New Harvard Hire

PATRICK BROPHY has been appointed associate director of community relations at Harvard University. Brophy was previously assistant director of the Boston’s Capital Construction Division/Property Management Department. A lifelong Boston resident, he spent more than a decade overseeing capital building construction projects for the City of Boston. Brophy graduated from Boston Latin Academy, received a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree from Northeastern University, and has participated in Harvard University’s Executive Education program at the Harvard Business School. He will report to Harvard’s Director of Intergovernmental Relations, Annie Tomasini.

Patrick to announce plans to overhaul Allston section of I-90

Patrick to announce plans to purchase T cars, overhaul Allston section of I-90 - Metro - The Boston Globe:

Patrick is expected to announce the launch of a $1.3 billion procurement for the new cars at a Tuesday morning meeting of the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce, in addition to disclosing that toll money will be used to straighten the Allston section of the Massachusetts Turnpike.

The Allston renovation will eliminate turns before and after the toll booths to alleviate traffic congestion.

In addition, Patrick will also announce that the Allston section of the Pike will undergo an overhaul that will straighten the roadway to allow commuters to more easily pass through the area.

“We expect that we will be able to significantly improve traffic in the neighborhood,” Davey said. 

That construction project will open up 60 acres of new development in the Beacon Park Rail Yard area.

A Master Plan for Good Jobs | Opinion | The Harvard Crimson

A Master Plan for Good Jobs | Opinion | The Harvard Crimson: "as Harvard moves forward with its plans to build, among other things, a hotel and conference center in North Allston, it has the responsibility to bring good jobs to the Allston community."

Annual Fair @ Hill Memorial Baptist Church

Annual Church Fair Hill Memorial Baptist Church 279 N Harvard Street (across from Honan Library) Saturday, Sept 28 10am - 2pm Food, knife sharpening, lots to do for kids and people of all ages

Harvard Secures Donor for Campus Center - "Holyoke Center" coming to Allston?

Harvard now has a sizable portion of the money it will need to convert Holyoke Center from Harvard offices to a student campus center. Where will all those office workers go to make room for the student center?

Harvard Administration Secures Donor for Campus Center | News | The Harvard Crimson:

"The Harvard administration has secured a donor for a campus center and will soon begin planning for its development, University President Drew G. Faust told The Crimson earlier this week... She also said at the time that it would likely be built in Holyoke Center and contain a variety of spaces designed for everything from parties to lectures and studying."

Histortic Boston and Peregrine Group Team Up for the Historic Charles River Speedway Headquarters

Inside Historic Boston Inc.: Once More to the Races: HBI and Peregrine Group Team Up for the Historic Charles River Speedway Headquarters:

Earlier this summer, the Department of Conservation and Recreation’s (DCR) Historic Curatorship Program put out a Request for Proposals (RFP) for the historic Charles River Speedway HeadquartersBuilding in the Allston/Brighton neighborhood of Boston. The Headquarters building, built in 1899 is all that remains of the Charles River Speedway. The Speedway consisted of a mile long race course for horse cart, or “sulky racing” as well as a course for bike racing. It was developed in the wake of increased automobile traffic on other main roads like Cambridge and Beacon, which had left little room for recreational vehicles. Until the 1960’s, the Speedway stretched all the way to the Harvard Football Stadium. After that time, with no more Speedway to look after, the Headquarters building fell into disrepair. However, it is a beautiful building, with a great story and a layout that offers many options for redevelopment. With this in mind, HBI just finished a submission for consideration by DCR.

Benefits for Allston | Opinion | The Harvard Crimson

Benefits for Allston | Opinion | The Harvard Crimson

"While education and entertainment are important, residents dealing with business closures, construction sites, and a rapidly changing neighborhood demographics deserve benefits related to housing, employment, and transportation....However, it would be a shame if Harvard simply used these millions to construct resources that were useful only to Harvard affiliates."

Invest In Boston town hall meeting - Tuesday in Brighton

Developer eyes 93,000 square-foot mixed-use building with 80 apartments

Developer eyes 93,000 square-foot mixed-use building with 80 apartments in Allston - Allston Brighton - Your Town - Boston.com:

A Boston-based developer hopes to build a 93,000 square-foot mixed-use building with 80 apartments along the Massachusetts Turnpike in Allston.

The proposal for 61-83 Braintree St. also calls for 6,000 square feet of retail space and 68 parking spaces in Allston, according to the Boston Redevelopment Authority website."

The disappearing Petco trees

Anyone else curious why Harvard ripped out these perfectly nice looking trees on Everett Street behind Petco?

Before (from Google Street View)

And replaced them with these new trees and planters?

There's nothing wrong with the new landscaping, but it seems like an unusual priority considering the previous condition of the area which seemed just fine.

One of Harvard's 6 proposed public realm community benefit projects is new streetscape along Holton Street across from the Star Market loading dock.

The green line in Harvard's map shows this streetscape improvement continuing along the backyard of the two-family home that Harvard owns at 208 Everett Street at the intersection of Holton and Everett.

But isn't this a strange place for a streetscape improvement? Harvard recently installed this white fence and the opportunities to make this stretch of Everett Street lovely seem limited at best.

Update: Harvard is already "improving" the 100 Holton St streetscape

I recently posted this photo from 96 Holton Street (across from the Star Market loading dock) where Harvard proposes to make one of its 6 public realm community benefits. I wondered why the fine-looking plants that used to be here were removed.

So I was surprised when I just went by the same site. It looks like it was all replanted yesterday. It is a peculiar definition of community benefits to include landscaping on Harvard property to improve the appearance of its own commercial properties. And it is strange to start implementing these benefits so immediately after proposing them without waiting for any feedback on the proposal.

Harvard rips it up & to replace it as a community benefit

One of Harvard's 6 proposed public realm community benefit projects is new streetscape along Holton Street across from the Star Market loading dock.


Recently I noticed that all the plantings on Harvard property in this area have been very recently torn out. Here are some before and after photos showing all the bushes and perennials that used to be in front of the avFx business...

BEFORE:

Google Street view

Google Street view

I always thought those plantings were just fine. Maybe there was space to add a couple more hosta, but I certainly don't think there was anything wrong with it.

Well, someone at Harvard must have had a problem with how that looked. All those plants have been torn out and it seems to have happened very recently. Now Harvard is proposing to plant new plants to replace the ones that were removed. And Harvard thinks this should be one of our 6 public realm benefits during the next 10 years.

A FEW DAYS AGO:

Harvard proposes to beautify a sidewalk along a parking lot

If you were making a list of 6 public realm investments to be proposed by Harvard for the next TEN years, you might think that all 6 would be pretty impressive. Or maybe not...

100 Holton Street is across the street from the Star Market loading dock, next to the blank brick wall of an old Harvard building where I think the Fire Department still trains, and next to another Harvard property.

It is also the site of one of Harvard's 6 public realm offerings. How nice will the entrance to this parking lot be when Harvard is done with it?

Certainly I think the entrance to every Harvard parking lot should be lovely, but if you were choosing 6 ways to improve our community would this be one of them?

What happened to Rob Lue's big (and not so big) ideas?

A story in yesterday's NY Times "Most of U.S. Is Wired, but Millions Aren’t Plugged In" brought to mind the Harvard Allston Task Force meeting in June when Harvard Professor Rob Lue gave a long and enthusiastic presentation about online learning, the Ed Portal, and helping more people get online and gain proficiency with computers and the internet. Some of Prof Lue's comments were:

"HarvardX is one of those Harvard efforts which I think could be used to strengthen and expand the Ed Portal’s work. HarvardX is an effort to bring  educational content to the internet"

"I think HarvardX has a  place in the Ed Portal. Bringing HarvardX to the Portal would allow for us 6 to train people to use a computer and to plug people into knowledge and the information super highway."

"I want to look into establishing a tablet loaner program."

After all of the enthusiasm from Rob and other Harvard staff, it was strange to watch Harvard's community benefits proposal presentation last week and see nothing about about Prof. Lue's ideas.

In Chicago, the Smart Community program has training courses that "offer participants a notebook computer once they’ve completed a designated set of classes—in total nearly 1,300 computers will be distributed."

Compared to that, Prof. Lue's suggestion that maybe Harvard could create a loaner program to let people borrow a $200 tablet computer doesn't sound all that generous. But according to the presentation given last week, Harvard won't even be creating that iPad library.

A community benefit "study"?

Another one of Harvard's 6 proposed public realm projects seems intended to help connect North Allston / North Brighton and the Charles River. That's great!

But is Harvard actually proposing to create these connections to the river sometime in the next 10 years? Or just study the idea and think about it? Pay close attention...

You call that a "top 6 community benefit"?

If you were making a list of 6 public realm investments to be proposed by Harvard for the next TEN years, you might think that all 6 would be pretty impressive. Or maybe not...

I'm a huge fan of making our streets safer and I spend plenty of time with young children walking and bicycling around North Allston. But it never occurred to me that the intersection of Holton Street and Everett Street was one of our biggest safety issues. The intersection already has traffic lights, push buttons for walk signals, and the electronic countdown timers that tell you how long you have to cross the street.

But somehow replacing this traffic signal is one of the six things that Harvard wants to do in Allston.

Harvard's bike map is wrong

Harvard's IMP has this map on page 183 showing "Planned Transportation Improvements". As someone who lives near Lincoln Street, bicycles frequently, and remembers when a cyclist was killed at the intersection of Lincoln & Franklin, I was very pleased to see these "BTD Bike Plan Elements" that I have highlighted in this image from Harvard's IMP.

Too bad Harvard's map is not true. BTD has no plans to improve these roads.

I asked the BRA and Boston Transportation Department what these "BTD Bike Plan Elements" were for Lincoln Street and Litchfield Street. I got a copy of the City's 5 year and 30 year bike plans as shown below. Neither one shows BTD doing anything on Lincoln Street or Litchfield Street like Harvard says.

Boston 5-year bike plan

Boston 30-year bike plan

It is also too bad that Everett Street is in the 30-year plan but not the 5-year plan.

Did you know there is an Ed Portal Plaza?

While it is nothing like the beautiful Javits Federal Building Plaza that I mentioned in a recent post, Harvard's Ed Portal has its own plaza on North Harvard Street.

The Science Complex Cooperation Agreement describes these "new pathways and landscaped entrances" to the Ed Portal as part of $1.8 million dollars in community benefits that Harvard would invest in Barry's Corner.
Harvard's 2009 Annual Report on the Cooperation Agreement for the Harvard University Allston Science Complex describes the completion of this project:

"In the fall 2008, Harvard created a new plaza in Barry’s Corner in front of the Education 

Portal including landscaping and streetscape improvements."

I mention all this because it is an example of how nice-sounding community benefits sometimes don't work out all that well. There was no public process to design this "plaza", and I don't think the result is all that great. Has anyone ever said "Let's go hang out at the Ed Portal plaza this afternoon?".

And while most plazas are built to last decades, this "community benefit" will be demolished just 5 years after it was created to make way for the construction of the new Barry's Corner Apartments.

Public Plaza example from NYC

With all the recent talk about creating great new public spaces in Allston, I thought this could be an interesting example to keep in mind. It was designed by the same firm that did Ray Mellone Park behind the Honan Library.

This 1 acre park cost $18 million and is featured in the current issue of Architectural Record magazine. The article notes that "Public plazas are difficult to design and program—in-between spaces that are neither park nor street."

"The plaza is inviting, in part, because of its obvious craft. From the benches, for which the marble was handpicked from a Vermont quarry, to the bronze garbage cans, which appear to balance on their rounded bottoms from sheer centrifugal force, the luxury of the hard surfaces complements the garden elements."

The architects created curving plant beds to provide visitors with a sense of intimacy and separation from the street. The marble benches and cobbles add luxury to the civic plaza. Magnolias in bloom signal spring’s arrival.

Today, curved plant beds hug marble benches, some with embedded LED lights. Magnolias add a park-like element to the hard-surface plaza, while a fountain invites interaction.

Jacob K. Javits Federal Building Plaza | Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates | New York City | Project Portfolio | Architectural Record: