Harvard - Allston Campus

I'm still not entirely following your reasoning on this, ablarc. It's an autotopia now, of course, but won't that obviously change once they've built 5-10 story buildings over the parking lots? And, while it's less "central" to the southern campus, isn't the point that it's really supposed to be central to both the campus and neighborhood? Harvard Square would not necessarily be the same if it were where the Science Center is today, surrounded entirely by Harvard buildings, populated almost exclusively by Harvard people (although it would be more "central" to most of the Harvard campus). I spend most of my day at the furthest northern fringes of the university, but I'd rather have a long walk to a lively, university-meets-city square than a shorter one to some self-contained university retail strip.

I guess that centrepiece is like a Rorschach test; I think of it as a crudely rendered subway headhouse or news kiosk.
 
There is no consensus community plan and it would be great to have one.
The ultimate goal being a super-consensus that would include a happy Harvard, I hope.

Several months ago the BRA started a "Community Wide Planning Process". We thought this would create a plan based on the community and larger public interest and support the development of a "superior urban environment." You can judge the results to date for yourself at
http://www.cityofboston.gov/bra/Planning/PlanningInitsIndividual.asp?action=ViewInit&InitID=134
Found this one hard to understand. Not enough notes and labels; couldn?t tell what was actually being represented on some of the plans. By contrast, a clear presentation of a so-so project: http://demolishthegarage.com/pdf/presentations/pres_2008_11_20.pdf

I noticed that your study included areas to the west and north of Barry's Corner; that made Barry's Corner more convincing as a node, but it also attenuated the district beyond the breaking point for a genuine, cohesive and recognizable neighborhood unit, and propelled it into the realm of suburban planning. Refer to Leon Krier for elaboration.

The whole relationship with Harvard has been so difficult ? it is the reality of our response to accumulated years of generally negative relations.
Why?

Is there anyone in this forum that would like to help in a sustained way? ? Guide the creation of a better vision and/or plan? ? we can use all the help we can get.
Hundreds of miles away. What?s the deadline towards which you?re working?
 
Nothing is going to happen without Harvard's support, so yes their support is essential.

I find the Community Wide Plan hard to understand too, and I have been to all the meetings. That is a much clearer presentation of the garage project. It is also much more fully developed than the A/B North brown rectangle plan.

Regarding Leon Krier, I did some reading about his ideas that buildings should be no more than 5 stories and FAR should be less than 2. He seems to share concerns with the neighbors quoted by the Globe who are being mocked in this forum. Is there some other part of his theory you have in mind?

Why is there general contempt for Harvard?
Owning empty buildings that, before Harvard purchased them, were home to businesses where we used to shop and work. Nobody like to live in a ghost town.
Problems during construction like releasing styrene and sewer gases into the neighborhood and a less than forthright attitude about it, after going on at length about what a great neighbor they would be during construction
A generally uncooperative attitude and a refusal to answer valid questions about proposed projects
A "planning process" that has gone on for several years, taken thousands of hours of volunteer community time, and resulted in so little

There's no set deadline at this point. Before the Community Wide Plan went off track and Harvard announced a "rethinking" due to its $$$ problems, Harvard was supposedly going to submit their IMP in the late winter. Now, who knows?
 
Nothing is going to happen without Harvard's support, so yes their support is essential.
To do that, the adversarial relationship has to cease. Even if Harvard won't abandon it, the community can.

Regarding Leon Krier, I did some reading about his ideas that buildings should be no more than 5 stories and FAR should be less than 2. He seems to share concerns with the neighbors quoted by the Globe who are being mocked in this forum. Is there some other part of his theory you have in mind?
Yes, his observation that neighborhood units naturally limit themselves to a size that allows everyone to walk to the center. It?s easy to see what that means in the case of the Harvard Square neighborhood; there?s a drawing of that in the other Allston thread.

Krier is the smartest man I?ve ever met, but he?s a luddite --as he privately acknowledges. He?d be happy if we went back to living in Kropotkin?s romanticized medieval world, where hand production of all goods was regulated by guilds. The natural physical condition of this pre-industrialized state of affairs could be observed in Europe in about 1450, and it may still exist in parts of Nepal.

Like Marx, Krier?s a brilliant and insightful analyst of existing conditions, historic forces and the role of human folly; but as in the case of Marx, many of his prescriptions for future action are best ignored. The one you cite is an example.

You?d be wise to avoid having your own baby thrown out with your bathwater; it hasn?t helped Krier?s influence any for him to have marginalized himself by prescriptions that have been outmoded by history.

Btw, do you even have a baby yet?

It?s not the FAR of 2; that?s strictly bathwater.


(There's no paydirt in numerical formulas anyway; it's the wrong place to look.)

Why is there general contempt for Harvard?
Owning empty buildings that?
A generally uncooperative attitude and a refusal to answer valid questions about proposed projects
A "planning process" that has gone on for several years, taken thousands of hours of volunteer community time, and resulted in so little?
Yadda, yadda (forgive me!).

Now?s the time to make a huge, unilateral effort to leave those grievances behind if you want to accomplish anything useful in the future.

Showing good example may not be noticed at first, but long term it will bear fruit. Time to bury the hatchet and stop picking at scabs.

You can?t do anything about the past anyway. The future lies ahead, and with an attitude of goodwill and much better thinking, some of it might belong to you.

If a man would have friends, he must show himself friendly.

There's no set deadline at this point. Before the Community Wide Plan went off track and Harvard announced a "rethinking" due to its $$$ problems, Harvard was supposedly going to submit their IMP in the late winter. Now, who knows?
Time for a little covert operation to find out when they?ll spring their next fait accompli. You know they?re not sitting on their hands.

And you know their next iteration of the plan is likely to be worse.

Better be ready with a good alternative --and an equally good attitude.
 
Is there anyone in this forum that would like to help in a sustained way? ... Guide the creation of a better vision and/or plan? There actually are neighbors who want to welcome new development and a great urban future for Allston (better than what we have now and better than what we see in Harvard's plan) and we can use all the help we can get.
And those of us who want to help need information.

The ball's in your court, Harry. State your goals. Start with the general goals and move towards the specific ones. The solutions come later.
 
A pretty good set of goals were developed a few years back by Harvard, the BRA, and the Allston community and documented in the North Allston Strategic Planning Framework
http://www.cityofboston.gov/bra/Planning/PlanningInitsIndividual.asp?action=ViewInit&InitID=34

Based on listening to my neighbors at dozens of meetings over the past few years I think it would be appropriate to tweak some of these, but they are a fine place to start.

? Preserve the essential character of North Allston?s residential areas already threatened by regional economic pressures.
? Expand the affordable options for potential homebuyers and renters, relieving the pressure on the local housing market, and ensuring no new development in traditional neighborhoods.
? Guide growth to areas in which change is viewed as desirable and in ways that support new community amenities, such as a walkable Main Street, and promote increased economic opportunity for residents and businesses.
? Accommodate the University?s teaching and research mission by providing long-term campus-growth opportunity.
? Enhance the quality of campus life to attract the Harvard community to live, work, and study in North Allston.
? Create a residential campus to meet Harvard?s housing needs, including the University-wide goal to provide housing for 50% of its graduate students.
? Enhance access to North Allston from the Cambridge and Longwood Medical Area campuses and elsewhere.
? Create housing opportunities affordable to a wide range of people.
? Preserve and create jobs that serve Boston?s diverse workforce.
? Promote economic growth.
? Create new transportation services.
? Preserve, enhance, and increase open spaces and public realm opportunities for an expanding population.

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).
 
? 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.
 
Ablarc, my sense in reading various comments of Harvard's Allston neighbors over time is that most clearly prefer the small scale, and densities not much greater than currently exist in the residential side of the community.

If one looked at Harvard housing in Cambridge, and put various examples of size and scale to an informal referendum of what might be acceptable to Allston residents, I'd think their reaction might be as follows:

A. 18 Prescott
18Prescottlg.jpg


B. 381 Western Ave. (Cambridge)
381westernlg.jpg


C. 5 Grant St.
5grantextlg.jpg


D. New Memorial Drive graduate housing:
10akronlg.jpg


E. New Cowperthwaite St. graduate housing:
5cowp1.jpg


F. 1-15 Soldiers Field Park (Boston)
SFP5.jpg


G Peabody Terrace Memorial Drive
lgPeabody%20Terrace.jpg


H. One Western Ave. (Boston)
owalg.jpg


I. 170 Brookline Ave. (Boston)
trilogylg.jpg


A., B., and C. would be clearly acceptable, from a size, height, and density standpoint.

D., E., and F. might see an even splitting of community views, with D. being marginally more acceptable than F.

G. H., and I. rejected as being too tall and too dense. I. probably unanimously so.

(The quality of the design is not a factor. None of the examples house undergraduates.)
 
Much as a Harvard-Allston-Longwood subway is a great idea, it's ridiculous to want to bum it from Harvard. The University's transportations needs will always be adequatly satisfied by shuttle busses; even if all of Cambridge campus, physicists and economists included, made a daily hegira to Longwood, it wouldn't justify building a subway. Once Allston is big an busy enough, the government might be wise to step in and build one. Until then, all Harvard can reasonable be interested in doing is building incidental provisions like the ones which putatively exist at the K school.

There's no evidence that Harvard ever knew how to make cities. Harvard Sq. is a great bit of urbanity but what's good about it has mostly been built by private developers catering to rich undergrads in the early 1900's. The Harvard-built housing precinct by the river is pretty to look at from the other side, but pretty dead to walk through.

So there is no precedent to lead one to expect Harvard to do a good job in Allston, and much less the 'community'. So I say, mark off a little cordon sanitaire to appease the neighbors and then let Harvard ruin its oportunity as it sees fit.

justin
 
Is someone threatening to tear them down (?regional economic pressures?)?
We are slowly and steadily losing 19th century single-family homes. Small developers, not Harvard, are tearing them down and replacing them with multi-unit buildings. Re-zoning the existing residential neighborhood could be part of the CWP but we haven't gotten close to discussing that yet.

Regarding future housing, we would like it to support an increase in owner-occupants and families. In both of these important areas we are far below where most communities are and it impacts the civic fabric in meaningful ways. New housing should also enhance the existing community. Putting several hundred students in the backyard of existing homes doesn't seem like a win-win. Putting several hundred students on or north of Western Ave makes more sense.

Let the university go on growing? One way you can do that is by not putting silly limits on building height.

Yes, let Harvard grow and no, we haven't put silly limits on building height. The Science Complex is as tall as Harvard wanted it to be and the Art Warehouse went away for many reasons more important than its height.

If your chemistry course is in Allston, then that?s where you go to take it.

Sure, but then what do you do when class is over? Do you hurry back to Harvard Square or is there any reason to linger in Allston? Harvard professor Peter Galison said it very well in http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=519239

If one looked at Harvard housing in Cambridge, and put various examples of size and scale to an informal referendum of what might be acceptable to Allston residents, I'd think their reaction might be as follows:
I think this to a large extent a question of placement. For construction that abuts existing homes (which is a very small % of the potential development) I agree with stellarfun that A-C would be supported (if ownership/family considerations mentioned above were addressed) and I've written a bit about this at http://allston02134.blogspot.com/2008/11/physically-at-same-table.html

Once you get more into the campus core or elsewhere there will be more acceptance of the larger buildings. But I think part of the breakdown in recent meetings is that the planning (esp at the master plan stage) needs to be more than just putting up a picture of a big building and asking people if they want it in their neighborhood (which is close to what happened at the last community meeting).

The complete picture needs to include the great new retail and services that will be available, the new transportation options, etc. etc. And then to make it work (financially, to put enough people in the area to support the businesses, and justify the subway and/or commuter rail stop) this is the type of residential/commercial development that is part of the complete package. What residents are being shown is much less attractive - big new buildings, minimal new retail, and no specific transportation improvements. With that combination I can understand why people are far from enthusiastic.
 
Re: Central Square

What Harvard does in Harvard Square and what Harvard does in Allston/Brighton are two very different things. I don't know enough about the details of Harvard Square landlord practices to agree or disagree with ckb's thesis, but I'm happy to take a walk down Western Ave with anyone who is interested and explain how Harvard and its monopoly control of the commercial real estate market here has hurt North Allston & North Brighton.

Here's one example of some pretty good Harvard stewardship in Harvard Sq
Grocer Coming to Square - New store will offer deli sandwiches, gourmet items, salad bar, and buffet

Quite a difference from what happens on the south side of the Charles.
Harvard vs. Kmart -University's tactics turn more hardball as it seeks to evict Brighton store

(I'm not sure how this post ended up in this conversation. It was intended for the Central Sq one)
 
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But I think part of the breakdown in recent meetings is that the planning (esp at the master plan stage) needs to be more than just putting up a picture of a big building and asking people if they want it in their neighborhood (which is close to what happened at the last community meeting).

This is interesting. I've never been to these meetings, but I wonder how failures were a consequence of consistently bad presentations.
 
Harry, I moved your post because it was about Harvard Sq and Harvard-Allston, not Central Sq. I didn't want that thread turning into... what, the 3rd Harvard related thread we have?
 
Harry gets a quote. From the Herald.

Harvard losses may delay Allston expansion
By Jay Fitzgerald | Thursday, December 4, 2008

Allston-Brighton residents and politicians expressed frustration yesterday that Harvard University might scale back and delay its expansion into the neighborhood due to its plunging endowment.

Harvard said it lost at least $8 billion, or 22 percent, of its endowment fund since June 30 - and that figure may well grow in coming weeks as the university compiles reports from outside money managers who also got banged up by the Wall Street meltdown.

The endowment was worth $36.9 billion June 30, the end of the school?s fiscal year.

Harvard has previously warned of a dramatic fall in its endowment assets, and Harvard President Drew Faust has indicated that the school may have to make cuts.

But in a letter to college deans this week, Faust and executive vice president Edward Forst were more explicit, saying the fund could fall by as much as 30 percent total due to market turmoil.

They noted Harvard is looking at all areas to cut - including its long-term projects.

?We are reconsidering the scale and pace of planned capital projects, including the University?s development in Allston,? the duo said at one point in the letter.

The mention of Allston shocked some people across the Charles River in Boston, where Harvard is planning a massive expansion after purchasing a swath of neighborhood properties.

Harry Mattison, a founder of the Allston-Brighton North Neighbors Forum, said it?s ?completely inappropriate to let all the property stay vacant and rot before our eyes.?

State Sen. Steve Tolman (D-Brighton) voiced frustration with the slow pace of developing what are now many empty buildings in the area.

?Harvard has the responsibility to stand up and do the right thing,? he said.

But a spokeswoman for the Boston Redevelopment Authority said it?s ?appropriate during these economic times? for Harvard to proceed cautiously.

Harvard spokesman John Longbrake said Harvard remains ?actively engaged? with community groups and will continue with its expansion planning process.

http://www.bostonherald.com/business/general/view.bg?articleid=1136700

The Harvard-pwned property being referenced is west of N. Harvard St., and north of Western Ave. Harvard has largely demolished all the buildings it owned east of N. Harvard that are not currently being used by Harvard for some purpose or leased. The referenced area is not being addressed in the Harvard IMP, and Harvard has not indicated what its eventual intentions are for this land and property. (Using some of the acres to re-locate Charlesview being an exception.)
 
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This entire area has felt "abandoned and rotting" for decades. Don't worry, the "character of the neighborhood" is not changing.
 
czsz,

Why do you feel a need to bash the "entire area"? Most of the residential neighborhood is quite nice.

I want the character of the commercial parts of the neighborhood to change. A lot. Who doesn't?

The lack of constructive dialogue on this board is getting pretty tired.

Harry
 
You (and I) were referring to the area Harvard plans to develop, though, not the residential neighborhood (with the exception of the Charlesview Apartments, of course, which are not really so nice).

What's not constructive is a process in which the neighbors demand their spoils before Harvard can even afford to provide for its primary needs. As long as they can't afford to put buildings there, they don't owe it to neighbors to stay on schedule with the promised auxiliary benefits. It betrays either a lack of real understanding or a contempt for how these benefits will even come to be provided for in the first place.
 
Parks, schools top list

Harvard's plans prompt survey
By Andreae Downs
Globe Correspondent / December 7, 2008

In North Allston and North Brighton, it's all about education and parks. At least that's how it looks from the results of a needs survey conducted this summer and fall and reported to the community Monday.

The survey, conducted and compiled by Copernicus Marketing Consulting of Waltham, included responses from 2,715 residents of the neighborhood, which as a whole had a population of nearly 70,000 according to the 2000 Census.

Sohel Karim, senior vice president for Copernicus, told a community meeting of some 50 people Monday that the survey identified 79 possible needs. Respondents were asked to identify their top priorities, and which ones they thought Harvard should address as part of its Institutional Master Plan, a document it must produce before expanding further into North Allston.

Karim's group then took the responses and ranked them by popularity. The top third was identified and classified under one of five categories: education, public realm, health, housing, and transportation.

Those living north of the turnpike, who are slightly more likely to own their homes and have children living with them, rated help in K-12 education highest.

Access to the Charles, park maintenance, and river water quality ranked high for neighbors on both sides of the turnpike. Having access to athletic facilities and getting better medical access for the elderly and uninsured were top needs in the health category, although northern residents also prioritized getting an indoor public pool and gym. Better sidewalks, pedestrian safety, and more public transportation ranked high for the whole neighborhood. More pedestrian bridges across the Charles ranked higher for residents in the northern tier.

When asked what Harvard should provide as part of its expansion, there was more focus on educational needs, especially, but not exclusively, K-12. Better resident access to Harvard's athletic facilities, a new pool and gym, as well as more park maintenance, access to Harvard green space, and creating new parks also rose to the top.

Karim then analyzed the overlap among top priorities for the neighborhood and what residents thought Harvard should provide. Parks and education predominated.

Residents who have been involved in community planning and Harvard's expansion plans for their neighborhood noted that the survey, while interesting, was a distraction from the real question of when and how those plans would be negotiated.

"We knew these were needs four years ago," said Harry Mattison, a Harvard Allston Task Force member. "When do we stop talking and start doing something?"

More info on the survey can be found at www.allston.harvard.edu.

Link
 

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