No end is sight
To the Editor,
It seems that too often, The East Boston Times page 1 is full of news of yet another large residential project being okayed by the Boston Planning and Development Agency. All over East Boston will see more and more housing starts plopping down. If there’s a piece of vacant land, it doesn’t stay empty for long.
Look all over the neighborhood, thanks to the large scale development of the East Boston waterfront and Jeffries Point, you see homes being scooped up and turned into high-end housing. There seems no end in sight. The largest development idea is a 165 unit development on Bremen Street not far from the MBTA Airport station on the Blue Line.
Over the past couple of years, Bremen Street looks like ground zero for aggressive housing proposals. I wonder what affect this all will have on nearby residents. Three families turning into multi-family units. More cars, more congestion and high rents for new structures and higher rents for nearby folks.
How much more developed will Eastie become? Do we just keep endlessly increasing the neighborhood population. Also, one would think all these new housing should mean more revenue for the City of Boston and higher assessments for small property owners. The only winners in this story are developers and City Hall. Everyone else gets negatively impacted.
Officials from City Hall always talks about plans, proposals to increase affordable housing. City Hall talks about things like the 2030 plan. I am worried about East Boston in 2030 but I am more concerned about East Boston Today, Tomorrow, next year. What happens when folks get displaced here because of this ongoing overdevelopment of many Boston neighborhoods. Where do folks priced out go? Chelsea is doing the same thing as East Boston. Where can you go to hide from highend overdevelopment? Anywhere?
Boston City Hall needs to take a closer look across the whole city and tame development before we become a city of only the very rich or very poor. You know what you call this place, NOT A CITY.
Sal Giarratani
East Boston