IMBYism vs. NIMBYism

A few days ago, the Boston Globe ran a letter-to-the-editor written in response to a news story about the Boston Redevelopment Authority's Scoping Determination on on Boston College's proposed Institutional Master Plan.

In the original news story, Jack Dunn, Director of Public Affairs at BC, accused the opponents of two undergraduate dormitories of engaging in "NIMBY-ism".

The letter written in response by Michelina Tawa of Brighton points the finger back at BC as engaging in IMBYism for sending their undergraduates to live in the neighborhood's backyards, instead of on-campus:

"I WAS surprised to read, in the article "City tells BC to revise its plan" (City & Region, Feb. 22), that Boston College spokesman Jack Dunn accuses the Brighton neighbors of so-called NIMBY-ism for opposing BC's plan to build dorms on the Brighton campus. NIMBY is an acronym for "not in my backyard." Dunn has it backward. For years, the Brighton neighborhood has lived with BC students "IMBY," and know only too well what that means - rowdiness, trash, and disrespect for private property. By building dorms abutting the Lake Street and Commonwealth Avenue neighborhoods, BC would be asking us not only to have students in our backyards but in our side yards, our front yards, and practically in our living rooms. For Dunn to use the pejorative "NIMBYism" to describe the Brighton neighborhood's legitimate concerns undermines the community's good-faith efforts to work cooperatively with Boston College."

Michelina Tawa, Brighton

Bus #57 As an Example of MBTA's Woes

A Watertown reader wrote a letter-to-the-editor of the Boston Globe in response to the MBTA's financial woes recently covered by the Globe (a month after BostonNOW beat them to the punch by quoting the General Manager, Daniel Grabauskas, as saying the T is "structurally broke").

Writes Joseph Niedbala:

When I have to wait in the cold for 40 to 50 minutes, day after day, while bus after bus on the 57 line passes by packed with riders just a few stops after its start in Kenmore, it's obvious to me that the T can't coordinate its basic function as a public transportation provider, let alone extract itself from this financial morass.

Bus #57 is one of the heaviest-used public transportation routes crossing Allston-Brighton, and is a key element in the neighborhood's transportation infrastructure. (By the way, it does not travel down Chestnut Hill Avenue.)

Letters to the Boston Globe About BC's Expansion

The Boston Globe published two letters-to-the-editor in response to their editorial earlier in the week that questioned the merit of part of Boston College's master plan related to undergraduate housing.

Pilar Landon, editor-in-chief of BC's student newspaper, The Heights, writes that "it is unfair to ignore the many academic, extracurricular, and athletic achievements of students and to discount them with these sweeping generalizations," such as "a well-earned reputation for hard drinking and loud partying."

Eva Webster of the Chestnut Hill Reservoir Coalition stated that the Globe editorial missed pointing out BC's poor choice in locating some dorms directly across the street from the reservoir. "If some other school wanted to build undergraduate dormitories on the edge of Jamaica Pond, would anyone be surprised by public opposition to that?"

Innovation and Suspicion in North Allston

In response to last week's Boston Globe metro column by Yvonne Abraham on architectural innovation and neighborhood suspicion amongst Harvard and their North Allston neighbors, the Globe published a series of letters-to-the-editor in today's edition.

Brent Whelan:

We are indeed suspicious of Harvard's secretive and high-handed response to community review. But we would love to see a radically new approach to campus architecture in our neighborhood.

Jason Karakehian:

...She forgot to point out one architectural success in which the citizens of Allston had a direct hand with Harvard: the Honan/Allston Public Library, which was funded by the university as reparation for those very land purchases. This building, with its facade of slate, concrete, glass, and mahogany, all honestly presented to display their inherent varieties of texture and pattern, is a tribute to craftsmanship in public spaces.

I suggest Abraham spend a little time in Allston talking with the people and looking around before presenting us with an opinion based on the most cursory of examinations.

My own comments were quite similar.

Letter to A-B TAB About Harvard from City Council Candidate Ciommo

A-B District City Council candidate Mark Ciommo had a letter-to-the-editor published by the Allston-Brighton TAB in last week's issue. I am glad to see the first newspaper volley by a candidate in this year's election, because writing effective letters will be a key part of our next City Councilor's job. Roll the presses!

In his letter, Ciommo rails against Harvard's North Allston "buildings partially painted, locked gates with fencing peeled back, overgrown weeds and asphalt sidewalks with unsafe ditches." How true, absolutely.

But he refers to the site of Harvard's proposed Science Complex -- which Harvard is hoping to break ground on ASAP -- not the countless properties further west along Western Avenue in North Allston and North Brighton. The community is virtually unanimous that Harvard should clean up their properties, particularly the vacant commercial ones, but methinks the attention shouldn't be on one particular site that Harvard is poised to excavate. Anyway, the more general point Ciommo makes is one the community is already behind.

Everyone I've spoken to is bewildered at the odd idea, put forward by Harvard Allston Task Force chair Ray Mellone, of postponing discussion of community benefits until after Harvard begins construction of the science complex. Ciommo joins this chorus, but he then suggests a bizarre alternative:

This process to review community benefits should start when Harvard repairs and completes the work promised in 1997.

He is referring to streetscape improvements -- replacement of the rusting chain link fence, repaving sidewalks, and planting trees -- Harvard promised a decade ago for North Harvard Street near the football stadium, but never delivered. Why should we, the community, wait until Harvard gets their tush moving to discuss community benefits?

Given that Harvard hasn't made these improvements in the past ten years, I suspect that Ciommo's timeline could postpone discussing community benefits far past the date on which construction begins on the science complex. Harvard would even be motivated to delay making the streetscape improvements so that they could further delay committing to additional community benefits.

The more logical suggestion is to discuss community benefits within the review of the science complex DPIR. That's what neighbors who have been attending recent Harvard Allston Task Force meetings have told me.

And, in my opinion, don't think too grandly at this stage; rather, seek practical ways to address direct transportation, traffic, noise, and health impacts of Harvard's project in a way that makes the community more, not less, livable.

Boston Globe Letters to the Editor: "Brighton fears thud of BC expansion"

Two letters to the editor of the Boston Globe, written by Maria Guadalupe Rodrigues and Glory Dalton, appeared in this morning's paper under the heading: "Brighton fears thud of BC expansion." The copy editor chose an odd title since the letters comment on non-thud-like sounds which the writers consider disruptive to the community.

Ms. Rodrigues writes:

The level of arrogance of these institutions is best illustrated by the BC student's statement to your reporter: "If you choose to live there, you have to expect it's not a perfectly quiet area. You knew that coming in." Many residents of the neighborhood have links to the area that go back more then three generations. It was really quiet back then.

Ms. Dalton continues:

MY FAMILY has lived in the same house near St. John's Seminary for four generations. This has always been a quiet neighborhood with young families and senior citizens until recently, when we suffered the invasion of so-called well-behaved BC students.

Their revelry is not "harmless" when they wake up and frighten young children with their singing "Sweet Caroline."

It is not "harmless" when they urinate on your front lawn or try to pry open your front window calling out some unrecognizable girl's name.