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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...

It's not about a decline in revenue, it's about an increase in expenses. The situation a lot of towns in MA find themselves in is this: - Immediate need for affordable housing (need to reach 10% threshold for 40B exemption) - Immediate need for revenue (e.g. 100 unit building adds 30 kids to...

Am I reading it wrong? It seems like it's an effective 5.25% interest rate second mortgage, not exactly nothing...

You are correct. I was looking at the Feb 10th version, which stated 37 units for the 5-story version. Looks like they changed it between then and the 24th. https://www.winchester.us/DocumentCenter/View/13230/2026-02-10_PB-Meeting-Packet?bidId=

Ok, what I don't understand is how a short-term property tax exemption on IZ units could ever fully subsidize them. Rough math: - $900k market rate unit with $300k subsidy - 1.3% property tax rate exemption on $900k = $11.7k per year - 5% interest rate on $300k subsidy loan = $15k per year...

The final agreement was a $2,000,000 payment in lieu of 5 affordable units. While total unit amount only decreased by 1, unit composition had to be adjusted to make that possible. In my reading of the situation, I think the focus on the 6th-floor issue was not a particularly valid aesthetic...

Good point. I think the big question would be how you square this with 40B and Prop 2 1/2. As it stands, this would create a system where a municipality has to collect 0 property tax from 10% of their units to reach safe-harbor status, and yet somehow not raise tax revenue more than 2.5% per...