Walkable West Roxbury
WalkableWestRoxbury.org
Walkable West Roxbury
MAY 2005: UNPLANNED OVERDEVELOPMENT OF CENTRE STREET LANDS ON WEST ROXBURY WITH A THUD
WHERE IS THE BRA? Where are the "professional" Master Planners? Where is the vision and community process? Who will stand before us and assure us that this is all part of a good coherent well-planned future for the next 10, 50, 100 years?
City Hall wasn't satisfied to ram a beefed-up multi-million-dollar four-lane highway/speedway "improvement" of Centre Street through our business community. Now we have a perfect storm of the new Post Office landing on Big League Bowling and taking over the Corey Street public parking lot (with their own fenced-in secure exclusive parking) and a condominium developer moving forward with an oversized four-story condominium on the Corey Street parking lots behind Decelle. (If you thought there was a shortage of parking before, just wait -- these two projects combined will ensure that there is much less.)
Link to 1870 Centre Street - Decelle Building - Condominium Development proposal.
Tuesday, May 17, 2005 at 6:30pm at District E-5 Police Station --
1708 Centre Street, West Roxbury
(The meeting is being held to discuss) the redevelopment of the former Decelle building on Centre street into 20 residential condominiums with 2 retail units on the ground floor and 26 parking spaces. Copies of the proposal may be viewed at the Boston Redevelopment Authority, 9th floor, Boston City Hall, Monday-Friday from 10am-5pm (and the West Roxbury Branch Library.)
Close of Comment Period: May 31, 2005
Maggie Goedecke, Boston Redevelopment Authority, One City Hall Square, 9th floor, Boston, MA 02201.
Phone: 617-918-4253
Email: Margaret.Goedecke.BRA@cityofboston.gov
===== West Roxbury Neighborhood Council Zoning Advisory Committee invites you to attend a meeting to discuss an appeal for a variance or permit at 1870 Centre Street, West Roxbury Massachusetts: Third story addition and new building in rear: 20 residential units and 2 retail units with 26 parking spaces.
Wednesday evening, May 18, 2005 at 7:30pm
West Roxbury High School, 1205 VFW Parkway, West Roxbury, MA.
The Zoning Committee hopes you will attend. Your participation will help in making a recommendation to the Boston Redevelopment Authority and the city's Zoning Board of Appeal. For further information call: Ryan Fitzgerald, Mayor's Office of Neighborhood Services, Boston City hall, 7th Floor, 617-635-4316.
=====
BOSTON CITY COUNCIL HEARING REGARDING
THE COREY STREET PARKING LOT
Wednesday evening, May 25, 2005 from 6-8pm
Boston City Council Committee on The Environment and Historic Preservation
St. George Orthodox Church, 55 Emmonsdale Road, West Roxbury
ORDER OF COUNCILLOR MAURA HENNIGAN and FELIX ARROYO
Whereas: The Mayor was notified in the month of February of the Post Office's desire to locate a new Post Office at the Bowling Alley Site on Centre Street in West Roxbury; and
Whereas: The City, as part of the proposal to build a new Post Office on Centre Street, has offered to sell a portion of the City Municipal Lot to a private developer; and
Whereas: The West Roxbury Community and the general public has not had the opportunity to publicly express to the City of Boston whether or not they want the Municipal lot to be part of this proposal; Therefore be it
Ordered: That the appropriate committee of the Boston City Council hold a hearing and invite city officials to discuss the disposition of a portion of the Municipal Parking Lot in West Roxbury.
November 13, 2003 Meeting - Handouts
Centre St Drawings
Additional Trees Proposed for Centre Street - Letter
Tables Graphics-1
Graphics-2
CALL TO ACTION FOR
MORATORIUM ON CENTRE STREET RECONSTRUCTION!
text
Word
Dutch road designer Hans Monderman stresses the importance of
making drivers personally responsible:
A Path to Road Safety With No Signposts - January 22, 2005
Once rated the least bike-friendly city in America, Boston
promised it would change.
Five years later, bicyclists still find...
Bad Biking in Boston - September 19, 2004
Boston Globe Editorial Raps City Plan for Centre Street
Rushing on Centre St. - Globe June 19, 2004:
text
graphics
Editorial: Centre St. needs to broaden its outlook - Transcript June 24, 2004:
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Time for a different perspective on Centre Street
By Walkable West Roxbury/ Guest Column - Transcript July 1, 2004:
text
Letter: Centre St. shouldn't take the narrow view - Transcript July 1, 2004:
text
Smart Talk on Smart Growth
Douglas Foy Talks With Randolph Jones AIA, AICP
ArchitectureBoston July/August 2004 --
plain-Text 20K
Word-doc 50K
pdf 800K
Promoting Physical Activity and Health by Urban Design
Harvard Schools of Public Health and Design/Centers for
Disease Control
Boston, MA 11/4/03 -- conference
synopsis
http://policy.rutgers.edu/faculty/pucher.htm
-- Read the important research of John Pucher, PhD Rutgers who wrote in
the 9/03 edition of the am. Journal that U.S. levels of obesity are directly
linked to the fact that it is much more dangerous to walk and bike in the
U.S. than it is in Germany and the Netherlands, countries which have increased
safety by lane reduction, widened sidewalks, pedestrian islands, pedestrian
and biker right-of-way laws, and other traffic calming features. Rates
of obesity in Northern Europe, he pointed out, are 1/2 to 1/3rd what they
are in the US. Pucher said that it is up to City policy makers and designers
to take the initiative by embracing design that favors pedestrians and
bikers rather than focusing only on efficiency of vehicular movement. "As
there is is more walking and cycling, Pucher noted, "research shows that
rates of walking and cycling injuries decrease. As you increase the level
of walking and cycling in a community you will make walking and cycling
safer because public policy interventions will increase the safety features
and enforcement effort. "
> Publications:
http://policy.rutgers.edu:16080/tpi/articles.html
http://policy.rutgers.edu/papers/
Centre St Still a Jam - Globe April 18, 2004: text
Running Red Lights - Globe April 3, 2004: text
Highway Project Cost Overruns - Globe April 2, 2004: text
Centre Street redesign still a tangle - Globe
November 2, 2003: text
graphics
Highway projects get new scrutiny - Globe October
26, 2003: text
graphics
Letters to Editors:
* November 19,
2003 -- Chan Rogers
* November 14, 2003
* October 13, 2003
Please try:
WalkableWestRoxbury.org/files
WalkableWestRoxbury.org/CentreStPlans(Sep
22/2003 version posted in Library)
>Updated Nov 03/2003 version has now been posted in West
Roxbury Library, 2nd Floor -- go study it!
and these links:
www.walkboston.org
>> Information on pedestrian safety
and traffic calming techniques from WalkBoston, the pedestrian and alternate
mode advocacy group
www.cityofboston.gov/accessboston/default.asp
>> traffic and demographic information
for West Roxbury
Road
Diets.pdf (769KB)
>> examples of successful lane reductions,
without reducing traffic counts, across the U.S.
West Roxbury Neighborhood Council:
Minutes
of Council Meetings
West Roxbury, MA
02132 Massachusetts
last update 10may05