If everyone can take a step back from Austin Street, I think it’s worth noting that Austin Street is only a precursor to what the administration hopes to do in (for? to?) every village center or area accessible to public transit.
The Housing Strategy session the Sunday before Thanksgiving, attended by about 100 people I believe (going by an estimate in the Tab), was an attempt to get residents to tell the city what the city has been telling us, that we need high density around village centers. I’m not sure how representative 100 people can be, although based on the group summaries at the end, most tables seemed to have a mix of pro-, no, and in-between development preferences. But I think more people need to know what happens at events like this, than just the people who attend, so I videoed as much as possible. Although with 10 breakout tables, I couldn’t be everywhere, but it’s a sampler. Thanks to Chris Pitts for processing and uploading the video.
You can read my more extensive comments on my juliamalakie.org blog post, but here’s an excerpt:
But the rules of the “game” seemed designed to achieve a particular outcome. I was especially disturbed by how the consultant invited participants to convert commercial and industrial property to residential — calling that an “opportunity” — when our percentage of commercial property is already low, and we need to preserve and expand our commercial tax base to have any hope of paying for $1 billion of unfunded pension and OPEB liabilities.
So I hope people will take the time to watch. (Sorry I didn’t post this yesterday to give people an alternative to the Pats.) I think one thing to learn from this, is that Austin Street isn’t just about Newtonville, and if you’re not worried about Austin Street because you don’t live in or frequent Newtonville, think again.
Julia’s right in that the exercise seemed geared to turning commercial land into new residential property rather than creating a level playing field at the start. I was also a bit taken aback that the consultants were unaware that there are several defined areas in Newton where plunking down new houses is problematic to say the least. I saw some folks happily dropping legos onto the Sudbury and Cochituate aqueducts or the 4 local historic districts. I’m not the brightest bulb in the factory, but I know I wouldn’t have put the maps for this kind of a program together for any municipality without thoroughly knowing the lay of the land. I had another engagement before the end of the exercise, so maybe all of this came out i the wash. But I wouldn’t bet on it.
That wasn’t what I took away from the session. It was an interesting exercise and no one was saying that anything was going to “happen” as a result of us placing legos on a map.
Not one person in my group thought the assignment was anything other than an exercise to broaden our thinking about housing possibilities. We began by looking at the areas we knew best – our own neighborhoods – and looked for possibilities. We had 2 Waban residents in the group so we began there, with a discussion of SPN and a possible development in the village center. Another member of the group pointed out a possibility for developing housing near the Waltham line along the Charles River near where she lived. A third person from Upper Falls pointed out the possibility in an area I still can’t envision near Marshall’s on Needham St. At this point, an elected official came to our table and told us we were supposed to be tearing down commercial property and putting up housing, but not one person in my group had taken that message from the presentation.
The best part about the exercise was that we were able to discuss and express the full range of opinions without the interference of people with a fixed mindset (as they say in the NPS). The two Waban residents had some disagreements about how much/how high/where/etc. but it was a very respectful, informative discussion.
@Jane. You make a valid point about focusing on the villages or areas we know best. We didn’t do it. Maybe we should have. I don’t think anyone thought we were etching anything in stone, but it would have been more productive if the people putting it on had modified the maps with real world conditions in Newton. A military force will experience unforeseen setbacks if it does not have adequate and accurate intelligence on a full range of obstacles it is likely to face and where those obstacles are. The stakes aren’t nearly as high in a truncated game of legos, but the need for accurate information certainly is just as important for good results.
It is interesting that the map has a notation “needs grocery store X” where the Super Stop & Shop could be today if the BOA had not voted against a special permit. Interestingly, some of the same folks who are part of the NVA now were part of CORD then, and were opposed to the project. So, instead, Newton got a 300 unit 40B from Avalon Bay on Needham Street.
@Ted. I was for Super Stop and Shop. We still need something in this part of Newton.
That table was writing in grocery stores everywhere. Including, as I recall, West Newton. I wanted to tell them about how I can get everything I need and most of what I want at Trader Joe’s, but that was an early table I stopped at, while I was still restraining myself from joining the conversations. 😉
Bob, I am all about affordable housing, but I was for Super Stop & Shop, too, although I was not on the Board at the time.