Northeastern University - Institutional Master Plan

TomOfBoston said:
It is the college students who make Boston vibrant. Take them away and you would have, well, Detroit.
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What a misguided and completely ignorant statement.

Take away the college students and what would you have?

- A health care industry that employs 122,000 with an average wage of $67,333 and location quotient 67% higher than the average American city.
- A finance industry that employs 78,000 with an average wage of $170,624 and location quotient 128% higher than the average American city.
- A professional, scientific, and services industry that employs 74,000 with an average wage of $108,504 and location quotient 62% higher than the average American city.
- An information industry that employs 18,000 with an average wage of $88,463 and location quotient 28% higher than the average American city.
- An unemployment rate of 5.9% vs. Detroit's 16%.
- A city where nearly 50% of people over 25 year's of age have a bachelor's degree or higher vs. Detroit's 11%.

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Detroit? I don't think so.

Should I keep going? I've done a lot more research and would be happy to share more numbers with you.
 
dshoost88 said:
What a misguided and completely ignorant statement.

Take away the college students and what would you have?

- A health care industry that employs 122,000 with an average wage of $67,333 and location quotient 67% higher than the average American city.
- A finance industry that employs 78,000 with an average wage of $170,624 and location quotient 128% higher than the average American city.
- A professional, scientific, and services industry that employs 74,000 with an average wage of $108,504 and location quotient 62% higher than the average American city.
- An information industry that employs 18,000 with an average wage of $88,463 and location quotient 28% higher than the average American city.
- An unemployment rate of 5.9% vs. Detroit's 16%.
- A city where nearly 50% of people over 25 year's of age have a bachelor's degree or higher vs. Detroit's 11%.

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Detroit? I don't think so.

Should I keep going? I've done a lot more research and would be happy to share more numbers with you.
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Pretty sure he was snarking at this very debate Rifle had with the board a few months back.
 
All of the points Busses make are due to the existence of the dozens of colleges and universities that exist in and increasingly define the Boston area. To have these centers of learning, you have to have college students. Some of these undergraduates, of course, are drunk and obnoxious.
 
TomOfBoston said:
All of the points Busses make are due to the existence of the dozens of colleges and universities that exist in and increasingly define the Boston area. To have these centers of learning, you have to have college students. Some of these undergraduates, of course, are drunk and obnoxious.
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dshoot made them not me. Is this silly counter-factual argument really worth having again???
 
From here

The new Interdisciplinary Science and Engineering Building (ISEB) is the first phase of Northeastern’s ambitious plan to develop 600,000 SF of new academic and research space for Northeastern on an existing surface parking lot. The proposed plans include a basement, six levels above grade and a mechanical penthouse.

The site is separated from the main campus by existing Amtrak and MBTA rail lines. The Arc, a dramatic curved bridge, links the Huntington Avenue campus with the Columbus Avenue site, expanding the campus and linking two disconnected urban neighborhoods, the Fenway and Roxbury. The design of both site and building open up to and are integrated with a new pedestrian track crossing (the Arc). The construction of this pedestrian track crossing spanning the rail corridor provides an accessible landscape integrated with the campus open space network and linking the communities. This design choice transcends the building and original site to initiate and sustain connectivity through the neighborhoods for years to come.
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092713_cover.jpg


There are some more renderings I can't connect here in the link I posted.
 
To whom it may concern,

The BRA Board will consider the Northeastern University Institutional Master Plan tomorrow, November 14, in the BRA Boardroom on the 9th Floor of Boston City Hall. Although the meeting begins earlier, the Northeastern IMP hearing will not begin any earlier than 5:30 p.m.

As outlined in the letter I circulated last week, Northeastern has added some new community benefits commitments and has agreed to build a minimum of 600 beds of undergraduate housing in the first five years of the IMP term. The Board memo contains some new language clarifying this commitment and its relationship to the Burke Street Parking Lot. Specifically, the language makes clear that Northeastern’s obligation is not contingent upon its ability to fulfill it at the Burke Street lot, which the university has explored as one possible site. The BRA views the commitment as independent of any particular site. The obligation is to build 600 beds. I hope this clarifies this particular issue.
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I may skip my 6PM class to attend the meeting; would love to meet up with any other forum members who are interested in watching this showdown.
 
Ohhhhhhh- this may be quite interesting. Not sure if I can make it, dshoost, but I'll shoot you a DM if I'll be there.
 
THE PLAN APPROVED!!! And I nearly had a heart attack because there was literally ZERO community opposition during the meeting!

2.5 million square feet of new construction, coming righ up!
 
HUZZAH! I'm sad I'll never get to enjoy this as a student, but HUZZAH indeed!
 
FYE, I went to the meeting with prepared remarks supporting the project. Here they are in case anyone's interested:

Hello,

My name is (Dshoost88). I live in Boston, MA and attended Northeastern University from 2007 to 2012, and I am here to overwhelmingly support the implementation of the Northeastern University Institutional Master Plan and the approval of the Interdisciplinary Science and Engineering Building.

In Fall 2011 my classmates and I heard the early rumblings on campus that NU was about to begin the IMP process. We carefully put all of our feedback together and made a google map of all the improvements we knew were necessary to improve the Northeastern campus for the students, faculty, administration, and the Boston community. In January 2012 I even presented our feedback to the planners contracted for this project, stating with my classmates that Northeastern needs 2 to 3 million square feet of new development focused across different uses to improve on its status as one of the leading research universities in the world.

Obviously, that kind of development would be ambitious for any higher learning institution, so my classmates and I remained skeptical that any of our ideas would be considered. Several months later, however, the preliminary plans were presented to the Northeastern Task Force and to our surprise the plans demonstrated that the school was on the same page as us--the students.

This Plan very carefully mitigates for existing uses that will change across campus, and most efficiently makes use of the school’s footprint. The high-skill, high-paying jobs the Plan will facilitate will be a tremendous boon to the immediate neighborhoods and the City of Boston. The caliber of undergrad and graduate students the Plan will encourage to attend Northeastern is crucial to attract if Boston wants to maintain the momentum of knowledge economy jobs flowing to the area.

You are going to hear some very vocal opposition to this project shortly, especially with regards to NU’s housing plans. I study city planning, I work in real estate, and I’m familiar with Boston’s housing issues. While I agree that more on-campus housing would be helpful, I believe addressing the affordable housing crisis citywide is a policy-related conversation that really must be had elsewhere. Not here. Not now. Not on Northeastern’s time.

Please approve the Northeastern University Master Plan.

Thank you very much!
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Does anyone know which item on the agenda was withdrawn? I think it was #10?
 
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