Development Opponents Force Postponement

by Michael Liu
3/30/02

Three months after a public hearing on a proposed luxury housing development, community residents and organizers in Boston Chinatown have forced the developers of to postpone their Zoning Board hearings for five months. Even as the cityås Boston Redevelopment Authority (BRA) tried to arrange a negotiation process, the grassroots opponents vowed to continue their campaign.

A wave of downtown megaproject construction that has reached the neighborhood has alarmed residents and community organizations. The proposed Liberty Place project is a multi-building 30 story development inside the borders of a Master Plan signed between Boston Chinatown and the BRA in 1990. Liberty Place proposes a height three times the zoning guidelines. The residents fear greater gentrification. The BRA has nevertheless been pushing the project.

To fight the alliance between city government and development money, opponents have mounted a steadily intensifying campaign. After 100 residents showed up to denounce the project at a Jan. 22 hearing, they have organize d support across the city. A Car Jam Day, intended to demonstrate the effect of Liberty Placeås 350 additional cars on the neighborhood, tied up traffic throughout the area in early March.

The Boston Globe penned an editorial in support of the protestors. Last week, Kevin Fitzgerald, the parking lot king and primary investor in the project, circulated a letter accusing community organizers of vandalizing one of his properties to flood the area and called them, "urban terrorists."

The campaign has reverberated throughout the city. Kathy Brown of the Boston Tenants Coalition proclaimed that Chinatown has "revived the affordable housing issue in the city." Roxbury, the heart of the Boston African American community, and Chinatown has been providing mutual support around each otherås neighborhood master planning processes.

Chinatown organizers plan to take a little breather after their latest victory, but they are under no illusions about their need to organize.