Southie pol urges condo clampdown

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Southie pol urges condo clampdown
By Scott Van Voorhis
Boston Herald Business Reporter
Tuesday, October 24, 2006 - Updated: 04:54 AM EST


Stop the condo madness.

That is the battle cry of state Rep. Brian Wallace (D-South Boston) as he urges City Hall to put a lid on a flood of new condo development he fears will overwhelm South Boston.

With real estate sales across the Hub and the Bay State in a tailspin, the last thing the market needs is a deluge of thousands of new condo units, the state lawmaker warns.

But that is what is poised to happen in South Boston, with more than 6,000 units in planning or under construction.

So Wallace is proposing tough new restrictions that would cut in half the number of new condos developers could build in some areas of Southie.

?It?s very crazy,? Wallace said. ?They say they are going to sell, that it?s good for the economy. Maybe it isn?t. Maybe we are oversaturating the market.?

After initially exploring a moratorium on new construction, Wallace has shifted his approach.

He said he is now in talks with city officials about plans to reduce the number of units in development. He wants the city to change zoning regulations to reduce by half the number of condos that can be built in some development hotspots in South Boston.

One area that would be targeted is First Street, where a builder has proposed more than 200 townhouses on a site near the new Boston Convention & Exhibition Center.

Wallace also wants to look at A Street, including a 100-acre tract where City Hall has envisioned massive new development by Gillette Co. and other major property owners.

?Although South Boston contains only 5 percent of Boston?s population and only 3 percent of the total residential land in Boston, it is seeing an unprecedented amount of development,? Wallace said.



Link
 
Actually, isn't oversaturating the market and depressing real-estate prices the best way to reduce the cost of living here? Boston needs to retain people and attract people, and sending the price of condos into a free-fall may help.
 
Ron Newman said:
Actually, isn't oversaturating the market and depressing real-estate prices the best way to reduce the cost of living here? Boston needs to retain people and attract people, and sending the price of condos into a free-fall may help.
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I agree but we are assuming the politian should be acting in the best interest of the city rather than the interest of the folks who will be voting in the next election, many of whom own homes and condos and don't want to see the value of thier 'investment' plummet.
 
Aren't the "hot spots" that are being referred to in the article more part of the Seaport instead of South Boston? It's obvious there's an ulterior motive here; probably some developer buddy in South Boston is whispering in Rep. Wallace's ear to restrict building in order to artificially maintain high condo prices for existing development or future development not in these "hot spots". Politicians usually don't notice these sorts of things; someone's putting a bug in his ear.
 
The S. Boston politicians don't want to dilute their power base with new residents who probably won't vote for them. We've been hearing the same false reasons for their dislike of new residential development for 10 years.
 
statler said:
I agree but we are assuming the politian should be acting in the best interest of the city rather than the interest of the folks who will be voting in the next election, many of whom own homes and condos and don't want to see the value of thier 'investment' plummet.
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Perhaps, but cost of living is a huge political issue. Politicians are always complaining about people leaving Boston for North Carolina (and perhaps other places too, but I always here NC). Sure, housing's down, but not down far enough for it to be comparably priced to most of the rest of the country. To think that my $700 a month is considered a steal here. That'd be top of the line most other places.

Plus, once new office space is built (since office is the hot sector right now), those employees will need to live somewhere.
 
This guy is such a horse's ass. The real estate market is in a tailspin? That's why all these developers want to build condos? I've lost all patience for these parochial nitwits. And Scott VV's ability to swallow this illogic and spew it out the other end, unquestioningly, is appalling.
 
Wallace can kiss my vote goodbye if he follows through with this. It's very possible he's just making some noise to placate his dwindling "Townie" base.
 
"Townie"(s) live in Charlestown.

I disagree with Wallace on this issue but can't help notice the realities of the housing market are often lost on this board.

The developments on A and D Streets are only possible because Southie is improving and has relatively few urban problems. That is due to the neighborhood taking action and not anything that major developers in the Seaport have done. The money flows from the southern suburbs where small developers who once lived in SB are investing. Bankrupting them will not have the desired effect of lowering prices as much as it will destroy peoples personal finances just to make homes for yuppies who don't give a crap about this city..
 
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"because Southie is improving and has relatively few urban problems."

isn't Southie routinely among the city's highest crime areas?
 
"because Southie is improving and has relatively few urban problems."

isn't Southie routinely among the city's highest crime areas?
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No not really, out of the 14 to 15 boston neighborhoods that are tracked by The Boston Foundation, southie is not in the top 5 (and it appears to have been that way for the last 5 yrs). Southie falls somewhere around 9 or 10th in crime statistics. The top crime areas on the list were (in no particular order) Central, Back Bay, South End, South Dorchester and Roxbury.
 
Do you happen to have that list? I would like to take a look at it.
 
Scott said:
"The developments on A and D Streets are only possible because Southie is improving and has relatively few urban problems. That is due to the neighborhood taking action and not anything that major developers in the Seaport have done. The money flows from the southern suburbs where small developers who once lived in SB are investing. Bankrupting them will not have the desired effect of lowering prices as much as it will destroy peoples personal finances just to make homes for yuppies who don't give a crap about this city..
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Not sure what you mean by "neighborhood taking action," but I think you're missing the big picture. The improvements to South Boston are because developers (small and large) took advantage of the area's relatively low property values and flipped the renovated/developed properties. The low property values were due to the area's stigma as a racist community (rightfully so) and because the filthy harbor made half the place smell like a toilet. As the stigma and dung disappeared, the neighborhood improved. Then came the Nazis, er yuppies...
 
Eight years later and now two other South Boston politicians want the same thing.
 
shockingboston said:
No not really, out of the 14 to 15 boston neighborhoods that are tracked by The Boston Foundation, southie is not in the top 5 (and it appears to have been that way for the last 5 yrs). Southie falls somewhere around 9 or 10th in crime statistics. The top crime areas on the list were (in no particular order) Central, Back Bay, South End, South Dorchester and Roxbury.
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Does the BF define the types of crime. If you look at the Police logs from publications such as the Back Bay Sun, most of the crimes involve shoplifting or larceny from the Newbury Street retailers. That's probably what's skewing the statistics. I doubt the first two neighborhoods listed have higher violent crime rates than Roxbury or Dorchester which appear at the end.
 
Councilors Linehan & Flaherty Propose Re-Zoning of South Boston
April 18, 2014, South Boston Today

Council President Bill Linehan and At-Large Councilor Michael Flaherty have submitted an order for a hearing regarding the re-zoning of South Boston.

South Boston was zoned in 1964, when the Boston Zoning Code was first enacted. There have been vast changes in population and demographics between 1964 and today but few updates to the zoning code. South Boston’s zoning code should be fully updated to create more clarity for property owners, abutters and the South Boston community.
Recent rezoning efforts in the First Street neighborhood, from A Street to Farragut Road, have provided clear guidelines regarding height, density, open space and parking. With involvement from property owners, residents, business owners, civic groups and elected officials, this rezoning effort resulted in new zoning, Article 68, for the First Street neighborhood. The new First Street zoning was enacted in 2011, since then positive development has taken place with little or no zoning variances.

“South Boston has the highest demand for new housing in its history. However, the influx of new development has created concerns about density, transportation, open space, parking and other quality of life issues. We need current, updated zoning law that adequately addresses both the demand and these quality of life issues.” –Council President Bill Linehan

Councilor Michael Flaherty added, “The intensity of new development in South Boston is creating greater strains on parking, traffic and density in our neighborhood, to the point where the quality of life of our residents is at risk of being irreparably harmed. Much of South Boston has zoning dating from the 1960’s that is so archaic it is simply ignored. And without a modern and responsive zoning code, development occurs on a parcel by parcel basis without the benefit of “big picture” urban planning. The result of over 20 years of this unsystematic process is patchwork development with little comprehensive planning. I am calling on the BRA to balance its dual roles of promoting development and planning growth. Certainly in South Boston, what we need right now is less developing and more planning.”

You can contact Council President Linehan at 617-635-3203 or Bill.Linehan@boston.gov. You can contact At-Large Councilor Flaherty at 617-635-4205 or Michael.Flaherty@boston.gov.
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Also, here: http://www.bizjournals.com/boston/r...tons-two-city-councilors-file-measure-to.html
 
I don't live in southie but I view all the new development to be a very good thing for the neighborhood overall...if you drive through it there's still lots of underutilized industrial buildings that disconnect the urban fabric. The first st and A street areas have a ton of potential that will never be realized if the development gets stopped.
 
617 said:
I don't live in southie but I view all the new development to be a very good thing for the neighborhood overall...if you drive through it there's still lots of underutilized industrial buildings that disconnect the urban fabric. The first st and A street areas have a ton of potential that will never be realized if the development gets stopped.
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Yeah, but it's bad for a local pol's job security.

Keep 'em down on the farm and beholden to ya.
 
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