Opinion :: Letters
Letter to the Editor: UPNA respondsWednesday Sep 3, 2008To
the editor:
This letter is intended to clarify
misunderstandings regarding the Pine Street Inn’s proposal to
develop a large complex on Upton Street. As indicated below, our
neighborhood is utterly exasperated with Pine Street’s negotiating
tactics.
First, Pine Street presented its plan to the
neighborhood in June 2007. More than 100 neighbors appeared at the
meeting to hear the plan for a 15,000-square-foot 30-something ("30
to 40") single room occupancy complex. Based on the feedback of the
neighbors, Pine Street said that it would come back with a smaller
plan. It did not. And it continues to refuse to make a complex
smaller in size than its original three building "30-something"
single room occupancy plan.
A meeting between some neighbors
and Pine Street took place in February of 2008. It was at this
meeting that Pine Street made clear that any criticism of the plan
would be met with anti-homeless claims against the neighborhood.
Soon after the meeting, Pine Street embarked on a campaign to
circumvent neighborhood involvement in its proposed development
through the creation of a group to "welcome itself" to the
neighborhood, production of buttons and newspaper advertisements
critical of the neighborhood. Pine Street also recruited individuals
to contact newspapers and politicians and advocate that Pine Street
should have the right to develop whatever it wants, wherever it
wants, with no neighborhood input.
The Pine Street position
that the neighborhood finds most disconcerting is that it need not
address any concerns of the neighborhood since it has the support of
City Hall. Such a position flies in the face of the reason
neighborhood associations are created and supported by mayors of
Boston.
Neighborhoods are the eyes and ears of the
city. And just as a neighborhood provides information to the city,
it acts as a conduit for information, the city needs to provide to
its citizens. Neighborhoods are partners in the battles against
crime and trash, as well as crucial pillars in the attempt to
improve our city’s schools. It is both understandable and typical
for neighborhood associations to be consulted before major decisions
are made by the city or developers such as Pine Street that have an
extraordinary effect on small streets. But that did not happen in
this case.
Recently, because of concerns about divisive
discourse in the press, both sides agreed to keep Pine Street’s
revised plan and the discussions regarding it confidential. But just
two days later, Pine Street was touting its plan to a group outside
the neighborhood and the South End News.
Communication
challenges did not end there. More recently, Pine Street and Hope
House (the current landowners) scheduled a hearing before the Boston
Licensing Board to receive approval to operate three buildings on
Upton Street as rooming houses. This happened after Pine Street
wrongly insisted that no approvals were necessary to operate its
complex. Even more insulting to the neighborhood, Pine Street only
notified its supporters, primarily outside the neighborhood, about
the hearing.
Finally, Pine Street justifies its
dismissal of neighborhood concerns with the statement: "We have
answered the neighborhood’s questions." Our neighborhood asked Pine
Street to consider reducing the size of its complex and increasing
proposed supervision. Yes, Pine Street answered that question - with
a resounding NO!
At this point, Pine Street refuses to
discuss the proposed complex with the neighborhood. Only City Hall
can stand in the way of Pine Street’s campaign to shame the
neighborhood into submission. This neighborhood remains resolute
that Pine Street’s solutions for the homeless work for neighborhoods
such as ours. And this neighborhood will not forget the divisive
actions that brought us to this point.
Union Park
Neighborhood Association
Jerry Frank, President
James Alan
Fox, Vice President
Mary Bottella Knickle, Treasurer
Leslie
Frank, Secretary
David Bonilla
Kevin Cole
Don
Fleming
Sue Ann Fox
Jim Hammelberg
H. Norman
Knickle
Chris Mastrangelo
Erica Mastrangelo
Bill
McIntosh
Beverly Sky
Bob Williams
Editor’s note:
The South End News initially learned of the Pine Street Inn’s
revised proposal about a week after it was offered to the Union Park
Neighborhood Association representatives, from an email sent to the
members of the Welcoming Committee. We then confirmed that
information with the Pine Street Inn.
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