WiMax coming to Boston this summer?

Clear Communications is asking for a variance to add more dishes on Comm Ave.  I say yes!

For those not in the know Clear Commincations in one of the advocates and suppliers of WiMax service.  They had made statements that they were expanding into Boston this summer.  This is great news since there is very little WiMax coverage in the Northeast.

Looking at their website their price points are very competitive with RCN, Comcast (X-whatever), Verizon and Sprint once you wade through what you’re really getting.  If they can really deliver 6 Mbps that’s probably all most people need (less than 10 Mbps max from cable modems, but more than ~1 Mbps from Verizon Wireless). 

Imagine a day that all the ugly Comcast wiring on the side of most people’s homes could go away? 

Internet service provider competition = good.

Harvard rents a building!

As reported by the BRA and Allston Brighton Community Blog Harvard has RENTED one of the many empty buildings it owns in Allston!

I believe the building in question had been used by the Harvard Police and some contractors.  It seemed to be one of least run down buildings in their inventory.  Although the Crimson reports that some build out will happen maybe this will prove to Harvard that it needs to up the maintance of its vacant buildings to make them more marketable.

Regardless great news.  1 done, many to go.

Change to Lowe’s Meeting Schedule

Community Meeting #1 Wednesday, April 14, 2010 @ 6:30pm – St. Elizabeth’s Medical Center, 736 Cambridge Street, Brighton, 4th floor of the Seton

Pavilion, Seton Auditorium.

Community Meeting #2 Monday, April 26, 2010 @ 6:30pm – Jackson Mann Community Center Auditorium, 500 Cambridge Street, Allston

BRA schedules Lowe’s meetings

And the process moves on.  I’m going to need to see a very good traffic mitigation plan to support Lowe’s at the location off Market St next to Stop and Shop.

What if they put their store at 176 Lincoln St?  This would require some traffic mitigation as well, but if a new Mass Pike exit dropped in on the Birmingham Pkwy that would take pressure off the Cambridge St exit.  This location would save Market St from gridlock.  The trick would be keeping people off Franklin and Everett St.

Please see the attached notice.   On Monday, April 5^th and 26^th, 2010, at 6:30pm the Boston Redevelopment Authority will conduct community meetings, at Jackson Mann Community Center Auditorium, 500 Cambridge Street, Allston, to discuss the LOWE’S Allston/Brighton proposal.  On June 6, 2007 Lowe’s Home Centers, Inc., submitted a Project Notification Form for an approximately 180,000sf retail store with four hundred and three (403) parking spaces on two (2) levels of parking.    The BRA issued a Scoping Determination on September 7, 2007 requesting further study of impacts associated with the proposed development.    On March 10, 2010 Lowe’s Home Centers, Inc., submitted a Draft Project Impact Report (that is available on the BRA’s website) for a proposed retail store and garden center containing approximately 144,600sf on 6.9 acres of land.  Lowe’s will be responsible for demolition of the existing buildings and construction of the new facility.   The proposed project will consist of approximately 101,600sf of retail, 22,500sf of garden center, 12,500sf of storage and 8,000sf of office and accessory uses.   A portion of the garden center will be “open air” and while other areas will be covered.   Parking will be supported on two (2) levels and have a total of three hundred and eighty-seven (387) spaces, two hundred and two (202) at grade and one hundred and eighty-five (185) on level two.   The store’s loading will be isolated to the western portion of the site and garden center loading on the easternmost portion of the site.

I hope you can attend,

Regards,

Jay

<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>

Jay Rourke

Senior Project Manager

Boston Redevelopment Authority

One City Hall Plaza

Boston Massachusetts 02201

617.918.4317 - w

617.742.7783 - f

jay.rourke.bra@cityofboston.gov

Lowe’s meeting tomorrow

From AllstonBrighton2006:

Lowe’s will be presenting their proposed Guest Street project before
the BAIA this Thursday night (March 4th) at the Elks Lodge # 2199, 326
Washington St., Brighton at 7 p.m

I’m already double booked for the night, so give’m hell.  Although I’m usually pro-empty-building-development I think Lowe’s is a poor choice for that location.  That area of Market St is almost impassable on Saturday or Sunday via motor vehicle.  A trip to Brighton Center from North Allston would require a helicopter if this gets approved.

The New Balance plan sounds much better if they can get buy in from the owners of the land.  A collaspe of the Lowe’s deal - again - should hopefully speed up counter offers.

A local Lowe’s would be nice though.  It just needs to be in a lot already served by a 4 lane road…

repost: New Balance presentation delayed due to weather

“Due to today’s storm the New Balance “vision” presentation for this evening is being rescheduled to February 24, 2010 @ 6:30pm. The meeting will be held on the 2nd floor @ Brighton Landing, 20 Guest Street, Brighton, MA. Parking will be free in the garage across the street.

Ty Hanlan
Director, NB Guest Street Associates, LLC
20 Guest St. Suite 100
Brighton MA, 02135
Tel: 617-987-2521
ty.hanlan@nbguest.com
www.nbguest.com”

The Death and Life of Great American Cities redux

This article in The New Republic was written about a book about a book about New York, but it speaks to grassroots efforts v. the powers to be in most large American cities.  I know “Wrestling with Moses: How Jane Jacobs Took on New York’s Master Builder and Transformed the American City” and/or “The Death and Life of Great American Cities” will be on my reading list.

Charlesview approved

Although it isn’t all we wanted I’m somewhat glad its done.  Let’s demolish some empty buildings!  And actually replace them with new buildings!

Charlesview apartments approved

Boston Business Journal - by Mary Moore

The Boston Zoning Commission on Thursday approved a mixed-income development proposed by nonprofit builder The Community Builders and Charlesview Inc., the governing board of the Charlesview Apartments.

The new Charlesview Residences in Allston will includee 240 rental units and 100 owned units.

full story

Also mild kudos to Harvard for coming up with creatives uses for an empty VW dealership… time to go to Play It Again sports for some cheap skates since its BYO-skates.

Also also don’t forget to vote Tuesday.

Remember to vote on the 19th!

You can pick:
Coakley, who can’t spell Massachusetts
Brown, who is mean to rape victims
Kennedy, keep the name(sake) with the seat

Interesting debate:

http://www.yelp.com/topic/allston-brown-v-coakley

You’re only paranoid if they’re not out to get you…

Harvard’s recent actions involving buying buildings, emptying out paying tenants, then leaving them empty seems illogical when viewed in the short term, but long term what does it seem like? In 50 years allegedly North Allston will be an urban utopia. This seems like a South Park (1) inspired plan -

Phase 1. Buy and empty buildings

Phase 2. [Silence]

Phase 3. Urban utopia

One scary long term option whether intentional or unintentional is that Lower Allston and Brighton are being prepped for West End style urban renewal. After many years of fighting and trying to better their neighborhood will some number of residents “vote with their feet” on Harvard’s work in Allston and move to more rat free homes in the surrounding area - Oak Square, Watertown Square/Arsenal, Waltham’s Moody St?  With the community shattered and “blighted” who would stop or object to eminent domain land grabs to enlarge Harvard’s treks of land?

Brief history of the West End snipped from Wikipedia(2):

“By the 1950s, Boston’s West End had turned into a working-poor residential area with scattered businesses with small meandering roads much like the North End. According to most residents, the West End was a good place to live at this time.[3] The once overcrowded neighborhood was in the process of “deslumming”[6] and the population had dropped to around 7,500 residents.[7] By the end of the 1950s, over half of the neighborhood would be completely leveled to be replaced with residential high rises as part of a large scale urban renewal project.”

“[Mayor] Hynes wanted to return prosperity to Boston…As part of a plan to create a “New Boston”, the BRA redeveloped neighborhoods throughout the 1950s…Scollay Square was leveled to create…Government Center…The motivation behind these projects was to replace neighborhoods that had been classified as slums…”

“The plan involved completely leveling a 46-acre (190,000 m2) portion of the West End, displacing 2,700 families to make way for 5 residential high rise complexes that would contain only 477 apartments.[4] The new development was aimed towards upper middle class residents: most of those displaced would not be able to afford to return.”

Scary stuff.  Now don’t get me wrong I like the sound of Phase 3. urban utopia.  Who doesn’t want North Allston to be the “next Harvard Square” with thriving small businesses, good mass transit options and green spaces?  The problem is Phase 1 and Phase 2 shouldn’t completely destroy our neighborhood to get to Phase 3.

(1) “South Park’s” Investing Lesson http://www.fool.com/news/foth/2001/foth011108.htm

(2) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_End,_Boston