CityRoots coming back to Everett Street

The CityRoots organization was a great source of financial and technical support when the Everett Street slope between Lincoln and Aldie streets was beautified over the past few years. Now CityRoots is coming back to help improve the Everett Street slope on the south side of the Pike.

Join them next week to learn more!

Do you enjoy nature in the city?

Volunteer for this year's CityRoots Project!

Participants will:

•       Learn the importance of trees and birds in our cities

•       Tour local green spaces and green roofs

•       Research urban ecology with Boston University faculty    and students

•       Design and develop green space along Everett St.

•       Improve the neighborhood through urban plantings

Join us for an information session!

Where: 95 Everett St, Allston, MA

                                (In case of inclement weather, info sessions

                                will be held  in the lower level of 57 Everett St)

When:  Monday, June 4 from 6-7 pm (led in Spanish)

                                Tuesday, June 5 from 6-7 pm (led in English)

Light refreshments will be served!

For more information, please contact:

Victoria Wolff at Vwolff@urbaneco.org

Book Sale & Fun @ Mellone Park

Mark your calendars  Saturday, June 9  for two events:

The Friends of the Honan-Allston Library Book Sale,  300 North Harvard St, Allston 10:00 am-2:00 pm RAIN OR SHINE

All Books - .10 cents to $3.00  -  All proceeds directly benefit the Honan-Allston Branch Library

Visit the new Teen Area in the Library.

from the Friends of the Honan-Allston Library

                                                          --- and ---

A Day of Fun in Ray Mellone Park, 12 Noon-3:00 PM.   Park located in the rear of the library – NO RAIN DATE

Face painting, ice cream, balloons and  Musical Entertainment by Tim McHale

Come and enjoy the new park and meet your neighbors.

from the Friends of the Ray Mellone Park

It will be a fun day and we look forward to seeing you!!

Weeks footbridge accessibility meeting tonight

JOHN W. WEEKS FOOTBRIDGE ACCESSIBILITY IMPROVEMENTS PROJECT
Thursday, May 17, 2012

6:30 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.  
Harvard Business School – Cumnock Hall, Room 102
33 Harvard Way, Cambridge, MA  

At the meeting, DCR staff will present a project overview and alternatives for improving accessibility to the John W. Weeks Footbridge over the Charles River in Boston and Cambridge, while maintaining its historic character.  The meeting will include an opportunity for public questions and comment and will be followed by two additional public meetings regarding project design and construction plans.  


http://www.mass.gov/dcr/news/publicmeetings/materials/bridges/weeks2012-5-17.pdf

D14 child safety day on Sunday

Anderson Bridge construction starts this month

If you are travelling between Allston & Harvard Square, you might want to find a different way to get there.

Traffic Information - Charles River Basin Project: "Starting Tuesday, May 29, 2012, MassDOT crews will begin road work required as part of the Anderson Memorial Bridge Rehabilitation Project. During the work, the downstream sidewalk will be closed and traffic will be reduced to one lane in each direction on the bridge."

A Science Complex Update from President Faust

John Tepper Marlin: Splendor in the Glass -- Harvard's 375th in NYC

"Isaacson then read out the first alumni question, a brief one on the status of the Science Center at Allston, and the cognoscenti leaned forward to hear her response. President Faust gave a long answer, taking up a big piece of the discussion period, referring to the impact of the global financial meltdown, which seriously affected the size of the University's endowment. 

A new plan for the Center is being refined, reports President Faust. It will encourage both a greater concentration of scientific talent in the science center and will establish designated locations for nearby private businesses to create spaces for commercializing new ideas."

New springtime babies

The parent robins built this nest in the climbing Hydrangea in our backyard and now they have what looks like 3 very new children!

Thank you Boston for the street trees!

A big thanks to the City of Boston Parks Department for the 5 new trees planted today on Mansfield Street! They will be a great addition to make the street nicer!

Everett Street meeting

The City of Boston Transportation Department and Public Works Department are proposing traffic safety improvements on Everett Street between Adamson Street and Aldie Street in Brighton.

A public meeting to discuss the proposed design will be held on Wednesday, April 25 @6:00 PM at the Brighton Marine Health Center.

How big is your shadow?

With so much talk at the recent Harvard meetings about the size of shadows that new construction in Barry's Corner might cast onto Smith Field, I thought it would be interesting to find some real-world examples in our neighborhood.

The office building at the corner of Cambridge St and Everett St seems to be about the same height as what Harvard tentatively proposed along the eastern border of Smith Field. At 9:45 this morning the shadow reached almost to the edge of the parking lot, which according to the ruler in Google Earth, would be approximately 55 feet. Later in the day and as summer approaches, the shadows would be shorter as the sun moves higher in the sky.

The yellow line in this image from Google Earth measures 55 feet. The taller buildings suggested in Harvard's diagram are farther from Smith Field, so while their shadows would be longer, some of those shadows would be cast onto the other buildings.

Once upon a time, when Harvard promised Barry's Corner culture

In 2007, Harvard did propose building huge amounts of art and cultural facilities in Barry's Corner, primarily on the current Charlesview site. These proposals contributed to a lot of the excitement and enthusiasm about what Barry's Corner would become and how relocating Charlesview would be a net improvement for everyone.
Harvard isn't doing 20 year plans anymore, and Harvard isn't proposing any arts or museums on the Charlesview site. The retail proposed for Barry's Corner is much less than 60,000 sq ft. These changes leave a lot less to be excited about in Barry's Corner.

Source: The Plan for Harvard in Allston (http://harvardmag.com/media/Allston-2007-01-11.pdf) pages 16 & 18

BPS School Assignment policy meeting

Saturday morning at the Jackson Mann

http://www.bostonpublicschools.org/files/03-21-12_meeting_flyer.pdf

New Balance submits BIG plans

New Balance details massive Brighton project - BostonHerald.com:

The athletic equipment maker, led by billionaire Jim Davis, plans four buildings at its “New Brighton Landing” project on Guest Street, including a new world headquarters measuring 250,000 square feet and a 175-room hotel rising as high as 20 stories. 

The company also proposes as much as 650,000 square feet of office space on a nearly 10-acre parcel along the eastbound side of the Massachusetts Turnpike. 

On a separate parcel across Guest Street, New Balance plans to build a 345,000-square-foot sports facility with an ice rink and track. The company said in the filing that the facility “may contain venues for basketball, tennis, ice hockey, general recreation, track and field,” and a fitness facility.
The project includes about 65,000 square feet of restaurant, retail and service space spread among the buildings.

Full details at http://assets.bizjournals.com/boston/news/New-Balance-Brighton-Plan.pdf

Can we have South End-style infrastructure to support South End-style density?

At last night's Task Force meeting, Harvard's consultant suggested that Rollins Square is a valid precedent to consider when thinking about the scale of what Harvard might build in Barry's Corner. In many ways, Rollins Square is a great project as I mentioned in a 2008 post:

Rollins Sq won the John M. Clancy Award for socially responsible housing in 2006. The jury noted that the six-story buildings and four-story townhomes "fit well within its mid-rise neighborhood". It also received a Maxwell Award from the Fannie Mae Foundation for outstanding development of affordable housing and an award from the Boston Preservation Alliance. 

 But buildings like this need to be considered in their context, and the context of Boston's South End is very different than North Allston, particularly in terms of its transportation infrastructure.

Using the MBTA map at http://erikdemaine.org/maps/mbta/, here are the subway lines within approximately 1 mile of Rollins Sq and Barry's Corner. Which location is better able to handle large numbers of residents, workers, and visitors?

If Harvard was willing to talk about a commuter rail stop, a revived section of the proposed but since mothballed Urban Ring, encouraging Harvard employees to live in Allston and walk or bike to work, or other ways to mitigate/reduce the transportation impacts of Rollins Square style housing in Barry's Corner, I expect that their plans would be received much more favorably than they were last night.

New condos coming to Comm Ave in Brighton

Long-awaited plan for Charing Cross condo building in Brighton to be unveiled - Boston.com:

"A local developer will announce detailed plans Thursday night for a long-awaited project to construct a 55-unit condominium building at a highly-visible, city-owned site along Commonwealth Avenue in Brighton... “We’re going to be one of the first ones in Boston to get in on what I think is an emerging condominium market,” said Diamond, declining to disclose the current projected cost of a project that, as of four years ago, was billed at about $18 million."

Nice to see that a private developer can build some owner-occupied housing in Brighton. Does this mean it might be financially viable for Harvard to do the same in North Allston?

Will a March Madness win bring a new arena to Allston?

If #12 Harvard pulls of a big upset this afternoon against #5 Vanderbilt, how quickly will Harvard be able to raise $100M or so to build a new hoops arena in Allston?

http://espn.go.com/ncb/preview?gameId=320750238

Why would anyone "throw out" the Ed Portal?

This is a very strange story. The Ed Portal could certainly be relocated to make space for new development in Barry's Corner. The new Ed Portal could be completed before the current building would be torn down. So the suggestion that the Ed Portal would be "thrown out" or that there would have to be a year without any Ed Portal really doesn't make sense.

Tensions Rise in Allston Over Ed Portal | News | The Harvard Crimson:

“Being thrown out of the building would represent a problem for the various activities we provide for the community,” Lue said, emphasizing the importance of maintaining continuity for the more than 100 children who utilize Portal resources.

“Missing a whole season, or two seasons, could really interfere with their progress,” he said.

Harvard still considering a new Allston stadium

The Rise of Harvard Basketball | FM | The Harvard Crimson:

Prior to the 2008 recession and the steep decline in the University’s endowment, the construction of a new basketball stadium in Allston was in consideration.

“Before the stock market took that big dive it did and the endowment had that big struggle, there was a greater plan for all of those facilities on that side of the river to eventually be relocated,” Mannix says.

Those plans, however, were put on hold with the bad economy. Today, the construction of a new stadium in Allston remains in discussion.

“It’s still a subject of conversation,” [Staples Founder Tom] Stemberg adds. “People are still talking about it. Nobody’s done anything yet because nobody’s given up the money, but I think, you know, if the money were there, I think we’d get it done.”

Speedway comments

To: dcr.updates@state.ma.us

I am writing to follow-up comments that I and other neighbors made at the February 27 public meeting regarding the future of the Speedway building.

To fully realize the potential of a rehabilitated Speedway and help create a financially and operationally feasible project, it is essential to consider the future of the abutting properties.

Adjacent to the the Speedway buildings are blighted and underutilized properties owned by the State and Harvard University. Harvard's property (the former Toureen Kennels / Brighton Animal Hospital) has been vacant for several years and I expect that demolition is the only viable option. If Harvard refuses to engage in constructive discussions, eminent domain should be considered.

To this end, I hope that DCR will reach out to Harvard, the Smith Health Center (who is leasing some or all of the State's adjacent property), and any other related parties to identify strategies for collaboration that can maximize the potential of this set of parcels.

If nothing else, this holistic approach might find opportunities to create shared parking facilities among various future users. This could address the limited space for parking at the Speedway which was noted as an obstacle during DCR's public design charrette.

Presentation from Monday's Speedway meeting

regarding the future of the crumbling building along Soldiers Field Road at the western end of Western Ave

http://www.mass.gov/dcr/news/publicmeetings/materials/parklands/speedwaypresentation2012-2-27.pdf