The Development of East Boston

Annabel Rodriguez’s story embodies the American dream. In 2005, her Dominican born father brought the family from New York to East Boston.

“He moved here first because he thought it would be a better life for us,” said Rodriguez. “The rent was cheap, there were lots of jobs, and the schools were great.”

Though Rodriguez still considers herself a New Yorker, she and her family grew to love East Boston and here she found great success. She graduated from East Boston High in 2009, Boston University in 2013, and Suffolk Law School in 2016.  By September 2018, with two prestigious law clerkships on her resume, Rodriguez was hired by McDermott, Will & Emery, one of Boston’s top tier law firms.

With her increased salary, Rodriguez and her family moved from their original two-bedroom apartment on Eagle Hill to a newer three-bedroom apartment in Orient Heights.

She has witnessed the economic changes in East Boston over the past 14 years and well recognizes the advantages and disadvantages of the growth.  The arrival of new shops and restaurants catering to young professionals who have moved into waterfront condos has also brought the displacement of high school friends and their families who are not earning enough to remain.

As a young attorney who is from East Boston, Rodriguez feels ambivalence as she straddles two worlds.  She enjoys the influx of other young professionals and the opportunity to socialize in her city.  Likewise, Rodriguez appreciates the improvement in community services, specifically the renovation of the East Boston Neighborhood Health Center in Maverick Square.  

Yet she is also frustrated by the long lines at the supermarkets where shelves can empty out by mid-day.  And she hopes that the Blue Line will be extended towards Revere, that there is a plan to mitigate the increase in cars and congestion.

Rodriguez believes that it is only fair that current residents – especially those living in affordable housing units - benefit in some way from the infusion of wealth.

Even Rodriguez worries about the pace of growth in East Boston. If housing costs continue to rise at the current pace, will she and her family be able to purchase property? 

“My goal is to buy a place where me, my mother, and brother, if he wants to, can live together,” says Rodriguez. “I want to make sure that my mother can retire and not have to work.” 

With two and three family homes selling for a million dollars, Rodriguez is keenly aware of the burden of taking on the debt.  She hopes that she can make it work so that one day, she can raise her own family in East Boston.

Margaret Farmer did not expect to like East Boston when she agreed to look at an apartment in 2004.  But as she walked onto the block and she saw all the families, she felt a deep sense of community. Upon seeing a beautiful and spacious apartment, she agreed to rent it before even learning the monthly price.  

The neighborhood, however, was not as eager to have her as she was to join.

“For the first few years that I lived here, nobody would talk to me, because I was a renter,” said Farmer. “They all figured I was going to leave.” 

It took three years for her neighbors to open up.  And then one day she got a notice in her doorway about a development project that was unfolding just down the street.  Unfamiliar with the practice of community activism, Farmer was perplexed about why she’d been included.

“But, I thought, well, if I'm getting this, it must be important,” said Farmer. “And so I went to the meeting. And it turned out to be for the local neighborhood association, which I didn't even know existed.” 

There began a classic entrée into the essential character of East Boston. A place with a deep sense of ownership that is well organized to protect its residents and the status quo as needed.  In 2011, Farmer ran for and won a leadership position on her neighborhood association.  She has been actively involved in everything from economic planning boards to a local nonprofit that converts unused areas into small farms around East Boston.  

“I am so glad I moved to East Boston all those years ago,” said Farmer.

Farmer’s investment in this community has given her an understanding of Eastie’s uniqueness among Boston’s neighborhoods.  It’s where cultural and economic diversity blend to create a rich social tapestry where neighbors look out for each other.

She is very worried that the development of the luxury housing market is threatening this essential character.

Like Annabel Rodriguez, Farmer has observed the displacement of longtime residents of East Boston and knows that the implications of being forced from your home go much beyond a temporary disruption in daily commutes or in finding an alternative market for food. 

“We've seen a large percentage of the population that's had to move to Chelsea, Lynn, and Lawrence,” said Farmer. “And that safety net that they had here, being surrounded by people they knew in a community they knew, is slowly disappearing. It affects them in other negative ways.”

It tears apart the social connections that are integral to individual health and well-being.

Farmer believes there are mechanisms available to force a real estate developer to invest into the neighborhoods that are being so profoundly and negatively impacted .

Though Margaret Farmer does not worry about her own housing stability at the moment, she is very worried about the changes unfolding around her.

“My biggest fear is that we [will] no longer be a neighborhood that cares about one another, and become one that only cares about ourselves,” said Farmer. “One of the great things about living here in East Boston is that there is a collection of activists and people in the community who are going to show up, who are going to write letters who are going to scream at public officials...nicely.” 

She has learned that this is how citizens make public officials aware when they've made a mistake. Examples abound, such as the Greenway. 

“It was because 30 years ago, residents saw that they did not have enough green space and said, ‘that's not acceptable.’” 

Farmer wants people to understand that when new residents move into a neighborhood without a sense of ownership and long-term investment, life on the ground is simply diminished.

Boston Councilor Lydia Edwards is not opposed to development nor to change.  She is opposed to “building without intention.” Intentional building is when the ultimate goal of your planning process is to preserve a neighborhood of mixed income families.

“True neighborhoods have folks with a lot of means and folks without as many means, but they're talking and getting to know each other,” said Edwards on a tour of the Maverick Square area. “I think it's important for kids who don't have a lot of money to go to school with kids and families that do. And for them to see the humanity in each other.”

A product of thoughtful community-centered building practice is Maverick Landing. Completed in 2006, the 396-unit property includes a variety of rental and owner-occupied units that promote community and connection among residents. The project was recognized as a sterling example of innovation and leadership in the building of much needed affordable housing.[1]

The spate of luxury towers that have been built in the last decade along the East Boston waterfront – with several more in development currently -- are in figurative and literal opposition to Edwards' vision. Built to block out Maverick Landing's view of the water, these properties' target market is affluent young professionals or empty nesters, most of whom will be White.    

Edwards’ has worked as a legal services attorney, inside of Boston City government, and now as an elected official whose job it is to advocate for the interests of her constituents.  These experiences inform her view that the creation of a “sub-neighborhood” on the waterfront, with its own grocery store and access to public transportation, is no accident.  

When you intentionally put these units where you do and you concentrate these units where you have, what does it say about what the waterfront is for everybody else, who has views and access to it in a different way?” said Edwards.

Councilor Edwards finds herself in the trenches of Boston’s real estate development fight at a time of significant change in the composition of city (and state) government.  In the period since the last Boston real estate boom, prior to the 2008 Great Recession, the Boston City Council has changed dramatically.  What was an almost exclusively white, male group of elected officials, it is now comprised of fifty percent women of color. 

This new generation of councilors is pushing back against the old ways of doing business in Boston.  The tension and dynamics of change is on full view around the development of the Suffolk Downs Racetrack property, a 161-acre parcel of land that straddles East Boston and Revere. 

HYM Investment Group has purchased the land and is hoping to build some 10,000 apartments and condominiums, along with office space for 25,000 workers.  Edwards and her community do not want a second Seaport District in their backyard, yet, another sub-neighborhood designed for outsiders to settle in East Boston.

Edwards points to the way in which HYM Managing Director, Tom O’Brien, is repeatedly interviewed by the media as inappropriate and emblematic of an overly cozy relationship that has always existed between developers and Boston City Hall.  

“I think when you choose to talk to Tom, or any developer about the other side, it elevates them whether you mean to or not,” said Edwards. “It’s as though they're at the same level and impact and influence [as a city councilor].”

Edwards does not think that O’Brien is going to bring a different way of doing things just because he used to be on the inside of the process as the head of the Boston Redevelopment Authority (now the Boston Redevelopment & Planning Agency).

HYM Investment did not wish to comment on Edwards’ statements.

In addition to fighting back on the Suffolk Downs redevelopment process and plans, Edwards has proposed that the Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA) be completely overhauled and replaced with a transparent process that includes members of the neighborhood communities who are most impacted by development.

[1] Awards include: Affordable Housing Finance Magazine's 2006 Reader's Choice Award for the Nation's Best Housing Development; NAMHA’s 2008 National Award for Best Turnaround of a Troubled Property; 2009 Terner Prize for innovation and leadership in affordable housing.