Stories We’re Following
Can the new Suffolk Downs avoid the mistakes of the Seaport District?
There is something to prove: That given the opportunity to build a new neighborhood [at Suffolk Downs], we don’t develop another white rich enclave like the Seaport, that new Boston isn’t just for those who can afford it and that this time around development will be far more inclusive.
→Source: The Boston GlobeBoston Children’s Museum chief talks Seaport growth, rising sea levels
The Boston Business Journal spoke with Charnow to ask about the museum’s current priorities as well as how the Seaport’s growing population impacts its strategic plan.
→Source: Boston Business JournalShould Burke Lakefront Airport close? Coalition keeps important question alive
Cities across the U.S. and around the world have been revitalizing their waterfronts for decades, reaping benefits in livability, environmental sustainability, climate resilience, and economic vitality. But 15 years after it finished the biggest lakefront plan in a half century, Cleveland is still far behind waterfront cities including Chicago and Toronto and playing catch-up. One of the biggest obstacles to a transformation is Burke Lakefront Airport, a 450-acre facility built on landfill, with 3.1 miles of Lake Erie shoreline around its edges.
→Source: The Plain Dealer‘Resiliency’ plans a sticking point in Port Norfolk build-out
Neighbors’ concerns range from traffic to gentrification, but it’s the sticking point of climate resilience that illustrates the difficulties that could lie ahead for communities trying to leverage private investment to fortify the waterfront.
→Source: Dorchester Report & WBURVideo depicts how rising seas will affect South Boston
The developers who want to turn South Boston’s shuttered L Street Power Station into a huge complex of housing and office space know that rising seas will someday come for their waterfront site. Now they’re releasing a video that shows, in vivid detail, just how much and where that water might go.
→Source: The Boston GlobeIn the Great Marsh and other coastal wetlands, climate change is harming delicate ecosystems
Wetlands such as [the Great Marsh] are crucial buffers against the damaging effects of rising sea levels from climate change. Yet the very forces unleashed by global warming are pounding away at the Great Marsh and other saltwater wetlands: higher tides — more than 8 inches here over the past century — and a 20 percent increase in precipitation over roughly the same period.
→Source: The Boston GlobeBeyond Walls Launches an Idea for Lynn’s Waterfront
The creative nonprofit has partnered with MassDevelopment and the civic crowdfunding platform Patronicity to build a temporary waterfront park at the Lynn Ferry Terminal, according to a press release. They need to raise $50,000 before they can get it up and running.
→Source: ItemLiveAs Boston Pursues Climate Resilience, Some Warn Efforts Could Make Inequality Worse
The city’s resilience initiatives are wrapped in the language of equity — in Walsh’s words, representing “Boston’s historic commitment to our collective well-being.” But some experts worry the push for climate adaptation could make inequality worse, a possible multiplier of the so-called “green gentrification” they say is already underway in two neighborhoods at the center of the city’s climate resilience strategy: East Boston and South Boston.
→Source: WBURFerry Proposal Aims To Connect Downtown, Dorchester And Quincy
Development along Boston’s waterfront has led to greater demand for transportation, and that need could be met by new ferries serving downtown Boston, Quincy and Dorchester, according to two business plans released Tuesday.
→Source: WBURNonprofit floats details about new proposed Boston Harbor ferry routes
The business plans for two new Boston Harbor ferry routes are done. Now comes the hard part: finding someone willing to secure and administer these boats, and finding potential subsidies to offset the costs. Boston Harbor Now has been working on the routes for essentially two years.
→Source: The Boston GlobeRecurring events
- Friends of the East Boston Greenway: →Monthly Meeting
- Friends of the Boston HarborWalk: →Monthly Meeting