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The mayor and the waterfront
By adamg on Tue, 12/11/2007 - 12:30pm
Tom Menino gave a speech at the Chamber of Commerce this morning over at the waterfront Westin. Jay Fitzgerald and Seth Gitell provide the coverage; Fitzgerald focuses on Hizzona's plans to keep Boston competitive (green technologies) and move City Hall to the Waterfront (hah - you think Menino's forgotten about that?); Gitell adds details on Menino's continued support for the BU biolab.
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Comments
Biolab: YES!
Enough with the "controversy".
Let them build it.
Everyone else, shut it.
Jiminy Cricket!!!
Go ahead and build it
In the middle of the BU campus, in the midst of their student body and faculty.
They've had no problem finding land around Comm Ave for other new buildings, but have magically determined that a poor minority community miles away is the best place for them to play around with Ebola.
They are
You see, BU has 2 major campuses: River and BUMC. Building it next to the new BU dorms, while a juvenile and witless sentiment, would be useless, since the music majors don't need access to the facility. They're building it at the hospital where the staff and knowledge can transfer readily between the two.
This is going right behind my lab space at BUMC. I'm not crying about it. Of course, I'm in the field, so I know that what they do is both necessary and safe. The rest of the public doesn't wish to understand that...so they break out the pitchforks and torches and want to kill Frankenstein's monster.
Miles away? Do you even live in Boston? It's ~3 miles between the two campuses even using Boston's convoluted streets (a bit over 2 miles as the crow flies). The BSL-4 lab will be as close to Back Bay as it is to the center of Roxbury. The prevailing winds would blow any contaminant over South Boston (predominantly white) more than it would over Roxbury/Dorchester (predominantly black/Hispanic).
There's nothing magical or unpredictable about this location or the measures taken to control any potential issues. Stop fearmongering.
Educate yourself
http://web.mit.edu/ssp/bsl4/index.html
Then again, who knows, maybe MIT is in cahoots with BU to lie to us all!?!
Sigh.
Neither the waterfront or
Neither the waterfront or Dudley Square have rapid transit service. They have a multibillion dollar bus system that offers a bumpy, uncomfortable ride in cramped conditions that make the B Line look enviable. Not to mention the route headed to Dudley Square is notorious for being unreliable.
On top of that, the waterfront is turning into a suburban office-park style area along the lines of Kendall Square. I don't see why anyone would want to relocate city hall to an area seemingly destined to have similarly bleak street life.
The BU biolab is in the BU Medical Center
The BU biolab is located in the South End because that's where the BU Medical Center and all of BU's other biomedical research buildings are. There are plenty of students, staff, and faculty on the medical campus, myself included.
The Mayor's Speech about the Waterfront
I think that was a great speech, one of the best the Mayor
has given since he was elected. Very well written and delivered, covered all the main points.
Well Done!!