjacent small towns” have until the end of 2025.
Time to Engage in Our Communities
The next step is to focus on the implementation phase. Jesse Kanson-Benanav, the Executive Director of Abundant Housing Massachusetts, a housing advocacy organization with a goal of educating communities about the law, estimated that if all 175 communities complied with the new zoning requirements as originally written and all the allowed housing were built, the region would have an additional 300,000 housing units.
The Massachusetts Municipal Association was a strong opponent of the law, arguing in a May letter to the Boston Globe that it is “onesided, handing private developers ‘as of right’ power to build housing projects … while denying municipalities the authority they need to manage the impact of large-scale growth.” But the association is now focusing on helping municipalities follow the guidelines.
Even more recently, DHCD has continued to work through the operational issues to ensure not only that the law is equitably applied but also that it facilitates the public purpose of creating more housing within a community that serves a broad base of need. Specifically, DHCD has issued further guidance of how to harmonize this law with local inclusionary zoning bylaws to ensure affordable housing is created and that goal isn’t thwarted.
Opposition to the law remains, in Rockport, Fall River, and a handful of other affected communities. But within the Baker administration, DHCD should be applauded for its commitment to work through the thorny issues of something as ambitious as this new multifamily zoning law. If most municipalities are feeling heard but still willing to undertake these efforts, that is no small feat.
But it is up to all of us, engaging where we live, to ensure that this law achieves its promise – more production of much needed multifamily housing in the commonwealth. To make it real means more housing in more locations near transit – something we desperately need.
Susan Gittelman is the executive director of B’nai B’rith Housing, a nonprofit affordable housing developer currently working in Boston, Metrowest and the North Shore.
Anthony D'Isidoro
Introducing Our New Director of External Relations Jen Migliore
We’re incredibly excited to welcome our new Director of External Relations Jen Migliore to Innovate@BU!
“I’m excited to join a dynamic and lively space on BU’s campus where students foster their entrepreneurial spirit and creative ideas to make a meaningful impact in their lives and those around them. I look forward to developing partnerships with alumni, mentors, and external actors to create new experiential learning opportunities for our students and opportunities for our partners”, said Jen.
Jen comes to Boston University with over a decade of government and political experience. Most recently, Jen served as the District Director for the Massachusetts Assistant Majority Leader Mike Moran.
Before, Jen was a political consultant and lobbyist for the Liberty Square Group, a strategic communications and government affairs firm in Boston, MA. In her role, she managed the Blue Lab, a political campaign incubator, helping to elect first-time, female, and BIPOC candidates. Jen also ran for State Representative and was an aide to Congressman Seth Moulton.
She holds a Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) from Wellesley College and a Master’s in Public Administration (M.P.A) from the Harvard Kennedy School. At Wellesley, Jen was the Captain of the varsity softball team and led them to a conference championship and a bid to the NCAA regional championship. She resides in Brighton and is an avid Orangetheory and Real Housewives enthusiast.
See the whole Innovate@BU team here.
Anthony D'Isidoro
Anthony D'Isidoro
A partnership of sorts is transforming, recovering Allston (Fred Salvucci and Anthony D’Isidoro, CommonWealth: November 7, 2022)
The pieces of the transportation puzzle are starting to fall into place
So close and yet so far. This is the glimpse you get of the Charles River basin from the south side
at Agganis Drive today. You can see the river, under the viaduct and over the tracks, but not walk
to it, unless you go about a mile east and cut through the BU Campus to go up some stairs and over
Soldiers’ Field Drive. This is where a good high-quality connection over an all-at-grade Turnpike
and rail corridor to get to the Charles .River basin and Paul Dudley White Path would provide
connectivity for South Allston residents, BU students, and Brookline residents to one of the premier
open space assets in the region. (Photo by Fred Salvucci)
Second of three parts.
IN THE PAST two decades, a partnership of sorts has emerged between the Massachusetts Department of Transportation, the city of Boston, a variety of non-profit business and citizen groups, and Harvard University.
This partnership rests on a congruence of interests – MassDOT’s need to replace functionally obsolete and structurally unsound viaducts, a railroad needing to update and relocate freight facilities to a more central location, a private landowner with an unusual ability to take a long-term view of its own and the public interest, and a dedicated group of community activists involved in a lengthy planning and environmental review process, with strong support from local elected officials and two mayors of Boston.
Closing in on its 400th anniversary, Harvard is an institution uniquely positioned to take a long view. MassDOT, despite being pressed for funds, has skillfully used its leverage – plus Harvard’s – to win important strategic initiatives that have created the current opportunity. Boston University has made important contributions at key moments. The city of Boston, business and environmental nonprofit organizations, and community activists have forcefully and skillfully advocated for project elements that will benefit Allston-Brighton. But these urban constituencies have also worked through the task force mechanism to build alliances with suburban, central, and western constituencies such as the Worcester Chamber of Commerce, with approaches that improve safety and convenience for suburban and central Massachusetts auto and rail commuters at the same time.
By way of background, US railroads have very secure and unusual property rights. They can operate trains and rail yards on land they don’t own and which cannot be taken by state governments by eminent domain. (The proliferation of billboards along the Turnpike corridor is a visible symptom of the exemption from state and local regulation accorded to railroads.)
Faneuil Depot circle 1910. (Photo courtesy of Charlie Vasiliades, vice president and photo collection curator of the
Brighton
Allston Historical Society.)
Faneuil Depot and some nearby houses demolished to make way for Massachusetts Turnpike. (Photo courtesy of Charlie
Vasiliades, vice president and photo collection curator of the Brighton Allston Historical Society.)
The giant rail yard in Allston was once “owned” by the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority, but controlled by the freight giant CSX through a permanent and free easement. CSX freight operations prevented two-track commuter rail service through Allston to Worcester, regularly slowed passenger rail service, and presented an impenetrable barrier to the Allston neighborhoods. The badly located freight yard was the primary cause of the very awkward Turnpike and rail infrastructure built in the 1960s.
In 2004, Turnpike Authority policy objectives included getting money from the sale of land it considered unusable because of the CSX presence, using the proceeds of the sale to pay for growing maintenance costs and replacing manual toll collection with more efficient electronic tolling without increasing tolls. Because of the impossibility of using the land in the near term, Harvard was the only bidder, and purchased the land subject to the permanent easements for rail and highway purposes.
When the Turnpike Authority was merged into a multimodal MassDOT, policy objectives broadened to include improved travel times and safety on the Turnpike. The existing Turnpike infrastructure was deteriorating, and officials recognized the opportunity to straighten and improve the toll road with a new road, if the freight yard could be relocated.
The multimodal MassDOT also saw an opportunity to secure ownership of a two-track passenger rail capacity for the Worcester branch, as well as ownership of the right of way of the Grand Junction through Cambridge, which connects the south side passenger rail operations to Kendall Square, and North Station, as well as the Somerville rail maintenance facility.
Over several years, MassDOT worked with Harvard, the city of Worcester, and CSX to relocate the freight yard activities to Worcester, and make feasible a safer, straighter Turnpike. Simultaneously, the purchase by MassDOT of the right of way for a two-track Worcester branch passenger service, once the freight yard was relocated, has allowed two-track service, through Allston, which has resulted in an increase in ridership of 45 percent in five years. The purchase of the Grand Junction right-of-way in Cambridge facilitates eventual two-track shuttle service to Kendall Square and North Station.
View from the top of the Doubletree Hotel down to the
area slated to become Harvard’s new Allston neighborhood.
The Harvard Business School and Harvard Stadium are
in
the background. (File photo)
At the same time, the state secured a commitment from Harvard to contribute funding toward a new regional West Station with at least four tracks to support convenient transfers to an eventual two-track Grand Junction rail shuttle as well as to provide access to anticipated new development in Allston.
Similar to the economic opportunity unlocked in the 1960s when the obsolete rail yard in the Back Bay was replaced by the Prudential Center, the relocation of the CSX freight yard, and the need to replace the functionally and structurally deficient Turnpike and rail infrastructure, now presents a huge opportunity to achieve transportation and economic growth, but this time incorporating transformative environmental and equity gains as foundational principles, through serious implementation of federal environmental law.
In 2012, MassDOT initiated an environmental review process, and invited participation from community members and stakeholders through a project task force. The first public comment by Rep. Kevin Honan was to urge MassDOT to use this opportunity to connect the isolated South Allston neighborhood to the rest of Allston.
Relatively quickly, consensus developed on replacing the awkward cloverleaf style Turnpike ramps with an urban grid, conducive to developing a new economic development node around West Station.
What had begun as a highway interchange study became multimodal. The multimodal task force consensus was informed by earlier conceptual work by urban designer Antonio DiMambro, and by urban design work commissioned by the city of Boston.
The throat section of the Massachusetts Turnpike.
Dealing with the narrow “throat” section of the Turnpike and rail lines located to the east of Agganis Way between Boston University and the Charles River, has taken longer. The process has had fits and starts, but has recently produced a near-unanimous consensus around a less expensive, all-at-grade Turnpike and rail track configuration that can provide superior transportation infrastructure, and simultaneously facilitate dramatically improved connectivity of neighborhoods and land use on air rights above.
The concept was first proposed by citizen activist Ari Ofsevit, energetically embraced and advanced by the business civic group A Better City, and supported by the Pioneer Institute and many environmental and community groups.
Concepts for the remediation of the crumbling degraded river bank, stormwater runoff and flood risks, and improved neighborhood connectivity to the Charles River basin were developed by pro-bono efforts contributed by private design firms secured by Walk Boston and the Charles River Conservancy, working collaboratively with stakeholders. Rep. Moran secured legislative language supporting the project in the House version of the transportation bond bill. Former Boston Mayor Marty Walsh lent his support to these efforts.
Mayor Michelle Wu, during her campaign and at the outset of her term, has embraced the all-at-grade throat concept, with an essential network of pedestrian, bicycle, park, and urban development connectivity above. She also convened meetings between the Allston community, local elected officials, and Harvard University to resolve outstanding issues on a nearby Harvard-sponsored private development. Her leadership resulted in Harvard agreeing to provide 25 percent affordable housing in that project, the highest proportion of affordable housing of any contemporary developments.
Following that agreement, Mayor Wu joined MassDOT in an application for federal funding for the Allston Multimodal Project.
The renewed commitment of the federal government to finance infrastructure through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Program, and the Biden administration emphasis upon building back old infrastructure better, with an eye to the future, provides an opportunity to advance the Allston Multimodal Project to significantly improve travel conditions for motorists, rail passengers, bicycle riders, and pedestrians, and remediate much of the social, economic and environmental damage done when the Turnpike was built through Allston.
Vineland Street circa 1960, before most of the homes were removed as part of the Massachusetts Turnpike
construction. (Photo courtesy of Charlie Vasiliades, vice president and photo collection curator of the Brighton
Allston
Historical Society.)
Vineland Street after construction. Photo courtesy of Charlie Vasiliades, vice president and photo
collection
curator of the Brighton Allston Historical Society.)
MassDOT recently initiated a modification of their environmental review documents, technically a “Notice of Project Change,” focusing their environmental, transportation, and engineering analysis on the all-at-grade Allston Multimodal Project.
There is significant work yet to do to get the details right, and ensure an equitable and high-quality outcome for parks, transit, and pedestrian-oriented development, as well as neighborhood connectivity, significantly improved rail service, and improved roadway conditions.
A final environmental impact statement must define a project that will not only deal with any new impacts identified, but remedy the legacy of adverse impact on equity, neighborhoods, parkland, public transportation, and noise caused by the original construction of the Turnpike.
That transformative Allston Multimodal Project description must then be used to implement the project, using the design-build technique that has been used to successfully implement the Green Line extension project, now nearing completion. With the continued support of Mayor Wu, and our local elected officials, we are confident that this can be achieved.
It is essential that the next governor work with Wu to complete the environmental process and begin implementation expeditiously, to take advantage of the federal funding now available. It is essential to end the unsafe roadway conditions, inadequate rail service, and adverse environmental impacts that we have been experiencing throughout the last half century, and set us on a more equitable and satisfactory path.
Fred Salvucci is a life-long resident of Brighton, a former Massachusetts secretary of transportation, a lecturer at MIT, and an advisor to Harvard on infrastructure matters in Allston. Anthony D’Isidoro is a life-long resident of Allston, president of the Allston Civic Association, and a member of the Allston Multimodal Project Task Force and Harvard Allston Task Force.
COMING NEXT- How the all-at-grade plan can remedy the problems caused by the initial construction of the Turnpike and lay the groundwork for a transformative and equitable economic expansion of the area. (To read the first part, click here.)
Anthony D'Isidoro
Paul Creighton
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Anthony D'Isidoro
10 reasons for building a better highway (Fred Salvucci and Anthony D’Isidoro, CommonWealth: November 8, 2022)
Greater safety, better connectivity, and economic growth
End of series
Picture shows elevated Massachusetts Turnpike between BU and Charles River with Soldiers Field
Road at grade. The bend in the Turnpike at the top of the picture would be straightened if the broader
project
I-90 Allston interchange project is pursued.
FOR US, the Allston interchange is more than a highway project. It’s a way to fix the mistakes of the past, reunite long-separated neighborhoods, and lay the groundwork for an equitable economic expansion of Boston.
We believe the all-at-grade option for the throat section of the project, along with the project’s other amenities, offers the best chance of achieving our goals. Here are 10 reasons why.
Safer roads: A significantly improved and less expensive at-grade Turnpike and Turnpike ramp system, with a nearly flat profile and a gently curved alignment, can replace the current viaduct, with its reverse curves and rollercoaster profile.
Better rail service: Significantly improved passenger rail is achievable, with a new regional West Station providing a two-track Worcester branch, two tracks for the eventual Grand Junction connection to Kendall Square and North Station, and flexibility for adding capacity for improved intercity rail to Worcester and Springfield and eventually all the way to Hartford, New Haven, and New York, as well as to the Berkshires and Chicago.
The new infrastructure can provide greater speed and comfort for rail passengers by replacing the current double-reverse-curved rail lines with smooth, gentler curves.
Some rail improvements can be implemented relatively early on in the construction process, allowing more frequent two-track service throughout the construction period. This will mitigate the traffic disruption of commuters during construction. It will also get more people to continue to use transit, rather than autos, so that eventual growth in jobs will not mean growth in auto use and congestion.
Walking, biking, boating: Open space, as well as pedestrian, bicycle, and boating conditions, can be improved by relocating the problematic narrow wooden part of the Paul Dudley White Path at the BU Bridge, which reduces the width of the river available to boaters. The relocated path can be wider, and eliminate the current blind corner, and result in safer conditions for pedestrians and bike riders, as well as more room for boaters. Further to the west, where the path is currently confined to the narrow sidewalk of the off ramp from Soldiers’ Field Road to the River Street Bridge, the geometry of the Soldiers’ Field westbound off ramp can be modified to provide a wider space to provide for better access from the Paul Dudley White Path to the River Street bridge.
This improved path can be complemented by rebuilding a green river bank to replace the crumbling current bank, and planting shade trees along it.
The eventual replacement of the nearly 100-year-old Grand Junction Bridge over the river can be designed and constructed with bicycle and pedestrian paths as cantilevers to provide connectivity between the esplanades on the Cambridge and Allston sides of the river.
Connectivity: An Agganis connector, similar to the pedestrian connection between Harvard Yard and Harvard Law School, can connect the South Allston community, as well as Brookline and BU, to the Paul Dudley White Path, providing access to the Charles River basin.
Along the southern edge of the infrastructure adjacent to the isolated South Allston neighborhood, a buffer park can be provided, adequately wide to support a dual path pedestrian and bicycle connection from the Agganis connector to the Allston Depot and Franklin Street, providing improved connectivity between North and South Allston, and to the river.
Buffer park: A park could provide a suitable buffer between the South Allston environmental justice community and the noisy rail and highway activities that will be relocated slightly to the north, and should be provided with a vertical wall to reduce noise. The buffer park will also provide maintenance access to the city of Boston storm sewer currently located under the southernmost track, green space to reduce heat island effects, and rainfall absorption. The vertical noise wall can also be capped by a deck with air rights development to the north, further reducing noise exposure in the South Allston neighborhood.
The buffer park can continue to the west, with replacement of the current deficient Cambridge Street bridge. The park and bicycle path can also serve as a buffer for the historic Allston Depot, by relocating the rail to available space slightly to the north.
Promenade: A supplemental promenade can be located on the northerly side of a new Cambridge Street South, part of the urban grid serving the new development near West Station, connecting from Cambridge Street at North Harvard street to the new Agganis Way connector.
Traffic: A Cambridge Street bypass road can connect from the high point of the newly replaced Cambridge Street bridge directly to the eastbound on-ramp to the Turnpike, near West Station, so that traffic from Allston, Brighton, and Brookline destined for the Turnpike will not conflict with traffic exiting from the west.
This design would both avoid ramp traffic backing up onto the east-bound Turnpike, and ensure that urban traffic destined for the Turnpike will not overload the pedestrian-friendly urban grid streets. This new Cambridge Street bypass can also link the historic center of Allston at the Depot to the new regional center at West Station.
Bus: A bus and bike access road on Malvern Street, from Commonwealth Avenue to West Station, can provide a connection from Brookline and South Allston to West Station, North Allston, and Harvard Square.
Viaduct removal : The structurally deficient Cambridge Street viaduct passing over the Turnpike ramps and abandoned rail link to another former CSX yard, between Seattle Street and Soldiers’ Field Road which divides the area, can be replaced with a less expensive at-grade street with an urban design to unify the two sides of the street.
Foundations for growth: Learning from the Prudential Center, where decking over the turnpike and rail infrastructure provided a suitable environment for urban development , appropriate foundations and decking to support development – to be agreed to by the city of Boston, the Allston community, Harvard, and MassDOT – can be included in the final environmental impact statement and constructed at the same time as the other infrastructure. This development could provide connectivity, economic growth, new housing, and additional tax base for the city and return on investment to Harvard.
The result can be a comprehensive improvement of connectivity between communities and the Charles River basin as proposed by Rep. Kevin Honan over a decade ago, with development to make up for what was destroyed by the initial construction of the Turnpike; a far superior passenger rail service; an improved, safer, and less congested Turnpike.
The improved infrastructure can support an economic development opportunity about four times the size of the Prudential Center, and in turn provide a needed opportunity for growth in the regional economy. The growth is needed because the downtown, Seaport/Innovation district, Longwood Medical Area, and Kendall Square growth areas are becoming fully built out.
A rendering of the at-grade option for the throat section of the I-90
Allston project. The elevated section in the middle is the so-called
Grand
Junction railroad that crosses the Charles River into Cambridge.
Much remains to be done. Within the next two years, the environmental impact statement must be finalized, ironing out the essential details to fully capture the opportunities envisioned. The construction sequence, and enhanced regional rail service to mitigate construction period traffic disruption and permanently improve public transportation should be included in the environmental impact statement. A design-build process, similar to the successful Green Line Extension project nearing completion in Somerville, must be organized . Finally, an adequate and equitable finance plan must be developed.
It is important, however, to recognize how far we have come. Boston Mayor Michelle Wu and local elected officials are on board. We must enlist our new governor in the partnership that has so much potential for our neighborhood, our city, and our state.
It has taken a long time to get to this point, and over that time there has been continuous exposure to congestion and pollution has continued and worsened. It is time to finalize the very important details, get into construction, and build a better future.
Fred Salvucci is a lifelong resident of Brighton, a former Massachusetts secretary of transportation, a lecturer at MIT, and an advisor to Harvard on infrastructure matters in Allston. Anthony D’Isidoro is a lifelong resident of Allston, president of the Allston Civic Association, and a member of the Allston Multimodal Project Task Force and Harvard Allston Task Force.
Anthony D'Isidoro
Anthony D'Isidoro
Veronica B. Smith Senior Center
