Mayor Walsh comments align with Beautification Committee's desire to save single-family homes

My husband recently came across What's Up Eastie's posted audio from the Feb 18 Orient Heights Neighborhood Association Meeting, in which Mayor Walsh voices his opposition to developers tearing down single-families and two-family homes to put up larger buildings. Here's an excerpt from the recording:

Walsh: "What I said here last month was that if you buy a 1-family house and you want to build something, you can build a 1-family home. If you want to build something bigger than that and your neighbors say we want you to build something bigger, then we'll support it. But, other than that, it's not happening.

"You know and I said it last month here, I actually said about six months ago in my office -- we had the BPDA in my office -- and I said listen, enough of this buying 1s and 2s and ripping them down and building 7s. Listen, I don't care how much you paid for the property -- it's not my problem you overpaid...

"Unless the abutters say... the abutters -- not the community group, not the elected officials -- the abutters, say, it's not happening."

So note that while we should all be coming to the EHCA meetings and voting there, it is equally important that we attend any abutter meetings we're invited to, to make our voices heard. We all know there are absentee landlords who might be abutters and perfectly willing to give their approval to a developer's proposal with no thought to the neighborhood, so it's important to balance that out with voices from the community.

Now, if we could only find a way to ensure that developers give proper notice about their abutter meetings...

By the way, at the Orient Heights meeting Walsh also offered up his number -- 617.635.3151 -- so if you are concerned about a single or 2-family being razed to put up a larger building, reach out to him!