On the Kilmarnock Street proposed development
Dear Editor,
This is to follow up the Boston Sun report in the July 27, 2018 edition about the July 24 IAG meeting…As a native Bostonian, I am distressed that in keeping with its typical practice, the BRA is rubber-stamping this major project, which does not contain ONE single unit of Family-friendly housing — at ANY price.
The Sun reports: Jacob Vance, senior development manager for Cabot, Cabot & Forbes, said the units would be studio, one, and two-bedrooms split between “mid-market condominium housing” and rental units.”
Certainly it is great that this project will bring over 440 units of housing to the City, but of these 443 units, there is NOT ONE SINGLE UNIT where in the 21st century people can raise a boy and a girl in the city OR provide multi-generational housing to a child and an aging parent or other relative — AT ANY PRICE. This major deficiency has obvious negative impacts, both now and for the future, with respect to addressing the housing needs of the city’s residents and damaging the long-term stability both of the Fenway neighborhood and of the City as a whole. What is somebody who already has a family supposed to do? All told, there is only a trivial number of three-bedroom units in the construction pipeline. And what is somebody likely to do when they anticipate an addition to their family? (HINT: MOVE — outside of the city.)
I encourage you to ask your BRA colleagues AND the proponents if they would be prepared to bring up their own families, which may have adolescent boys and girls both, in a two-bedroom unit. And go back to the drawing board while it is still feasible to make minor adjustments. For comparison, the BRA just approved the “Shawmut Avenue/Washington Street Block,” with an anticipated 536 units, with number of 3-bedroom income-restricted units expected to be the same as the number of 1-bedroom units, all to be onsite.
Also, I note from the article that in lieu of contributing any new low-income housing, the developers plan to contribute to buying the Newcastle/Saranac Apartments at 599 Columbus Ave. (corner of Northampton Street) in the South End, which provides 97 units of existing low and moderate income housing.
I’m not clear on how this benefits anyone.
Edward Jay Allan
Milford Street