Ron Newman said:
Airplane noise is not going to disappear, no matter how many luxury condos are built. But beyond that, what makes it a 'shithole' ?
Ron, answers to questions like this one require that you delve into the story of the neighborhood, a story that dates back further than you've lived in Greater Boston (and further, indeed, than I've lived)...
Port activities like shipbuilding, warehousing, petrochemical manufacture and storage, and other industrial activities has been both the lifeblood and bane of East Boston (and its neighbors) since the 1830's...Donald McKay built his mighty clipper ships steps away from where these condos will rise, the first Cabot Stains were made across the Creek in Chelsea, huge underground oil storage tanks were built in Orient Heights during WWII...People have always lived here, but the decisions about the way land is used have rarely been centered around the needs of those who live in East Boston (we'll get to my thoughts on 'Why' a little later)...
Like may other communities in Greater Boston, the cultural face of East Boston has changed at least three times since I was born in the twilight of the 1960's...Looking further back, East Boston was home to some of the city's first Jewish immigrants (mostly from Eastern Europe)...Later, the Irish, then the Italians and Portuguese made homes here...In the 1960's the first Latinos arrived in the neighborhood, in the 1970's families from Southeast Asia took up residence in Maverick Square and on Eagle Hill...And now we are in the second wave of Latin American immigrants, many from Columbia, El Salvador, and Brazil...Each group brings its unique strengths and human weaknesses -- there are (and will likely continue to be) social problems, and the attendant crime and violence, but that's not what this post is about...
From a historical standpoint, Logan Airport represents the continuing of Donald McKay's legacy, and it provides thousands of jobs to residents of its satellite communities (East Boston, Chelsea, Revere, Winthrop)...It also undermines the livability of the neighborhood, with noise and air pollution, traffic, and the perpetuation of unfavorable land-uses by industries directly tied to the airport's presence in the community...These are very real problems that have driven many longtime residents to the northern 'burbs, and have kept housing costs accessible (until the cresting of the real estate market about two years ago)...The low(er) cost of housing (to rent or purchase) has made East Boston attractive to the lowest wage-earners for many years...This does not create the best environment for long-term community investment by individuals by way of home ownership...
bowesst said:
I think it looks pretty good too, although it looks like there may be some excessive park space.
In considering this site's proximity to Pier's Park, your observation isn't far off the mark, but in consideration of Massport's grab of Wood Island Park in the late 1960's, the community's value (and demand) for open space is to be expected...
For those of you not familiar with Wood Island Park, it was designed by Fredrick Law Olmstead and was among the largest parks in Boston until it met its end beneath the bulldozer's blade...In it's heyday, it featured athletic fields, tennis courts, beaches with full amenities, and a large band shell...I find the MBTA's decision to display reproductions of archival photos of Wood Island park on the platform of the new Airport Station highly disingenuous...
So how did all of this happen? How was an historic 70-acre park taken in the age of "power to the people?"
Working class neighborhoods are, by their very nature, family-focused (rather than community-focused); when things look bad, head for the (Saugus & Lynnfield) hills and better schools for the kids...Social activism was a new concept to my parents' generation -- their well meaning efforts were brash but ineffectual gestures (i.e. blocking the tunnels with baby strollers to prevent the flow of traffic to and from Logan)...In the 1960's laborers in East Boston outnumbered lawyers 10/1...And the politicians back then were as inept and crooked back then as they are today...
