By Meghann Ackerman, Staff Writer

Allston Brighton Tab, Friday, October 20, 2006
 
They're dreaming of a blue Allston, with a little bit of green thrown in.

With Harvard University planning expansion in North Allston, environmental groups such as the Charles River Watershed Association and the Green Space Advocates have been working with planners and community members to come up with ways to incorporate more nature into the neighborhood.

"Everybody wants the environment in this area to get better and not worse," said Pallavi Mande, an urban restoration specialist with the CRWA.

On Monday, the CRWA and Massachusetts Office of Coastal Zone Management held a five-hour workshop and community forum to discuss "building a blue Allston." Environmentally friendly building materials and creative ways to get more green space in urban areas were some of the topics discussed.

One project the CRWA has been looking at is daylighting - digging up - two buried streams in North Allston. One of the streams runs through the area where Harvard will be building its new science complex, and the other runs from the lagoon in Herter Park to the Charles River. Those two streams were discovered after CRWA looked into older maps of the neighborhood.

"We looked at what the neighborhood used to be before it was developed," said Mande.

Kate Bowditch, director of projects at the CRWA, urged residents to fight for less concrete and a more natural environment.

"It is one among many competing projects and needs," she said. "Residents who want this have to demand it."