New Master Plan for North Allston

[briv]

From the Allston-Brighton Tab via Wicked Local:

City sets stage for turning Holton Street into residential area

By Matt SeidnerFri Jul 17, 2009, 06:01 AM EDT

Allston, Mass. - After months of planning, the Boston Redevelopment Authority revealed phasing plans detailing how the city intends to transform the largely industrial Holton Street area into a residential neighborhood.

Designed under the assumption that the economy will rebound within five years, the 15-year phasing plan represents an ambitious agenda for the neighborhood. More than 10 acres of redevelopment occur in the first five years of the project, more than half of the total area of the Holton Street corridor.

?It?s not a conservative plan at all in terms of phasing,? said Prataap Patrose, BRA deputy director for urban design, who presented the plans at the June 29 Community Wide Planning session.

The relocation of the Charlesview Residences happens in the first phase, providing a framework of roads on which to build other houses and apartments to replace the existing industrial neighborhood, according to Mike Glavin, deputy director for institutional development at the BRA.

The BRA has asked Harvard to consider possible uses for the Cabot, Cabot and Forbes building, including a school or community center, in the first phase as well. The next two phases follow a similar pattern of teardown and build-up, but on a smaller scale.

The project calls for between 144 and 249 additional housing units to be built in addition to the 260 apartments and 26 housing units created by the Charlesview project. The BRA is also looking into relocating the Shaw?s supermarket elsewhere in Allston-Brighton to allow more development, increasing the total number of new housing units in the neighborhood to 700.

Some residents at the meeting were surprised to see a phasing plan at all. The phasing portion of the BRA?s presentation was part of a brief summary of planning to date on the Holton Street corridor.

The majority of the meeting comprised a lengthy update on the Charlesview development.

?I think it caught everybody by total surprise,? said Harry Mattison, a member of the Harvard-Allston Task Force. ?This whole thing needs to slow way down so we can try and have a conversation.?

BRA officials felt their presentation was well received.

?We felt that we were hearing a lot of general agreement with the plan that Prataap outlined,? said Glavin.

Some neighborhood concerns remain about how the plan would be implemented. For example, Mattison worried that the Charlesview relocation would happen before any other residential development. BRA officials said that up to 46 units of housing will be built concurrently with Charlesview?s 260 apartments and 26 housing units.

The source of the confusion? The BRA broke the first phase into three subsections for the presentation purposes. Some attendees believed the subsections would be built one after the other, despite assurances from the BRA that the subsections would be built at the same time.

Mattison said that if the Charlesview relocation happens before other development, Harvard University and the city will have little incentive to continue with the rapid construction of the mixed-income family neighborhood that residents desire.

The BRA expects construction on the Charlesview residences to begin relatively soon.

?I?m sure that?s their hope that they?ll be able to meet an aggressive schedule to get it under construction early next year,? said Glavin.

The BRA presentation from the June 29 CWP meeting is available on the agency?s Web site at www.bostonredevelopmentauthority.org/pdf/PlanningPublications/North%20Allston-Brighton%20Community-wide%20Plan_20090629%20Module%20I-3-FINAL.pdf

Existing:

Proposed:

 

[vanshnookenraggen]

I wish the density was a bit more urban but I realize that none of the neighbors want that so this is what we'll get. Seems nicer than the industrial no mans land we have now.

 

[stellarfun]

With respect to this general area, they are currently repaving N. Harvard St. between Western Ave. and Soldiers Field Road. In the course of doing this, the city is eliminating 115 of the 140 current parking spaces along this section of N. Harvard St. and replacing these with a bicycle lane. (Five of the remaining spaces will be handicapped only near Harvard Business School, and 15 will be for current Charlesview residents. Don't know what happens to those once the current Charlesview is demolished.)

Presumably this bike lane will be continued to N. Harvard St. south of Western Ave. when that is repaved next year. And with more parking spaces eliminated?

This is all well and good, but for neighborhood residents clamoring for Barry's Corner to become a commercial and retail center, albeit on a small scale, eliminating parking spaces when there is no alternative is not going to help draw customers and business.

 

[Justin7]

With respect to this general area, they are currently repaving N. Harvard St. between Western Ave. and Soldiers Field Road. In the course of doing this, the city is eliminating 115 of the 140 current parking spaces along this section of N. Harvard St. and replacing these with a bicycle lane. (Five of the remaining spaces will be handicapped only near Harvard Business School, and 15 will be for current Charlesview residents. Don't know what happens to those once the current Charlesview is demolished.)

Presumably this bike lane will be continued to N. Harvard St. south of Western Ave. when that is repaved next year. And with more parking spaces eliminated?

This is all well and good, but for neighborhood residents clamoring for Barry's Corner to become a commercial and retail center, albeit on a small scale, eliminating parking spaces when there is no alternative is not going to help draw customers and business.

Aren't there plenty of actual parking lots here? I think this area could really use a bike lane.

 

[GW2500]

Kind of, but I dont believe they're for public use. On western ave behind the Bus Depot and the 80's Dinner there is a fair amount of parking spots, but like I said I don't believe it is for general public. Harvard also has a lot at that intersection, but it also isn't a public lot.

 

[cden4]

Harvard and the city of Boston studied who was using the parking along that stretch of North Harvard Street. They discovered there were a lot of out-of-state plates and commuters who either work at Harvard or who would hope on a bike or on the T at Harvard Station. The Harvard rep said that employees and grad students should be using the parking program and park in a Harvard lot, not on North Harvard Street. Putting in bike lanes is really a no brainer. More than 60 bicycles per hour use North Harvard Street at peak commuting hours, and right now they are forced to share a narrow lane adjacent to parking with very heavy traffic, particularly buses. As a comparison, note that JFK Street does not have parking along much of it in Harvard Square, and that is certainly more of a commercial district than North Allston is.

 

[stellarfun]

Harvard charges $10 a car to park around the stadium, so 100 fewer street spaces = an added $1,000 per sports event for Harvard's not-quite-fully-depleted coffers.

I rather doubt that Harvard will open the underground parking now being built as part of the Science complex for public use. Not sure how finished off it will be, and there could be substantial insurance costs.

I think the difference between no parking along JFK street etc and no parking along N. Harvard St. near Barry's Corners is that many of the Square's visitors/customers arrive via the T.

And once the new Charlesview is built, a lot of the current parking lot at Brighton Mills poor-excuse-for-a-mall will be lost to Charlesview. If it takes another half century before Harvard builds the art museums where Charlesview now stands, then in the interim, I suppose Harvard could convert that land to a public parking lot.

 

[palindrome]

I didn't really know where to post this, as charlesview is mentioned here, the Harvard thread and the Allston/Brighton development thread. Perhaps its time for its own thread?

Letter: Rally against Harvard on Aug. 24
By Staff reports
Tue Aug 18, 2009, 08:50 PM EDT

Allston, Mass. -

To the editor:

Tell the BRA and Harvard ?Enough is enough!? Preserve our diversity, no segregation between rich and poor!

There will be a rally on Monday, Aug. 24, at Barry?s Corner (North Harvard Street and Western Avenue) at 5:30 p.m., then walk together to the 6:30 p.m. meeting at the Career Resource Center across from Brighton Mills McDonald?s on Western Avenue.

After months of conversations with the community, the BRA, Harvard and the Charlesview board have decided to ignore the overwhelming opinion of our neighborhood that the new Chalresview should reflect the rest of North Allston-Brighton. We want to preserve our diversity with a mixed income complex!

The BRA/Harvard/Charlesview Board?s plan is to put the low-income folks in a complex by the Star Market parking lot, and to create new ?market rate? (high-income) units in towers overlooking the Charles River.

This plan flies in the face of their own studies:

? The Community Builders, the Charlesview Development Group, says in a publication titled ?Resident Success in Economically Integrated, Socially Diverse Housing:?

?Our experience has shown that, where the market is ready, public housing residents, working poor families and market-rate renters and owners of different races will live side-by-side in a high-quality housing development with first-rate program supports, culturally sensitive staff and broadly appealing community activities.?

? Check out this blog post that cites several Harvard studies about the importance of integration and the damaging effects of economic segregation at www.tcbinc.org/what_we_do/resident_success/Ford_MIMR_Resident_Success_Chapter1.pdf.

? And look at this blog post that cites several Harvard studies about the importance of integration and the damaging effects of economic at allston02134.blogspot.com/2008/09/abnnfs-motivation-regarding-charlesview.html.

Though we are disappointed, we are not surprised at the Charlesview plan. The segregation of rich and poor is an integral part of the Harvard Corporation?s worldview.

Though Harvard economists are largely responsible for the theories and practices that have led to this recession, and though Harvard?s elite lost much of the university?s endowment in unsound and risky investments, it is the poor, not the rich, who pay the price for their greed.

Harvard?s President Faust is the highest paid university president in the world. Citigroup and Goldman Sachs, two large banks that help govern the university, gave themselves raises and bonuses.

Meanwhile, Harvard laid off, cut hours and benefits or forced into early retirement over 1,000 of its workers and contractors during the last two months, all but stopped working on the science complex and continue to leave North A/B buildings ? structures that, if utilized by our community, would provide jobs and services ? vacant and blighted.

We invite Charlesview tenants, Allston/Brighton neighbors, Harvard workers and students, Science Complex contractors, and everyone else willing to stand with us and come on Aug. 24 when Harvard and the BRA meet to further divide our neighborhood by income.

Let?s stand together and preserve our diversity!



The Allston/Brighton Neighborhood Assembly

ABNA@riseup.net 1617 800 3176

Myspace.com/DefendAllstonBrighton

http://www.wickedlocal.com/allston/...307005/Letter-Rally-against-Harvard-on-Aug-24

I couldn't help but laugh at how incredibly biased and downright ridiculous this editorial is. They would lend their cause much more credibility if they didn't do things like flat out blame Harvard for the recession. These people make Harvard sound worse than satan.

 

[pelhamhall]

I love how low-income people always clamor for "mixed-income" housing, as if it's some kind of idealist, lofty social goal when in fact it is just plain old welfare.

I can't afford to live in a luxury high-rise fronting the Charles River. That's my life. I do not think that I have some right to live in a luxury, waterfront high-rise, and I'm not sure why so many low-income people feel they have a right, and that Harvard should pay them to live in luxury, high-rise, waterfront towers.

 

[cca]

^^

Ouch!

I can't say I agree with that, but I will let the rest of the discussion take its course.

cca

 

[AmericanFolkLegend]

^Fair point Pelhamhall - no one has the right to demand to be "put up" in a luxury high rise, but the benefits to placing poor families in mixed income communities is indisputable. If the government or a non-profit is going to provide housing for low-income families, it's better off mixing incomes than putting them all in a dense "Cabrini-Green-esque" style public housing.

 

[pelhamhall]

I knew it would be controversial. Controversy is fun on Internet forums, so take what I say with a grain of salt...

I agree that mixing incomes within a community can be beneficial, if done right.

I do not agree that mixing incomes within a development is anything but welfare.

It robs cities of valuable taxes, and actually rewards losers. There's a reason they call it a "lottery" when they pick which low income people "win" the right to live in these luxury developments.

Living in government housing should be a hardship, not a reward.

 

[Ron Newman]

Charlesview exists as compensation for the BRA destroying the original neighborhood it was later built on (Barry's Corner). So I'm inclined to cut its residents a break and listen to what they have to say.

Does the statement reproduced above represent a majority view of Charlesview residents?

 

[Beton Brut]

From the old "Dreamproject" thread.

This one's easy.

I'd get Boston out of the public housing business.

It's a fine idea, but I don't think it would be easy at all.

Expand the Section 8 program, gradually move everyone out of BHA housing and integrate them into the community.

Then, tear all the projects down.

How may years would gradually translate to?

I agree that the concept of public housing (in and beyond Boston) is all to often nothing more than a violent file-cabinet where cities store their poorest citizens. Who instills the sense of social responsibility? Or collective ownership? Or the desire for progress? Not the BHA.

It isn't where you live -- it's how you choose to conduct your life. Public housing should be a safe environment for families who can't afford better, but it shouldn't be so "attractive" that anyone would want to live there for decades.

The question we ought to be finding answers to is: How do we create better opportunities for financial literacy and home ownership for the working poor?

 

[blade_bltz]

It robs cities of valuable taxes, and actually rewards losers. There's a reason they call it a "lottery" when they pick which low income people "win" the right to live in these luxury developments.

Yeah and most high income people won a certain "genetic lottery" so what's your point?

OOH Controversy1!@1

 

[stellarfun]

The logic behind this protest escapes me. The mid-rise buildings with the condos are directly across Western Ave. from the replacement buildings for Charlesview. The argument seems to be that some of the condo owners should live cheek by jowl with the Charlesview renters in their low-rises, and Charlesview residents should get to live on some of the condo building floors. Everyone will have a fun time assessing the condo fees on that.

IIRC, this particular group is virulently anti-Harvard. They did a bit of guerrilla theater with regard to vacancies in Harvard-owned buildings.

 

[Ron Newman]

That last bit is a totally legitimate grievance against Harvard. They should rent out the commercial and office space if they're not going to use it in the foreseeable future. It's better for the neighborhood and better for Harvard too.

 

[kennedy]

Regardless of this specific project, "mixed-income" housing is always a good thing. However, "mixed-income" is not the same as luxury housing with a few units set aside for low-income tenants. Mixed-income housing is comprised of many people from with very varied financial backgrounds, but not with a drastic gap in income level, as that helps no one.

Architecture creates environments, and the environment one lives in has an enormous influence on how they live their life. So, as was pointed out earlier, low-income tenants living in luxury housing run the risk of convincing themselves that they can afford this type of lifestyle, and can end up running themselves further down the social ladder rather than up. The architecture of mixed-income housing mustn't be too comfortable, nor can it be too institutionalized (human filing cabinet). The building must promote a sense of ownership and responsibility; responsibility can be learned through the communtiy from those in a slightly higher income level. The design can help foster a community that will promote growth, responsibility, and productivity without being institutional or overpriced.

What I'm trying to say is, an architect has the ability to design spaces that, through both aesthetic and function, guide it's inhabitants towards almost any lifestyle or behavior.

 

[stellarfun]

That last bit is a totally legitimate grievance against Harvard. They should rent out the commercial and office space if they're not going to use it in the foreseeable future. It's better for the neighborhood and better for Harvard too.

Ron, a valid point. I believe most of the commercial / industrial space owned by Harvard is already leased, except for the empty stores in Brighton Mills (I'm not sure how much of that gets demolished as Charlesview is re-located) and the large Cabot Cabot and Forbes Technology Center that abuts the MassPike, which was a shell, u.e., unfinished on the inside, when CCF sold it to Harvard.

 

[Justin7]

This is actually an argument about poverty in general. If we are actually looking for solutions I don't think it's worth discussing "mixed income housing" without also discussing the pathetic state of our public schools. I will say, however, that while I think everyone should have a right to live in a comfortable, safe neighborhood regardless of income, I don't think it's fair to 'award' anyone without means a luxury condo on the Charles.