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The T's big embarrassment of the week has been the leaks at newly renovated Government Center. There's a much more minor leak at Forest Hills. At the Jamaica Plain station, T personnel have deployed what looks like plastic trash bags to catch a leak down a support column next to the turnstiles. Seems like a good interim fix, since it's keeping the water off the main floor.
JP has a tradition of shop cats and shop dogs. From Ivy at Ivy Insurance to Monkey at Pups N' Paradise and Lucy at AAA Appliances, fur-bearers fairly festoon our storefronts. A recent addition to the shop companion animal scene is Charlie at On Centre. Philip Celeste, who runs the 676 Centre St. gift shop, says Charlie is a Tibetan terrier who gets along well with customers.
Two years ago this week, we launched a new website covering the neighborhood. More than 900,000 page views later, we'd like to thank everyone who's read us, written for us, talked to us as sources and advertised with us. Readers might not know that the name "Jamaica Plain News" is a nod to the neighborhood’s first newspaper. It was published from 1872 to 1932 by the Jamaica Printing Co., according to the JP Historical Society. A Centre Street storefront was packed two Aprils ago when we held a launch party in the space that's now the home of Hatched.
If you want evidence why the city has finally launched a long-awaited planning effort for JP, look no further than this eye-popping prediction: Planners expect the Washington Street corridor to see population growth of as much as 2.5 times current levels. That possibility was among the top topics of discussion last Monday as the first neighborhood review of the proposed development guidelines at the Egleston Square Neighborhood Association monthly meeting. Chaired by Alvin Shiggs and Carolyn Royce; the discussion was led by Sue Pranger. Marie Mercurio, senior planner for Jamaica Plain and coordinator of Plan JP/Rox, was joined by her colleague Tim Davis, senior housing advisor for the Boston Redevelopment Authority, to answer questions and clarify concerns about the draft development guidelines. The planning push is a once-in-a-generation effort to shape the neighborhood's future.
At a brief formal meeting of the Zoning Board of Appeals on Tuesday, Yale Terrace residents made a plea that Bicon Dental Implants document exactly what it does in its brick building at 501 Arborway. The property does not appear to have permits allowing the dental clinic or professional school activities it advertises as taking place there. ZBA chair Christine Araujo referred the matter to the city law department. Speaking to the JP News the next day, Yale Terrace resident and plaintiff's spokesperson Gerry O'Connor, who is also an attorney, said that the long effort to simply require Bicon to file an accurate occupancy permit is not over. He said the hearing was brief; Vincent Morgan, DMD, president of Bicon [which has a staff of 15 dentists, technicians and hygienists] was there but didn't speak, and about 20 Yale Terrace residents attended.
The once-in-a-generation planning effort that goes by the name "Plan JP/Rox" has started to produce specifics about what our neighborhood will look like. "We've listened to you. Now it's time to respond to you with your ideas wrapped up into planning policies," announced senior BRA architect John Dalzell at a packed Saturday morning workshop, the fifth in a series which began in September 2015 to plan the future of the Washington Street corridor from Forest Hills to Jackson Square. Because there's so much information to digest, we've broken down this report into several posts. You can read about overarching concerns here in this story.
The once-in-a-generation planning effort that goes by the name "Plan JP/Rox" has started to produce specifics about what our neighborhood will look like. For Forest Hills, the transformation is already well underway. Forest Hills: "Forest Hills is another gateway to the neighborhood," said Dalzell. " A large portion of it will come to the city from the MBTA" when the Arborway Yard is subdivided. "More housing.
The once-in-a-generation planning effort that goes by the name "Plan JP/Rox" has started to produce specifics about what our neighborhood will look like. Here's the vision for Green Street. Green Street: This area between Amory and Washington Street is identified as neighborhood commercial center of mixed use buildings and "21st century commercial business" spaces are proposed for the rear of the BMS paper company at 3390 Washington Street and at Amory Street next to Bartlett Square I where the Interstate Trucking yards are located. "The most important part of this," said John Dalzell, a senior architect for the Boston Redevelopment Authority, "is a need for mixed commercial business on the ground floor. Some business are new and don't have that obnoxious quality about them."
The once-in-a-generation planning effort that goes by the name "Plan JP/Rox" has started to produce specifics about what our neighborhood will look like. Here's a vision for Egleston Square. Egleston Square: "It's characterized by access to parks," said John Dalzell, a senior architect for the Boston Redevelopment Authority, "but what also seems to be emerging is a new commercial area northerly of the square." That's toward Westminster Avenue
Seven scattered development areas are proposed for multi-family residential buildings over retail or cultural ground floors ranging in height from 4-6 stories. One suggested new residential location includes 3012 Washington Street at Westminster Avenue, owned by the Eizabeth Stone House.
The once-in-a-generation planning effort that goes by the name "Plan JP/Rox" has started to produce specifics about what our neighborhood will look like. Here are the ideas being put forward for Jackson Square. Jackson Square: "A neighborhood gateway that anchors a lot of businesses," said John Dalzell, a senior architect for the Boston Redevelopment Authority. "It has a clear residential character along Columbus Avenue [and] that is where housing focus should be." There are five areas in the plan with a high spine from Dimock Street along Columbus Avenue.