Ashmont T Station

As good as one could hope

This weekend made me a happy man.  It was hot and sticky and the MBTA knocked down the nasty barn called Ashmont Station. It has been noted by many observers that this is a long road to travel before the station is complete, so let me be premature and thank the folks at the MBTA who are doing all they can to help....I honestly believe that the men and women who are looking at Ashmont Station are trying to make the best of a tough situation.  The weather is hot, the trains are slow, the platforms are crowded and there is only one way on or off the platforms.  There are no simple answers to keeping the trains running and getting riders in and out of the station with all their limbs attached.

To their credit the MBTA has been thinking on their feet. They have added bus stops, moved fences, altered signs in a genuine effort to make the station work better for the riders. 

Will there be time when patience and civility will be worn away.?...Oh sure there will. But this is a 41 month process and even if the community, the abutters, the MBTA,the riders, the developer and our elected officials get tangled up during this construction project, at the end, we all ought to be able to say we tried....the MBTA is setting a good example at the start. 

Brave New World at Peabody Square

The machines that knocked Ashmont Station this weekend were the heralds of a great transformation for Peabody Square.  In the coming months, amid the churned concrete and clots of dirt a new station will slowly (very slowly) be built. The south part of the station will come first with a new terminal for the Mattapan trolley (let’s drop the high-speed nonsense from the name). The trolley and south headhouse and Radford Lane (more on that part later) will be complete in 12-18 months.   At the same time a new affordable housing project will be built in front of the station.

For commuters and residents the next 41 months of station construction will be marked by chaos, frustration, delays and new perspectives, excitement and hope that with the changes comes an improved and safer neighborhood.

The old station is just a pile of crumpled steel beams, concrete chunks and wood kindling today.  Barletta will keep on working for the next two weekends to complete the demolition and I wll try to keep photographing the work in progress.  See the photo album for latest images.

Station Demolition

This week, Barletta has been doing an excellent job of taking down the two busways and bus shelters at the west side of the station.  The pictures are available at the Ashmont T Photos site (see link at right.)
This is very exciting and a commemorative haiku is in order. Here's mine:

crushing metal beams
sunlit spaces amid dross
keep it coming, T

Feel free to post your own verse on the demise of the old barn.

Ashmont Station Name Change

In a letter to the editor of the Dorchester Reporter, a group of local citizens raised the idea of renaming the the MBTA stop: Ashmont/Peabody Square. 
The new station will have one of its principal entrances on Peabody Square.  An historic space , the square deserves recognition as a place that identifies the area as a meeting point in the city. 
New York has Times Square, Tokyo has Hachiko, London has Piccadilly Circus, Rome has the Spanish Steps and Dorchester has Peabody Square. (mostly tongue in cheek, but remember Boston is a world-class city).  Realistically the new station and newly redesigned square should complement each other lending space and recognition to the other.  The MBTA has already helped the community by providing $25,000 towards the design study for the square. 

The idea put forward by these neighbors is a great one and worth pursuing.  Hopefully the MBTA will give it the consideration it deserves. Please signal your support by emailing the community organizers peabodysq@empathetic.com. 

Peabody Square Presentation

The March 16th presentation by the Boston Transportation Department and their designers is available at the City of Boston's Dorchester Avenue Project.  The .pdf file is a copy of the presentation of the background and possible design alternaives for Peabody Square.  This is a great primer on the process past, present and future for Peabody Square.      A list of some of the key personnel working on the project.

CIty Managers

Vineet Gupta, Director of Planning, BTD
Ralph DeNisco, Project Manager, BTD
Para Jayasinghe, City Engineer, BPWD
Molly Dunford, Mayor s Office of Neighborhood Services

Design Team

Judith Nitsch Engineering, Inc.
Jerry Blumenthal, P.E.
Phil Viveiros, P.E., P.T.O.E.
Carol R. Johnson Associates, Inc.
Chris Jones, A.S.L.A

Station Demolition

At last the building starts to come down.  Already crews have been working to remove the asbestos impregnated asphalt roof.  Borings are being excavated near Radford Lane.

The biggest piece of demolition to date begins at 9:00 pm on Monday March 20th.  Everyone is invited to witness the start at the Tara Pub, directly across from the station on Dorchester Ave.  From there the dismantling of the viaduct and southern section of the station will begin. In a short 37 months we will have anew station.  Photos of the on-going project can be seen at the Ashmont Station Photos Gallery.  See link at right.

Trinity Financial is about ready to begin construction of their building adjacent to the station. This is huge news for the neighborhood as the building will bring new housing and new commercial space. Trinity's building is expected to be complete in 18 months after construction begins in this spring.

The station and new development are joined by a city effort to re-design Peabody Square.  The city's Transportation Department is leading the design phase. Judith Nitsch, a civil engineering firm is charged with producing the design documents.  In addition the Dorchester Arts Coalition is working with St. Mark's Main Street to select an artis for one or a series of installations around Peabody Square.    The city's presentation on March 16th may be viewed at the Dochester Avenue Project website.  The city expects to return with a presentation of two finalist schemes in early May. 

Anyway it is all very good and no one should complain that there is nothing happening around here for at least three years. 

The final piece of financing for the Ashmont Transit Oriented Development has been awarded to the developer, Trinity Financial.  The award from the Office of Commonwealth Development was a key piece of financing that will allow the $40 million project to proceed with the station reconstruction.  Both projects are slated to start in earnest early this summer. 

This is a watershed event for Dorchester and a tribute to all the residents, elected officials, union leaders and the MBTA who worked to create this first-of-its-kind transit station and housing development.

At Ashmont, a less pricey plan

The article below appeared in Sunday's Globe. While the article covers much of the same ground as previous posts and public meetings (for those of us still keeping track) the article serves as a reminder to the Globe's readership that we are still in the running for a new station and development at Ashmont. 

Still no news on the issue of tax-credit awards....but I believe that we have reason to be optimistic, if for no other reason than it would be a colossal waste of time to think otherwise.  Stay tuned as soon as the folks at the Department of Housing and Community Development make their announcement about Trinity Financial's proposal, we will post the news here.

At Ashmont, a less pricey plan
Developer bids for state backing
By Jill S. Gross, Globe Correspondent  |  January 15, 2006

Developers have revamped their plans for new shops and more than 100 condominiums adjacent to the Ashmont MBTA station, and say they now hope for approval from the state. Neighbors and supporters see the proposed six-story retail and residential building and the T station's upcoming renovation as key components of efforts to rejuvenate Peabody Square, where Dorchester Avenue and Ashmont Street intersect. Developers envision the building, which would sit between Dorchester Avenue and the station's bus lanes, not only as housing but also a place for some of Ashmont's 17,000 daily commuters to get a cup of coffee or a relaxing meal or do their banking. State officials have promoted this type of project, called a transit-oriented development, because it offers a mix of commercial and residential space centered around public transportation, reducing dependence on the automobile. The project hit a major snag in June when the state rejected developer Trinity Financial Inc.'s application for $3.2 million in tax credits that it was counting on to pay for the building, saying it was too costly. Trinity Financial, a Boston firm, has since made some major changes to the building's interior and increased the number of market-rate units, allowing it to reapply to the state Department of Housing and Community Development for $2.2 million in tax credits. According to the department, the project is among many competing for the tax credits, with a final decision to be made in the next few weeks. Trinity is also waiting to hear on its application for $1.5 million to $2 million in state money for transit-oriented developments. Because of the changes to the project, it must also go before Boston's Zoning Board of Appeal next month. ''At this point, there's no turning back. We've got to make this thing happen," said Jim Keefe, principal for Trinity Financial and a longtime neighborhood resident. The new plan increases the number of residences from 105 to 116 and changes 42 of what were to be apartments into market-rate condominiums. The remaining 74 rental units have affordable income restrictions. The exterior design of the building, with large display widows, a brick facade, and an outdoor seating area, has remained largely unchanged from the original plans. The ground-floor retail space has been halved, eliminating plans for a chain drugstore. Drugstores weren't interested because of limited parking and lack of room for a drive-through window, Keefe said. Trinity hopes to attract three to five neighborhood businesses, such as a restaurant, coffee shop, or bank branch. Such businesses will help draw people into the square and create a sense of community, said Dan Larner, executive director of St. Mark's Area Main Streets, a nonprofit organization that works to revitalize business along Dorchester Avenue. Having homeowners as well as renters in the building will also increase the number of people with a vested interest in what happens to the neighborhood, he said. ''Right now, it is just a big, blank wasteland in front of the station," Larner said. ''We want to build up the square more as a place people want to spend time in." The dark, dreary MBTA station is slated to be replaced by a building with a dramatic sloping roof, brick walkways, and lots of natural light, designed to work together with the residential and retail project in spurring economic growth, supporters and officials said. The first phase of the $44 million station renovation, which includes new entrances, platforms, elevators, and security cameras, is underway and expected to be complete in 2008. Following asbestos abatement work, demolition could begin next month, depending on the weather, said MBTA spokesman Joe Pesaturo. Redesign of the trolley tracks is scheduled to begin in late spring or early summer and the MBTA will begin busing between Ashmont and Mattapan during that time, he said. Officials have worked to coordinate the construction schedules for the two projects to minimize the disturbance to the neighborhood. Keefe said if funding for the Trinity project is approved, construction could begin in March and be complete in just under two years. The station work will continue even if the neighboring building doesn't get the funding it needs, Pesaturo said. City Councilor Maureen Feeney said the support and need for the transit-oriented development is so strong that it will go forward. ''This will fill the missing tooth of the avenue while creating more vibrancy and activity and making it a more viable and exciting place to be," she said.

Ashmont TOD -Globe Editorial

GLOBE EDITORIAL

Ashmont opportunity

December 2, 2005

THE MODERNIZATION of the Ashmont MBTA Station in Dorchester offers an outstanding opportunity for the kind of transit-oriented development touted by the Romney administration. But a promising proposal by a local developer to build affordable apartments and commercial space between the T station and an adjacent stretch of Dorchester Avenue has fallen close to the third rail.

Last June, many Dorchester residents were disappointed to learn that the state had rejected an application for $3.2 million in state tax credits from Trinity Financial, which sought to build 105 units of mostly affordable rental housing simultaneously with the reconstruction of the station. The developer had argued in numerous neighborhood meetings that the six-story apartment complex would not only provide needed housing but reconnect the T station to Peabody Square, filling in an area that Dorchester City Councilor Maureen Feeney describes as a ''missing tooth" infected with crime and blight.

The T has been largely supportive of the initiative, seeing that an upgrade in the adjacent area would protect its roughly $35 million investment in the reconstruction of Ashmont Station, a connector serving 17,000 daily commuters. But the state's Office of Commonwealth Development balked at providing transit-oriented grants or significant tax credits for a development it deemed too costly at $48 million.

The Ashmont setback points to a potential weakness in the state's ''smart growth" policy of encouraging denser development along transportation routes. It is more costly to build in Boston than in the suburbs, a function of land values, oddly configured sites, union labor demands, permit requirements, underground parking, and other urban costs. Any sensible state policy should take such matters into account during the competition for smart growth grants. And Boston's willingness to site affordable housing over many decades without the kinds of incentives demanded by elected officials in the suburbs should also count for something.

The Trinity developers are responding to cost concerns. They propose raising the number of units to 116, which would include 42 condominiums, reducing some of the need for subsidies while still leaving 74 affordable rental units for families earning up to 60 percent of Boston's median income. But tax credits will still be needed for the developer to generate the equity to build the project.

The Romney administration is focused on exciting efforts to promote affordable housing through zoning reform in the suburbs. It's a great goal, but not one that should squeeze out a signature smart growth development along Dorchester Avenue.

Dorchester Reporter Editorial

It is to be hoped that the Boston Globe, whose neighborhood coverage has waned over the years,    will someday live up to the hype suggested by a new marketing campaign launched recently. However, a story in last Sunday's Globe about the debate over which community can lay claim to the first public school in Massachusetts, is symptomatic of the paper's continuing myopia when it comes to city neighborhoods- and Dorchester in particular.                    

Disgruntled Dorchester residents who challenged the Globe's failure to include Dorchester's       historic claim to having launched the first taxpayer  supported school in a story last weekend were told that Dorchester was important, but didn't make the article for space reasons. However, a shooting outside another Dorchester schoolhouse- the Winthrop- on Monday presented no such dilemma.

City violence belongs on page one, for certain. But some local readers are dismayed with  the         paper's posture towards the neighborhood in general, which too often invokes a negative tone.

An otherwise positive report in last Sunday's paper about the Epiphany school next to Shawmut MBTA station began with an anecdote about an alleged drug house next door. Throughout the piece, the Globe's pictured the school as an island outpost amidst a sea of crime and degradation. 

Another recent "puff" piece on the new Ashmont Grille restaurant  described it as being set in a "gritty" neighborhood. Earlier this year, a Globe-produced, online guide to the city, aimed at new college arrivals, excised the entire Dorchester neighborhood, leaving the clear message that there is nothing worth seeing, doing or buying in this part of the city.                    

It's no wonder that the most recent omission of Dorchester as a place with a serious claim as the birthplace of public education set off bells in our community.