At BRA planning session, Jamaica Plain residents insist: Keep JP quirks

15 years... seriously? The MBTA bus yard, known as the Arborway Yard (named after the road which the now-demolished Casey Overpass carried) has been in that location since the early 1900s. For a very short period of time, the Orange line had a feeder track that allowed trains to reach a surface storage and repair shop. In those days the Orange line was on an elevated steel structure that went down the middle of Washington Street. That shop was later built at the south end of the track ending near Hyde park ave and Walk Hill Street. That vacant land there was once the Orange Line shops.

Arborway yard served as a streetcar and bus storage and repair facility for quite a long time. In fact when the current Forest hills station was built in the mid-80s (and Orange line depressed into the current trench) the streetcar tracks were routed through it. That's why there were streetcar tracks where you boarded the #39 bus. It was originally intended to be a continuation of the streetcar "E" line, which the MBTA later reneged on restoring after the station construction. The "E" line now stops at Heath Street. It originally continued to Forest Hills/Arborway.

After the streetcar and bus repair shops were demolished and the operations moved elsewhere, the current configuration emerged as a bus storage and fueling facility. The intent has been to make this more permanent from the "temporary" configuration. Note "configuration" is a key word here. There has never been any plan to move this yard elsewhere. That was the mindset of other people who would like to see this area changed from an industrial zone to a residential or mixed zone.

Indeed the suggestion to move it to American Legion Highway will conflict with *that* neighborhood's efforts to keep the proposed land an urban wild, pitting neighbor against neighbor. Awesome.

So to be clear the current configuration is at least 25-30 years old but goes back decades before that as a bus and streetcar marshaling yard.

The evolution of housing and other businesses in that area were the result of people seeking to live or work near a transit hub, an idea which is not new what so ever but currently getting a lot of vibe as "transit-oriented development," a new buzz phrase suggesting a new idea but actually a concept that goes back to the wild west and steam trains, and possibly earlier still.

Ummm, that has been there my whole life and I am over 40.

Then build more of it. Doesn't matter what kind. Just build. This is economics 101. Adding to the supply to meet demand reduces the price for everyone.

If there's a demand for luxury housing, build that. People who want luxury housing will move out of older housing, thus reducing competition for the older housing and stabilizing prices.

If there's a demand for moderately priced housing, let developers build that. That means letting them do things that keep costs down. Higher density. Taller buildings. Fewer parking spots. Smaller units. Less outdoor space for residents. Faster permitting times. Extended construction hours. All of those things add to the costs of development. And yet the "affordable housing advocates" are often the very same people who want low density, high parking, dozens of neighborhood meetings, etc., etc.

If you really want more affordable housing on that corridor, fight for an easy permitting process that will let high density projects with limited housing fly through in record time. In return, ask developers to target specific rents or prices. Work with developers to understand the cost structures of development and work collaboratively lower costs so that the end results can be more affordable. Don't be another know nothing "advocate" with an axe to grind who shows up at these meetings demanding financially impossible projects.

can remember the trauma of urban decay and violent crime wave that began in this period. Many also remember how the violent street crime issue was basically covered up in the 70s, 80s into the 90s, pre-internet revolution. The media of that era, along with city government concerned with especially property values (real estate interests are one of the top 3 special interest groups, and campaign contributors), were complicit in, dare I use the word conspiracy, in this egregious whitewash of what was a terrible tragedy, not just for JP and Boston, but urban America in general.

BTW:

That land that was going to be used for I-695 sat empty, desolate, decayed from the edge of the South End up to Forest Hills for DECADES.