? Preserve the essential character of North Allston?s residential areas already threatened by regional economic pressures.
Essential character: two- and three-story frame homes and apartments set close on small lots. Nothing wrong with keeping the ones that exist.
Is someone threatening to tear them down (?regional economic pressures?)?
You can preserve them by making sure that the zoning on the lots they?re on doesn?t allow anything bigger. If a developer can?t make a profit replacing them, they?ll automatically be preserved. And preserving them is just fine; it?s especially easy to do if denser development can be built elsewhere; that?s what really relieves the pressure to tear down and re-develop. That
is what you?re talking about, right?
Once other parts of Allston are developed to a more urban pattern, these single-family homes will stand out even more as charming historic remnants on the outskirts --a little like the wooden houses that radiate in every direction from Harvard Square.
If, however, what you actually mean is ?continue this pattern in future development,? you should say that. But if you said that, you?d lose me along with everyone sensible; that would serve no one?s interest --including Allston?s present homeowners?. Times have changed, the world moves on, Ford no longer builds Model T?s. And after all, you need a world of Toyotas to make those Model T?s stand out as valuable collectibles; property values should go up.
Anyway, the idea is to do things better. Better doesn?t mean ?the same.? There are many better ways to house folks than replicating what was done a hundred years ago. And nothing needs to be disrupted in the process; it?s not hard.
? Expand the affordable options for potential homebuyers and renters,
Well, more options means more options --more different availabilities.
Here?s a pretty good project that understood that well about a hundred years ago. Lots of different options harmoniously combined.
relieving the pressure on the local housing market,
If you mean low supply and high demand putting pressure on affordability, the solution to that is to increase the supply. The more new units are built, the less the pressure. I can see, however, that established Allston homeowners might actually be happy to see home values go up. That puts them naturally on the opposite side of the fence from those who want to buy in at an affordable price. Two different constituencies with opposite interests.
and ensuring no new development in traditional neighborhoods.
This serves mainly aesthetic interests; any units built these days to the same specifications as Allston?s existing wooden houses might seem inferior. But you needn?t worry; if they can?t be built bigger and more profitable, because the zoning doesn?t allow it, they won?t be built at all.
? Guide growth to areas in which change is viewed as desirable
Obviously. Plenty of crummy places to build. Is Harvard proposing to tear down some of the nice old houses? Is anything else worth keeping besides the nice old houses?
and in ways that support new community amenities, such as a walkable Main Street,
Now, that?s the first thing you?ve mentioned that the Harvard plan obviously
fails to deliver. They may talk it, but they don?t walk it.
It ain?t North Harvard Street, ?coz it only seems to have one side (who wants to walk beside an iron fence outside a stadium?), and it doesn?t really lie at the community?s physical center, so it?s too far to walk for most folks. Anyway, it looks like some kind of a weird bicycle speedway. Bizarre.
It really ought to be Western Avenue. The building massing there is just right for a Main Street; I?d just change the labels on the buildings, so it said ?ground floor retail?. The upper levels could house university functions --as at Holyoke Center or the new building on Mt. Auburn Street with the bookstore. Some of the upstairs could be commercially-rented offices or apartments. Six to eight stories seems about right for Western Avenue, though for aesthetic reasons, I?d punctuate it with a couple of very slender towers rising to perhaps nineteen stories. The Avenue needs a monument or two. I?d put one at Cattle Drive (ugh! That name!) for sure. This is also where I?d put the subway station.
Incidentally, I wouldn?t change the Harvard plan?s building footprints or street pattern at all; they?re both fine and competently conceived, even if they?re a tad dull. (But then again, if you just looked at the footprints of Mass Ave in Harvard Square, those might seem a bit dull too --and they're more than all right.)
Streetwalls: you need them on Western Avenue, the new Mass Ave.
and promote increased economic opportunity for residents and businesses.
You do that with leasing and hiring policies; it doesn?t have much to do with the physical design.
? Accommodate the University?s teaching and research mission by providing long-term campus-growth opportunity.
What does that mean? Let the university go on growing? One way you can do that is by not putting silly limits on building height.
? Enhance the quality of campus life to attract the Harvard community to live, work, and study in North Allston.
Well truth is, the Harvard community will come if their classes and dorms are there --whatever form they take. If your chemistry course is in Allston, then that?s where you go to take it. If you?re assigned to a dorm there, then that?s where you live. You may like it or not like it, depending on other factors. Enhancing the quality of campus life is up to the university; enhancing the quality of off-campus life is a question of allowing bars, clubs and bookstores just outside the dormitory door.
? Create a residential campus to meet Harvard?s housing needs, including the University-wide goal to provide housing for 50% of its graduate students.
You can rely on Harvard to provide this; it?s mostly a question of non-interference.
? Enhance access to North Allston from the Cambridge and Longwood Medical Area campuses and elsewhere.
The shuttle bus is not the answer to this one. You don?t want to be on a bus with a bunch of students on a schedule determined by Harvard, and at the mercy of the vagaries of traffic. The solution to this is a subway. And the sooner it?s started the better.
? Create housing opportunities affordable to a wide range of people.
This is a laudable and eleemosynary goal. In the spirit of such largesse, be sure not to forget to include a homeless shelter. The community and Harvard could both contribute money to set that one up.
Btw, who subsidizes the non-market housing, and why?
? Preserve and create jobs that serve Boston?s diverse workforce.
Create jobs: expanding Harvard and building shops automatically does that.
Preserve jobs: wouldn?t you have to keep the trucks and trains to do that?
? Promote economic growth.
Well, almost everything should do that. We should also promote goodwill, moderation and a cure for AIDS.
? Create new transportation services.
Repeat item. Covered above.
? Preserve, enhance, and increase open spaces and public realm opportunities for an expanding population.
Parks are good; and like all good things, they can be overdone. See Harvard Square for a nice balance, tilting slightly towards too much.
The framework document goes into more detail (see pages 4 & 5 for more specific goals relating to housing, transportation, economic & workforce development, and public realm).
Will look at this later.
