WRCNA meeting, Spring 2007

The West Roxbury Neighborhood Association held its spring meeting on Monday, March 20, 2007. It was well attended, with 25 residents plus representatives from Rep. Malia's office, Councilor John Tobin's Office, Mayor Menino's Office, the Boston Police, and the Woodbourne Association.

Chair Bruce Walling opened the meeting, welcoming all and introducing Councilor John Tobin who recapped some of the important issues facing our area, specifically, the imminent sale of three parcels of land owned by the MBTA, the ongoing struggles to control public drinking/drunkenness near the station and outside of Forest Hills Liquors, and the recent approval by CPCAY of the plan for the Arborway Yard.

Some of the issues Councilor Tobin and his staff are working on as of now include working with BPD to control business district crime, removal of the T tracks which run down Centre/South streets (they are obsolete, even if a trolley returned, we'd need new tracks). The track removal is important for both current safety concerns (bicyclists in particular are affected) and for future beautification efforts which will not be feasible in advance of the track removals.

Councilor Tobin closed by noting that he holds office hours in area coffee shops on Saturday mornings. If you would like to speak with him or get more information, contact his aide, Seth Donlin at seth.donlin@cityofboston.gov

Residents continued the meeting, discussing the following:

One resident raised the question of commuter parking and if it is now needed on Bremen Terrace and possibly Orchard Hill Street. Lesley Delaney Hawkins from the Mayor's office will be getting WRCNA some information on the process for making a street resident-only parking and we can discuss it at a future meeting. One member was concerned that it would negatively impact the Church but typically resident stickers are only necessary during regular work hours (M-F) so it would likely not be a problem for the church.

JP Pond Association is working to get the state to reengineer the rotaries in our parkway system. For more information on this, contact Jake at Liz Malia's office.

The MBTA is putting 3 parcels out to bid, and this will require the City to re-zone them for new uses. The current planning process underway by BRA is addressing this, all residents are encouraged to participate and make their priorities known. The next meeting for the BRA process is Saturday morning, March 31. Contact John Dalzell at John.Dalzell.BRA@cityofboston.gov for more information.

While crime has been down over the winter months, residents were concerned that the return of spring will bring back problems with people hanging around the bus stop at the foot of Orchard Hill and drinking/littering the bottles. Residents are encouraged to call 9-1-1 to report any instances of this, and the E-18 police will help to discourage this.

Our next meeting will be in Fall, 2007. If you would like something to be posted here, please email it to Liz O'Connor at Liz@strategymatters.org