Residents in Action: Going Toe to Toe with the Big Dig

Interview with Avin Lipsky of ARCH.

The 249A Street Co-op, in the path of Boston’s Big Dig highway super-project, won a $1.5 million financial settlement to compensate them for the huge impact the construction will have on the lives of co-op members. As a co-op, they were uniquely prepared to organize and advocate for their rights. This is the story of co-op activism at work.

Background: The 249 A St Artists Co-op, in Boston’s Fort Point neighborhood, was developed in 1980 as a response to rising rents for artist studio space and the desire of artists to control their work and living spaces. At the same time the co-op was being developed, the plans for the Central Artery project were also in the works. 249 A Street would be severely impacted by this construction. While the artists could not stop the Big Dig, they could exercise the power they had harnessed by forming a tenant co-op. They got organized, educated, and active. As a result they won $1.5 million in mitigation to lessen the impact of the construction, and they have played a vital role in the construction, and they have played a vital role in getting the concerns of the Fort Point Channel/South Boston community addressed. Becky Dwyer, a founding member of the co-op, and hired by the tenant board as the mitigation coordinator, speaks with Avin Lipsky of the Goundbreaker about 249 A Street’s efforts.

Becky Dwyer: (Looking out the front window of her apartment. Facing towards South Station, and overlooking the channel and construction site). This is called the casting basin. They’ve dug this sixty foot deep pit out and pile driven cofferdams at the end. Here they are going build at least four tunnel pieces, and then they are going to take out the cofferdams, let the channel flow in and then float the pieces out. Then they’ll put the cofferdams back, build several more pieces and then repeat the process. Eventually they will do this three our four times.

And then when that part is done (crosses the studio to the side view, facing North Boston) the Ted Williams tunnel is out that way across the harbor. And the road is going to run, through where the casting basin is now, right through this parking lot [adjacent to 249 A Street], out to the airport. It’s going to come three feet from our building. So they are going to dig [the tunnel] out. Our building is expected to settle 1 to 3 inches, as well as possible other damage to the building. Also there is dust and noise. And the noise goes on -- theoretically they can do it 24 hours a day, seven days a week. (Currently, the scheduled completion date is 2004).

Was the co-op active from the beginning in trying to have a say about the Central Artery’s impact?.

Oh, yes! Way in the beginning we didn’t realize the level of disruption there would be. Then it became clear from what was going on in other places in the city and what the plans had become, which was this monumental project (6 lanes and an HOV lane underground), that we were really going to have problems. In their environmental review documents they also said the building was going to be damaged, that it was going to settle one to two inches. It’s already settled .04. So, from the very beginning we have had correspondence, every time there was a review or comment period we would act.

How did the co-op organize to take action?

We hired a structural engineer, a sound engineer, and an architectural firm to research what type of windows we needed to provide us with the necessary soundproofing. And then it became clear that if you had to keep your windows closed that we would need some type of ventilation system. So then we hired an air conditioning engineer. We submitted the estimates from the engineers to the Central Artery and they rejected it and came back with an offer we couldn’t even do windows on. That’s how the negotiation began. The actual negotiating took about thirteen months. And they knew that we were willing to sue, that we would be willing to go to court if we had to. And we preferred not to, but we would have done it.

At the end of each of the negotiating meetings with the Central Artery, one of the members of our negotiating committee would say to them "Just do the right thing. Do the right thing." That’s really all we want.

And were other people in the neighborhood active as well?

Well, we are the closest physical building. So, we were negotiating for our settlement for the windows and air conditioning, but we have been very active, and still are in the neighborhood, in terms of mitigation for everybody--about dust, noise, parking availability, twenty-four hours a day working, access to businesses in the neighborhood.

The artists in these various buildings don’t want to be a giant ship in the middle of some other kind of neighborhood where there are no artists left. So we really felt like we needed to join forces.

There’s a strong neighborhood organization, too, the Fort Point Arts Community, Inc. They are a really strong neighborhood advocacy group of artists and other people who have also been active.

Do you think you had success because you had the co-op?

Oh, yes. Because the nature of a co-op--the fact that we even bought a building together and managed to make it what it is--implies a pre-selected group of people that can work together in a co-operative way. And also as we were forming the co-op it, because its a special zoning of the live-work variance, we really became pretty politically savvy. We really began to know our local politicians. A lot of us vote, and we rounded up people and got them to register to vote. You may not agree with certain politicians about a single issue, but if it’s clear to them that you are serious about being in the neighborhood and being politically active, it makes a difference in getting them to help you. It’s really advantageous to work with the elected officials.

Also, publicity was an important thing. We were interviewed frequently by the Boston Globe. There were articles in the New York Times. NPR and the Chronicle did interviews.

What has been the situation since the monetary settlement?

I think it’s only in the past six months between the North End, and Chinatown, and the Fort Point Channel area forging some sort of relationship that things have gotten even better. You know the one thing I think the Central Artery really doesn’t want is a major revolution coming from the people pulling together from the different neighborhoods.

How did you keep people active and organized over the long-haul?

It’s kind of been an evolution in terms of people coming and going. People get burned out and they disappear for a year or two. And then somebody else who has the same issue, whatever that issue might be, steps in. There always seems to be new people with more energy.

What was the response at the co-op after the settlement was finalized?