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Dear Mr. Autler,As a resident of North Allston, I was disturbed to hear of plans to build a 60 foot tall building rightin my neighborhood. Due to the shadow this would cause over our street and the lights that maybe kept on all night, to name a few issues, I feel this plan is a mistake. Therefore, the BRAshould not approve a Harvard Institutional Master Plan Amendment to create the large artbuilding for 224 Western Ave. That is the wrong location for a 60 foot tall, 130,000 square footbuilding. Harvard owns a lot of other land in Allston where it could build a wonderful big museum.The community will be happy to work with Harvard and the City to find the right location anddesign the right building. But 224 Western Ave is not the right location and Harvard'sdevelopment in Allston is too important to allow such an obvious mistake to be made.Thank you very much for your time and, hopefully, your objective analysis.Christine Giraud131 Franklin St.Allston, MA 02134
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Dear Mr. Autler:I am writing for myself and my mother, both residents of North Brighton, to register our oppositionto the plans that Harvard University has for our neighborhood. We do not feel that Harvard isdealing with our community in an honest manner. We also feel that Harvard's plans will notbenefit those us who live in the area any where near as much as they claim it will. In fact we bothfeel that the Boston residents of North Allston and Brighton neighborhoods will suffer negativeeffects from the Harvard expansion into our community.Sincerely yours,Miss Sheryl Fitzpatrick and Mrs. Corrine Fitzpatrick
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Mr. AutlerAs an Allston/Brighton resident and homeowner, I’m delighted so many of my neighbors havebeen commenting on the Harvard Institutional Master Plan Amendment to create the proposed artbuilding at 224 Western Avenue, Allston.Unfortunately for us all, this plan has proven an inauspicious start to the development of “Barry’sCorner” as the gateway to Harvard’s North Allston campus. Simply put, this is the wrong buildingin the wrong location at the wrong time.The IMPA neither conforms to the North Allston Neighborhood Strategic Plan nor to my individualsense of what proper development in our neighborhood should be. Thanks to years of propertyacquisitions, Harvard owns many other parcels in Allston which would prove more appropriate fora delightful art museum celebrating the collaboration of the university and the community.But instead, the BRA seems poised to approve a 60-foot tall, 130,000 square foot art buildingwhich will have a negative impact on direct abutters, residents of adjacent neighborhoods and thelarger Allston/Brighton community. I shudder to think of such a major decision as fait accompli.My sincere hope is that the BRA, city officials, Harvard planners and neighborhood groups canreturn to the drawing board to develop an art facility that will benefit us all as we move togetherinto the future.Thank you for your consideration.
 
Ed Perlmutter65 Montcalm AvenueBrighton MA 02135
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Dear Mr. Autler,I am writing to express my belief that the BRA should NOT approve a Harvard Institutional MasterPlan Amendment to create an art building at 224 Western Ave. This is not the appropriatelocation for a building of this magnitude.Thank you,Diane
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Dear Gerald:I am writing as resident of North Allston to comment on the Harvard University Master Plan.Harvard has stated that they want to build structures that are 125 feet and 110 feet high as partof the Science Center. These are far outside the limits agreed upon by Harvard, the community,and the City of Boston in the North Allston Strategic Plan, a collaborative effort of many years inwhich Harvard actively participated. That plan called for the preservation of the residentialcharacter of the area.In addition, the North Allston Strategic Plan called for public access and benefits to theneighborhood in a working private-public relationship, and increased access to green space andto the Charles River for the neighborhood. However, the Master Plan calls for a "semi-private"courtyard in the Science Center ringed by Harvard buildings and fronted by the Charles River withSoldiers Field Road sunken underground. Not only does this plan exclude the public from thegreen space of the Science Center, they have usurped the River as part of their campus betweenthe Science Center in Allston, and Memorial Drive and Harvard's Cambridge buildings. Far fromgiving the neighborhood more access to green space and the river, they seem intent uponclaiming the river as part of their campus.My husband and I own a home on Hopedale Street, part of quiet, diverse, attractive, safeneighborhood consisting of Hopedale, Windom, Seattle, Amboy and Rena Streets. Harvard hasproposed building "one of the larger and busier streets" in Allston in my neighborhood, with theconstruction of Stadium Way, just 50 yards from homes on Windom Street. In addition they haveproposed extending Rena Street, now a dead-end street, to Stadium Way. They propose two newresidential buildings on the west side of Stadium Way, six new academic buildings on the eastside of Stadium Way, and an underground garage with 1,970 parking spaces east of StadiumWay. These projects will create noise, air, and visual pollution during construction, and as well asafter from additional traffic. This will directly impact my property, which is my biggest investment,as well as my home. In addition, Hopedale Street is a one-way street. We currently have egressto both Cambridge Street as well as toWestern Avenue. It is my understanding from the Harvard Master Plan that we will no longerhave egress to Western Avenue which is a transportation issue for all the families who live in myneighborhood, as well as a safety issue for fire trucks, ambulances, and police vehicles. Harvardhas yet to explain the traffic plan for these proposed streets -- at every meeting I attend Harvardstates that they are in the process of planning the traffic routes and will get back to us. When? Atwhat point will we get answers to these important questions?The Harvard Master plan also calls for an Art Building at the intersection of North Harvard andWestern Ave., known as Barry’s Corner. The North Allston Strategic Plan called for this area tobecome a vibrant public space with significant amounts neighborhood-focused retail and
 
community housing. Harvard’s proposed building is mostly private office and curatorial space.Less than 10% of the building is public gallery space, and one of the gallery areas is slated for theroof, overlooking the yards of private homeowners. The public education space in the buildingseems quite small for its described uses. The "retail" space is a very small café (20 by 30 feet)and gift shop (25 by 20 feet), far less than the needed retail space for this key location. Why hasHarvard chosen this area for the Art Building? It seems that there are other locations far bettersuited, where there could be more gallery space, and more public education space, such ascloser to the river on WesternAvenue (in the area of the current VW dealership), or next to Harvard Stadium on either theSoldiers Field Road end or the Western Avenue end. This would reserve Barry’s Corner forbuildings that maximize its potential and meet neighborhood needs. A “real” museum would begreat to have in Allston, but this proposed Art Building does not fit the bill.I am also concerned about the parking situation, and the manner in which Harvard dismissesthese concerns by stating they will have a parking garage and that students don't have cars andwill use the shuttles and employees will be assigned to remote parking lots and shuttled to the ArtBuilding and the Science Center. I lived in Cambridge for many years between Harvard Squareand Porter Square before moving to Allston and saw how Harvard cars and traffic impacted thesurrounding neighborhoods. I am currently a Harvard affiliate teaching at the Cambridge HealthAlliance. Employees of Cambridge Health Alliance are supposed to use shuttles from remoteparking areas; however, the cars of Harvard-affiliated employees are parked throughout theneighborhoods.Finally, Harvard seems to be optioning and acquiring more property in Allston which they let govacant. This destroys the safety, vibrancy, and economic base of our neighborhood. If Harvard istruly acting in an honest and "good neighbor" manner, they should be transparent about theirproperty options and acquisitions so the City and the neighborhood has the opportunity to makeinformed decisions about future planning for North Allston and North Brighton based on theinterests of the City and the residents of the City, rather than the interests of Harvard.I am truly puzzled at how Harvard can disregard a planning framework in which they activelyparticipated and which generated positive relations between Harvard and the neighborhood. I canonly conclude that the many years of meetings, some of which I participated in, were a sham tolull the neighborhood into believing that Harvard cared about preserving the character of ourneighborhood and would be good neighbors.If Harvard really wants to be a good neighbor, they can do much better. It is my hope that theCity of Boston holds them to this commitment.Thank you for the opportunity to comment on the Harvard Master Plan.Respectfully Yours,C. Girvani Leerer, Ph.D.Hopedale StreetAllston
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Mr. Autler,As a longtime resident of Allston, I am very concerned that the BRA is not considering therequirements of our neighborhood regarding the Harvard Institutional Plan Amendment on manylevels. The most immediate concern is the planned Art Museum at Barry's Corner. HarryMattison and the others on the Task force cogently proved Mon. night at St. Anthony'sthat there must be a more propitious location for the 130,000 sq ft. building. I fear that theplanned location will create more problems than it will solve in integrating this phase of the
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