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'Active resistance' erupts against Harvard occupation of Allston
By adamg on Tue, 02/24/2009 - 7:42am
If Harvard isn't going to put up its new Allston buildings right away, it should lease out the old buildings rather than letting them sit vacant, according to the Allston/Brighton Neighborhood Assembly:
At 5:30pm, one hour prior to the Harvard-Allston Task Force meeting—where chief operating officer of the Allston Development Group, Christopher Gordon, and Harvard's other mouthpieces attempted to defend their claim of being broke to a roomful of irate and boisterous neighbors—members of ABNA hung three banners on three of Harvard’s many vacant properties along Western Ave. ABNA, like the rest of the neighborhood, believes that these structures can and should be leased or sold to businesses that are useful and beneficial to the community—immediately.
On the abandoned Charlesbank Cleaners, 269 Western Ave, folks hung a banner that read, (in English and Spanish) "Harvard occupied waste of space." Off of the old Citgo station at the corner of Western and North Harvard, a banner read, "Why am I Vacant? Ask Harvard: 617 469 6688," and off the gates of the Science Complex construction site itself, a banner read, "28.7 Billion is not broke. Finish what you started."
Unfortunately for the resistance fighters, the wind quickly took the signs down, but not before they got photos.
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Comments
Better to mitigate than to reverse
It's an interesting dilemma for Harvard. On the one hand, it's a terrible time to woo any sort of tenants right now - retail and light industrial spaces all over the area have high vacancy rates. Then, there's the added hurdle of convincing someone to move into a space and invest in it with full knowledge that just as soon as the economy recovers, Harvard will evict them. And, given the warmth with which previous closures have been greeted, Harvard would be virtually guaranteed another wave of community protests when any spaces it leases out get closed down again.
I happen to think these activists are barking up the wrong tree. It's not as if there's a long list of businesses waiting to move into these spaces. And Harvard, despite the size of its endowment, can't very well afford to forge ahead with an expansive building campaign just at the moment.
They'd be better off pushing for meaningful mitigation of the blight that Harvard has caused, given that it's going to be around for a while. Harvard should use the empty parking lots in the summer for community fairs or flea markets. It should increase the frequency of patrols by Harvard Police along Western Avenue, and improve the street lighting. It needs to do a better job picking up trash from the vacant areas, and as spring arrives, it needs to be aggressive about removing weeds. It should also use well-tended planters to inject a little greenery along the area. The seemingly endless wall of scaffolding lining the empty pit would be a perfect venue for a large-scale public art project. In fact, Harvard could invite a different artist to create an installation for each site.
These improvements would cost some money, but a pittance compared to finishing the planned construction. Harvard would reap substantial goodwill, but more importantly, get a jump on transforming "Barry's Corner" (honestly, did anyone know it had a name?) into a vibrant and vital area - something it's never been in the past. The walk down Western has always been grim and soulless - let's not idealize a strip of auto dealers, freight yards, gas stations, and big-box retail. Harvard wants to make it better. So why doesn't it start right now?
lowering its rents on these
lowering its rents on these property's would help, but you're right; Harvard will evict them as soon as the economy recovers. I think Harvard needs to rethink its plan down there because its facing a pretty big loss over the next few years. Of course, i'd rather have empty lots then hundreds of layoffs (which ARE coming)
Rock Meeting Hard Place
It's hard not to have some sympathy for the folks in the neighborhood; there's really not a lot going on around there. However, they've got to be more realistic. On one hand, Harvard's in a highering freeze and is offering early retirement, and on the other hand, the likely hood of a business being able to afford relocation or expansion is slim to nil.
"Highering?" "Likely hood?"
"Highering?" "Likely hood?"
A Harvard grad, no doubt.
Sorry for the spelling...
and thank you for adding to the conversation.
Likely Hood
That's the working title of the latest Boston gangster picture I'm pitching. Theater near you, this summer.
Oh boo hoo we ran out of
Oh boo hoo we ran out of money, you guys will just have to deal with it until we feel like coming back to town.
I agree with cynic, they really need to rachet up the small things if they want to keep the unrest from boiling over. Its a funny thing about movements, when they reach a certain critical mass and find the right target politicians have a way of getting into the room as well. With these bad economic times Harvard needs to be careful not to become the scapegoat for Boston politicians in that area, otherwise they may find when they come back after times get better there will be no support left.
Politicians going up against Harvard?
When half of them probably came from the JFK school and the other half know how many contribution dollars come from Harvard alumni, I don't think anyone's going to be going up against the big bad University any time soon no matter how much a few dozen people whine.
I also think this is a cause that is giving these people some focus, but it makes little sense. That area has *always* had empty storefronts and problems keeping itself up. It's a dead zone where services like auto repair can survive as destination commerce, but otherwise all sorts of things have died in there without Harvard's hand in any of it.
Harvard's role in Allston
But didn't Harvard empty out all the non-supermarket tenants of the Brighton Mills strip mall, such as Kmart and Office Max? These stores weren't failing -- they were pushed out.
Now that it's sitting empty, Harvard should make some attempt to incubate new (and preferably local) businesses there. Surely this could be a worthy class project for students in the adjoining Business School or the Graduate School of Design?
Brighton Mills
Didn't Harvard want to tear that down so it could build a replacement for the Charlesview apartments that it wanted to tear down so it could build the next Harvard Square?
An idea for Brighton Mills
Why not create the region's largest farmer's market here, until the new building at Haymarket is ready for occupancy?
Assuming they could move the
Assuming they could move the whole operation over, with assurances to the Haymarket people that it will be back, I think something like that could work and would be a good use of the land.
Public access
In order to have a good public market, you need to have good public access. Moving Haymarket to Brighton Mills in Allston would be its death knoll. There are 2 bus routes directly servicing there (70/70A, 86; the 66 goes nearby down North Harvard St) and all three already have enough problems already before you add dozens of market goers and personal shopping carts.
The closest T stop is either Harvard Square on the Red Line or Harvard Ave on the Green B Line...but neither are what I'd call "close" by any stretch of the imagination.
I didn't say "move Haymarket"
I said "create a farmer's market here until the building at Haymarket is ready to accommodate it".
Not quite
Harvard wants to flip a combination of the space where K-mart and OfficeMax were, as well as the lot behind that building, and some space on the opposite side of Western Ave for the Charlesview Apartment land on Harvard Ave. Charlesview will be responsible for the new apartments/development on the side of the Brighton Mills space and Harvard will then own the current Charlesview space instead.
The Shaws, Bruegger's, McDonalds, Petco, and BoA ATM (recently moved to a separate vestibule over by Petco) will all remain in place.