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Residential Web-coding program for 14 young women approved in Roxbury
By adamg on Tue, 07/30/2024 - 6:00pm
The Zoning Board of Appeal today approved plans to convert a long unoccupied Victorian and its carriage house at 43 Hutchings St. in Roxbury into a residential Web-programming school for 14 young women - over the objections of neighbors, who say they want to keep their street a place of single-family homes rather than a place where do-gooders can dump yet more transitional housing.
G{Code}, the brainchild of Bridgette Wallace, who owns the Hutchings Street house, and her daughter, Madison, currently offers online classes in Web-development topics and data analytics, aimed at Black, Brown, indigenous young women and non-binary people of color, to help them break into Web-related fields they might otherwise not have a chance to get into.
Under the plan approved by the board in a 5-2 vote, the non-profit will renovate the interior of the main house and carriage house to create classrooms, meeting spaces and seven bedrooms with two beds each for a residential coding program for students between 18 and 25. The upper floor of the carriage house will be turned into an apartment for a program director. In addition to coding classes, students would also take life-skills classes covering such things as dietary and mental-health topics.
Nearby residents, though, blasted the plan, saying the last thing their street full of single-family homes is a "commercial"venture based on yet more transitional housing.
Christina Hahn said the board should reject the "spot zoning" and help the neighborhood preserve its "family" character.
Marilyn Chase, a former assistant secretary for health and human services for the state, who helped open the first residential shelter program in Roxbury, said that while G{Code}'s online program seems to have worked, she is not convinced that Wallace has the advanced skills need to running a residential program for 14 young women.
Wallace, and her attorney, Andrew Baldizon, said the house is not a sober home or even transitional housing - even though one of the uses for which the project needed board approval was for "transitional housing." Wallace said that's just how the zoning code is written, but if anything, the house will be more akin to cohousing, which even Boston is beginning to look at at a way to curb housing costs.
In addition to City Councilor Tania Fernandes Anderson (Roxbury), the Garrison-Trotter Neighborhood Association supported the proposal.
Hutchings Street residents, however, said the neighborhood association doesn't represent them - and that the vote to support the project was at a meeting for which the date was changed without alerting them and that, in any case, only dues-paying members can vote.
Board members Norm Stembridge, Giovanny Valencia, Hansy Better Barraza, David Aiken and Jeanne Pinado voted to grant the variances and conditional permits the project needs - for running a professional school, insufficient parking, lot size and rear setback, use as transitional housing and having two or more dwelling buildings on the same lot. Board Chairwoman Sherry Dong and member David Aiken voted against.
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Comments
Sounds like something out of
Sounds like something out of a random policy generator
Only...
...if you're an illiterate bot with an agenda.
I don't get it
why was the house "long unoccupied"? it's not like Boston is full of empty houses which nobody wants to buy.
Right?
"You're sitting on a gold mine, Trebek."
Take a closer look
There are hundreds of vacant properties in and around the city. Even posh areas like Newbury Street has a dozen vacant buildings.
coding in 2024
learning to "code" in 2024, especially wed dev, is like learning to become a travel agent in 1999.
not very wise. unless it is for fun, then go for it!
Ugh
Good thing I'm also taking other IT classes, then.
The underlying theory here ...
Is to get these women exposed, both technically and professionally, to a potential career path, other than regular minimum wage jobs (eg retail) so that they can hopefully break the poverty cycle.
There's nothing redundant about that.
This.
A few months ago someone on Instagram posted that old Sally Struthers commercial from the early 1990s where she goes "Do you want to make some extra money? Of course, we all do". And she went on to talk about the training programs at International Correspondence School.
Then she went on to list all the programs you could be apart of like... "Medical Coding" or "High School Diploma" or "TV VCR Repair"
The comments under the video were like "oh I bet those TV/VCR repair people are out of work these days. What a waste"
But MANY people replied who said "Hey I took this course in the 90s and now I'm an electrician or an electrical engineer."
That's the point of these programs. They were vocational programs that taught people basic skills. Those TV/VCR repair people were shown how to fix circuit boards, fix tube tvs, and general electronics know-how. You can take those same principals and apply them anywhere. I bet many are repairing computers, ATM machines, Phones and more today.
Same with the coding course. No I don't think many will get a job from this program but it can be used as a way to learn foundations so you can move into more advanced training. It also gives you a chance to check out what it's like to see if that career is right for you. It's a good thing.
That deserves more than a thumbs-up
What he said
"Family character"
What a complete piece of (expletive) Christina Hahn is.
If we're going to pick winners, can we pick against her? I'd much rather have 14 computer geek ladies as neighbors than this wet dog-whistling blanket.
Someone sent me this quote:
Someone sent me this quote:
“Lack of housing is our top justice issue and our problems are entirely due to 100 years of local decision-making that restricts housing.” - Will Brownsberger
Does this mean democracy is the problem?
The problem is not a lack of
The problem is not a lack of housing. The problem is that Boston was built to house around a million people, but there are tens (maybe hundreds) of millions of people who want to live in Boston.
Hmmm
Places I'd want to live:
Boston (already did, would again for the right job)
Burlington, VT (I'm close enough right now)
San Diego
Miami
Tampa
London (I have family over there)
Las Vegas
PDX or coastal Oregon
Hundreds of millions isn't so significant when you realize that everyone has a list. I'm acutely aware that I need to take a number on all of those, because I'm an underskilled and undertalented monolinguist.
I’m a lifelong Democrat and
I’m a lifelong Democrat and my Democratic Party has a left, center and right spectrum and what concerns me is the democratic-socialists, who have no political home of their own are effectively spoilers extorting the main body of the Democratic Party. As a result, the Dems appease and use the Sanders voters, such the they now have a hand on the tiller of the ship of state. I was already deeply concerned about President Biden giving away too much and Vice President Harris has simply inherited this concern. As former President Trump has seemingly (ital.) consolidated power within the Republican party, I worry about the Democratic-socialists consolidating power within the Democratic Party resulting in a spectrum of left, left and left. My fear is tempered by corporate ownership and stake holding in the party and Progressives are their useful instruments.
Which has to do with this proposal?
How, exactly?
All politics is local. It’s
All politics is local. It’s unfortunate that become acceptable to utilize the slur, “NIMBY” and its derivations, to denigrate opinions and people we don’t agree with. So acceptable, in fact that WBUR and, or WGBH ran some language further normalizing and endorsing views of those who sling that mud.
“Spot zoning?!” For how long? Is this scheme legit, or a cover for housing for folks with behavioral and emotional needs? Is the live-in “instructor” trained and certified for what this living situation actually is?
We easily, casually and (politically) profitably demonize the hard work and real and perceived privilege of those who had the benefit of living in “family communities,” but who are we to deny our increasingly diverse population from having and living in single-family neighborhoods?
Boston and the communities huddled around it are growing in diversity and “local control” is no longer, rightly, or wrongly, a coded term for racism.
The impetus for the activating the MBTA Communities Act, and the ok-ing of “accessory dwellings” on the face of it is finding a solution the “housing crisis,” but I’m not sure that it’s not political appeasement, not what the long range effects of this slap-dash, blunt force, scattershot process won’t have a Frankenstein effect on greater Boston. Do we have a housing crisis, or a mis-management of growth crisis?
I mean, yeah, there but for the galaxy’s grace go I, but this situation is weird.
"Is the instructor trained and certified?"
I gotta be honest, I straight up don't give a (expletive), because that's not my problem. That's between them and whomever certifies IT teaching pros, be they private sector, government, or both.
Fourteen women are getting a place to live in Boston. Whether the teacher is Gabe Kaplan or a hack is another matter completely independent of zoning.
“ChatGPT, produce a blog
“ChatGPT, produce a blog comment critical of the Democrats.”
Which one is Chat GpT , or is
Which one is Chat GpT , or is that an inside joke?
Sir, this is a Wendy's.
Sir, this is a Wendy's.
They day may come...
...when you'll say something relevant to the topic at hand.
But it is not this day.
Heartfelt advice: stop trying so hard.
I'm not surprised.
I had already felt that there was something a bit off about this new poster's comments.
Now I'm putting the lettuce out.
Did someone say housing
Seems like a reasonable idea to me! And as a bonus the residents will learn to code.....the neighbors don't want poor people living next to them, that's the real concern.