CRWA in the News

Everett Street facelift coming

By Paul Reyns, correspondent

Allston Brighton TAB, Wednesday, June 20, 2007

Allston - Ever since the city of Boston worked on Everett Street in July 2005, David McNair thinks twice about walking it with his 2-year-old daughter, Lauren. Instead, he often cuts through St. Anthony’s School and winds his way up to Raymond Street , a route that runs parallel to Everett .

“You’re pushing your daughter in a stroller and you want to have some feeling of security — and there’s absolutely none,” McNair said about Everett .

McNair, who has lived on Bagnal Street — one block east of Everett in Allston — for nearly 12 years, remembers a time when the street was safer, prior to the city’s renovation. “Before they reconditioned the street and repaved it, it was so bumpy that the cars were slower,” he said. “There also used to be an actual sidewalk with a curb. It was in bad shape, but at least there was a real sidewalk and it had a curb.”

Harry Mattison, another local, agreed. “I walk down Everett with my two kids and two dogs almost every day,” he said. “I don’t feel safe, because there is no curb on most of Everett and the sidewalk slopes down to the street.”

Safety was one of many issues raised Monday night at a workshop at St. Anthony’s in Allston to discuss possible greening ideas and general renovations for Everett Street . Organized by the Allston-Brighton Community Development Corporation, the “Everett Street Greening Workshop” was the first of a series of three public meetings that will continue through the summer.

Stephanie Hurley, a landscape designer for the Charles River Watershed Association, told around 30 local citizens, politicians and property managers who gathered in St. Anthony’s about successful projects in Portland , Ore. , and Seattle , Wash. In these cities, she explained, the government and community members collaborated to design streetscapes that manage water runoff in natural ways — by letting it soak and evaporate in planted strips on the roads without piping it, along with accumulated dirt and trash, directly to rivers. These projects also addressed the issue of safety by providing pathways for bicyclists and pedestrians. Hurley showed pictures of several of the residential streets snaking through lush vegetation.

Although street greening has already been implemented in Portland and Seattle , Everett Street is considered a pilot project for Boston .

“I think having the attitude that it’s a pilot project will be motivating for the design aspect,” Hurley said. “If you really make the pilot project work, it will be an example and a gateway for subsequent projects.”

At several meetings held over the last two years, green space advocates have already identified Market Street and Brooks Street as areas to focus on next, according to Heather Knopsnyder, the open space community organizer for the CDC. She said that these streets were picked because they are major thoroughfares in Allston that connect the community to the Charles River . The CDC will hold workshops meetings in July and August to begin designing proposals for them.

“It’s going to be a long process, but I think the city is going in the same direction,” Heather said. “I’m very hopeful. There’s a lot of talk about creating sustainable neighborhoods in Boston , and I think this fits right in.”

On Monday, Knopsnyder and Kate Jordan, the AmeriCorps open space community organizer for the CDC, extended the discussion portion of the workshop to accommodate eager input. While McNair and Mattison raised concerns about pedestrian safety, Tim McHale focused on aesthetics. “I’d love to see green corridors connecting institutions and running through our commercial districts,” said McHale, who has lived two blocks west of Everett on Litchfield Street for 34 years. “The more green space it gives its residents, the better off a city is.” 

There are already plans in place to beautify the street while creating additional parking. On July 1, Bill Wertz, a local property manager, will begin building a new parking lot at 95 Everett , which he described with enthusiasm. “We’ll have 14 brick columns around the parking lot,” said Wertz. “We’ll have landscaping and islands. We’ll have reserve spots for motorcycle parking and additional parking for the commercial buildings.” Wertz added that he will work “very closely” with the CDC and the Charles River Watershed Association.

Even with all of these varying interests among community members going into the same proposal, not to mention that whatever proposal results from the workshops will still have to meet city approval, Hurley is hopeful. “I think that if the community turns out strongly in support of this idea, it has a good chance of going through,” she said. “One of the big things that came up [at the meeting on Monday] was the actual connection to the river at the end of Everett Street . If that is a safe, green access place to the river over Soldiers Field Road , then the rest of the street will seem more practical.”

McNair put the issue of practicality a different way. “There are all sorts of problems with Everett ,” he said. “But it’s not too much to ask to have a sidewalk you can walk on.”