General Boston Discussion

ritchiew said:
Boston Indicators worked with TransitMatters for this report that came out a couple weeks ago.

They're recommending zoning changes to build more density around existing transit. There are some city comparisons, and analysis looking for under utilized transit stops. It's interesting.

Click to expand...
Yes, it's an interesting read. I particularly like some of the data they present on housing density around existing stations but wish they had gone a bit further with the tables. There is data for every single rapid transit station, including Silver Line stations. Then there is a decent write-up and some brief case studies on commuter rail, but no comprehensive data set. Does anybody know where I might find such data for CR station areas?
 
HenryAlan said:
Then there is a decent write-up and some brief case studies on commuter rail, but no comprehensive data set. Does anybody know where I might find such data for CR station areas?
Click to expand...
There may be other sources or more recent ones, but this study in 2019 from the Massachusetts Housing Partnership (MHP) Center for Housing Data estimated housing density around all the commuter rail stations. Not mobile phone friendly to view.

https://mhpcenterforhousingdata.shinyapps.io/todex/
 
I'm surprised this was never posted yet:
"Boston will require new buildings to hit net zero standards"
www.bostonglobe.com

Boston will require new buildings to hit net zero standards - The Boston Globe

The Boston Zoning Commission on Wednesday approved the long-debated rules that require newly constructed buildings to reduce energy use and fossil fuel reliance.
www.bostonglobe.com www.bostonglobe.com

"The so-called Net Zero Carbon Zoning initiative is a key element of Mayor Michelle Wu’s climate agenda, and will take effect starting July 1. All newly proposed real estate projects with more than 15 units of housing, spanning 20,000 square feet or more, or additions of at least 50,000 square feet will be required to meet the net-zero emissions standard."

This is a really great way to ensure that hardly any housing gets built in Boston proper, keeping the city and metro as unaffordable as ever. Thanks Mayor Wu! The "unintended" consequences will be 10x worse than any tangible benefits from these new rules. I sure hope she gets voted out ASAP before she ruins the city any further.
 
DZH22 said:
I'm surprised this was never posted yet:
"Boston will require new buildings to hit net zero standards"
Click to expand...
This was brought up on another thread, and some are already critical over there

Boston to update its zoning code

Developers and investors also require confidence in the market. No one’s going to finance those projects if practically no one is buying. See the sales at Winthrop Center and resales at MT, Ritz, 580 Washington, etc. Some of you are a bit oblivious when it comes to the whole concept of supply...
archboston.com

Um, I think I'll respond over there in the zoning thread. But yeah. Ass backwards.
 
WestMedford said:
There may be other sources or more recent ones, but this study in 2019 from the Massachusetts Housing Partnership (MHP) Center for Housing Data estimated housing density around all the commuter rail stations. Not mobile phone friendly to view.

https://mhpcenterforhousingdata.shinyapps.io/todex/
Click to expand...
Thanks! I think this is in fact the same data source used by the study authors, they just limited themselves to publishing the rapid transit set, rather than all of it. This is very helpful!
 
Does anyone know where I could find some inventory of on-street parking spaces? I'm looking for per city, or per neighborhood, or per street, or whatever data sources are out there for the Boston area.

Clearly on-street parking comes up all the time in fights about bike lanes, bus lanes, and new housing. My hunch is that in big parts of Boston/Cambridge/Somerville, there are only enough on-street parking spaces for a small minority (10-20%?) of housing units. But I don't know, and I'd be curious to see what the limits of that are.

And either way, since this gets fought over a lot, it'd be interesting to see some data.
 
ritchiew said:
Does anyone know where I could find some inventory of on-street parking spaces? I'm looking for per city, or per neighborhood, or per street, or whatever data sources are out there for the Boston area.

Clearly on-street parking comes up all the time in fights about bike lanes, bus lanes, and new housing. My hunch is that in big parts of Boston/Cambridge/Somerville, there are only enough on-street parking spaces for a small minority (10-20%?) of housing units. But I don't know, and I'd be curious to see what the limits of that are.

And either way, since this gets fought over a lot, it'd be interesting to see some data.
Click to expand...

I only know of datasets that encompass metered spots, not including the other types such resident only / loading etc. Granted, meter spots are usually the focus of the small business opposition crowd, but if you're looking for totals and resident spaces... Frankly, I'm not sure that the cities have an comprehensive inventory of those, especially since in my experience, resident spaces aren't really delimitated - people will tend to squeeze in and use the full available curb length as 3 Honda Fits take up the same space as 2 Chevy Suburbans.

Boston: https://www.arcgis.com/home/item.html?id=962da9bb739f440ba33e746661921244

Cambridge: https://www.cambridgema.gov/GIS/gisdatadictionary/Traffic/TRAFFIC_MeteredParkingSpaces
Somerville:

Parking Meters | City of Somerville, MA

data.somervillema.gov data.somervillema.gov

That said... I needed to drive & park downtown today, (not by choice) and encountered several garages that were full. While off street parking in Boston is already expensive at ~$39 per day, true market determinant pricing should mean that price should increase when demand outstrips supply - yet it doesn't except for occasional event pricing. But it occurs to me that its possible to implement an ad-hoc proxy "congestion fee" through increasing the cost of parking by taxing it - we're rather alone amongst large cities for not. I know MAPC and the transportation funding task force suggested it before Healey shot it and other new revenues down, but Boston itself can do some of that via nothing more than adjusting meter pricing.

Meters are $3.75/hr in Back Bay and Seaport, $2-2.50/hr everywhere else. Compared to an off street garage that charges 40+ a day, 20 for a 1 hour stay yet is full, I'd contend that there's plenty of upwards space in downtown parts of Boston, especially if you also extend meter hours. Chicago's infamous meter privatization deal took street meters from $3 to $7, private garages pay 22% tax, and people still pay it. Boston last increased meter rates in 2019 - due to inflation, that $3.75 should at a minimum be $5 by now.

I know it's not politically realistic, but meters really should be priced similarly to private garages. Even not touching things like the public good that the street represents, they're substitute goods in econ speak; the "service" is functionally identical, and pricing should reflect that. If nothing else, it'll prevent some amount of VMT from people driving laps hoping for a meter to become available.
 
Stlin said:
Frankly, I'm not sure that the cities have an comprehensive inventory of those, especially since in my experience, resident spaces aren't really delimitated - people will tend to squeeze in and use the full available curb length as 3 Honda Fits take up the same space as 2 Chevy Suburbans.
Click to expand...
Thanks, yeah, that was the sadly the conclusion I was coming to.

About the different sized cars, though, there are some standards around parking space sizes, or cities can make them up, or use an average or something. And cities actually do this sometimes. Here's a map of Cambridge's Broadway bike lane project. It shows exact numbers of existing parking spaces and planned parking spaces, even where those spaces aren't clearly deliminated. So it can be done.

It's kind of crazy there are no (publicly available) inventories for on-street parking, especially when this is one of the most fought over public resources.
 
Hayden Building at 681-683 Washington Street in the Combat Zone Chinatown sold for $3.3 million today.

I'm confused as to the ownership trail on this. Historic Boston was the group that renovated it into four two-bedroom apartments upstairs and street-level retail after collecting $5.8 million in donations. But the property was sold in 2012 to Kensington Investments, which paid $2,953,000 for it.

Today's buyer is Richardson Building LLC, whose Brookline owner also runs something called Walkky (maybe?).
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top