Wants Harvard to "Dazzle" Community

Allston Brighton Tab
Neighbors ‘completely dissatisfied’ with Harvard benefits plan
By Richard Cherecwich, Staff Writer
Thu Jan 10, 2008, 11:31 AM EST

Allston, Mass. - The Harvard-Allston Task Force is “completely dissatisfied” with the $21 million community benefits package proposed by Harvard, and will meet separately with both the Boston Redevelopment Authority and the university to discuss possible last-minute changes.

The package is part of a cooperation agreement that must be signed by both the city and Harvard before the school begins work on a $1 billion science complex on Western Avenue. The agreement will be signed in the next two weeks, BRA officials said.

The task force met in an executive session on Monday, Jan. 7, to discuss the package.

“Until Monday night, we didn’t know we were completely dissatisfied with this because we hadn’t talked about it,” Chairman Ray Mellone said at a task force meeting on Wednesday.
The meetings with the BRA and school are tentatively scheduled for the week of Jan. 14. Although they will be executive sessions with discussion between the task force, they will be open to the public, Mellone said.

Mellone acknowledged that the agreement would likely be signed whether or not the task force agrees on the benefits package, but both the BRA and Harvard agreed to meet to discuss possible changes.

“Let’s see if we can do anything to improve the way the package is put together,” Mellone said. “I don’t know if that’s going to be futile or not.”

The package includes $9.3 million for construction of new parks and improvements to sidewalks and streets in Allston, and $4.2 million for education projects, including an education portal offering math and science tutoring to Allston-Brighton children.

“This list that you have does represent what we believe to be a full program of benefits and we plan to move forward with Harvard. We have not moved forward yet,” said Michael Glavin, the BRA’s deputy director for institutional development.

Allston residents have sought larger-scale benefits from the project, including a university-sponsored community school. The BRA supports projects such as this, but they can’t be agreed to within the timeline for the science project, said BRA planner Gerald Autler.

The $21 million is only related to the 589,000-square-foot science complex, and more benefits will come as the school continues to expand into Allston in the next 50 years.

As the task force and community begin discussions for benefits associated with that long-term plan, Mellone wanted to make sure what he felt were past mistakes were not repeated. Other task force members agreed they were disappointed.

“I think what we wanted was to be able to dazzle our community,” said task force member Millie McGlaughlin. “Now we’re at a point where people don’t feel they did a good enough job for the community, and that’s difficult to hear, as a member of the community.”

Harvard officials said a benefits matrix drafted by the community influenced the package, and they want to build a partnership to continue into the future.

“We did not create and get to this place in the benefits agreement by calculating dollars associated with a building and an investment,” said Kathy Spiegelman, chief planner for Harvard’s Allston Development Group. “The expectation of 10 years past and 10 years forward is the university will continue to make investments in what the task force and community think are community benefits.”