First Annual AHMA-WUR Meetup – 28 March 2024 – 6 pm at the Substation

Abundant Housing Massachusetts (AHMA) and WalkUP Roslindale (WUR) are officially inviting their members and supporters to meet up at the Substation (Upstairs) (corner of Cummins and Washington in the Square) on the evening of Thursday, 28 March 2024, at 6 pm. Come on down and get to know your fellow pro-housing, pro-walk, -bike, and -transit advocates!

Sign up link is HERE.

Empty Bowls (Anti-Hunger Fundraising Event) This Sunday, March 24, 3pm-7pm at the Substation

We’d like to take this opportunity to promote the annual “Empty Bowls” event, this Sunday, March 24, from 3pm-7pm at the Roslindale Substation. All proceeds go to local food banks. Come for live music, friends, delicious soup, and take home a handmade bowl. You can also purchase a craft beer from 67 Degrees Brewing.  The Boston Latin School  Jazz Combo will begin at 3 pm, Bookmatch Ramblers starting at 4pm, and a classical music jam session hosted by Boston Public Quartet starting at 5 pm. Advance tickets and more details are available at this event page. Please spread the word!
Empty Bowls Flyer

UPDATE: Partial Orange Line Shutdown Incoming – Monday through Thursday – 18 to 21 March 2024 PLUS BostonBikes Convoy

Image courtesy Streetsblog MASS and MBTA.

In contrast to the full shutdown back in 2022 that, in hindsight, was sadly much less than met the eye, the MBTA are doing a partial shutdown of the line from Jackson Square to North Station for the next four days – Monday through Thursday, the 18th through the 21st of March 2024. Our friends over at Streetsblog MASS have the details, emphasizing that this is part of the ongoing, largely successful thus far, year-long effort to eliminate all slow zones on the core rail transit system. The major highlights are as follows:

  • There will be free shuttle bus service that will make stops at all of the stations between Jackson Square and Back Bay, so that riders can take the Commuter Rail toward South Station.
  • Shuttles will also stop at Copley station so that riders can take the Green Line toward North Station.
  • The fare gates will be open at both Jackson Square and Back Bay stations, signifying free fare. There will also be free fares at Copley station heading inbound/eastbound.
  • The Commuter Rail will be free between Forest Hills, Ruggles, Back Bay, and South Station.
  • Plan extra time in commutes to anticipate longer than normal wait times for trains.

We’ve bolded the free Commuter Rail option because Ruggles is ideally situated right in the middle of the shuttle portion of the closure and it’ll be a free ride from Forest Hills all the way into South Station for the period of the shutdown. That really looks like the best overall alternative transit-based travel option. We also want to note that Boston Bikes have been leading bike commuting convoys on the Mondays of this month, starting at 8:00 am at Adams Park in Roslindale Square with stops at Green Street (8:20 am) and Jackson Square (8:30 am) before ending at City Hall Plaza. The return trip in the afternoon starts at 5:15 pm from City Hall Plaza and retraces the morning’s inbound route in reverse. So, see you all there at 8:00 am tomorrow at Adams Park and we’ll see if we can get Boston Bikes to sponsor convoys for the following 3 days of the shutdown. Stay tuned! UPDATE: Boston Bikes have agreed to lead the convoy again tomorrow, Tuesday the 19th, but that will be it for this week.

 

 

Bussey Street Renaming Initiative – Community Input Solicited

Along with a group of neighborhood residents and stakeholders, WalkUP Roslindale Board member Steve Gag has been involved over the last several months in a meaningful initiative to change the name of Bussey Street, the street that bisects the Arnold Arboretum, to honor an individual worthy of recognition in accord with the present-day values of the Jamaica Plain and Roslindale communities. That group is now seeking broader community input on potential new names for the street that will provide valuable information and advice to the two street abutters – the Arboretum/Harvard and the Parks Department/City of Boston – who are empowered to make the formal request for the name change.

We hope that folks will read this document from the initiative that provides more background on what this is all about, along with biographies of the five potential new names for the street, and will submit input by rating each of the candidates. In the document is a link to the form to fill out and submit a rating. Respondents have until April 27 to submit the form.

Finally, there will be a virtual community meeting on the evening of April 11 to learn more about the candidates and the renaming process.  The linked document includes a contact email address for those interested in attending the meeting.

Opening for Office of Neighborhood Services Roslindale Liaison

In the wake of Enrique Pepén moving from his position as Head of the Office of Neighborhood Services (ONS) to serve as our District 5 City Councilor, our Roslindale rep Dianna Bronchuk followed to serve as his Chief of Staff, leaving the ONS position vacant for now. We encourage anyone interested in neighborhood improvement to consider applying for the position:

The Neighborhood Liaison reports to a Deputy Director in the Office of Neighborhood Services and is the principal representative of the Mayor in their assigned neighborhood. The Neighborhood Liaison’s primary responsibilities are: (1) performing excellent constituent services, (2) building strong relationships with key neighborhood leaders, (3) detecting and elevating key areas of growing concerns in their assigned neighborhood, (4) conducting community engagement on key Mayoral initiatives, and (5) supporting constituents during periodic emergency responses (i.e. fires, water breaks, etc.).

Application and more details available at the Boston Career Center.

Squares + Streets Small Area Planning Process for Roslindale Square Starts in Earnest – Office Hours and Visioning Session – 13 March 2024

Following the kickoff meeting for Squares + Streets here in Roslindale held on the 24th of last month, the first of the many outreach and input opportunities that will help to define the community vision on which the plan will be built will happen this Wednesday, 13 March 2024, in two parts:

  1. Office hours with BPDA Planning staff at the WorkHub space (downstairs at the Substation, corner of Cummins and Washington) from 10 am to 12 pm and 1 pm to 3 pm (pre-registration recommended); and
  2. Roslindale Square Housing and Small Business Visioning Workshop – Roslindale Community Center (the other corner of Cummins and Washington) from 6 pm to 7:30 pm. The BPDA describes this objectives of this session as follows:

“At this event, community members can learn more about current tools the City has to create and preserve housing and support small businesses, how the Squares + Streets Small Area Plan can address current housing and small business challenges in Roslindale, and envision through hands-on activities what Roslindale Square might need for the future to support diverse households and businesses.” [NOTE: Translation services will be available in Spanish and Haitian Creole.]

The small area planning process is upon us. We applaud the BPDA on providing different formats for public input, including on-site office hours, from the outset. Let’s get out there and participate in whatever format makes sense for each of us.

Squares + Streets – Small Area Planning Process – Roslindale Square Kickoff Open House – Saturday 24 February 2024 @ 10:30 am – Substation Upstairs

Yes, another Squares + Streets post!

From the BPDA webpage for Squares + Streets:

The BPDA is hosting an open house to officially kick off the 6-9 month planning and engagement process for the Roslindale Square Squares + Streets plan! At this event, community members can learn more about the Squares + Streets planning & zoning processes while helping us understand their priorities, history, and hopes for Roslindale Square. 

Childcare, translation services in Haitian Creole and Spanish, and light refreshments will be provided for meeting attendees. Please note that on-site childcare will be provided on a first-come, first-served basis with limited capacity. 

Pre-registration is encouraged (especially important if weather causes this in-person event to be shifted to zoom since the link will be provided to registered attendees).

We encourage attendance by anyone interested in making Roslindale Square a more welcoming, connected, and active place while helping to combat the housing crisis in our neighborhood, city, and region. We hope to see you there!

Squares + Streets Public Meeting with Mayor Wu and BPDA/City Planning Director Jemison – Monday, 29 JAN 2024 – 7 pm @ Hyde Park Municipal Building – BE THERE!

That’s it. That’s the post.

If you support the program’s goals and objectives and want to see it move forward and succeed as it proceeds through initial floating zone adoption to small area planning efforts and then action plans and targeted rezoning, we encourage you to attend, in person (the only option we’re aware of right now), and make your support known.

The Hyde Park Municipal Building is located at 1179 River Street in Cleary Square. Thanks!

Squares + Streets Initiative – WalkUP Roslindale Support and Comment Letter Submitted Today

As is our custom, we provide the full text of our support and/or comment letters and this one is both. The letter fairly well explains our thinking at this point in this program, but it is worth pointing out that “this point in the program” is really just about table-setting. Our support and comment letter relate to the set of proposed zoning text amendments soon to be considered by the Boston Zoning Commission that will, most critically, add a series of floating zones that are not yet mapped anywhere in the city. Instead, those zones will float, available in the Zoning Code, until they are brought down to the ground through specifically focused small area planning processes. While the floating zone concept is relatively new to Boston, it is not by any means a recent innovation in land use regulation. The concept has been around for a long time and has been used elsewhere even here in Massachusetts.

As we are all well aware, Roslindale Square has recently been identified among the first group of places where such small area planning processes leading to new zoning and an accompanying action plan will be undertaken, we understand commencing at some point in late winter/early spring. We look forward eagerly to engaging with the city and our neighbors in that process and adopting effective zoning changes that will make the principal center of our neighborhood a better, more active, and more welcoming place where more people can live, work, shop, and just connect with each other.

We urge everyone reading our letter to take a look at the initiative in more depth and we’d be delighted if you concluded that you wanted to weigh in with your support through the BPDA’s online comment submission portal here.

January 24, 2024

BY ELECTRONIC MAIL ONLY

james.jemison@nullboston.gov

squaresandstreets@nullboston.gov

James Arthur Jemison II

Chief of Planning and Director of the Boston Planning & Development Agency (BPDA)

City of Boston

Re: Squares + Streets Planning and Zoning Initiative

Dear Chief Jemison:

Please accept this comment and support letter on behalf of WalkUP Roslindale with respect to the Squares + Streets planning and zoning initiative currently underway by the BPDA. Squares + Streets is a new planning and zoning initiative furthering key updates to the city’s current zoning to focus on more housing, public space, arts and culture, and transit in our neighborhood centers like Roslindale Square and along main streets.

WalkUP Roslindale strongly supports this initiative and appreciates the BPDA undertaking this ambitious and exciting endeavor to enhance Roslindale Square and other neighborhood centers around our city. We especially extend our gratitude to the BPDA staff who have already held numerous community meetings, drop-in sessions, and opportunities for feedback throughout the first phase of this process as the floating zones are first adopted into the zoning code, to be mapped later upon the conclusion of subsequent small area planning processes.

We are excited by the intent of the Squares + Streets initiative to facilitate critically needed new housing growth and to strategically increase population density which will help support our small businesses and improve walkability in key neighborhood centers. For nearly a decade now, WalkUP Roslindale has supported new housing in our neighborhood, organized for better public transit, and advocated for enhanced street safety and walkability to support our neighborhood’s small businesses and community residents. We believe the Squares + Streets initiative is very much in line with this mission and these actions of WalkUP Roslindale and are excited to support its progress. In particular, we applaud the removal of unnecessary and counterproductive parking minimums through the proposed zoning and the capacity for enhanced building heights adopted through to-be-undertaken small area plans – two specific elements that will facilitate new housing growth and improved walkability.

While broadly supportive of the Squares + Streets initiative, WalkUP Roslindale strongly encourages the BPDA to further consider the following recommendations:

  • Utilize Objective Criteria. BPDA staff must use objective criteria to map out the small area plans for Roslindale Square and other neighborhood centers. These criteria should include, but not necessarily be limited to: proximity to transit (both rail and bus), walkability, existing conditions, and anticipation of growth. It is crucial that easily understandable and transparent criteria are utilized to plan and zone these small plan areas to create the conditions for future growth and enhanced density and walkability. 
  • Limit Conditional Uses. We recommend that the BPDA reduce the number of conditional uses imposed throughout the new, proposed zoning. While conditional uses have a place in some situations, the proposed zoning can and should go further to make many of these conditional uses allowed by right. We know from experience in Roslindale that conditional uses can bog down applicants and small business owners in unnecessary bureaucracy that delay new housing and new businesses and raise the associated costs.
  • Use Existing Conditions as the Floor. In Roslindale, the vast majority of lots are existing non-comforming. That is to say, the lots were initially developed with small lot sizes, minimal setbacks, and similar characteristics, but made retroactively nonconforming by later downzoning. This situation means almost any development, whether new construction or simple exterior renovations, will require zoning variances. At a minimum, the new zoning should restore existing lots to legal status and remove the requirement of variances to do basic work and simple additions to them.
  • Keep S-5 Placemaker Squares. We understand and applaud the BPDA for returning the S-5 (Placemaker Squares) districts to the Squares + Streets options for small area plans after they were previously removed. The S-5 districts enable the greatest density of housing and uses where appropriate to create vibrant, active neighborhood centers. We wish to reiterate that the S-5 districts are a crucial tool for planning and should be included in the final set of floating zones adopted.
  • Address Displacement. Displacement is inevitably most prevalent when the status quo is maintained. If no new residential or commercial space is built, steadily increasing demand for both guarantees that residents (renters, aspiring homeowners, and business owners) will be priced out. That said, changes that increase permissible commercial and residential density will result in new construction and potentially higher rents if anti-displacement measures are not considered from the outset. We encourage the BPDA to proactively plan for this in small plan areas under the new zoning and create incentives for existing property owners to keep rents reasonable through property tax abatements and other measures, such as providing current commercial tenants the right of first refusal to return to the space at issue.
  • Engage All Stakeholders. As an organization of neighborhood residents and local business owners, we firmly believe in public feedback and input into planning and zoning decision-making. At the same time, we know that no one group, including our own, can speak for an entire neighborhood, never mind an entire city. We have been impressed by the outreach conducted by BPDA staff to date and urge its continuation as the process moves forward from adopting the proposed set of floating zones to undertaking the small area plans. It is crucial that staff continue to actively reach out to stakeholders where they are. It is well documented that evening meetings are difficult for individuals with small children, evening jobs, and other life commitments to attend, for example. We hope to continue to see opportunities for feedback at pop up events, the Roslindale Farmers’ Markets,  on transit platforms and bus stops, and at community activities where people naturally congregate and deserve an opportunity to be heard.

In closing, we wish to reiterate our deep support and appreciation for the Squares + Streets initiative. We believe a thoughtful neighborhood and citywide rezoning is long overdue in Roslindale and Boston, respectively. Starting with the Squares + Streets planning and zoning, we hope that the city can finally and fully enable the density, walkability, and investment we need in our neighborhood centers to enhance the vibrancy of our communities, to provide intrinsic support for local businesses, and to tackle the critical need for more housing so evident in our Roslindale neighborhood and across our entire city.

Sincerely,

WalkUP Roslindale Board of Directors

 

Cc: Michelle Wu, Mayor

Enrique Pepén, City Councilor District 5

Ben Weber, City Councilor, District 6

Ruthzee Louijeune, City Council President

Julia Mejia, City Councilor At-Large

Erin Murphy, City Councilor At-Large

Henry Santana, City Councilor At-Large

Bill MacGregor, State Representative

Rob Consalvo, State Representative

Michael Rush, State Senator