Talk Of The Neighborhoods

0:00Good evening and welcome to Talk of the Neighborhoods. I'm Joe Heischler, your host, coming to you from the BNN Live Studios in Eglson Square. We're tonight, we're also being simulcast on our sister radio station, WBCA 102.9 FM. Tonight, all politics as our usual want and of the local variety and two very stellar guests, I might say, first among them, of course, the City Council President, Liz Brayden, who represents, of course, District 9 on the council. She was elected on a 7-6 vote back in January and is steering the council in their deliberations. And then second half, we'll shift gears a bit to the private sector, private nonprofit sector, I should say, Michael Nichols is the president of the Boston, excuse me, downtown Boston Alliance,

1:01that's the local business association. We'll talk to him about all the changes downtown and their efforts to revitalize it. All that and more tonight on Talk of the Neighborhoods. Stay tuned, we'll be right back. And we'll talk to he- in the next podcast. Mr. Neva Robles, part of the move, You see anybody in questions about the online politics of the city and the upside down of the public that's especially fondран here in QUACK, it's really effective ways. All right, we're back with Talk of the Neighborhoods. I'm Joe Heissleros. Tonight, two parts show but all local politics, including, of course, the Boston City Council. And I'm very pleased to have joining us. The head of the Boston City Council,

2:03the president of the Boston City Council. She's the District 9 City Council elected to lead the body back in January on a close vote. But she's there and she's doing the job. And she's here tonight to join us. We're talking about Liz Braden, of course. Nice to have you here. It's a beer. Thanks so much for joining us. Well, how's this going? It was a close vote. You were recruited rather late in the process. I think that's fair to say. But you stepped up and you crossed the threshold. Well, I don't know if I'd call it a shock on marriage. But you're dealing with a lot of big egos down there. And how are you managing? I think I'm doing well. As you say, it was a split vote. It was a lot of hard feelings.

3:08But I did present myself as someone who might be a bridge builder. Consiliator. Consiliator. And just I think the work is more important than the egos. We're in a very difficult time in the city, in the country, and in the world for that matter. And I think it behooves us as civic leaders and elected officials to work together productively and try and elevate the issues that are constituents across the city are concerned about. It's a difficult time. And yeah, that's my attitude anyway. Well, all the councils are most of them. They have their own agenda in a way. And of course, the district councilors, of course, are representing their neighborhoods have a lot on their plate as to you. And we'll talk about that in a few minutes. Your neighborhood's awesome brighten. But it seems there were some hard feelings.

4:09And there were some before. Something described it as a toxic environment. I don't know if that's fair or the same. But everybody didn't always get along. And maybe they won't either. I've been on the city council since 2020. 10 weeks after I got elected, all of us were four new councilors. We were sent home because of COVID. So we worked remotely. We did a lot of our work for about a year remotely. So I think we missed out on that experience of collegiality that Webby was more of a tradition in earlier councils where you would go into council, you would do your business, you would wrap it up, get it done. And then we go into the curly room and have lunch together and maybe have a guest speaker. And then just share stories about what's going on with the kids and what's happening in your life. And I think that COVID, I think we're still recovering

5:12from COVID in just the way. In many ways, the way the kids can, which is socialist. And then we had an experience where four of our colleagues ran for a mayor. And then we have, I think there's a level of, the civic discourse, like I think it comes from the top, sadly, in the United States, where being able to agree to disagree and to be fierce proponents for a particular position doesn't mean that your sworn enemies with someone, you know, that in Desk gone by. You know, you hear the stories about President Reagan when he was shot and to Bernalegone and going and visited and all that. So it's like they were diametrically opposed, ideologically opposed, but they still managed to be civil. So I think we're doing OK.

6:16Yeah, we're coming around getting closer to that. I think so. There were not dwell on us. But like insults, toss, suggestions, that racism, etc., etc., which raises a lot of questions and are amongst those that are discussing it. Are we beyond that? I wouldn't say we're beyond it, but I think I'm hopeful that, you know, if we have issues or disagreements that we go and sort it out quietly and that we don't have to put sell tickets for the city council show, like it's civility and collegiality and working together. Like we're all there to represent and work for the people of Boston. And so the onus is honest to really. We agree to disagree, but we still have to work together.

7:17Right. There has been some criticism. We've all evolved a late filed bill or a resolution to whatever that, you know, I keep getting pushed back because of your rules. Well, the rules are the rules. We actually had, you know, we actually had a, we spent two, we spent working sessions as a group when I was elected. We spent working sessions and spent an extra week reviewing the rules. And when the rules came up, everyone voted in support of the rules. So no one should be surprised. So, you know, one should be surprised. And, you know, leot files, it's the prerogative of the body that if there's a real leot file, you know, it used to be, during COVID, you had to file your dockets on Friday afternoon before 4 o'clock. Oh, wow. And now you have to be filed before 10 o'clock on Monday. But when somebody walks into a council and brings a leot file to the floor at 12,

8:2030 on a Wednesday afternoon after the council meeting has started. And it's, and it's supposed to be an absolute emergency, like, if it's a leot file. But I think, you know, I think if everyone tries and is guided by the rules, I think it would decrease the amount of acromania that we see. And it's difficult then if, when you're trying to preside over a meeting and maintain order and be fair to everyone, it can be tricky, you know, because the rules says you can object to a leot file if you've, you know, if it's not an emergency or whatever. And, you know, I don't want it to do theory or read into, like, a personal sort of tit for tat situation, but, you know, I'm just hoping that nine months into this weekend. You want civil discourse? No shouting, no, well, you know, that's what the gavals for. Yeah.

9:22Again, Liz Braden is the city council president and here tonight on Talk of the Neroids. I got to ask you about some of this stuff because I just, I know you've got some big projects that you're working on. Jackson Man Community Center, the whole Austin Post Office. And I want to ask you about those, but first I got to ask you about the Cats Parade. I saw on Boston.com. I love this when I saw it. I go, what? Like over 300 people that brought their cats to lower Austin for a parade, I guess. Well, I think it actually was a cat admirer's parade. I think the cats stayed in the homes and they are their porches. And then the populism of lower Austin paraded past. We had a hearing the other morning and one of the residents from from lower Austin was in the in the council chamber and

10:22she came and said, have you seen this? And so she had a picture of her house and she said, had my cats and a broken down and and she says, look, died and there was 300 people, I said, there to look at my cat. So it was it was a lot of fun. I think it was a great opportunity for people to connect with each other and find a little joy and something as simple as, you know, just going admire another people's cats. That's it or you know, or an excuse to get together and for a common purpose. Although it was unique. I don't know if it's there's that many cat lovers in another parts of the city, but the probably is. If heard of doggy parades and San JP for Halloween, the dogs get dressed up. You know, so I think maybe this could be an annual event in North Austin. Now I also have to ask you about you were talking about this, speaking about this, about some disruptive, unruly behavior amongst some of the tenants, mainly college students,

11:24I'm guessing in your neighborhood and said, you know, it's kind of got out of control. Well, what is happening? Now, all some brightness been known as a haven for college students for you. You were a student? I was a student. We all have stories to tell. We all liked to have a good time. We all liked to have a few jars. I think what was happening in one particular street that was a small residential area had mixed a mixture of students and seniors and families. Everybody living together and there was one particular mental property that was a duplex that was supposed to have four and four to four bedroom units. The landlord had packed in made extra units so it was actually 16 bedrooms there instead of eight and it became like a party house. So, off underage,

12:25undergraduates would come over and party there. And I think my comments might have been a little intemperate, but I think the one thing that really upset me the most, I think when you live in a community of elders and families and students and young people is some mutual respect. Like, I think that would be good. And what was happening was that there was a, there was an elderly couple lived there that had been there for 60 years in Reister family there. And they mentioned, please, can you cool a dime a bit? You know, this is our home and we'd like to go to sleep at night and get a good night's sleep. And one particular young person said to them, well, this is a student neighborhood. You should go live somewhere else. And that was where I let loose and said, you know, that's rather... Well, what responsibility do these colleges have here in between BU and BC?

13:33And I mean, you know, there's hundreds, maybe thousands of students that are... In the city of Boston, we have, I don't know what, I think, are numbers have gone down with the, you know, to line in the number of international students, but we were talking about over 150,000 students. Graduates students under graduate students, the different groups, we love our students. They've had a lot of life and energy. Like, 500, 300 people turned up to live in a cab, a lot of those people were, can't we? I'd be students. Right. You know, so I think it's really to try and develop a sort of level of of respect for it, for both ways, engagement, places and spaces where we can have intergenerational get dialogue. I think if you have an area like the gap in in Austin, which is the gap is Gardner Pratton and Iceford Street, it's called the gap that those streets are predominantly, I'd say, 99% students live there. So, you know, go for it, leg, but if you're in a neighborhood of the mixed

14:37population, then that's a different scenario. Is there anything the city can do like instructional services or... Well, you know, we... 16 units and what was... 16-bed, bed, beds and two units. I think what we, I have to, you know, we work with BC, a former police commissioner, William... Of course, yeah. He's at the chief of police over at BC. BC community liaisons, every, it's all hands on deck. We do in the run-up to a big event like Marathon Monday. This big, this big like, sort of big event, the trigger office. This is a big game between BC and Notre Dame last year. You know, it's party time and not only are there off undergraduate students from, from, from the off campus, but there are high school students

15:42coming from the surrounding municipalities, coming over from Newton and places to come party and brighten. So, you know, I feel that the publicity has shown a light on a problem that's, you know, it's chronic, it's there all the time, but I think we need to just try and open channels for dialogue. Keep that up. And have peer-to-peer conversations with students, to students and, you know, maybe checking in on your elderly, neighbors, and seeing in the winter time if they need their snow shovel or something might be out to improve inter-generational relations, yes. You know, I mentioned some of these projects you have going, well, can you give us an update? What is happening now? The Postal Service promised a post office in Austin, but now they're

16:43re-nigging on it. Well, in 2019, and the very close to the holiday, is Christmas time in, in Austin, 2019, the Post Office building was deemed structurally unsafe because there was cracks in the walls and they had to close it as an emergency. And then they put our day a mobile post office fan, but it was, you know, it was the holidays and people were away and then COVID hit. So, you know, the Post Office fan may not have been utilized as much as might have been expected. And then, so the promise, then the post office, we were looking for an alternative location. And we worked with the Boston, right, Austin Village Main Strait to look at vacant properties, commercial properties in and around that area and give them a list to look at. And then the next thing, a developer bought the old Post Office building in us a lot next door and is redeveloping it.

17:48And we worked with that developer to encourage him to think about maybe working with the Post Office to establish another retail Post Office. So the Post Office was working with that developer, Eden Properties, to build out a retail space to their, to USPS specifications and had an agreement with them a year ago last summer. And then a few weeks ago, you get the the residents in that zip code, 02134, got a letter from the Post Office. They were in the process of doing a discontinuous process whereby they weren't planning on establishing a Post Office. Austin has a population of 30,000. It was 29,000, the 800 and something. It's 30,000. The population of Boston has increased 7.7 percent. It had increased 7 percent in 2020 at the last census. So it's more important than a lot of people in the world. So across in Newton,

18:52the population is about, you know, the population of Newton is about 20,000, is about 90,000. You know, Austin Brighton is 87,000. Newton has 10 Post Office and we have one. And then the sale, but you can go to Brookland. You can go to Brighton Center, but you go to Brighton Center, it takes your time getting there. And you're standing on the line for a half an hour. So not only is it impacting not having a service at all in Austin, but having a lesser service in Brighton where people have to stand to me. Is that a Trump thing, you know, kind of a, or is it just a, I think we are not even really, no, to be really honest, I think that the federal administration would like to just do away with it, you know, to privatize the Post Office. And yet the Post Office is constitutionally mandated in the Constitution. So it's really, it's not something that we're not. One of the projects that I think, you know, you're looking to the federal government

19:58for help with. And of course, the big one is the I-90 Intermodal. The multi-modal. Yeah. To straighten out basically the the pike. Yeah. And and re-root the the store. Yeah, the Stoll Drive, build a new West station. Right. Re-align the track and bring the highway down off the, you know, the viaduct, bring the down to grow to bread level and cut it through that space. And it's a multi-modal project. It's a major project. You're considered not unlike the big dig in in some ways. But funding pulled from that. Where does that go? I think early last year, I think we were in line to get 350. So I think it was a 350 million not range to be part part of the pro to get started on that project. And the federal government pulled

21:03that. And so we're we've been working and talking and planning and discussing various options. We have a local also multi-modal task force. 12 years we've been working on this. And you know, it's the viaduct is is getting some remedial work done on it right now that will maybe extend this life for 10 years, 15 years max. Something's got to happen. What's something's got to happen? You know, we've got just a mirror to left. The Jackson Man community center going forward. Yes, we're working with the public facilities department. They're going through a process of studying and there's been a several couple of surveys surveying the populace about what sort of things they would like to see. Again, it's we don't have we have the residue of what we have

22:04the residue of the Jackson Man community center there, but it's greatly diminished from what was capacity of previous times. I got to ask you, of course, just came through at mayoral election and mayor reelected. I was not working, of course, she was a former member of the council, but is she working with the council in a constructive way or is it there's some. I think we're really working. I think one of the big issues that has come up is basically the very tragic death of Louise Gagg, Louise Gagg and the concern, the elevate of concern about basic health and pedestrian safety in the city. Again, I think it's a non-going conversation that's really, really important to to folks across the city that we move forward. Yeah, both sides of our issue. Yeah. You know, when our neighborhood,

23:07it's a lot of folks cut through the neighborhood, the drive way faster than the regulation speed. They hit people on crosswalks. We have had multiple deaths of people killed on crosswalks in our neighborhood or in my time and office. So it's a much bigger issue? It's something that it's a big issue and it's a big concern. Everyone should road safety is a big issue. In our neighborhood and across the city. So I think not only is... One more bike lane. Well, bike lanes are an important piece of the infrastructure in Austin and Brighton. Like, I think 60% of the population of Austin don't have a car. They depend on public transit bicycles or their bikes they walk. And so I think that was one of the reasons why I ended up in this job running for office was we were building a huge amount of housing that not all of it was suitable

24:08or affordable for people. And the other side of that was we were adding a lot of population. They grew up to 87,000 but we weren't making commensurate improvements in our transit. Infrastructure to support all those people moving back and forward and being able to get to where they needed to go. Are you living there now? I think it's a work in progress. I also feel that a fellow bang is... We had a tear off the bandaid and worked to make the improve the tee. We had decades of deferred maintenance. I think we're catching up. It hasn't been easy. We've had shuttle bosses running people all over the place and trying to catch up. But you know, credit where credit is due, I think fellow bang has been really working hard to correct a lot of that. Long term deferred maintenance. The mayor? I think the mayor is the the we're trained like the mayor has been a transit advocate and a transit traveler user of the

25:12MBTA for all of our time in Boston. So I think it's really just keeping our eye on the price and working hard to... These things we're going to disagree on. Just like any... Working with you? Working with us? Working with the council and working with the advocates to see if we can improve things and make things better for the people of Boston. I see idea. Again, Liz Brayden is the City Council president. She of course represents District 9, Larcy Olson Brayden, near part of Fenway to... No, we stopped at Babcock Street. Oh, at Babcock, there we go. I've answered Durkin as a couple of precincts in Olson. I came 21 and 21. You're tonight catching up with her since she assumed the presidency back in January. And of course, as always, the City Council. Lots of highlights and hopefully no low lights

26:15coming your way. But come what may, right? Let me take whatever comments. You deal with it. Thank you so much for coming. You're very, very welcome. Thanks for the conversation. Thank you, President. When we come back, we'll shift gears to the private sector, private nonprofit sector. I should say to a certain extent, Michael Nichols, president of the Downtown Boston Alliance, the local business association is here. And we'll talk about their efforts to... We vitalize, keep vibrant, the downtown business district. So stay tuned. We'll be right back. Hello, I'm Aoteem McCormick. And this is Jamaica Pond. Today we've come down to talk about some of the history of it. And take a lovely walk around this one and a half mile trail that's around it. Boats on the water, swans near the shore, benches tucked into the trees. The long you stay here, the more the pond starts to reveal. Located in Jamaica Plain, Jamaica Pond is part of Boston's Emerald Necklace. The historic park system, shaped by a

27:19Frederick Law Olmsted in the late 1800s. It also connects to the Boston Walking City Trail, a 27-mile route linking 17 neighborhoods and 30 public green spaces. The pond itself is a glacial kettle. Before it became the public park we know today, Jamaica Pond had a working life. In winter, portions of the frozen pond were cut and sold by ice dealers. The pond is deeper than it looks. From the path the shoreline can seem calm and shallow, but Jamaica Pond drops more than 50 feet at its deepest point. The water is for boating, fishing, wildlife, and looking peacefully while quietly reminding everyone of Boston's beauty. The boat house brings people onto the water. The path connects people around it. It is a place for walkers, runners, families, photographers. You can see the traffic. You can hear it too, but around the pond, the sound gets mixed

28:19with ducks. Jamaica Pond also has smaller stories hiding in plain sight. In the middle of the water sits a small tree covered island, known as Shays Island. That same mix of official park space and local personality shows up along the path with the Gorilla Bench. The bench was installed by artist Matthew Hensman in 2006. And while not originally approved by the city, people liked it enough that it got to stay, which is probably the most Bostonian outcome possible, unauthorized public art becoming beloved. Jamaica Pond is not just a place people pass through. It's also a gathering space. One example is 826 Boston's half, half, half, half, half, marathon. A short .826 mile race held here at Jamaica Pond to support free writing and tutoring programs for students. Jamaica Pond is scenic, but not just scenery. It's a glacial pond, wildlife habitat, people come

29:25here to walk and sometimes just be near the water for a while. From Jamaica Pond, I'm Monty McCormick. Hello everybody. My name is Gabby. I am a local skateboarder. I own this skateboard here that I use to commute literally everywhere with. Two and from it's electric. It's pretty cool. It's very fast. Today I want to show you guys some of the public art that I view on my commute with this amazing skateboard every day because I'm riding through parks and such. I'm just excited to show you guys some of the public art that can be viewed every day. It's free to view. You can see it whenever you want. Very easy to miss, but very beautiful if you do see it. So first, if you're going to gear up, always put your gear on and I'll see you guys on the other side. Our first stop today is going to be the Southwest Court or Park in Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts. So at this park, the Jamaica Plain community came together to kind of create some beautiful murals of some butterflies as well some bees on a lot of the trash bins as well some of the

30:26electrical panels all over the park. These pieces of art are very easy to miss, but really wonderful if you can stop and take a look at them. Southwest Court or Bike Trail has a lot of art that you can view on it. Also very easy to get to right off the Stony Brook Station on the orange line. Our second stop that we're going to be stopping at today is 621 Huntington Avenue in Boston, Mass, AK, Massachusetts College of Art and Design where I go to school when we call it Mass Art for short. We're never going to come to Mass Art and not be able to find some art to look at. All throughout the school year, there's galleries around the school that is filled with student work as well as faculty art as well. The maam or the Mass Art Art Museum is a art museum curated by the people at Mass Art. There is rotating exhibitions always something new there for you guys to come look at. At Mass Art, you can see art whenever you want right in the heart of the city, right in the Fenway neighborhood, right off Huntington Avenue. Our third and final stop is going to be underground ink block in Boston, Massachusetts. This is located in 90 travelers street in Boston,

31:30Massachusetts. It's open from 6am to 1130 daily. Ink block was created to connect some of the old neighborhoods back into Boston. A lot of the art is made by local artists as well as national and international artists as well. This park originally opened in 2017 and had a second installation of art in 2019 as well as the third installation of art in 2020. Their website is undergroundinkblock.com. If you want to go to that website, you could check out some of the history of this place as well as do some more research into the artists that created these awesome murals. Remember to always wear your gear and pay attention to what you're doing, but remember to keep an eye out for the art that surrounds you. More of talking to the neighborhoods tonight, all local politics and perhaps no topic is drawn more focused than what's happening with the downtown development and in particular, the business district, public safety. A lot of issues have popped up in the course of the debate about tax classification and who should pay and

32:35so to say, I'm very pleased to have joining us tonight, the president of the downtown Boston Alliance. That is the business association representing various parties and non-profits, private business in the downtown area and we're talking about Michael Nichols. Nice to have you here. Thank you for having me. Nice to see you. Well, so much has happened since, of course, the pandemic and the impact that that had not just downtown, but across the country really and in some ways around the world, but it did seem to have, I don't know if I'd call it devastating effect, dramatic effect on the downtown area of Boston, which was always the heart of the city and very vibrant. How did your organization, your association bounce back from that? It had to be a tough time,

33:43you know, to see, there was a lot of businesses that closed and foot traffic dropped off, so obviously dramatically, but tell us about how the association is kind of dealt with this, kind of a macro view. Certainly. I mean, you know, us and everyone else, right? Every major American city, major American city downtown had to reconcile with, how do you bring people back together again? We built a model for 50, 100 years, maybe in this country, of gathering for work in our city centers and then also as often as you could, gathering to play, gathering to live, gathering to eat, gathering to check out a theater show or a historic site. And so thankfully, those bones were still here. I've been in this job four years this week. I thank you. Thank you. I took it over post-pandemic and with my eyes open about the challenge that a city faces and it was tough at times. Office vacancy spiked to 28 plus percent retail vacancy, perhaps even higher, and that retail

34:48vacancy hurt all the more because it's what you saw when you walked through the downtown. And those of us that know Boston or know any American city downtown, you saw less foot traffic on the street. You saw less people enjoying our city centers. So we had to change our strategy. You know, I'm only our second president after Rosemary Sandsone who founded our business improvement district. And the pre-pandemic environment was about stewarding the day downtown, making for a great experience so that people would want to come back. Mostly to the benefit of office workers and tourists, maybe to some degree the shoppers in downtown. Post-pandemic totally different strategy. How do you make downtown a destination? And not necessarily for those that have an office there or live there, but all the rest of us. Is there compelling retail? Not the stuff that you can find somewhere else, but probably something that's unique to Boston. You know, art exhibitions. We've gone big into a winter art exhibition. Now in our third year heading into our fourth called Winter Active, huge audacious installations of contemporary art. So if you don't live or work downtown, you see it online and you

35:51say, I've got to go there. Block parties bringing in the energy of the city with partner groups who want to flood into the city center for something that's a cultural experience. So we've had to go from stewarding the downtown to actually repositioning it as a magnet for no matter whether you live or work in the area or outside in the burbs or traveling from further away, make downtown compelling for a visit. How would you rate your progress? Are you at a point where you've kind of you're back up your inside of your original goals? Sure. I haven't thought about the question lately, but I would say because it's Red Sox playoff season. I think we've rounded second base. I think we're past the halfway point. Office of vacancy was as high as 28.2% it's down to 25%. Retail vacancy was up as high as 125 vacant storefronts. It's down to 70. A net 55 new businesses

36:52in our downtown. A lot of them large and in noteworthy places like Unique Low opening a flagship location in the former Barnes and Nobles that sat vacant for 20 years in downtown. There are 22 pending conversion projects right now to take former office buildings and make them into something different. About half of them resident. About the other half though, a dorm for Suffolk University to a museum, the Holocaust Museum and a former office building. Two hotels planned for the downtown area. An experiential retail facility that an office building will become a recording studio and rehearsal space for musicians. So there's a really exciting change happening where I think many many downtowns took stock of themselves after the pandemic and said we are overbuilt for office and for the demand and that will see for the next 20 years. Let's move into more play and more live and round out our neighbor. So maybe a something that was a good thing or at least change the focus or brought it into focus maybe a little bit more. Don't let any

37:56right good crisis go on use right. So I think very much I think you're spot on that there were trends happening before the pandemic that were worsened by the pandemic or accelerated by the pandemic. I think one of them was frankly the concept of the central business district in America was something in somewhat in decline. People are increasingly wanting to work from as many places as they maybe can albeit I think nothing replaces a good in-person job in the connection you make with co-workers, the opportunities to mentor a young employee and so on. But augment that with a mixed use environment of live and play elements that I think our downtown was quite well to do. How important is the aspect of you know you talked about the conversions of some of these buildings to residential properties. How important is that to the kind of rebuilding of the foundation for what you hope to accomplish. Crucial right I mean I think we have 16 and a half million

38:57square feet of our we did a few years ago of office space in our district and again when that hit 28% vacancy it was going to be a slow you know decline in that as offices reconciled their space needs all you know tenants companies decided what they needed oftentimes shedding some space and then you know winning new tenants into the into the neighborhood takes time. So I think repositioning those assets especially like the lower performing ones the ones that were emptier the ones that were older you know we're a city that doesn't like to demolish things the Boston's a place where you could have some history. You could kind of start meeting in anything anywhere. Yeah people fall in love with a 30 year old building because it's what it was when they grew up and so because of that you know we had an older building stock that was ready for a refresh. So the stuff that's actually full and flourishing now has been highly amenitized has been recently invested in just today I got a tour of the of the soon releasing itself the Burnham the former Burnham building the old

39:57fine leans building is ready for its next chapter and has looks as good as it maybe ever has on the inside and I think there'll be a flagship tenant in there in the near future with probably an office that would sit in the hub of the hub of the universe in downtown crossing. Did you have to sell though you know some property honestly it's a big some of them are huge corporations or private equity even now. Did you have a hard time selling them on that concept of possibly converting to residential? Not really I mean I think one the city did a lot of that selling with a with a tax of Bateman program that has welcomed office to residential conversions. We're supportive of office to everything. Yeah anything that's a good healthy commercial use we're excited about it. The city though put their money with their mouth was on an on an abatement program for residences and that has brought you know I think at least 11 projects into our neighborhood a few more sprinkled outside our service area. You know ultimately though I think our property owners are willing to do what's in the economic best interest of their company. It ultimately is but of course they they engage with us to also be

41:04a worthy touch point into the community and what's needed so we've surveyed office workers and residents on the retail they'd like to see we've looked at trends in other cities to understand what whether it can be an on an on an appetite for within the built environment and ultimately we're leaning to anything that's exciting and brings vitality to downtown. What don't what doesn't Boston have enough of? You know we had a very interesting experience I'm sure you feel the same way with the with the World Cup and the crowds that came in the the Scottson you know Tarton dress and and the whole thing I mean yeah that's just part of it there were you know thousands tens of thousands of people I came and but and it it brought I think it brought some joy to the city as well it's nice to see a lot of people enjoying themselves but you know you want to raise some some questions about you know entertainment what we do have what we don't have of course we're

42:08always going to be compared to New York and we're never going to be New York so but but we'll never be Boston and they'll never be Boston so what what what don't we have enough of in your opinion yeah traffic cones on sculptures no I mean a serious answer and I actually think the Scottson announced he's a good one and invoking that because I think the Scotts and the Norwegians and the French and the English that came to Boston not to mention our own Moroccans and Haitians and beyond who who brought their energy to downtown I think reminded us what we do have is a whole lot stronger than what we don't and it was a great and worthy reminder I think for our own people to go back out and explore not just their downtown but their city that said sure I mean I think you know there's always continuous improvement I think I think the core thing we don't have enough of his residences you know you know affordable you know I'd say homes that are affordable

43:08at every point of affordability yeah in this city in this downtown and in the region we are not just it's not just a downtown problem it isn't and we have not built ourselves out of the problem yet and it's and it's a problem that I think the downtown is playing a role in the conversions that you're seeing there'll be some new projects coming as well that are that are fully new I think Boston and with new zoning in streets and squares and article 80 reform there's a lot going into trying to make Boston do its part now and then the suburbs need to do their part as well that's oh that's true and maybe more so but the mayor of course is elected on a you know part of her platform was streamlining the bureaucracy reducing some of the red tape allowing for our smoother building and development process has that happened to you are you seeing that in a lot of ways yes and I'll share as well that one of my other hats is I'm the chair of the Boston zoning commission was appointed by Mayor Walsh elevated to the chairmanship by Mayor Wu

44:13and so I have a unique prism on some of the largest developments but also the zoning changes that are happening our downtown got completely rezoned a year and a half two years ago so that's an example of those changes being put into action made a big difference huge difference it's it's it's providing certainty and clarity to the property owners of the area what's possible so we've had a flurry of filings in our neighborhood for for future mostly residential but future new projects new energy new private investment within to the downtown even in an extremely hard macroeconomic environment that got all the harder today I think some of your your view is certainly right more to wrap up over seven percent yeah that's not good for what we're trying to achieve in downtown but it's also not good anywhere else either so I mean the mayor may or follow through on her promise to change the planning department or the planning and development agency into a planning department she's brought in staff that are focused on planning first and then development later she's instituted the the office of residential conversion program that we that we've been

45:13you know very happy to see work well she's updated zoning in in in downtown but there's more work to be done I think I think anybody that's watching that she would say so she's coming for some criticism whether it's marriage or not I'm not sure but that she isn't friendly enough to the business community do get that sense do you see that I I hear the same thing but I but she couldn't be more supportive of the work we're doing in our property owners for example you know the the city's been a meaningful sort of investment partner through the the abatement program in for example some of the office residential conversions we're having downtown including one of our core property owner synergy investments is doing the largest conversion program in the city right in the heart of downtown crossing right now at 294 Washington as far as I can tell those folks have an open door with the mayor they hear from her they hear her ideas they get to express theirs I do hear that same stream I think she's the different style than past mayors I think you know especially in the first term I think she did want to elevate the community wanted to elevate voters and

46:17residents I'm one myself I understand that that that viewpoint you know I think I think the the real estate development community feels extreme pressure in this environment based on both the macroeconomic factors and that Boston remains an extremely expensive space to acquire land to redevelop that land to you know labor you know to complete a project and so that those pressures are real well and I think for so long you know downtown was the the golden goose that laid the golden egg that brought in the the growth the revenue the increased taxes that allowed the city to do a number of things not just downtown but across the city that's no one of the case there's no cranes down there well yeah maybe one or two but you know used to be there was the sky was sure practically filled with that and as that put you know kind of a damper on the relationship

47:20as be as we're perhaps looking at you know some revenue shortfalls and you know who knows maybe cut back so as necessary it puts additional pressure on the business community as well doesn't there is pressure that I mean I mean it remains the case that that downtown is the economic engine for the city downtown is still the majority of commercial property taxes that go into the city coffers are coming from our service area downtown crossing in the financial district but there's pressure on that equation right now 25% of the of the office space in our district is vacant right now by the weight 22% in the seaport 18% in back bay these these these office districts have have have borne the weight of the pandemic it's certainly not unique to downtown right but I think eyes will all be on us to fix this problem by finding commercially you know accessible paths to changing over

48:21what's there now or filling up that space and so you know we want to we want a willing partner from the city we also want them from the state frankly and this the state has sort of tiptoed into the pond of supporting office to residential conversion projects we think their pro their programs could have significantly more dollars in it to make to make financing available to folks who are bringing real housing units into the city well we've got just a few minutes up I got to ask you about this because of course there's been some incidents excuse me you know crime to be blunt about it that have occurred downtown and it's you know has that taken the shine off of the some of the work that you and your association are doing and and how do you how do you deal with that I mean it's been going on and it's not just downtown it's all over so it's a but crime is down

49:23overall in the city pretty dramatically actually and but does that make it tougher for you to do your job I think the perception does which is unfortunate you know Boston especially I mean Boston's downtown is the safest major city downtown in America here talks about it a lot the mayor talks about it's it's my it's my lived experience I've been here 20 years I'm raising my my young son in the city this is a safer major city downtown is anyone and I think their cities around the country I hear from who wish they had our statistics that said every news article hurts every every one off issue hurts every time there's a headline it hurts even when it's not in our direct service area you know downtown is as big or as large as somebody makes it in their head or as big or as large as as the local media right you know use the term downtown to describe where a crime occurs the big secret on this topic is we live in a 700,000 plus person city where even at historic lows for major crime it's never going to get to zero right and by the way like we're also in a

50:27state and in a region where some of the most high profile crimes major crimes of the last year or two or three have taken place in Canton co-haston duck spare you hang on so crime is it you need to downtown I think we've gotten a bad rap coming out of the 20 and 30 and 40 years ago reputation of the combat zone right I think downtown remains about as safe as can be today I think there's a limited pool of people who experience the addiction of drugs who who certainly get involved in some of the issues that happen in a one-off way but office workers tourist residents and visitors to our downtown it's a statistic impossibility I think not impossibly it's statistically so unlikely that they would be the victim of a crime that it shouldn't stop a visit in the town yeah like counselor Flynn has called for the National Guard to be brought in is that necessary it's not necessary though we you know we echo counselor Flynn's energy that that policing is a way to make people feel safer that that that Boston police probably does not have the manpower they should have that that that the city council the mayor could invest more in the police department to bring more

51:30officers onto the street more walking beats be it more visible presence is true I'm not here to say that there's never crime downtown or that it isn't preventable we'd like to see less we'd like to see less retail theft the DAs worked hard on it so counselor Flynn is right that I think there is some energy that could be brought the National Guard has been in my opinion I think maybe more personal opinion a disaster in other cities and we would not welcome him to downtown well and we've got just a minute so left I've got to ask you about the I mean perhaps the biggest impact from the pandemic is people working remotely and will we ever go back and how important is that that there's something to talk now and fidelity for instance major employer wants all their employees to come back to work are will that happen I mean I'm sure well for fidelity but what we get the energy the bodies that we once had downtown we will have a new normal yeah we're gonna have a new normal we're good we're at 75% right now of the number of people that have come back Monday through Friday into

52:32our downtown we're at 104% on the weekends so we have succeeded in making the downtown a destination beyond what it was in the pre pandemic we're working on the weekdays to catch up to what that new normal will be but I don't think we will ever replace the energy of two people coming together in the same space for coffee for creativity for innovation Boston's a leader in those spaces our buildings the ones that remain after these conversions will be ready made partners for that work well be interesting thank you for all your good work and uh because uh you know it is the heart of the city and it's great to see and it's great to see it's coming back and I appreciate the work you're doing you're watching talk of the neighborhoods here in the Boston neighborhood we're here tonight and every Thursday night at the same time we'll be back next week until then for the entire sappen crew here at BNN thank you for watching have a pleasant evening good night

53:44you you