ST. MARKS AREA CIVIC ASSOCIATION
May 25, 2021, 7 – 8:40pm
Via ZOOM (27 attendees including guests)
Minutes: Laurie Martinelli
- Welcome and call to order – Sydney Miller chaired the meeting
2. Police Report, Officer Mike Keaney: Very quiet month: a 9 yr old was waiting for a bus and approached by an adult to get in his car but girl was smart enough to call her mom. A car was broken into on Florida Street and lots of stuff stolen but the car wasn’t locked. Bad idea. That’s about it.
3. Maggie Owens & Dr. Neenah Estrella-Luna, Boston Parks and Recreation Dept discussed the city’s first ever Urban Forest Project with these goals:
- Expand the tree canopy;
- Plan for Open Space;
- Thrive w climate change.
The city is in the process of completing a street inventory of trees then will begin putting in place policies and practices that support a robust tree canopy. The Urban Forest Project will focus heavily on equity, i.e. historically neglected neighborhoods with people of color. There will be an intergovernmental work group and an Equity Council. Sign up to get on their mailing list at: www.boston.gov/healthy-places
4. Kenneth Reardon, U Mass Coalition Against Gentrification and Chair of the U Mass Boston Urban and Community Development Department.
Kenneth gave an interesting and thorough presentation about why the Coalition he leads opposes the Dorchester Bay City Project, a 5.9 million sf residential and commercial project on 33 acres of land at the old Bayside Expo Site and along the waterfront behind U Mass Boston and extending to Carson Beach. The developer is Accordia, co-owned by Richard Galvin and Keith Sykes. Keith is a POC and owns 51% so technically a minority business enterprise. Kenneth showed Power Point slides which we have shared with the group.
The audience was very engaged, asking many good questions. Some of Kenneth’s major points of opposition are:
- Woefully inadequate affordable housing (only 16% will be subsidized units). The Coalition fears another Seaport District with market and residential rents that are unaffordable and a serious lack of diversity.
- Developers are not contributing nearly enough to public transportation improvements;
- 20 – 30 story buildings will be built along the oceanside;
- There is a serious lack of community linkage w other development projects in the area (i.e Boston Globe site also being developed; and there is talk of the state selling and developing the 10 acres around the water castle near the U Mass Boston campus.
- 20 of the 33 acres is publicly owned; private developers will benefit from greatly and public may lose out– very bad precedent.
The Coalition has an 8 page letter in opposition to the Dorchester Bay Project along with a change.org/petition. Both have been circulated to the SMACA membership.
5. Elected Officials: Only Quinn Valcich from Councilor’s Flaherty office was there. No special announcements.
Julie Ryan from Councilor Baker’s office was present but had to leave before she had a chance to speak.
6. Community announcements:
Laurie Martinelli of SMACA announced she is leading a “Digital Presence Committee” that, so far, consists of Nevin Lorden and Matt Maranda. Matt is working on a face lift for our SMACA website and Nevin is going to help us with social media outreach. Anyone with experience in social media is welcome to join.
Nevin spoke briefly about the Twitter SMACA profile he created and the Tweets he sent out about Tuesday’s meeting. Stay tuned for more and hopefully it will draw new participants.
Meeting adjourned: 8:40 pm.
Next meetings: June 29th, Sept 28th, Oct. 26th and Nov. 30th
