Charlesview at Boston Civic Design Commission meeting tonight

Please join neighbors from Allston and Brighton to ask the Boston Civic Design Commissioners to withhold approval of the Charlesview project until the major design flaws with this proposal are resolved.

Especially if you work downtown, in Kendall Sq, or anywhere else where you aren't too far from City Hall, it would be a great help if you can spend 1/2 hour to show that we care about the future of our neighborhood and want to improve the current proposal instead of settling for this second-rate design.

5:20 - 5:40 Report from Design Committee: Charlesview Relocation Project

Piemonte Room, 5th floor, Boston City Hall

Here is one example of how the current proposal could be much better. Here are 7 proposed buildings each with a thin strip (probably 5-10 feet) of grass on the sides. The block contains 24 units (18 condos and 6 apartments). Instead of backyards for these 24 units, the space behind the buildings is a 14 car parking lot.

Maybe some people would be OK with a parking lot instead of a backyard, but this sure would be nicer if the parking could be added to the proposed 260-car underground garage or done with a combination of driveways, garages, and on-street parking.