Strange Approach to Economic Development.
By Jim Conley • Jun 6th, 2008 • Email This Post to a Friend •
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Is there any more useless function in Brookline town government than the Economic Development Advisory Board (EDAB)? I doubt it.
I would imagine that other such boards focus on making their community a place where businesses can succeed. In Brookline, the Board shills for developers. But that’s not the worst of it.
Today, as it’s announced that unemployment and energy costs are in rapid ascent and retailers are seeing steep slides, I received an e-mail from a host of town agencies promoting an event called “Better Parking = Better Brookline.”
Of course, to real estate developers, requiring less parking for their projects would make, for them, a better Brookline.
But when it comes to the independent retailers along Beacon Street, I’ll bet you will not find one who will say that the recent reconstruction on the street has had a positive effect on their business. Parking is non-existent, and tie-ups from double parking has created a retail environment residents want to avoid.
Where was the EDAB when those plans were in progress?
Here’s what we’re looking at in our economic centers — reduced consumer income, an increased property tax burden, and a commercial infrastructure hostile to retail (except as the third party property taxpayer).
Economic development, indeed.
Jim Conley is publisher of On Brookline.
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Jim,
This is a knee-jerk reaction of the type that kicked off Smart Growth just a few years ago that has turned out not to be so smart after all and without significant growth. It is another example of the “upzoning”/”downzoning” cycles frenzies of Town Meeting since my arrival in Brookline in 1973. Brookline residents are fortunate having the B, C and D Green Line branches for public transit. As gas prices increase, ridership on the “T” increases. But the infrastructure of public transit in the Boston area has been weakened over the years. Robert Reich has an interesting article titled “The Public Transit Paradox” available at:
http://www.prospect.org/cs/articles?article=the_public_transit_paradox
that addresses this issue. In my Urban Ring series at your Blog I have discussed issues involving public transit that impact Brookline and nearby communities. This requires regional cooperation. Merely reducing parking requirements will not resolve Brookline’s traffic, parking and transportation issues. Applying the “Field of Dreams” theme of “If you build it, they will come” they may not come if they cannot use their cars AND be able to park. Reducing or eliminating parking in Coolidge Corner may bring back the “Ma & Pa” shops with resulting reduced rents and commercial tax bases.
Archie Mazmanian
Brookline residents interested in Phase 2 of the Urban Ring should consider attending public meetings sponsored by the MA Executive Ofice of Transportation at which its preliminary recommendations are to be discussed:
FENWAY Monday, June 9, 6:30 to 8:30 PM, Fenway High School/Boston Arts Academy, 174 Ipswich St., Boston
CAMBRIDGE Tuesday, June 10, 6:30 to 8:30 PM, Kennedy-Longfellow School, 158 Spring St., Cambridge
Directions and more information on the project are available at:
http://www.theurbanring.com
Of particular concern to Brookline residents will be the “Local Preferred Alternative” routes from the Charles River crossing at the BU Bridge that may include Mountfort Street in Brookline, to the Fenway and to the Longwood Medical Area. Brookline residents who commute through the area of the BU Bridge will be impacted.
When a section or neighorhood in Brookline has serious parking, traffic and transportation issues, sometimes the proposed provincial solution may just pass on these issues to another section or neighborhood without even resolving them in the original section or neighborhood. It behooves the planners to consider not only the entire Town but also adjoining communities in addressing such issues. Block a flow of water and it will find another course.
I attended the EOT public meeting at the Fenway noted in comment 2 yesterday evening. There were no real surprises. The Charles River crossing incorporates a BU proposal to give up its Academy on the easterly side of the BU Bridge to permit the BRT buses crossing the Charles via an augmented Grand Junction Rail Line (GJRL) under the BU Bridge to tunnel under the Boston side of the Bridge to surface at or near University Road to cross Commonwealth Avenue to the Carlton Street bridge over the Turnpike and then proceed along Mountfort Street to Beacon Street and beyond to and through the Fenway and the LMA to Ruggles Station. EOT still does not have approvals from CSX and other rail lines to utilize the GJRL. So there remains on the table an earlier interim plan that would use the BU Bridge for the Urban Ring Phase 2 route for the Charles River crossing, even though the EOT’s slick powerpoint slide show did not display this interim plan.
In contrast, EOT did have a slide for an interim surface plan for the LMA, just in case the proposed tunnel takes too long to, or perhaps never, come about, most likely because of lack of both Federal and State funding. Most stakeholders in the Fenway/LMA expressed great concerns with the interim plan. What happens in the LMA impacts Brookline.
Back to the Charles River crossing, which can significantly impact nearby Brookline neighborhoods and the many Brookline commuters utilizing the BU Bridge/Commonwealth Avenue area, there remains the question of whether University Road will cease to provide access to Storrow Drive east. If so, commuters may have to travel beyond Kenmore Square to access Storrow Drive east. It remains to be seen now the Charles River crossing will impact the many auto commuters in the BU Bridge/Commonwealth Avenue ares.
Parking, traffic and transporation issues can continue to plague Brookline, including those resulting from Phase 2 of the Urban Ring.