Take a minute to comment! ๐พ๐ค๐ข๐ข๐๐ฃ๐ฉ ๐๐๐๐๐ก๐๐ฃ๐ ๐ฉ๐ค๐๐๐ฎ! http://www.bostonplans.org/projects/development-projects/suffolk-downs
If you live in the Greater Boston area, you will likely see the impacts of Suffolk Downs redevelopment, a 161-acre development with 10,000 units. After several comment period extensions, today is the last day to comment on this development. The official comment channel is the only consequential way to go on record. If you have any thoughts at all, record them today. Be as informal and quick as you need to be. (You’re a resident, not an established organization with spell-check secretaries :)) Some thoughts that may help you:
Positive Impacts
โกMore housing, to accommodate the increasing population of the city
โกMore property tax for the city
โกMore income tax for the state
โกMore construction jobs during the 20-year build period
โกWalk/Bike connection from SD to constitution beach
โกAn indoor site for Early Education to be programmed by East Boston Social Centers
Negative Impacts
โก Not nearly enough affordable housing, at a time when the region is going through a displacement crisis due to rising real estate prices
โก Huge impact on transportation, given that the roads are already clogged (Boston has the worst peak hour traffic in the country) and the train system is overloaded during peak hours
โก Will make climate change worse: There’s no district-energy or clean-energy solutions; nothing except the promise of a demo passive solar house; falls far short of what we are called to do transform our energy economy given the impacts of climate change; It is not the zero-carbon development that the city needs; it instead strains the city’s carbon budget
โก Will kill the wonderful Belle Isle Marsh (and all the bird, amphibian, fish, and plant life that depend on it) by blocking its migration (The marsh will attempt to migrate landward due to the now certain sea level rise)
Opportunities (What we should and can have, but not offered by the development)
โก A small business incubation center
โก Green jobs! (Solar, wind, ground-source heat pump, tidal energy dams)
โก Emergency shelter for the surrounding neighborhoods and towns
โก Priority housing for those in the neighborhood who will be climate-displaced
โก Microunits and other alternate forms of housing to reduce energy consumption
โก Food-growing spaces
โก School that teaches eco-education (including urban agriculture) and vocational skills
What's up Eastie? 