What a great day it was last week when Massport stepped up to fund the long- awaited Piers Park Phase II, and the operational funding for a new East Boston senior center and an extended financial commitment to the East Boston Foundation of $500,000 per year for the next 10 years.
All of these projects will go to make life better for all East Boston residents and all of our elected officials agree that these commitments will present exciting opportunities for East Boston.
In the last two generations, or since Dave Davis took over the helm at Massport in the 1980s, the direction of Massport has changed to a more community-focused board. Gone are the days when Ed King, as head of the agency just had trucks rumble through our streets to build the airport despite residents’ concerns.
The Massport Board has recognized that it needs to compensate the East Boston community and be a good neighbor. They have done this for almost 40 years.
The joint funding to help study and mitigate congestion on Neptune Road as part of the review process of both the Terminal E modernization and the addition of 5,000 new parking spaces shows how much has changed in the last 50 years.
As longtime community activist Mary Ellen Welch said at the ceremony last week, “The mitigation will provide an opportunity for the Port Authority and the city to work in partnership with community residents to develop an environmental impact mitigation plan to address the harmful impacts of noise, air, and traffic on the surrounding neighborhoods.”
Under the leadership of Massport CEO Thomas Glynn and the Massport Board, comprised of residents such as John Nucci, Massport is truly being a good neighbor. We know that there will be issues in the future that will come up, but Massport has shown that it is willing to be more than fair in taking ownership of these issues and to seek a solution that will benefit all of East Boston.