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Politics go postal over lot
David L. Harris/ Staff Writer
Thursday, July 21, 2005
A meeting surrounding the removal of dozens of parking spaces in a city lot last week
turned into a political free-for-all. City Council candidates were biding for face
time, and at-large City Councilor and mayoral candidate Maura Hennigan pressed
residents to sue the city to stop development of the new post office.
"I am going to give them [residents] the information they need to make a
decision," said Hennigan. "Why is the city working against the best interests
of the neighborhood?"
Even as construction began last week on the new post office and Corey Street
municipal parking lot at 1834-1840 Centre St., the same gripes trickled through
the crowd at the Elks: parking and the lack of a public process.
Hennigan said state law stipulates that if the city's Off-Street Parking
Facilities Board entered into a long-term lease with the post office, it would
have to replace the same number of spaces it removed.
Instead, she said, because the board voted to turn over a portion of the
lot to the Department of Neighborhood Development two months ago, it removed
itself from any responsibility to compensate the public for the loss of 62 spaces.
"They can't make them replace the spaces," she said. A City Council hearing
concerning the board's actions was scheduled to take place today (Thursday).
"This project is too important to halt," said Jay Walsh, head of the mayor's
Office of Neighborhood Services. "If action is taken to halt the project, the
people of West Roxbury are going to be deprived of a post office."
Walsh also said the city, in its newest plan, had provided 116 spaces in
and around the lot. Before the reconstruction, he said, there were 118.
Even with the details of the project recited multiple times throughout
the meeting, the point was obvious. According to one city haller, the issue
has become "very, very political," something West Roxbury residents are all
too familiar with running up to mayoral and City Council elections.
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Parking lot vote angers businesses
Madison Park, Globe Correspondent
Tuesday, May 24, 2005
A Boston transportation board's vote to transfer a portion of a
municipal parking lot to another city agency sparked outrage among
some West Roxbury business owners yesterday.
This move is the latest step in the planned construction of a new
post office in West Roxbury. The lot had been a prime source of
public parking near Centre Street. But Boston's Off-Street Parking
Facilities Board approved the transfer of 62 of the lot's 105 spaces
to the Department of Neighborhood Development, which could lease out
the spaces for post office use.
Mary Mulvey Jacobson, president of the West Roxbury Business and
Professional Association, said nearby businesses depend on the
availability of convenient parking for customers.
''We need a new post office, but taking away 62 spaces in a place
where parking is already a problem just doesn't make sense,"
Jacobson said.
City Councilor John Tobin, who represents West Roxbury, said many
who use the lot are commuters avoiding the $2 fee at the T's
Highland Commuter Rail station lot.
Councilor at Large Maura A. Hennigan said the city should have
sought more community input. Last week, she scheduled a public
hearing for tomorrow to discuss the parking lot.
Thomas Tinlin, acting commissioner of the Boston Transportation
Department, said public meetings have been held and that the post
office project must not be delayed because the lease for the West
Roxbury post office expires in the fall.
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Postal plans need more parking, say residents
David L. Harris - Staff Writer
Thursday, April 7, 2005
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Parking concerns again dominated discussions
over the West Roxbury branch post office's Centre Street relocation plans
at a meeting last week, triggering the formation of an eight-member public
parking task force to investigate the problem.
"This is a district-wide problem as opposed to this one spot," said Kelly Tynan,
executive director of West Roxbury Main Streets, which will oversee the
task force. "It's a ripple effect in the whole district.
A group of representatives from the Bulfinch Companies was on hand last
Thursday afternoon to discuss its proposal to transform the Big League
Bowling Alley into a post office facility and buy dozens of parking spaces
in the municipal lot behind the building, much to the chagrin of the local
business community.
Another public meeting was scheduled to take place Wednesday night after the
Transcript's deadline.
Officials acknowledge the city lot is used mostly by commuter rail passengers. The
post office plans to take 50 of those spaces for vehicle and employee
parking. Only 12 spaces would remain in the municipal lot.
"There's a lot of cause for concern here," said Mary Mulvey Jacobson, head of the
West Roxbury Business and Professional Association. "This particular
proposal of taking 50 spaces out of the lot is not a responsible proposal
... we need to look forward to make the parking better, not worse."
Joining Mulvey Jacobson's complaints was mayoral candidate and At-Large City
Councilor Maura Hennigan, who said she was against the current plan.
"Are we transferring an existing problem just down the street?" she asked,
adding it was a "huge mistake" to go forward with the proposal.
In a recent letter to the real estate specialist for the post office, Hennigan
said the "community should not consider accepting this location purely
because there seems to be a lack of another."
By contrast, District 6 City Councilor John M. Tobin Jr. is supporting the
post office's new location.
Residents also joined the fray and expressed their desire for a more open process
for the new post office's selection process.
"The Centre Street [reconstruction project] has been presented as fait
accompli," said Gwynne Morgan of Walkable West Roxbury. "Nothing happened
[in public meetings] that changed the plan. We read about it in the
newspaper."
Morgan said the same thing is happening with this project, pointing at the
parking lot behind the bowling alley.
"This little piece of land has been a black hole for pedestrians ... it has been
extraordinarily uninviting."
Robert Schlager, president of Bulfinch, apologized for the lack of openness, but
blamed that responsibility on the post office.
Although his company has already signed a purchase-and-sale agreement with the
current owner of the bowling alley, Schlager declined to discuss how much
money he would buy the building for. He said the new facility should be up
and running by October, just days after the old building's lease ends.
Schlager added Boston Sports Club had expressed interest in locating in the
basement of the new building. Currently, the bowling alley takes up both
floors of the building.
In the end, Schlager told the dozen business owners and residents that if he
heard enough negativity, he could end the deal.
"It doesn't have to go here," he said, "if the consensus is you don't want it
here."
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