By Michael Coughlin Jr.
In the fight to put a stop to the construction of an Eversource electric substation on Condor Street, activists organized another protest, this time with a picnic — inside the project’s construction site.
Just before 9 a.m. on Tuesday, June 27, four activists set up a ladder and hopped the fence of the construction site for Eversource’s electric substation, and sat down on a blanket with a picnic basket in protest.
After sitting in the site for a few minutes and shouting out chants such as “No Eastie Substation,” the activists were subsequently arrested by Boston Police. Per a police report obtained from the Boston Police Department (BPD), all four of the protestors were charged with one count of trespassing.
There has been an ongoing fight to move this substation out of the area for at least nine years, mainly due to safety.
“They’re [Eversource] putting it into a flood plain area, and when substations are put into areas where they can flood, they have a tendency to explode, and this is already in a community that’s already overburdened with a lot of infrastructure,” said Alex Chambers, an Organizer, and Spokesperson for Extinction Rebellion Boston (XR).
Jule Manitz, an XR Activist, echoed Chambers’ sentiment calling the substation a “timebomb” and compared the placement of the substation to putting a toaster on a shelf above a bathtub.
Throughout this process, activists have been very outspoken in the fact that they are calling on Governor Maura Healey to step up and do something about the substation.
“We are really calling on the governor to come and talk to people in East Boston, come step foot in the neighborhood, and explain why this project that she has called an injustice in the past is being allowed to continue,” said Sara Arman, Director of Health Equity and Policy at GreenRoots an organization along with XR that has been at the forefront of opposing the substation.
As construction continues, the sense of urgency to move the substation is reaching a crescendo, but according to Chambers, there is still time for action.
“There’s an incredible amount of urgency on this because we’re six months into construction; it’s anticipated that this project will take two years to finish. There is time right now to turn it around,” said Chambers.
Since there is still time to fight back against the project, Chambers indicated that demonstrations like last week would continue. “We’re going to keep showing up until this project is canceled,” they said.
With all that said, Manitz called on residents to get involved and make their voices heard in the fight against the substation.
“I want each and everyone to come out, and obviously, I’m aware that a lot of people are fighting and struggling with life and don’t have the freedom all the time to come out, but we have people who are coming out all the time,” said Manitz.
“Do not only come out. Also, speak with your neighbors because there’s still people living like a block away from the construction site who don’t know what kind of timebomb they’re getting,” she added.
As this process rolls on, Arman indicated that, in the end, there is optimism for victory in what is an ongoing battle against the East Boston substation.
“I really believe that when we fight and we organize our community like the residents of East Boston have been doing for years, we will win. So I’m always feeling positive and optimistic that we will have a positive result as a result of community organizing,” said Arman.
To learn more about XR and GreenRoots and get involved, you can visit https://xrboston.org/ and http://www.greenrootschelsea.org/.