Ashmont T Station

Station Repairs

The MBTA deserves credit for working to get all the turnstiles up and running in time for Tuesday morning's commute.  Regular riders were probably aware that at least one of the suckers was out of order every day last week.  let's keep our fingers crossed that the machines survive the "running of the high school students" next week.

I do not like to use this venue to bash the T for a number of reasons, especially since there are plenty of better read venues for T-based invective.  I would like to get more feedback from readers about getting the morning train to pull into the station, rather than idle just south of the station.  A number of readers have recalled that this problem was discussed during the design review and we were assured that the train would pull into the station to allow passengers to get out of the cold.....
I hope that the extra fare would at least merit that level of service....I'm just saying that it is cold out there. If you feel the same way or recall the same promise, write a comment here or let the MBTA know.  ( I would direct you to a link but honestly the MBTA comment policy seems to be in flux these days)

Website Updates

You may notice the right column of the website has some new features.  The ability of the web to do almost all our organization is fairly amazing. 

About a year ago I wanted some kind of web-based calender that did not cost $8000 and was easily updated by the public...voila, Google hands it our over their website.  The Google Calender option is a very easy tool to add your important neighborhood events. 

The other feature is a social networking map..centered in this case on Peabody Square, the emerging hotbed of the ...well...next BIG thing.  Again you are invited to add your own sites to the map.
I hope it helps.

Peabody Square - Design Update

The latest design, closely conforming to earlier versions, is shown below.  The design provides for access to several private properties at the periphery of the square and keeps intact the east and west side parcels that will be more pedestrian friendly.

Am I thrilled that there is a lane for truck deliveries by_____ 24? No, not really.  I know that the members of the Boston Transportation Department did everything but offer up their first born to get where we are, so I am grateful.  Overall the plan keeps the most important features which include a better sidewalk presence on the square. 

There are many issue that the community still needs to discuss.  The location of the art work, the types of paving, the types of greenery, the potential for sustainable materials and hopefully an attitude towards conservation of resources.  So far we have figured out how to get the cars, buses and people through the square.  Now we have to figure out how to make it useful....see you at the next meeting.

Finally I want to say thanks to Ralph DiNisco, BTD's project manager for Peabody Sqaure.  Without his interest and determination to make this a viable project, I doubt we would even have a design to look at. Ralph I owe you a beer, at least one.

 

 

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.

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. 

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.

Trinity's Proposed Building

all images courtesy of Trinity Financial.
These computer generated images show the new transit oriented development in context of Dot Ave.   The building's details may be viewed in the documents below.

Dorchester Loses While Suburbs Sprawl

-from Boston Metro June 21, 2005 edition

As summer starts residents, neighbors and commuters are waiting to see if the MBTA and Dept. of Housing and Community Development are going to fulfill their promise to make a world-class example of transit oriented development in Boston.