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Single-family residential? Seriously?

Or a strategically located bike rental shop!

I'm totally with you that it looks like a net positive! It just feels performative because there is SO much more that could be done for VMT reduction... We're not even doing pilot studies on VMT-based taxes like a lot of other states.

My reading of this was that it is focused on transportation policy/planning, not land use or tax policy, where a huge amount of the possible VMT reduction is hiding.

This legislature needs to get its head out of its ass. We don't need a council to figure out what to do. The studies have already been done! https://www.mapc.org/resource-library/vehicle-miles-traveled-emissions/ The answer is 1) TOD and 2) internalizing the cost of driving on drivers. Pretty...

Are you aware of some more recent reporting that I'm not? I was under the impression it was moving forward subject to a May funding deadline. https://mass.streetsblog.org/2026/02/04/city-of-boston-restarts-rutherford-avenue-design-as-funding-deadline-looms

Mhm, and Rutherford Ave is famously not getting any kind of road diet in the near future that would decrease the number of lanes

Just to clarify: the proposed building was considered too suburban for the surrounding neighborhood, not the other way around.

I'm aware that the diversity lottery is only a small portion of visas, but it really shouldn't be any portion. Every immigrant increases the diversity of the U.S.; we don't need to be a perfect microcosm of the world population. If we are going to restrict immigration, we should be selecting for...

Fair point! I was approaching the immigration question from a national lens since that's where any legislation affecting it would come from, but for Boston in particular, NBC is quoting 38% foreign-born in 1850, 29% as of 2021. Wikipedia has Massachusetts at 18% in 2023. I don't know about...

I think the difference is that right now in the U.S., we have the highest % foreign-born population that we have ever had in this country, surpassing that of the 1920s and 30s. And that's WITH all the hurdles we've put in place to curb immigration. I don't know if there's one "correct" maximum...

Are you sure this is the same building? It looks to be proposed on the corner of Rindge and ... Rindge? (in red), while the phase 2 building render in the second image is in the Fresh Pond Apartments parking lot (in blue).

No provisions for a bike path connection to the Cochituate Rail Trail? The existing condition with sharrows on a 4-lane road is not exactly adequate.

What does this even mean? As for uniform heights in Boston, it's hard to avoid examples of uniform height neighborhoods that are great. Back Bay, Beacon Hill, the North End, and the South End all have a clear uniformity in height (and architecture) that makes them some of the most beautiful...

https://mass.streetsblog.org/2026/03/27/in-amherst-delivering-public-transit-is-an-extracurricular-activity Interesting article about PVTA's UMass Transit; they pay college students $21/hr to operate buses. Are there structural reasons that a similar concept couldn't be applied in Boston...

I agree with the general sentiment, but this is right next to JFK/UMass. If transit-oriented development and decreasing VMT are priorities, shouldn't we be going the way of Toronto or Vancouver and building high-rises near stations? 5-over-1s won't be enough to move the needle, and excess demand...

https://homenewshere.com/middlesex_east/article_603d6443-ef64-42b0-a707-e957a460f06b.html My reading of this is that the breakdown is 100% 55+. and on the tax revenue side: So it doesn't look like this would be a big step down from the life sciences dev in terms of revenue, but leaving the...

It's even more perplexing than that. It looks to be proposed as a 55+ community with 0 impact on schools, and the developer stated that traffic is projected to be lower than the life sciences proposal. I really don't get their angle at all.

My "crazy transit pitch" has been the opposite: Convert OC lines to some kind of hybrid HRT through-running with the red line. Procure some funky rolling stock with third-rail + catenary power, 48.5" boarding height compatible with both high-level commuter rail platforms and red line...

If you're "eating into the taxes on market rate units" as Beans put it, you would need to subsidize those students as well. That's a lot of money for the state to suddenly start ponying up with no funding source. And that doesn't even get into all the other increases in services a municipality...