Old Colony

Old Colony to become All New Colony

The BRA yesterday approved a $56.8-million redo of the the Old Colony housing project that will replace the current post-war project with a new six-story building and a series of townhouses.

People interested in what this could look like should take a ride out to Washington and Beech streets in Roslindale, where the city is in the middle of doing the same thing to the Washington-Beech project - for which the BRA also approved the second phase of construction - replacing the remaining old brick buildings with $50 million worth of townhouses and a park.

Court rules public-housing tenants have the same right as everybody else to invite guests in

The Massachusetts Court of Appeals today threw out the criminal-trespassing conviction of a man who'd invited into a Boston Housing Authority building by a tenant.

Gregory Nelson, who'd been barred from the Old Colony project in South Boston following an arrest for possession of a dangerous weapon, was arrested again on April 25, 2007, when two housing cops spotted him in a hallway - right next to a large "No Trespassing" sign.

Testimony showed he was there at the invitation of a friend who lived in the building after a night out. And the court noted that the BHA's own leases and police rules state that while a barred person cannot just enter a BHA building and wander around, "a resident does have the right to invite any individual not barred by a restraining order as a guest."

Complete ruling: