A waterfront residents group, Preserve Boston’s Waterfront, is actively soliciting signatures on a petition to oppose the Downtown Waterfront Municipal Harbor Plan. As of this writing, the petition has about 300 signatures with a deadline of April 9th.
PreserveBostonsWaterfront.org was created by local residents who oppose the City’s development proposals for the Harbor Garage and the surrounding waterfront neighborhood. “The Municipal Harbor Plan ignores some of the real needs for the public realm,” says Joanne Hayes-Rines, one of the residents spearheading this grassroots effort. “Where is the much-needed ferry terminal? Where is the continuous Harborwalk from Columbus Park to the Moakley Bridge? Where is a traffic plan, without which the hundreds of additional vehicles each day will bring traffic to a standstill. Building with no transportation infrastructure plan = the Seaport and resultant traffic chaos. Can the City of Boston and the State of Massachusetts not learn from their mistakes?”
The City’s Municipal Harbor Plan includes, in part:
- permitting a 600’ tower on the site of the Harbor Garage.
- permitting 70% lot coverage with only 30% open space on the Harbor Garage site. Decades-old regulations protecting the waterfront allow for only 50% lot coverage.
- permitting a 305’ tower and 70% lot coverage on the Hook Lobster site.
The group asks those who want to see the Downtown Waterfront development be the best it can be to join with nearly 300 citizens and sign a petition to Governor Baker asking that he not approve the MHP in its current form. The group’s web site includes a list of the contact information for the Government and other elected officials.
If you would like to join this group and sign the petition, go to http://
Deadline for submission is the end of business on Monday, April 9.
