Harvard Science Complex DPIR Comments

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----- Original Message -----From: Joyce RadnorTo: Autler, GeraldSent: Monday, September 10, 2007 5:05 PMSubject: input on Harvard's DPIRHi Gerald,I have been feeding my neighbors' cats this week while they travel overseas. That may not seem important to the City ofBoston, but it is to them (the cats particularly!) and it is to me. We're neighbors and I take that covenant very seriously.With that as backdrop, I will thank you for an opportunity to offer my thoughts one last time as we near the end of theArticle 80 process reviewing Harvard's Science Complex here in Allston. I have provided my input to you, to the AllstonTask Force and to Harvard over the past 18 months. You've already heard most everything I have had to say or ask...adnauseam, I'm sure. (For that, I apologize, and thank you for your indulgence.)In any event, here's one more stab at it....just for old time's sake. Harvard's DPIR seems like a nonsensical document tome. Perhaps I misunderstood, but I was under the impression the DPIR would address all the issues the ScienceComplex will lay at our community's feet. In addition, I was under the impression that the DPIR would address all theissues you raised in your Scoping Determination on the PNF and the IMPA. This DPIR, no matter how impressive inweight and word count, does not adequately address either of those requirements. Therefore, I would encourage you andthe BRA Board to send this back to Harvard for a "do-over" -- no fouls, no penalties. I think the City, if it truly cares aboutthis neighborhood and getting this first phase of a 20+-year plan right, should follow its own rules and ask for a re-submission. Further, I would encourage you and the Mayor to take a much closer look at how this process has evolvedand how future projects can be dealt with in a more friendly and efficient way.As you know, my concerns run very deeply and broadly -- from green space to traffic; from parking to housing; fromconstruction hazards to security. I've made all these concerns clear in the past -- always respectfully, I hope -- and I willspare us both the repetition. I will leave community benefits' discussions to people more qualified than I. The educatorsand parents have thoughts on educational benefits. The health care specialists have thoughts on community health care.The environmentalists have thoughts on green space and river access. I defer to their combined knowledge and insightson these issues. I will say, however, that the neighborhood should be better after this project is completed than it wasbefore. (When I say "before," I don't mean "now." I mean before Harvard purchased the land, shuttered vital businesses,and allowed weeds to grow, fences to rust, windows to break. That's the "before" I'm referring to.) I think a communityfund should be established by Harvard to allow this neighborhood to seek its own destiny, but since you and others havesuggested the Mayor will not allow that, I think simple quality-of-life improvements should be required by the City.Underground utilities throughout the neighborhood. Attractive gas-lamp-ish light fixtures. Improved sidewalks. Moretrees. In addition, I think Harvard should establish and fund a community center(s) to be used for a variety ofneighborhood needs.With all that said, I'd like to share some quick thoughts on this journey, now that we have reached the end of the processfor this first Harvard project. I do so with a big, giant sigh that we're moving on. And a big, giant pit in my stomach thatthe community -- and most notably the neighborhood most directly affected -- has not achieved the cooperation from theCity, the Commonwealth or the developer that we had hoped.Make no mistake. As I've said many, many times before, I want this Science Complex built. I feel strongly about the workthat will be done by the Harvard scientists, and I'll be proud to have been in the sphere of that work. My wide-eyedenthusiasm and optimism left me somewhere in early summer....when you were still a bachelor and I was still absolutelyconvinced that together this community could be a change-agent for institutional expansion in Boston, and morespecifically in Allston. I really believed and echoed throughout my neighborhood that this Articles 80 process was here toprotect us, and that Harvard, North Allston and the City would be better for the cooperation and our collective wisdom.Color me silly. The issues of community inclusion and institutional transparency remain as elusive as they were on a coldApril evening in 2006 when I began attending Task Force meetings. This disappoints me, exhausts me, and saddens me.This is my neighborhood and I care about what happens here....not really for myself, but for the new families who havemoved here wanting the good life that I've led in this neighborhood for 15 years. It seems unfair that our biggest"neighbor" is the least caring among us. It seems equally unfair that the City will not, or feels it cannot or should not,protect our quality of life from a 20+-year development.

It has become abundantly clear over the past several Task Force meetings that this project will be approved by you, bythe BRA Board and, ultimately, by the Mayor...who has yet to address/engage the community on this development. So,with not-so-benign resignation, I will say "Uncle."It is clear to me now that to make a difference does not include attending Task Force meetings, or asking questions thatseemingly have no answers, or writing letters that just become "public record." It's the sad, but hard, truth. As anantidote, I will continue to feed my neighbors' cats, watch out for their children, water their lawns while they're away, checkin on them when they're sick. The difference I can make is to simply be a good neighbor.With best regards,JoyceJoyce RadnorSpice Communications617-787-5192

September 10, 2007Mr. Gerald Autler, Senior Project Manager/PlannerBoston Redevelopment AuthorityOne City Hall SquareBoston, MA 02201Re: Community benefits proposal r

elated to Harvard University’s Allston

science complex and otherNorth Allston Brighton development plansDear Mr. Autler:The Allston Brighton Partnership for Community Health (ABPCH) was formed in early 2007 by a group of Allston Brighton agencies, schools, hospitals and residents concerned to maintain the strongpartnerships and collaborations that existed in the now-defunct Allston Brighton Healthy BostonCoalition. The Allston Brighton Partnership for Community Health fosters community health throughcommunication and collaboration, outreach and education. Its mission is to empower the diversecommunity in Allston Brighton by providing networking for information and referral, opportunity forservices, access to services, and resource sharing.Our members represent the breadth and depth of resources, residents, and issues in Allston Brighton --from education, to healthcare, to housing, to libraries, to seniors, families and youth

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all under thebroad rubric of community health. Together, we share a great deal of knowledge and experience aboutcommunity needs. As such, we feel strongly positioned to comment on the impact of institutionaldevelopment on the Allston Brighton community and today we offer our comments on the community

benefits associated with Harvard University’s proposed science center.

1.

Community-Wide, Independent Neighborhood Needs Assessment

As ABPCH defined itself and contemplated its first steps, we recognized that an essential first step is toassess community needs so that we can seek to meet them. We have thus concluded by consensus thatour first priority as a group is to implement a neighborhood-wide community needs assessment. TheAllston Brighton community has not had a comprehensive assessment since one was conducted by theAllston Brighton Healthy Boston Coalition in 2002. Allston Brighton has continued to evolve and changesince that time. Moreover, in order for

any

entity

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residential or institutional -- to know what benefitsbefit us, it must first fully understand what benefits are needed. For this reason, we hold that theimmediate implementation of a comprehensive needs assessment is an astute first step in this firstcommunity benefits process. We thus recommend that Harvard University make the funding of anindependent neighborhood needs assessment a priority community benefit in association with theproposed science center.

The Allston Brighton neighborhood is facing on-going large-scale development at an unprecedented

level from Packard’s Corner to Oak Square

, from Charles River at Western Ave to Charles River at MarketSt. and from Cleveland Circle to the Charles River. The impacts of institutional growth reverberate at alllevels of the community today, and will continue to do so in perpetuity. As a single community, we hold

that our neighborhood’s needs should thus be assessed

comprehensively, both in terms of geographyand in terms of issues,

not

limited to North Allston Brighton or to education, as Harvard has proposed.

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