Harvard's IMP states:
"Currently, there are four new projects which include approximately 100,000 square feet of retail and service uses being planned, permitted and constructed in and around Barry’s Corner. These major projects will bring visibility, new housing and employment destinations and a surge of retail and pedestrian activity to Barry’s Corner."
Can you believe that one of these "major projects" that will contribute to a "surge of retail and pedestrian activity" is the warehouse, mail room, storage facility, and Harvard Police Shooting Range!
28 Travis Street: 30,000 square feet. This involves the adapative re-use of an old Comcast warehouse into a 42,000 square feet campus services building with an adjacent 10,000 square feet fleet maintenance facility. The building will be the home of Harvard’s IT services center, mail facility, transportation department and recycling center. These uses will employ over 90 employees. Approximately, 30,000 square feet of the main building will house active service uses that host over 30 visitors each day. This significant employee and visitor base will contribute to the activation of the Barry’s Corner retail center. The Campus Services building
is currently under construction with completion estimated at September 2013.
Only Harvard could describe a place like this as having a "employee and visitor base [that] will contribute to the activation of the Barry’s Corner retail center."
reading over that imp there only appear to be about 8 community benefit projects out of a long list that actually apply to allston brighton residents and among those is a classic, HBS students partnering with gpa kids. my daughter's mentor actually missed the final meeting and never met her. i can appreciate the fact that an hbs student is too busy to commit, but what i do find objectionable is when harvard touts these very small programs as big community benefits. these benefits all need to be quantified. how many a/b kids go to judge baker in mission hill?? Maybe the police won't come to the range when they see that harvard is not going to fund the speed monitor specifically suggested by the bpd.
ReplyDeleteit's like the characters in Mad Men wrote this imp
ReplyDeleteHarry:
ReplyDeleteGet with the program. Allston is to Harvard what the back of the house is to the hotel industry.
The College may have to changeing its anthem from "Fair Harvard" to " Give em the Old Razzle Dazzle"
If this IMP business was curtailed there would be enough good jobs at good wages lost in the planning field that the unemployment rate would jump in a statistically significant value.
On the other hand we have always been home for working people, so to paraphrase Alonso Bedoya's character "academic pinheads, we don't need no stinkin academic pinheads"
Give us steady jobs with a decent wage and respect for our contribution to the institution. We aren't too big on highbrow pomp and circumstance. We see through that facade.
To me the main hurdle to the task force, and the BRA, face is that they're talking to the wrong people. The current Harvard cadre appear to lack the ability to execute on anything upstream. They are great at delivering Harvard's message outward, closing on Harvard's business (they got truckyard, samuels), but do not seem able or willing to significantly lobby on behalf of the task force or the city internally (we got...some nice promises). Therefore, I'm only left to conclude that any results the BRA and the Task force negotiate will lay fallow due to the inability of Harvard to execute or deliver on its community commitments. Further to this point, I went to several meetings a month or so back and was impressed by all that Harvard had delivered, then realized later that all these benefits were originally negotiated and built years ago by an entirely different group people. I question if Harvard's public relations arm really who the BRA and the Task force want to manage community commitments.
ReplyDeleteThe fact is, this land is owned by Harvard and it's been unused for some time. I'm looking forward to seeing the facility on Travis street completed and can't wait to see what happens with Barry's Corner.
ReplyDeleteharvard owns the property but since it does not pay the taxes that a corporation does or a personal property owner does it is supposed to be more mindful of the way it develops projects in the community. it is not. i think it should be taxed as a corporation since it does not take any of the community benefits, which are minor compared to what actual taxes would entail, seriously. it is in fact detrimental to the community, and the absentee landlords attracted by its encroachment are equally at fault. they do pay taxes but at the same time by raising rents to exorbitant rates overpopulate the area, bring more crime, more trash,more noise and more vermin.
ReplyDeleteIt is obvious that the community committee is used as a tool of the BRA and some members wear the BRA or Harvard's colors and not the community.
ReplyDelete