Monday, April 30, 2007

Reminder: Artistry Mtg Mon night

As mentioned previously:

Discussion of Impact of Artistry
Monday, April 30th at 6:30 PM
Midway (15 Channel Center St.)

Sunday, April 29, 2007

Fort Point Walkthrough

Members of FPNA did a walkthrough of the neighborhood with Amanda Simon of the Mayor's office and two representatives from the police department. Topics included:

-Better lighting under the Summer Street bridge
-More frequently cleaning of A street and its sidewalks. Under the bridge will be steam-cleaned.
-Bigger tickets ($50?) for non-residents parking in resident spaces; current fine is not a deterrent.
-Tow cars parked in handicapped zones.
-Lights from the Gillette plant shine into residents' windows. They should be changed to point down onto Gillette's property rather than horizontal.
-The Post office maintenance facility and BCEC have bright lights on all night and these also shine directly into resident’s windows. Some sort of landscape or fence buffer could mitigate this problem.
-The USPS parking and maintenance facility fence is badly maintained and there is trash everywhere. The post office will be contacted again to further clean the parking lot.
-There were 4 abandoned cars that will be towed from behind Channel Center. The area back there will be cleaned up as well.

Thursday, April 26, 2007

51 Sleeper St sold to Brickman Associates

http://boston.bizjournals.com/boston/stories/2007/04/23/daily29.html

Brickman Associates has nabbed 51 Sleeper St. from the Mayo Group for $45 million in an off-market transaction.

"The property is under agreement to Brickman and is scheduled to close in early May," said Ronan Ryan, chief operating officer at the Mayo Group in Roxbury.
...

Meet Susan Passoni this Saturday, 5-6:30 PM

Susan Passoni who is running for City Councilor in our district is going to be in Fort Point in an informal session. Refreshments will be served. Your voice is important for making the right neighborhood changes and making sure city hall hears us, so listen to what the candidates have to say and get out out and vote.

Meet Susan Passoni
Saturday May 5, 5PM-6:30
Atrium of 300 Summer Street

Sunday, April 15, 2007

1 in 3 Fort Pointers makes $100k+

According to this iteractive map from the Globe, 30% of people who live in 02210 had adjusted gross incomes of $100k or more for 2004, which is the same as the Back Bay and close to Beacon Hill (39%).

Tuesday, April 10, 2007

Links for 311 Summer St Project

Kristen Kara from the BRA sent a helpful set of links for the 311 Summer St development project:

Below is the link to where the four documents pertaining to the proposed 311 Summer Street rehabilitation and penthouse addition are located on the BRA's website:

http://www.cityofboston.gov/bra/Planning/PlanningInitsIndividual.asp?action=ViewInit&InitID=33

This link will bring to a Planning Initiatives page entitled "Fort Point District Planning". Once you are here, scroll to
publication(s):

  1. 311 Summer Street Small Project Review Application With Exhibits
  2. 311 Summer Street PDA Fact Sheet - 311 Summer
  3. 311 Summer Street PDA Development Plan With Exhibits
  4. 311 Summer Street Community Meeting Presentation

Artistry Meeting, April 30th

Jim Apteker of Longwood Events is trying to smooth things over with the neighborhood and is going to start a community process to attempt to gain support for his "Artistry" events facility inside Midway Studios. The first meeting is:

Discussion of Impact of Artistry
Monday, April 30th at 6:30 PM

Midway (15 Channel Center St.)

Artistry, as you may know, is his facility on Channel Center Street where he hopes to hold 300-1,500 person events such as weddings, corporate functions, and the like. He held one in December for the magazine Boston Common (www.bostoncommon-magazine.com) which was a huge disturbance to the neighborhood: loud music kept residents of Midway Studios up late into the night, security and cars blocked the street, and drunk revelers were seen urinating in the street.

This winter, he had applied for a full, 2 AM liquor license which was not granted because of community uproar.

There have been a number of meetings regarding Artistry and the consensus of the neighborhood at each has been fairly consistent: while residents aren't opposed to events facilities in general (Artists for Humanity frequently has functions without incident) and having a business take a lease at Midway Studios is a good thing for that project, his location and physical space is a poor fit for what he's trying to do, and the scale and nature of the events (3-5 a week with hundreds of people at each function) is terrible fit with that part of the neighborhood.

Meet the Candidates Night



The "Meet the Candidates" event last Sunday at the Fire Museum was well-attended and had a good, lively discussion among the candidates on issues such as artist displacement concerns, BRA processes, parking, and other important matters affecting the neighborhood.
Significantly, this was Fort Point's first-ever City Council forum. Volunteers from across the neighborhood made it work.

The City Council District 2 preliminary election is coming up on April 17th, with the final on May 15th. Make sure you get out and vote!


BRA Waterside Place Meeting, April 24th, 6PM

The BRA is hosting a meeting to discuss the Waterside place project, which will be connected to the BCEC. Details below.



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The Boston Redevelopment Authority will host a public meeting regarding Waterside Place

Project Proponent: Core Development Group LLC, a partnership of The Drew Company and Vornado Realty Trust

Tuesday, April 24th @ 6:00 PM
St. Vincent’s Lower Church Hall

363 E Street, South Boston


The Proponent filed a Draft Project Impact Report proposing to construct a mixed use project comprising of a 640,000 square foot destination retail center, approximately 209 residential units, approximately 300 hotel rooms, a Visitor Center and a 2,350 space parking garage.

For questions and comments contact:
MAIL: Mark McGowan
Boston Redevelopment Authority
One City Hall Square, 9th Fl, Boston, MA 02201
FAX: 617.742.7783
PHONE: 617.918.4275
EMAIL: mark.mcgowan.BRA@cityofboston.gov