Hello –
Hope this message finds you in warm spirits. Thank you to all of those who made it to the Plan: Dudley Square meeting on 11/21. We made it loud and clear that Roxbury Residents want development without displacement, or no development. Reclaim Roxbury will not be hosting a community meeting on an anti-displacement strategy December 1st at Roxbury Community College as planned. Instead, we ask all of you to come out and make your voice heard at the Boston Redevelopment Authorities public meeting on Parcel 3-Tremont Crossing http://www.bostonplans.org/projects/development-projects/tremont-crossing-(p-3), this Thursday Dec. 1st 6:15pm – 7:45pm at Central Boston Elders Services 2315 Washington Street. The BRA will be speaking about the impacts of the project on the neighborhood.
Reclaim Roxbury has been watching development projects proposed by the Boston Redevelopment Agency/BPDA in Roxbury closely to make sure Roxbury Residents will not be displaced as a result of the City’s plans. At the last Plan: Dudley Square meeting the BRA/BPDA said publicly that they are committed to development without displacement – we are committed to holding them to that.
“Tremont Crossing” is a proposed project at the corner of Tremont and Whittier St near Ruggles Station that is currently under review for development. It will bring almost 700 units of housing to the Lower Roxbury area. Only 13% of the units are planned to be affordable, and they will only be affordable for families with one or more children if they have incomes of $60,000 to $70,000 a year. Yet the majority of families in Roxbury have incomes in the range of $25,000 a year. More than 600 units will be market rate units for about $2000 or more a month. As it stands, this project will further gentrify Roxbury and speed up the displacement of current Roxbury Residents. What’s worse, the developers of Tremont Crossing/P3, Feldco Development, plan to use 90,000 square feet of space in the new project to build a BJ’s Wholesale Club and other retails with similar low wages. This means not only will residents be displaced, but they will be given mostly low paying jobs that will make it harder to afford their own communities. We support the Elma Lewis Partners’ plans for a National Center for Afro-American Artists. But we do not support Feldco’s plan that will displace Afro-American people and other minorities that have historically lived in Roxbury
Come out on Thursday Dec. 1st at 6:15pm and make it clear that we want development WITHOUT displacement and good paying jobs. Bring a neighbor or friend. Stay tuned for the next Reclaim Roxbury meeting.
I look forward to seeing you there,
Armani – Reclaim Roxbury Organizing Committee
For more information on Parcel 3:
http://www.bostonplans.org/news-calendar/calendar/2016/12/01/parcel-p-3-project-review-committee-meeting