At biolab forum, divides remain deep
They announced the project in 2003, and BU scientists and officials had initially hoped to be studying the world's deadliest germs at the National Emerging Infectious Diseases Laboratories at Boston University Medical Center by now. Instead, they were cramming into Roxbury Center for Arts at Hibernian Hall Tuesday night for the first locally hosted meeting of the scientific panel charged with overseeing an environmental review of the lab.
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After local activists and public interest groups filed a lawsuit in 2006, a federal judge found the original environmental study for the lab to be inadequate, and the state required BU to address the study's shortcomings. Last November, a 16-member scientific advisory board, called the Blue Ribbon Panel, was charged with independently assessing the lab. The panel's members - doctors and scientists from across the country - were also tasked with bridging the communication gap between the institutions and the lab's detractors.
The advisory board, which hopes to make its recommendations to the National Institutes of Health by late 2009, started the meeting by posing questions to the crowd about how best to inform and educate the public on the lab and how the NIH and BU can seek the public's views about the lab's operation and oversight.
BU environmental health professor Patricia Hynes took exception to the first question: "How can institutions most effectively reach out to local communities and educate about these laboratories?"
"The way it's phrased presumes the community is ignorant and the university is the savant, or the more knowledgeable of the two," Hynes told the assembly. "Education is a two-way street. I'd like to rephrase the question: 'How can communities most effectively reach out to local universities to educate them?' "
While the crowd of more than 300 shouted down panel members at several points, panel members grew frustrated that some in the community don't believe biological weapons won't be created at the lab. Panel chairman Adel Mahmoud of Princeton University reiterated that BU will not work on government classified projects there and that the development of biological weapons is unlawful.
The lab's purpose "is to reduce damage of biological threats, or better yet, prevent them," he said. "I really, really plead with you to try to appreciate the definition of the two, because if we continue the same six years of debate we are not going to get anywhere."
Still, some audience members questioned the panel's independence.
"We're not here to rubber-stamp anybody or any organization in this country," Mahmoud said. "We are here to be honest brokers to understand risk and help bridge gaps within the community involved in this process."
City Councilors Charles Yancey, Chuck Turner, Sam Yoon, and Michael Flaherty, who had met a few days earlier with a group of biolab opponents, also spoke out against the lab at the meeting. Flaherty called Boston's evacuation plans "a joke" and said a mere snowstorm can paralyze the city, let alone a biolab emergency. He questioned plans to deliver toxins to the lab via commercial services such as
In an interview after the meeting, Flaherty, who is rumored to be considering a mayoral run, said he had reversed positions on the lab in 2005 after watching New Orleans fail to evacuate after Hurricane Katrina.
Roughly 300 public and private meetings about the lab have taken place since 2003.
Some believe the opportunity to mend divisions has passed. "They didn't care what we thought, what our interests were in deciding," longtime activist Mel King said. "Now you're saying [the NIH] asked us to come before you with the same institutions that would not listen before. And you're saying [BU] is going to do the right thing now, and we're supposed to believe that?"
While some thought Tuesday's forum was more productive than previous ones, others feel neither side will convince the other.
"There's nobody neutral to make sure we get the proper information, correct information, not misguided information," Roxbury resident Donovan Walker said.
Others wonder what the community would do with information on the scientifically complex project, even if it was more consumable.
"We need more than information," Prasannan Parthasarathi of Newton said. "What are we going to do with this information? What if we object to it, what are we going to do about it? We have no power."
ROSLINDALE
Competing visions for idle T substation
Three developers submit proposals
Three Boston developers with different philosophies for redeveloping the former MBTA substation are competing to transform the fortress-like building that has loomed over Roslindale Square for four decades.
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On Oct. 7, the Boston Redevelopment Authority received proposals from Urbanica Design + Development, WaterMark Construction & Development Inc. and Diamond Sinacori, LLC. All three call for restaurants in the building at 4228 Washington St.
The dining room, however, is where the developers depart:
Built in 1911, the substation hasn't powered trolleys since the T stopped running streetcars in the city's southern sections in the late 1960s.
The building was entangled in a legal dispute between the T and a previous developer for the last few years that was ultimately decided by the Supreme Judicial Court. The BRA acquired the 6,291-square-foot building last June and issued a request for proposals in August seeking retail, office, community and cultural use for a site.
In addition to the uncertain real estate market, redevelopment of the substation presents challenges such as lack of parking. And while the pending preservation tax credits could offset the cost of restoring the building, they come with a stringent set of aesthetic restrictions.
"Not breaking the space into smaller spaces, that gives you a good chance to get the [historical] designation," said Zahedi, whose company recently converted historic police stations in the South End and Somerville, as well as a Belmont firehouse, into condo. "Dividing it into smaller units takes away the integrity of the landmark status.
Zahedi concluded that offices on the site aren't fiscally feasible in the current real estate market.
Diamond, however, spoke with Roslindale residents working from home who would like offices nearby. "There's a clear demand for office space," said Diamond, who gained a preservation tax credit for condos called The Waterworks at Chestnut Hill near Boston College. .
Diamond also said the community is looking for more foot traffic during the day rather than at night.
Goodman, however, pointed to Roslindale's new zoning code, which was cemented in June and allows for more live entertainment operating after 10:30 p.m.
"I reached out to Darryl because the Beehive is such an incredible, wonderful space and [the substation] has a lot of elements that could generate excitement, generate traffic and put a spring in people's step," Goodman said. "It would certainly extend traffic into the evening and night rather than everything rolling up at 9 o'clock."
But the traditionally sleepy community recently shot down the Birch Street Bistro's plans to offer live music on its patio on a regular basis. Goodman doesn't have plans for music on his roof deck, but he acknowledged he will likely face concerns about putting a night hotspot next to F.J. Higgins Funeral Home.
"The truth is it's a long road, we're one of three proposals," Goodman said. "The BRA doesn't have to accept any of them. If it becomes a couple steps more real, we'll sit down and try to talk about hopes for the space and restrictions for the space to make sure we're good neighbors."
All three proposals will be presented to the public during a Nov. 5 meeting at the Roslindale Community Center.
To Carter Wilkie, Roslindale Village Main Streets president, the project marks the neighborhood's coming of age. He noted that takeout joints were the only restaurants in Roslindale 10 years ago.
"It's sort of like a keystone getting dropped in by a mason; he gets the sides done and then drops in the largest piece at the end," Wilkie said of the substation's redevelopment. "And that's where we are with the business district. A lot of work has taken place over the last 23 years to build up the sides."
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