My read is that Everett is conscious of its shortcomings, sees room for improvement, and wants to make progress towards a better version of itself. The powers-that-be in so many other municipalities think that everything is great now (and often was even better in the past) and that any future change can only lead to something worse than the present.Everett seems to be pretty good on these new projects in terms of density. Is it because people in Everett aren't horrible NIMBYs like the rest of Mass, or do they just not have the absurd stranglehold on power of development that every other town around seems to suffer from?
Yeah, that makes sense. Interesting point about people thinking that things are good now and even better in the past. I think that mindset is one which is the root of a lot of anxieties and regressive decisions on both local as well as national levels. How can we bring faith on a larger scale toward the promise of a better future for all, rather than leaving so many people wringing their hands about the travesties wrought by modernity? I would say this is the greatest thematic challenge of our time.My read is that Everett is conscious of its shortcomings, sees room for improvement, and wants to make progress towards a better version of itself. The powers-that-be in so many other municipalities think that everything is great now (and often was even better in the past) and that any future change can only lead to something worse than the present.
And honestly it kind of makes sense. The "nicer" your neighborhood is today they less you're going to want it to change. It's selfish but it's rational.
A century ago the same could have been said about all the triple deckers being built.Looks like most apartments buildings being built in MA
That's really awesome for Everett. It's great to have a standout progressive city in a metro area made up largely of provincial hamlets.^^ A few other notes about how/why Everett is seeing so much new development:
- As of Right Zoning: Everett’s been very proactive about updating its zoning to accommodate new larger scale development ever since Wynn Resorts got the casino license.
- You know how in Boston there are Impact Advisory Groups, the Boston Civic Design Commission, Landmark Commission, Historic Commission, a million neighborhood groups, 13% affordable housing minimums, stringent DBE requirements, and variance requests for all new large-project developments that can draw out the approval process years (and dollars)? Everett doesn’t have these. Sky Everett, for example, had a 2-month approval process.
- A lot of the new development in Everett is in historically commercial and industrial areas. This makes it less disruptive to existing Everett residents, and is good for local businesses.
- Opportunity Zone: much of the new development in Everett is in a designated Opportunity Zone, meaning it’s much more favorable a location for large multi-family development tax-wise than other areas. It’s not an accident—this is all happening as planned.
-Timing: supply constraints in every municipality surrounding Everett the last decade coupled with regionally high housing demand has made Everett’s comparably low property values ripe for developer interest.
IMG_8706 by Bos Beeline, on Flickr
I love the original bottom half. I hope the top half turns out half as good as the bottom. If they just left the dark brown top half as it is in the photos, it would be pretty good.This is cool. Would love it if the end result looked like this with just a few more finishing touches.
This is cool. Would love it if the end result looked like this with just a few more finishing touches.