"She Opposes Everything"

State Representative Opposes Claims She Opposes Everything
By Thomas GrilloReporter
State Rep. Martha M. Walz is in her second term representing Boston’s Back Bay, West End, Beacon Hill and Cambridgeport neighborhoods.

Attend any community meeting in Boston’s downtown neighborhoods and you’ll find state Rep. Martha M. Walz somewhere in the room. In her second term in the Massachusetts House of Representatives, Walz is the neighborhood’s voice when it comes to development. She has questioned the height of 888 Boylston St., Boston Properties’ office building proposal; fought Suffolk University’s plan to turn a vacant Beacon Hill building into student housing; and spoken out against public financing for the Columbus Center project in Boston.

While she gets high praise from neighborhood activists, members of Mayor Thomas M. Menino’s administration privately say that she’s against everything. Walz represents Back Bay, Beacon Hill, the West End and Cambridgeport. She also works as an attorney at Littler Mendelson, where she advises clients on employee law.

Walz graduated from Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government, New York University School of Law and Colgate University.

Q: Some at City Hall say that you oppose any development in Boston. Can you name any projects that you favored at the height the developer’s requested?

A: I did not oppose the height of the Beal Co. project at 131 Clarendon St. [The 9-story building with 350 housing units is under construction.] It all comes down to whether or not a developer has a plan that makes sense for the site and the community. If they do, then height is not a problem. But if the proposal is too tall, I’ll work to get it reduced. It’s disingenuous for anyone to suggest I oppose everything.

Q: You are among the loudest voices in opposition to Columbus Center [the $800 million project that would be built on a deck over the Massachusetts Turnpike in the South End. It would feature a 35-story glass tower and four 11-story buildings that will house 451 condominiums, a hotel and 917 parking spaces.]

A: That’s not true. My comments in the last few years about Columbus Center have related exclusively to the question of public financing. Once the Boston Redevelopment Authority approved the project, I haven’t said a word in opposition to the project itself. I object to the taxpayers subsidizing the profits of a developer.

Q: But why wouldn’t a developer take advantage of public financing?

A: Because the developer [Roger Cassin] got increased height and density in exchange for a promise not to accept public subsidies. [Cassin denies a promise was made.]

Q: But it still doesn’t sound like you supported the 1.3 million-square-foot proposal. You were a member of the Neighborhood Association of the Back Bay and they opposed it, correct?

A: Yes. NABB opposed it. I did not support approval because I thought more changes should have been made. The design could have been improved and the height on parcel 16 should have been further reduced, and there’s too much on-site parking. I want something built there; the question is what kind of development. I have asked the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority to move forward with a Request for Proposals for the air rights parcel at Massachusetts Avenue and Boylston Street. I also support John Rosenthal’s air rights project in Kenmore Square.

Q: You opposed Suffolk University dorms for 20 Somerset St. on Beacon Hill.

A: I opposed the dorm. But I was not against the school putting an academic building there. It suits developers and those who work with them to paint people in the community as always opposing things, when the facts prove that assertion to be wrong.

Q: You are against Boston Properties’ effort to increase the height of their proposed building at 888 Boylston St. from 11 to 19 stories. A: I favor the approved building at 11 stories.

Q: What about the AvalonBay Communities’ plan for a 30-story residential tower on Exeter Street?

A: I don’t have a point of view on that one. It’s easy for people to paint elected officials and community activists as opponents of everything. But the facts are quite different than the stereotypes that they try to create to suit their own agendas.

Q: The Prudential Center has tall buildings. This is a city. If skyscrapers can’t be built there, then where?

A: There are plenty of locations that are appropriate for tall buildings. No one is arguing that we shouldn’t have height. I have not objected to anything downtown. That’s where they belong.